#maybe its time for me to write instead

[jackalsraised]

apparently its gonna be anywhere from a few hours to two weeks before all my procreate files are transferred over on icloud and if i touch it at all while the downloads paused as they download it ill just erase all the info rip me

[lucabyte]

monologue

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

perhaps my most #cancelable videogame take i can post on this website is i think that the kind of people who say that anyone who picks the "morally wrong" or "mean" options in video game dialogue should, as a player, feel bad about their own choices/morals in real life. is that those people are just another flavor of the kind of dudes who play Disco Elysium and get mad for not being rewarded for picking the facist options. both of these groups are reducing games to "a thing I want to agree with me and everyone else who doesn't either suffers or does not have the option to play a character who behaves otherwise" rather than "a medium where you get to (or even Have to) explore different kinds of characters in order to experience the full depth of the story and characters in it."

When I want to pick options in a game that are mean, negative, arrogant, or ignorant, it's because I want to explore what would push a character into becoming that kind of person. Sometimes I want to see how the NPC characters who I-The-Player like/agree with react to someone who is fundamentally different from them. I think it's GOOD actually when the narrative allows you to push limits and especially when it has the option to then punish you for it in some way, such as losing options/routes later on, or companions straight up abandoning you for your choices. It DOES often make me deeply, viscerally uncomfortable to make choices in a game that are so counter to my own, but it means I get to experience that discomfort in an isolated environment and also think about what it means, what would push the character or even yes a real person into actually feeling those things. And I get to play with what ways the narrative could challenge them/make them grow over the course of the game--or on the other side, it can let me make a character who does start off more open/accepting but let the events of the narrative push them into being more reactively closed-minded instead.

I like that we have invented a medium where you can play a game multiple times and experience it differently depending on the character you play as. Books and TV and movies are all static--the greatest draw of games to me is the ones that are responsive, that can tell a slightly different story every time--when other characters in the game respond differently to you because of it, or some paths open up and others don't. And so yes it did disappointment me when a franchise that previously had these elements, Dragon Age, did not include them in the most recent installment. I don't think games should have options where you get to just hit a button to say something racist with no consequences or exploration into why a character would do that. but like, if i can only ever play a game as an upstanding person who is morally right all the time in basically the same flavor for every dialogue. I only get to truly play that game Once, you know? And I only get to see the way the companions react to someone they like and trust. And never really go deeper than that.

So like... I just sit and think about the scenes you can get in Inquisition. with Cassandra breaking down, because she fears she placed a would-be tyrant at the head of a powerful organization--that she searched and searched and chose wrong. Of Varric who is desperate to convince you not to become a monster, like the last person he feels betrayed him. Vivienne intentionally pissing you off because she wants to see how far you'll go when angered, how much she has to worry about your reactions. They say so much about the companions, what they fear most, and where they will draw the line. And especially in Inquisition, at these crisis points--you don't have to double down. Your character can have a come-to-Andraste moment where they go "woah... is that really how people see me? is this what i want?" and I think that kind of option can do way more for encouraging actual players to examine the choices they make in stories, more than locking the player into supportive, non-aggressive options does.

now. do i think all games execute these flavors well? no. writers and devs will have their own biases and blind spots, even if they are otherwise well-intentioned. and I don't think the ends of the scale need to extend from "absolute angel" to "horrible bigot", because the real complexity of course lies in the middle. I am not asking for games to let me be bigoted at every turn, what I want is games that let me make the protagonist deeply flawed in one or more ways--fearfully closed-minded to things outside their upbringing, or afraid of change to the status quo, or who want to advance their own aims regardless of consequences to others. I actually agree that the game was correct not to include any options for disrespecting Taash and their personal journey for example, but I do wish... idk maybe that we could have had a scene where if for instance the player character avoided outside-world missions relating to clearing away blight, they could confront us on how this might devastate the natural world and its creatures like dragons, and push us into trying to resolve it. Or in the other direction, if you spend the (currently meaningless) time giving money to background NPCs begging in the cities, Neve could could have a special cutscene thanking you for your attention to people otherwise beneath notice. You know?

And of course not every game can do this, I can write those sentences up there that represent hundreds of hours of dev time, of course they can't do it all. But the prior games usually did have at least a little of this, and that was enough to make me really fall in love. I KNOW the tumultuous development cycle, restarts from scratch, interference from higher-ups all contributed to why Veilguard was unable to hit those same marks this time. And we probably won't ever know how much of the loss of options/reactivity was intention vs a side effect of these things. But I wish people wouldn't frame players who miss these aspects as insane/morally corrupt. When for most of us it's because we genuinely enjoy challenging and exploring these aspects of reality in fiction in a way entirely unlike what we actually support in real life. i fully acknowledge not everyone desires to play this way. and that's fine!!! i am glad people can enjoy doing a "good" run each time that brings them joy. but for me it really limits the potential bounds of my enjoyment i guess. I like media that is complicated and messy and makes me think, and extra so when I get to see how playing that way impacts the greater story around it.

[triglycercule]

hi Gang its murder time trio back with another Mettaton

haha! i guess you could say they Kist. wait that not the right ship whoops

[sieglinde-freud]

oh im obsessed with this actually… who ever wrote this one i am kissing u on the forehead and hugging you real tight… inigo is such a loverboy im kkkhhhhhhijnsdnfng

[sacchiri]

Hellsing 2002 calendar illustration.

Ein wunderliche und erschröckliche Hystori von einem großen Wüttrich genant Dracole wayda Der do so ganz unkristenliche marrter hat angelegt die mensche, als mit spissen als auch die leut zu Tod geslyffen

A wondrous and frightening story about a great berserk called Dracula the voivode who inflicted such unchristian tortures such as with stakes and also dragged people to death

[spontaneousful]

okay you guys have won me over (liking my post) im going to tell you some more about dizzie's gardening manual

lizzie is from another country, she arrived in daring's home country as a foreign exchange student. will have to figure out everything about this

daring moves to book end and gets a job at the flowershop at 22, the owners of the flowershop are ashlynn's parents

i'm trying to write my timeline of events and basically i need act 1 of daring and lizzie to take up the same space as the huntlynn wedding i also need to find a reason for lizzie to be a part of all of this wedding planning

basically, i need to plot out the huntlynn wedding story, sprinkle in my dizzie and then write everything from the dizzie pov. i feel like im making this harder than it needs to be

daring does cheat on lizzie in this while they're in high school, so i'm sure that's going to be fun

ages?? ashlynn - 28, hunter - 27, daring - 38, lizzie - 38, kitty - 40

what was daring going to college for guys? probably not important bc he dropped out

lizzie has a bachelor's in business

daring still flirts the way he did in highschool (dramatic gestures, advanced wooing techniques, moves that presume you already like him because he's him) and lizzie still finds it cringe

i have daring a lot more figured out than i do lizzie, like i'd say daring's almost fully fleshed out because it was his shiny-ass teeth that started all this

oh, and here's a little sneak peak at how they meet courtesy of the headcanon post i never posted that this au was supposed to stop at:

♡ Lizzie Hearts rocks up with a shaved head and muscled arms covered in tats ♡ She's also gotten her signature heart over her eye as a tatttoo ♡ Daring is staring (respectfully now, he's a changed man) ♡ He brings her some flowers and an apology and she slams the door in his face

[cluescorner]

I cannot imagine being a Damian stan right now. You've got both Zdarsky's bullshit (where he clearly doesn't give a shit about your boy) and The Boy Wonder (where Juni Ba clearly gives so many shits about your boy) coming out on the same day. The whiplash must be insane. I hope y'all get some nice warm soup for your efforts jfc

[sonknuxadow]

it just hit me that the movie is coming out next month imgonna throw upppppppp

[meltygetswifi]

sighs

[anxiousgaypanicking]

me when i want to accept writing commissions vs the depression thats been eating me inside and out

[clumsypuppy]

Atla live action 😐

[gojoest]

nothing beats friday night + sipping on wine alone doing your own stuff knowing there’s no work the morning after

[kalosian-woods]

Post canon Kalos League vacation to Unova..... What could go wrong? (a lot of things. Maybe.)

Im kinda curious on that offhand mention,,,

Tbf I didn't really do much with the idea now as it is, but it's just one of those fun crack plots that I would like to do if I'm free of the main part of the AU and am still kicking heh. Basically, you are 100% right: everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. We're talking about missed trains, lost in caves, lots of random splitting up (intentionally or unintentionally), getting more lost, trying to stay undercover with random fanclubs, sneaking into places they shouldn't be, more getting lost, and tons of other problems lol.

Totally not a solid 'fic' as it is, but I'm thinking that they went to Unova to just unwind and see another point of view as part of a vacation therapy professional training. They do have outings before but not on this large of a scale, and basically they have to choose replacements before leaving and it's a whole mess back in Kalos as well lol. But even in Unova they do not have peace (not even the plane ride was safe from shenanigans!).

They do meet the Gym Leaders in Unova and have... a relationship (although how good or beneficial it is seems questionable) and the Kalos Gym Leaders are basically just stuck with each other for like a month in a different region. They have to wear different clothes. They sign in the same PokeCentres (because some of them wanted that experience again) (also anonymity). They're all distracted and have to deal with each others shortcomings and while it has a lot of (and I mean a lot) of diffiulties and issues arising, it does bring them more together. And they learn to have fun. And also just learn about each otehr too and how to support each other.

[chunkofchange]

ive been using the creepy or wet brush in mspaint too frequently. im going back to the pencil brush. Watch out

[ambersky0319]

Store managers said even a few minutes overtime will be a write up

I'm calling bullshit