#mention of alcohol

[foldedchip]

Another stimboard for my 11-months-straight hyperfixation character Rocky Rickaby! I think some of the gags and action he has in the comic are based on Buster Keaton, who was a famous 1920s stunt actor. The 1920s were a wild time, you could go to prison for SELLING someone a drink of alcohol, but drunk driving was fine. Children could work in dangerous factories all day but women couldn’t show their bare knees. Flabbergasting time period.

[elenarayofavalon]

A Holly Jolly Christmas

(Part 23 of The Snowball Effect)

Read on AO3.

Tags: Enji Todoroki, Endeavor, Female Reader, Reader Has An Ice Quirk, Pregnant Reader, Endeavor x Reader, Enji Todoroki x Reader, MHA Christmas Special, Having Drinks Together, Mention of Alcohol, No Actual Alcohol Consumed, Because There's a Little Bun in the Oven, Short Prompt, But Cuteness, Fluff

Word Count: 308 words

Summary: Normally around this time, you would indulge in a few drinks before Christmas. However, with a new little Todoroki on the way, you opt for some sparkling cider instead.

December 23

When you shrug into the house with grocery bags hanging off your arms, Enji is not impressed. Rather, he would be impressed, except he’s always more protective of you the first couple weeks every time you’ve told him you’re expecting. Now, it’s no different.

“You could have texted me or honked the horn and I’d have helped you unpack the car.” He grumbles, looping his arms through half the bags on your arms and hoisting them away from you and towards the kitchen. He pauses when he notices some bottles clinking around. “You know with the new baby–”

“I can’t have any alcohol, Enchan, I know. I’ve gone through this particular rodeo several times by now.” You laugh, shaking your head with amusement. “It’s sparkling cider to celebrate the upcoming holiday, my love. Don’t get fussy.”

“I don’t get fussy, I get concerned.” Enji denies. His fingers pinch your cheeks as he pecks your lips. “Forgive me if I want a happy, healthy baby in my arms later.”

“And I don’t?” You quirk a brow as your lips tilt into a smile.

“Oh, I’m sure you do, my flame. But I wouldn’t put it past you to take a sip of wine and forget you can’t have it.” He taunts, scooping you up in his arms to pepper your face with kisses and make you giggle.

He sets you down and you get right to work, opening one of the bottles and filling two champagne flutes with sparkling cider. You offer him the flute and then hoist yourself onto the counter.

You hold out your flute to him and he taps the edge of his glass to yours.

“To a merry Christmas and a little Todoroki who’s sure to be as fiery as you are.” You toast.

“And who’s sure to be as strong as you, my flame.”

Day 24 (Tune in tomorrow!)

Credit to @saradika-graphics for the holiday banner! Thank you so much!

[aheckinmess]

A Holly Jolly Christmas

(Part 23 of The Snowball Effect)

Read on AO3.

Tags: Enji Todoroki, Endeavor, Female Reader, Reader Has An Ice Quirk, Pregnant Reader, Endeavor x Reader, Enji Todoroki x Reader, MHA Christmas Special, Having Drinks Together, Mention of Alcohol, No Actual Alcohol Consumed, Because There's a Little Bun in the Oven, Short Prompt, But Cuteness, Fluff

Word Count: 308 words

Summary: Normally around this time, you would indulge in a few drinks before Christmas. However, with a new little Todoroki on the way, you opt for some sparkling cider instead.

December 23

When you shrug into the house with grocery bags hanging off your arms, Enji is not impressed. Rather, he would be impressed, except he’s always more protective of you the first couple weeks every time you’ve told him you’re expecting. Now, it’s no different.

“You could have texted me or honked the horn and I’d have helped you unpack the car.” He grumbles, looping his arms through half the bags on your arms and hoisting them away from you and towards the kitchen. He pauses when he notices some bottles clinking around. “You know with the new baby–”

“I can’t have any alcohol, Enchan, I know. I’ve gone through this particular rodeo several times by now.” You laugh, shaking your head with amusement. “It’s sparkling cider to celebrate the upcoming holiday, my love. Don’t get fussy.”

“I don’t get fussy, I get concerned.” Enji denies. His fingers pinch your cheeks as he pecks your lips. “Forgive me if I want a happy, healthy baby in my arms later.”

“And I don’t?” You quirk a brow as your lips tilt into a smile.

“Oh, I’m sure you do, my flame. But I wouldn’t put it past you to take a sip of wine and forget you can’t have it.” He taunts, scooping you up in his arms to pepper your face with kisses and make you giggle.

He sets you down and you get right to work, opening one of the bottles and filling two champagne flutes with sparkling cider. You offer him the flute and then hoist yourself onto the counter.

You hold out your flute to him and he taps the edge of his glass to yours.

“To a merry Christmas and a little Todoroki who’s sure to be as fiery as you are.” You toast.

“And who’s sure to be as strong as you, my flame.”

Day 24

Credit to @saradika-graphics for the holiday banner! Thank you so much!

[rockingrobin69]

Could I please also pick trick? 🥺🙏🎃

You're a star for doing this, thank you! 💙

Hello darling, here's a nice little M-rated fic for you! D/s elements and alcohol mentioned.

Irresistible

“There, good boy.” Harry watched as the words ran through Draco, a highly visible path: from his flushing cheeks, to his sudden gulp, the hand previously tapping the armrest suddenly gone still.

“Begging pardon,” he said, not quite a question. Harry peered at him from the edge of his nose.

“All right,” with a smile. “I think I might like it even better if you begged.”

Draco’s rosy cheeks went flame-red. “P-Potter!” he inched closer on his seat, tongue darting out to wet his lips, a tiny, unintentional movement. Harry wanted to take his face in both hands, leave him panting and messy and barely coherent and yeah, why not, begging too: Harry, who dreamed of this moment for far too long, sat still. Played with the ice cube on his tongue. Waited.

“You’re a terrible tease,” Draco eventually said with a slightly hysterical wave. He’d left his robes on the desk, sitting there in his tight shirt, in those crisp trousers Harry particularly liked, that he knew, god damn him, made his thighs look fucking edible. Harry wondered if that’s what their students see when they look up at him: someone outrageously, destructively handsome. Someone so clearly Harry’s and who needed to be told that, repeatedly, for days and days on end and maybe for always.  

With a sigh he put the whiskey aside. Far more intoxicating, the look in Draco’s eyes. “I’ll never tease you,” he said, as gently as the rasp in his voice allowed, “Not unless you absolutely begged me to.”

The way Draco’s throat tightened on a swallow—sublime. “Potter,” he murmured, a little pleadingly. Harry took pity, then took his chin.

“Don’t worry, darling. You’ll be good for me, yes? And I’ll make sure you’re well and truly satisfied.”

Draco looked down, suddenly shy and unbearably sweet. “I—I want—” Harry waited patiently. When nothing more came:

“Yes, sweetheart? Tell me. What do you want?”

“Hmm?” in all fairness, the way Harry’s thumb kept tracing Draco’s bottom lip might have been slightly distracting. “Potter, I—”

It was mostly an accident, that the thumb slipped past those pink lips and now rested on Draco’s tongue. The gasp, and then the aborted moan, and Draco’s jaw going all slack—also not intentional, and liquid fire in his blood.

“Don’t worry,” Harry made himself say, and lightly pet right behind Draco’s ear, “we’ll go very slowly. We’ll only do what you—”

“Fuck you, Potter,” Draco mumbled, only half-forming the words and then, with his eyes closed, sucked Harry’s brains out through his thumb.

“What?”

It went out with a slick pop. “Stop horsing around,” Draco panted, tilting his head to level Harry the most scorching look, “and make me beg already.”

“Oh,” Harry managed, then, “oh, right,” laughing with a combination of relief and affection, so potent it nearly threw him off the chair. “My good boy,” with emphasis he hoped wasn’t detectable on the first word, but Draco shook his head and fell to his knees on the rug.

“Yours,” he said, and crawled right between Harry’s thighs, “Come on, you bastard, just—”

Harry did the only possible thing: took his face with both hands and kissed him, kissed him, kissed him. With every intention of leaving him panting and messy and barely coherent, making him his.

[leon-hamato-100]

the reason techno trolls music is so weird and amazing is because everyone gets drunk and then makes music

[waru-chan8]

I was asked by @milla8920 to write a things you said when you were drunk for Pedro and Fermín. Where here it is. It's set after the 2023 Valencian GP. Tw: mention of alcohol

‘You're fucking annoying' it's what Fermín heard when he opens the door of his room at the motorhome hotel. It's pretty late, and he wasn't expecting anyone, so it comes as a complete surprise to be greeted like this.

‘Good evening to you too' responds. The SpeedUP rider can't believe what his eyes are seeing, the recently crowned Moto2 World Champion is in front of him, and he's drunk. ‘And why am I annoying?' He doesn't really want to know, but he is curious why the other rider is here, instead of at his motorhome or celebrating with his family or the team. It's also safer for the KTM rider to be here with him than elsewhere getting himself in trouble.

‘Because' Pedro moves the other rider aside to enter the room completely uninvited, where he makes himself at home and sits on the bed. ‘Because I'm the one, I won the championship, but everyone is talking about you and your spectacular end of the season. Or how you'll be a MotoGP rider, etc.'

'Right. I'm so annoying because I'm doing my best.' He sits next to the other rider on his own bed that has been taken over by the other rider. ‘Sorry for doing my job, I guess' huffs.

‘Yes, because you are always overshadowing what I do. Like when I won the Moto3 championship, but people had to talk about your season in MotoE and Moto2 and your own Championship. No matter what I do, you'll be there too' complains.

Fermín sighs, not knowing how to respond to the drunk rambles of the other rider. He also doesn't have the heart to kick him, despite knowing he has to get up early for tomorrow's test. It doesn't matter what the SpeedUP rider wants to do, Pedro is already lying on his bed.

‘Look at the bright side, you won't hear about me next year' tries to console Fermín. It's a way to calm and placate the drunk rider.

‘Hell no. You'll fight for the championship and your name will be in every team principal's mouth during the silly season as everyone wants you'. Pedro turns his head to look at him, ‘unless you have already signed with Pramac. Did you do that?' Fermín doesn't answer, he just lies next to Pedro in the narrow space of the single bed. ‘Oh, you did, bastard. You will ride that sweet Ducati in 2025' decides Pedro, who is pouting.

Fermín can only laugh at that. It's been so long since he saw the other rider this relaxed and with a pout. ‘I didn't sign with them, at least not yet' explains, but they both know that doesn't mean he couldn't do it tomorrow or in the near future. ‘Look, you are drunk, and in my room, let's sleep like when we were kids, okay?' Proposes. In reality, the SpeedUP rider is terrified to send Pedro out alone. He doesn't know what type of troubles he can get if he goes like this around the paddock knocking on doors and searching for troubles.

‘But I don't want to sleep, and we are old now, and you have López' rambles the shorter rider. In the way it's said, it's like one single word that takes a while for the SpeedUP rider to understand. The lower lip is pushed further forward even more, showing his displeasure.

‘Look, even if we're older, we still need to sleep and that doesn't mean we can't share a bed, besides, there's nothing to worry about, Alonso won't bother us. He is out there celebrating with Jaume' as he responds, the taller rider is moving around to prepare the bed so they can go to sleep.

‘He’s an idiot,’ yawns the KTM rider, ‘I’d prefer to celebrate with you rather than Jaume. He’s boring, and you are fun to be around’ says nonchalantly as he crawls under the bedsheets. It’s a tight squeeze, but they managed to fit both of them in the single bed.

‘I thought you said I’m annoying’ reminds the taller rider with a smile on his face. He is looking carefully at Pedro’s face, trying to study him and making sure he’s okay.

‘You’re, but you’re also my annoyance’ yaws again the shorter rider. Despite Pedro saying he doesn’t want to sleep, he’s the first one to fall under Morpheus' spell. Fermín stays away for a bit longer, making sure that the KTM rider is okay.

‘Ugh' groans Pedro as soon as he opens his eyes. His head hurts like he has been tumbling around the gravel trap for hours without a stop.

‘Your head hurts?' Questions whatever his head is resting on. It takes a while for the KTM rider to register that he isn't sleeping with his head on his pillow, blame it on the alcohol in his bloodstream or how sleepy he is at the moment. However, as soon as he notices it, he figures his head is resting on a man's chest that he is too familiar with.

‘Shut up, I want to go back to sleep' closes his eyes again, while Fermín laughs at him and the situation. None of them move a bit, even if they know the younger needs to prepare for the Moto2 post-season test and Pedro is required at the Tech3 garage.

‘You can stay if you want, but I need to get up. I have a test to attend' reminds the SpeedUP rider. With more groaning, and with his eyes still closed, the shorter one moves his head from Fermín's chest to the pillow.

‘Have you been told how annoying you are? Because you're a pain in the ass' ask the MotoGP rider while hugging the pillow. It's too soft for him to go back to sleep.

‘You did it yesterday, but you also told me I'm your annoyance, so I took it as a compliment'. Pedro doesn't need to look at the other rider's face to know he is smiling. ‘But as I said, you can stay for as long as you want, just leave the key in my office or give it to Héctor later'. The young one is already ready to leave the room and go back to his team.

‘Or maybe you can come later by my motorhome and pick it yourself’ Pedro is now fully awake and watching the other rider at the door. ‘You know, if you ever need a space to disconnect and hang out you can go there’ proposes. ‘Or we can share the space’ the KTM has thrown himself out there, without knowing how his advances would be received or interpreted.

‘Sure, but make sure to have enough space’ even if it’s unsaid, both riders know it’s about the bed and not a bigger motorhome with a second bedroom.

Fermín is already leaving the room, so Pedro has to scream ‘but López isn't allowed inside’. The SpeedUP rider’s giggles can be heard, even if he hasn’t responded to that. Or at least Pedro didn’t hear anything with the door being closed.

[kimium]

Chapters: 1/1 Summary:

One shot. Pre Canon.

"Kaname should have offered some sage advice, bought Renju another drink, and let his friend drown his sorrows. Or he should have asked Mama, the Queen of wise and sage advice, to pitch in. Instead, Kaname had opened his big mouth and told Renju he’d do whatever in his power to help him. Instead of asking Kaname to do something minor like foot the bill, Renju asked Kaname to take care of his daughter. And like an idiot, Kaname had agreed on the spot."

A story focused on pre canon events starting from Kaname agreeing to look after Mizuki to his first meeting with Mizuki.

~

My most self-indulgent fic in a long, long time. Even more so than my prior one. 

Been thinking about this story since I finished playing the second game around five months ago. Decided to finally sit down and write it. I don’t have many fic ideas for this series, but I have at least one more in mind. Perhaps for later.

Anyways, please let me know if you like this fic!

[prokopetz]

The funny thing to me about those "the combat drugs we give to the mech pilots make you grow boobs" hornyposts is that this legitimately is a known side effect of a wide range of drugs and medications. Just about any non-trivial chemical imbalance can potentially make you grow boobs. Breast growth is a known symptom of alcoholism. Some male bodybuilders experience female-typical breast development as a side effect of steroid use. Even kidney problems can induce breast growth. The human body is evidently just itching to grow boobs!

[foldedchip]

How I think different Lackadaisy characters would react if you asked them to guard your drink

Rocky: would brightly agree to do it, then get distracted and lose it after ten seconds

Freckle: would be polite and just take it carefully, then awkwardly keep his eyes on it until you came back

Mitzi: would agree to do it and take a few sips when you weren’t looking

Ivy: would agree and then just not give it back. she wouldn’t drink it or anything, but she’d just take it as her own and carry it around.

Mordecai: would say no if you’re a stranger or someone he dislikes. if he cares about you, he would begrudgingly do it, but look uncomfortable the whole time and keep it away from his nose because he doesn’t like the smell.

Viktor: might not agree. if he does, he’d look a little silly just standing there holding his huge paw over your drink.

Wick: would be very gentlemanly and graciously agree to do it, and just hold it close to his chest until you came back

Zib: would agree but there’s a 50/50 chance he would just drink the rest himself

Serafine: would agree to do it but definitely put something in it. probably something harmless but gross, like a lot of salt or pepper.

Nico: would take it, smell it, like it, and then go to the bar to get one for himself

[professorcalculusstanaccount]

as newspapers today dont tend to hire children, a modern day Tintin would run a clickbait YouTube channel, except the clickbait is 100% real every single time

he starts off as an irritating conservative pundit at 14, meets Chang then leaves the think tank paying him and launches his own independent channel and blows up shortly after. Chang helps with video editing and managing his socials and they often chat on video calls between adventures. Haddock, his foster dad, has absolutely no knowledge of his earlier videos.

[walrus-tusk-615bc]

So, yeah. uh. I can’t wait for Hollyberry to experience the torture labyrinth

[felassan]

Jason Schreier for Bloomberg reports: 'Inside the ‘Dragon Age’ Debacle That Gutted EA’s BioWare Studio'

The latest game in BioWare’s fantasy role-playing series went through ten years of development turmoil. The failure of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, released in October, led EA to gut BioWare

[note: article is below cut after these tweets]

Jason Schreier: "NEW: What went wrong with Dragon Age: The Veilguard? Why was the writing so tonally inconsistent? Why did it feel so shallow? Why were there so few choices? Really, after ten years of turbulence, it was a miracle that anything came out at all. This is the story [link]:" [source]

Jason Schreier: "The fatal flaw for Dragon Age: The Veilguard wasn't just that it pivoted from single-player to multiplayer and back again. It was that after the second pivot, the team was forced to keep going rather than hit the reset button and take the time to create a new plan." [source]

Jason Schreier re: this old tweet from Casey Hudson: "Fun fact: when I first reported at Kotaku in 2018 that Dragon Age 4 was rebooted to become a live-service game, BioWare studio head Casey Hudson wrote this on Twitter. But it was not entirely truthful. In reality, the game was being designed around cooperative multiplayer, replayable missions, etc" [source] Casey Hudson's old tweet from 2018: "Reading lots of feedback regarding Dragon Age, and I think you'll be relieved to see what the team is working on. Story & character focused. Too early to talk details, but when we talk about "live" it just means designing a game for continued storytelling after the main story."

Rest of post/article under cut due to length.

(bold in the text below is mine for emphasis)

"In early November, on the eve of the crucial holiday shopping season, staffers at the video-game studio BioWare were feeling optimistic. After an excruciating development cycle, they had finally released their latest game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and the early reception was largely positive. The role-playing game was topping sales charts on Steam, and solid, if not spectacular, reviews were rolling in. But in the weeks that followed, the early buzz cooled as players delved deeper into the fantasy world, and some BioWare employees grew anxious. For months, everyone at the subsidiary of the video-game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. had been under intense pressure. The studio’s previous two games, Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem, had flopped, and there were rumors that if Dragon Age underperformed, BioWare might become another of EA’s many casualties. Not long after Christmas, the bad news surfaced. EA announced in January that the new Dragon Age had only reached 1.5 million players, missing the company’s expectations by 50%. The holiday performance of another recently released title, EA Sports FC 2025, was also subpar, compounding the problem."

"As a result of the struggling titles, EA Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson explained, the company would be significantly lowering its sales forecast for the fiscal year ahead. EA’s share price promptly plunged 18%. “Dragon Age had a high-quality launch and was well-reviewed by critics and those who played,” Wilson later said on an earnings call. “However, it did not resonate with a broad enough audience in this highly competitive market.” Days after the sales revision, EA laid off a chunk of BioWare’s staff at the studio’s headquarters in Edmonton, Canada, and permanently transferred many of the remaining workers to other divisions. For the storied, 30-year-old game maker, it was a stunning fall that left many fans wondering how things had gone so haywire — and what might come next for the stricken studio. According to interviews with nearly two dozen people who worked on Dragon Age: The Veilguard, there were several reasons behind its failure, including marketing misfires, poor word of mouth and a 10-year gap since the previous title. Above all, sources point to the rebooting of the product from a single-player game to a multiplayer one — and then back again — a switcheroo that muddled development and inflated the title’s budget, they say, ultimately setting the stage for EA’s potentially unrealistic sales expectations. A spokesperson for EA declined to comment."

"The union between BioWare and EA started off with lofty aspirations. In 2007, EA executives announced they were acquiring BioWare and another gaming studio in a deal worth $860 million. The goal was to diversify their slate of games, which was heavy in sports titles, like Madden NFL, and light in the kind of adventure and role-playing games that BioWare was known for. Initially, it looked like a smart move thanks to a string of big hits. In 2014, BioWare released Dragon Age: Inquisition, the third installment in a popular action series dropping players in a semi-open world full of magic, elves and fire-spewing dragons. The fantasy title went on to win the much-coveted Game of the Year Award and sell 12 million copies, according to its executive producer Mark Darrah — a major validation of EA’s diversification strategy. Before long, Darrah and Mike Laidlaw, the creative director, began kicking around ideas for the next Dragon Age installment — code name: Joplin — aiming for a game that would be smaller in scope. But before much could get done, BioWare shifted the studio’s focus to more pressing titles coming down the pike. In 2017, BioWare released Mass Effect: Andromeda, the fourth installment in a big-budget action series set in space. Unlike its critically successful predecessors, the game received mediocre reviews and was widely mocked by fans. A few months after the disappointing release, the head of BioWare stepped down and was soon replaced by Microsoft Inc.’s Casey Hudson, an alumni of BioWare’s early, formative years."

"Like much of the industry, EA executives were growing increasingly enamored of so-called live-service games, such as Destiny and Overwatch, in which players continue to engage with and spend money on a title for months or even years after its initial release. With EA aiming to make a splash in the fast-growing category, BioWare poured resources into Anthem, a live-service shooter game that checked all the right boxes. One day in October 2017, Laidlaw summoned his colleagues into a conference room and pulled out a few pricey bottles of whisky. The next Dragon Age sequel, he told the room, would also be pivoting to an online, live-service game — a decision from above that he disagreed with. He was resigning from the studio. The assembled staff stayed late through the night, drinking and reminiscing about the franchise they loved. “I wish that pivot had never occurred,” Darrah would later recount on YouTube. “EA said, ‘Make this a live service.’ We said, ‘We don’t know how to do that. We should basically start the project over.’” Former art director Matt Goldman replaced Laidlaw as creative director, and with a tiny team began pushing ahead on a new multiplayer version of Dragon Age — code name: Morrison — while everyone else helped to finish Anthem, which was struggling to coalesce. Goldman pushed for a “pulpy,” more lighthearted tone than previous entries, which suited an online game but was a drastic departure from the dark, dynamic stories that fans loved in the fantasy series."

"In February 2019, BioWare released Anthem. Reviews were scathing, calling the game tedious and convoluted. Fans were similarly displeased. On social media, players demanded to know why a studio renowned for beloved stories and characters had made an online shooter with a scattershot narrative. In the wake of BioWare’s second consecutive flop, the multiplayer version of Dragon Age continued to take shape. While the previous games in the franchise had featured tactical combat, this one would be all action. Instead of quests that players would only experience once, it would be full of missions that could be replayed repeatedly with friends and strangers. Important characters couldn’t die because they had to persist for multiple players across never-ending gameplay. As the game evolved over the next two years, the failure of Anthem hovered over the studio. Were they making the same mistakes? Some BioWare employees scoffed that they were simply building “Anthem with dragons.” Throughout 2020, the pandemic disrupted the game’s already fraught development. In December, Hudson, the head of the studio, and Darrah, the head of the franchise, resigned. Shortly thereafter, Gary McKay, BioWare’s new studio head, revealed yet another shift in strategy. Moving forward, the next Dragon Age would no longer be multiplayer."

"“We were thinking, ‘Does this make sense, does this play into our strengths, or is this going to be another challenge we have to face?’” McKay later told Bloomberg News. “No, we need to get back to what we’re really great at.” In theory, the reversion back to Dragon Age’s tried-and-true, single-player format should have been welcome news inside BioWare. But there was a catch. Typically, this kind of pivot would be coupled with a reset and a period of pre-production allowing the designers to formulate a new vision for the game. Instead, the team was asked to change the game’s fundamental structure and recast the entire story on the fly, according to people familiar with the new marching orders. They were given a year and a half to finish and told to aim for as wide a market as possible. This strict deadline became a recurring problem. The development team would make decisions believing that they had less than a year to release the game, which severely limited the stories they could tell and the world they could build. Then the title would inevitably be delayed a few months, at which point they’d be stuck with those old decisions with no chance to stop and reevaluate what was working. At the end of 2022, amid continually dizzying leadership changes, the studio started distributing an “alpha” build of Dragon Age to get feedback internally and from outside playtesters. According to people familiar with the process, the reactions were concerning. The game’s biggest problem, early players agreed, was a lack of satisfying choices and consequences. Previous BioWare titles had presented players with gut-wrenching decisions. Which allies to save? Which factions to spare? Which enemies to slay? Such dilemmas made fans feel like they were shaping the narrative — historically, a big draw for many BioWare games."

"But Dragon Age’s multiplayer roots limited such choices, according to people familiar with the development. BioWare delayed the game’s release again while the team shoehorned in a few major decisions, such as which of two cities to save from a dragon attack. But because most of the parameters were already well established, the designers struggled to pair the newly retrofitted choices for players with meaningful consequences downstream. In 2023, to help finish Dragon Age, BioWare brought in a second, internal team, which was working on the next Mass Effect game. For decades there’d been tension between the two well-established camps, known for their starkly divergent ways of doing things. BioWare developers like to joke that the Dragon Age crew was like a pirate ship, meandering and sometimes traveling off course but eventually reaching the port. In contrast, the Mass Effect group was called the USS Enterprise, after the Star Trek ship, because commands were issued straight down from the top and executed zealously. As the Mass Effect directors took control, they scoffed that the Dragon Age squad had been doing a shoddy job and began excluding their leaders from pivotal meetings, according to people familiar with the internal friction. Over time, the Mass Effect team went on to overhaul parts of the game and design a number of additional scenes, including a rich, emotional finale that players loved. But even changes that appeared to improve the game stoked the simmering rancor inside BioWare, infuriating Dragon Age leaders who had been told they didn’t have the budget for such big, ambitious swings."

"“It always seemed that, when the Mass Effect team made its demands in meetings with EA regarding the resources it needed, it got its way,” said David Gaider, a former lead writer on the Dragon Age franchise who left before development of the new game started. “But Dragon Age always had to fight against headwinds.” Early testers and Mass Effect leads complained about the game’s snarky tone — a style of video-game storytelling, once ascendant, that was quickly falling out of fashion in pop culture but had been part of Goldman’s vision for the multiplayer game. Worried that Dragon Age could face the same outcome as Forspoken — a recent title that had been hammered over its impertinent banter — BioWare leaders ordered a belated rewrite of the game’s dialogue to make it sound more serious. (In the end, the resulting tonal inconsistencies would only add to the game’s poor reception with fans.) A mass layoff at BioWare and a mandate to work overtime depleted morale while a voice actors strike limited the writers’ ability to revise the dialogue and create new scenes. An initial trailer made the next Dragon Age seem more like Fortnite than a dark fantasy role-playing game, triggering concerns that EA didn’t know how to market the game. When Dragon Age: The Veilguard finally premiered on Halloween 2024 after many internal delays, some staff members thought there was a lot to like, including the game’s new combat system. But players were less impressed, and sales sputtered."

"“The reactions of the fan base are mixed, to put it gently,” said Caitie, a popular Dragon Age YouTuber. “Some, like myself, adore it for various reasons. Others feel utterly betrayed by certain design choices.” Following the layoffs and staff reassignments at BioWare earlier in the year, a small team of a few dozen employees is now working on the next Mass Effect. After three high-profile failures in a row, questions linger about EA’s commitment to the studio. In May, the company relabeled its Edmonton headquarters from a BioWare office to a hub for all EA staff in the area. Historically, BioWare has never been the most important studio at EA, which generates more than $7 billion in annual revenue largely from its sports games and shooters. Depending on the timing of its launches, BioWare typically accounts for just 5% of EA’s annual bookings, according to estimates by Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co. Even so, there may be strategic reasons for EA to keep supporting BioWare. Single-player role-playing games are expensive to make but can lead to huge windfalls when successful, as demonstrated by recent hits like Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3. In order to grow, EA needs more than just sports franchises, said TD Cowen analyst Doug Creutz. Trying to fix its fantasy-focused studio may be easier than starting something new. “That said, if they shuttered the doors tomorrow I wouldn’t be totally surprised,” Creutz added. “It has been over a decade since they produced a hit.”"

Article by Jason Schreier. [source]

[bamsara]

Local chaos god gets humbled, creates chaos over it. His aim still needs some work though

I really need to stop drawing Drunken Gods chapter stuff and actually finish the damn chapter lmao

[teaboot]

I've started playing this new game when I'm bored where I look up shitty T-shirts with pictures and slogans on them intended to be worn to very specific occasions and I try to think of a different place where it would be way funnier to wear it

Some Examples:

ONE

EASTER SHIRT

Slogan or image: Easter bunny, "I have the best eggs"

Intended wear: Family event, community event

Funnier place to wear it: Fertility clinic

TWO

ST. PATRICK'S DAY SHIRT

Slogan or image: Man with two beers on green. "Dublin fistin"

Intended wear: At a bar with the boys

Funier place to wear it: BDSM club. With the boys

THREE

HALLOWEEN MATERNITY

Slogan or image: Skeletal ribcage aligned with the wearer's ribcage, and a cartoonish skeleton baby just below it.

Intended wear: Low-effort Halloween event

Funner place to wear it: Abortion procedure

[incorrectbatfam]

Bruce: What is in this bottle?

Jason: It's water.

Bruce: No, it's wine.

Jason: Listen here, Jesus, this is water.

[anonpolls]

Bonus! Please put in the tags where you are from and if your situation was common where you are from!

Thanks, Anon!

-submit your poll!-