#rogue trader critical

[erme-maererme]

the thing is. aurora is not wrong at all about any of this, this one is probably some of the best monologue in the game, this "people are the most easily replenished of all resources" is the main theme of the game, you, the rogue trader, will in the end just be delivered to the voidship crypt and another will take your place and the voidship will continue its millenia old journey regardless. but then we just go back to aurora burning people's eyes out

[unsupervised-threat]

There are no narrative inconsistencies in RT's Act 4. Period. Zero.

Also known as: my friend channeling her inner Cegorach, to deal with Act 4 shenanigans.

Obviously full of spoilers and critique bordering on venting. But in a hilarious way.

Me & the gals read it and had a good laugh, so we poked her to share it in public, but she's too shy. So now I'm going to share it. With her permission, of course XD

There are no narrative inconsistencies. Period. Zero. None.

Act 4 starts with the portal spitting us out on Janus, annoying Muaran.

“Fucking mon-keigh…” greets Muaran, despite us being allies. Once again, I beg Muaran to give me some colony projects, but he ignores me. We make our way back to my voidship with me wiping my tears away, while Yrliet pats me on the back sympathetically.

“Lord Captain! It is high time you do something about your xenos pet!” says Argenta and Heinrix the moment I finally sat my arse on my stupid throne. I look at them dead in the eye, tired of repeating myself, then I give them the middle finger. “Argenta, how about I lash you instead for what you did?” I add, but she ignores me. Everyone ignores what I just said, and I begin to question if Argenta ever admitted doing what she did. 'Okay. Must be the trauma induced delusions imagining these things, then’ I thought to myself, deciding to forget the whole thing.

Time to retire to my chambers for some peace and quiet.

KnockKnock. Idira wants to speak to me. KnockKnock Heinrix wants to speak to me. KnockKocno, black screen wants to speak to me. KocnoKoco, uh, wants to speeketh to meeh!?error?error??crash to desktop. Reboot required. …I meta-reload and decide to leave my chambers without resting. The cursed knocking finally ceases. The error filled warp releases us from its grip.

Let’s get down to Rogue Trading business.

“Anything interesting occurring in my absence?” I ask my bridge officer. “Lord Captain, Winterscale had misplaced himself in one of his jungle planets, Chorda allied herself with Lord Calcazar taking Footfall from us, and all of our colonies are on fire.” “Terrific news.” In no hurry, I make my way to scan random planets for resources which later I will find out I can’t even use. There is no more content. “Funny how little actual Rogue Trading I do when it’s basically my only fucking job…” I mumble to myself while finally turning to see what’s up with Chorda.

Bzzz! Zbang!

“Lord Captain!” Uh-oh. “What now?” I ask, hopeful for content™ “Lord Captain, we have intercepted an anomaly that almost collided with us,” reports my Vox Mistress. “Okay? Anything else about it?” I ask. “No, nothing else to report.” “...” “Then why the dramatic interruption? Is this not leading up to anything? My journal entry did not get updated. What was the point of this?” My Vox Mistress shrugs, “Only the Emperor knows, Lord Captain.” “...”

We reach Footfall, and we find out that Chorda is hanging Pirates for Piracy on a Piracy planetoid. “Hm. How does that make any sense? Is it not easier to just bomb the entire planet instead of purging it manually like this?” I question the logic of it out loud to no one in particular.

Chorda smirks smirkingly at my arrival. With the attitude of Paris Hilton welcoming some schmuck into her 5 stars Hilton hotel. “How do you like my deliverance of Imperium justice, RT?” she smugly asks. I frown. “How do you like this planetoid barren of any life forms if you plan on killing every single man here?” She ignores my questions and suddenly declares me to be placed under trial. “Sorry, what did you just say? A trial? A 3rd trial after I just escaped from Commorragh? Are you okay?” ‘Am I okay?’

Feeling overwhelmed by the stupidity of this narrative I pick up her spoon to eat this random man’s brains raw. Marazhai, for some reason, is into it. “You are disgusting” says Chorda, who 5 seconds prior also partook in eating this poor sod’s brains. “And you are a hypocrite who has peas for brains. Is that why you’re doing this? To replenish your non-existent brain lobs, perhaps?” I say, unimpressed with her insult.

In a flustered panic, Chorda shares Vladaym’s location and tells me to go kill him, despite me making it clear I despise her and want her dead. “Why are you telling me th- Oh for fu-, you know what? Nevermind. Let’s just go.” We leave.

We reach Vladaym's super secret hide out. “Hello to you, you sneaky rascal” I greet him in a friendly manner, because we’ve already established we’re allies. “Your Ladyship, you might not have a lot of love for me or our business-” “What?” I interrupt him. “What do you mean, Vladaym? I traded with the Kasballica. Do you even check your statistics? I am literally your number 1 store buyer. I send Footfall provisions. I kept you in charge of Footfall under Valancius’ wing. I was nice to you personally. What do you mean, I don't have a lot of love for you???!”

I get ignored, as per usual.

“Yo” says Hieronymus, making an aquila gesture greeting. “Yo” I salute back, making an aeldari greeting gesture in return. “Did you know I’m a piece of shit who indoctrinated Chorda since she was little to be the ultimate heretic killing machine? This is why she is the way she is btw.” Hieronymus admits with little prompting. “Oh, spare me her sob story! Are you serious?!” Hieronymus doesn’t respond, just soullessly stares at me, giving me nothing.

I become desperate.

“You info dumping her sob story on me, ONLY WITH A DOGMATIC DIALOGUE OPTION, is all this game gives me to make me like her enough to redeem her AS AN ICONOCLAST? How does that make any sense?! This is truly all you are going to give me??” I grab onto Hieronymus’ sleeve, having lost it entirely. The priest looks down at me with pity then shrugs. “The Emperor bestows a lot on his followers, my child. The gift of logic and sense however... were omitted here.” “Omitted? You mean just for this quest only, right? This is simply a flaw, a hiccup in the overarching narrative, and not for the rest of the story, father? Right? Right, father???” “...I am so sorry, my child. But while we’re at it, I must warn you. You will aggro my boss fight regardless of what you do during this quest.”

I stare into the dirty rooftop of the bar, to avoid tears leaking out of my eyeballs. The dirty metallic rooftop stares back. "I am not possessed or insane. Everything around me is simply too bugged. Nothing is real." I mumble crazily to comfort myself. The dirty rooftop then laughs at me, seeing how I have not reached any of the conviction point thresholds that are required for anything during this act.

I snap and let out an inhuman screech, pressing the quit button.

[lizzybeeee]

"'BioWare Magic' exists to serve man, and never to rule over him." Faded words found within the pages of a dust-covered 'BioWare Employee's Handbook'

I think one of the most messed up parts about BioWare is that they renamed crunch to 'BioWare Magic'. Because they did make magic. They made such magical worlds, stories, and characters that managed to captivate so many hearts and minds - that potentially left such a profound mark on the lives of those who experienced those stories. These games were one of the reasons I got into drawing as a hobby! They inspired me so much!

We're they perfect? No. But in some of the darkest times of my life I found an escape - a distraction that gave me some comfort and allowed me to escape the stresses of my life for a little while. Something that gave me a genuine feeling of joy when depression hit me particularly hard. I still hear tunes like the theme for Castle Cousland or the Inquisition menu theme and just get this rush of emotion within me because I have so many happy memories associated with the first three games.

I got to go on adventures -> I made my own character who got to influence change in this lovingly crafted world, and who could be as daring and strong as I wished I was in real life. I got invested in these characters -> they became friends, companions, and fell in love and I was there every step of the way. I got lost in the story and lore of this world in a way that no other fantasy game has managed to grip me.

That is magic.

It's vile that they called crunch - the most toxic and disgustingly prevalent aspect of gaming development 'magic' - it is the complete opposite. Reading about the burn out, the stress leave or a 'stress casualty' when a developer left for good. Getting a job in the industry you love, to create things that you love, only to have that love twisted into this corporate psychological dumpster-fire of a work culture...

A healthy, well-run studio would not have had four iterations of the same game, their core developers hemorrhaging with every new iteration, before being dumped at the finish line with this frankenstein mess of a game.

There is no alternative to Dragon Age - it's the only thing like it. It's just so sad that it ended the way that it did.

[blood-on-the-phoenix-crown]

I've now seen multiple people complain that the RT fandom "infantalizes" Yrliet and doesn't hold her responsible for anything and I have to ask...

Are we in the same fandom?

She's *constantly* criticized for her every action and character trait by the fandom. And not just the Imperium LARPers, a lot of people on the more progressive side do it too, they're just way more polite about it and couch it under "oh, she's just so poorly written" or hold double standards between her actions and similar ones by other, more popular ones *coughcough* Marazhai *coughcough* Heinrix *coughcough* Pasqal

I'm not saying anyone actually has to like Yrliet, but it's so bizarre how many people are convinced that there's some kind of wide-spread conspiracy to mischaracterize and over-defend her when half the fandom hates her and the other half seems to forget she exists most of the time.

[literallybyronic]

almost sobbed in relief yesterday bc i started rogue trader and the npcs are out there saying shit like "whoreson" and i'm having to do 45-minute 40Kwiki dives on the lore stuff and it suddenly hit me and i was just like "omg a game for grownups 🥺😭"

i bet i can go the whole game without someone saying "doin it euheuheuheuheuhe"

[meowse]

haha yeah if someone respectfully points out that you’re being a little fucking racist maybe Don’t pretend you’re immune to racism by virtue of being european

[clevermird]

Look, even as someone who loves her, I can fully admit that there are plenty of reasons to distrust/dismiss/even kill Yrliet during or after Act 3. I think saying "I/my RT are not able to get over this" is perfectly fair

But it does frustrate me how many of her most ardent haters are complete hypocrites about what she's gone through herself.

Yrliet's entire home was completely destroyed. Most of the people she has known and cared about in her life are dead and the few survivors are homeless refugees. We learn later that most of them were either killed (many by humans) or captured by the Drukhari to be tortured to death.

The Rogue Trader's direct predecessor was responsible for this, a person that most people in the RT's orbit still praise and speak of with respect. Abelard even tells her to her face that he's glad her home was destroyed.

And then there's the rest of your retinue. Most of them openly hate her, as do the bridge officers, and Heinrix in particular speaks regularly about how she should be tortured and killed.

Yet these same people, the ones who think falling for Marazhai's trap and getting you all captured is worthy of death/banishment, seem to think that she should just get over all of this direct aggression and the fact that she remains cautious and standoffish with humans is a sign that she's just a terrible person.

Make it make sense

[rosykims]

finishing rogue trader today probably. hope i explode

[pirunika]

i cant believe the romances in Rogue Trader is better than Veilguard like...that was your thing DA...wtf.....those guys live in the damn warhammer universe and STILL

[taamlok]

last thing i'm gonna say about the obsessive veilguard haters: they need to log off. they way they're behaving is chronically online and pathetic. they're getting themselves all foamed up into a lather over what? strangers liking a video game?

getting on the computer every day for 3 months to circle jerk about how bioware ruined your life because you didn't like a piece of fiction they made is loser behaviour. get a hobby and stop revelling in your own misery

[spawnofbhaal]

.

[tuna-keyboard]

hyperfixation so strong i gotta go take a walk about it

[silversiren1101]

Just made it to Rogue Trader Act 3 for realsies :)

What a steaming pile of garbage this is the worst. Not only is the actual mechanics of the place terrible (yay goodbye all your companions and equipment and a shit ton of traumas!) but I've immediately run into several gamebreaking bugs like a dark shadowy mass that follows the camera around and persists even with reloads.

Guess I'm done until they fix this broken mess...

[clevermird]

it weirds me out how vehement some people get in their hate for Yrliet.

Like, don't get me wrong, I totally understand not liking her or even killing her off because of spoiler reasons, but the number of people I've run into with detailed fantasies about having her tortured and killed (and showing up to unrelated posts talking postively about her to share them) is honestly kind of disturbing to me.

[boombox-fuckboy]

Hey!!! You commented on my post about limetown haha which is why I’m here. You offered to give podcast recs! What are your favorites?? I’m looking for some new ones

I completely forgot I had this ask, excuse the delay. Here's a selection of 30 podcasts I enjoyed from a broad range of genres: hopefully at least one appeals.

Let me know if you're after something more specific.

Arden: (Investigative, Comedy) On the 25th of December, 2007, heiress and young actress Julie Capsom crashed her car into a tree and fled into a nearby forest clearing, leaving a trail that seemingly vanished into thin air, and a dismembered torso in the trunk. A decade later, Bea, the first reporter on the scene, and Brenda, a detective on the case, are hosting a true crime podcast about it, and neither is remotely impressed with what the other has to say. Arden is also a retelling of various Shakespeare plays.

Desperado: (Supernatural, Adventure, Horror Elements) In a modern world of gods and magic, three young people, all under the patronage of death dieties, embark on the same adventure for different reasons: for safety, for revenge, and to kill The Old Man in the Sky. Fantastic banter and killer action sequences.

The Far Meridian: (Magical Realism) An agoraphobic young woman wakes one day to discover her lighthouse home has travelled to somewhere entirely unfamilar. As this continues to happen day after day, she uses the opportunity to search for her missing brother. A really unique and charming piece of fiction.

Gastronaut: (Sci-Fi) Interstellar travel audio blog of a former food critic as he travels to an active warzone to get firsthand experience with unfamilar cuisine. ft. Disgruntled martian nobility, sinister businessmen, explosive mushrooms, forbidden snacks, rogue revolutionary artists, and the consequences of your actions.

Girl in Space: (Sci-Fi) The Girl In Space lives alone on a space station, doing science, making cheese, rewatching Jurassic Park, and tending to the plants, animals, and artificial sun entrusted to her. It's a little lonely, but not a bad life. Would be a shame if someone came along to ruin it.

The Goblet Wire: (Microfiction, Weird Fiction) A surreal microfiction with horror elements, taking the form of phone calls to an audio-based game in which the voice of the mysterious Dictator leads each player through fantastic and horrific world and story.

Hello From The Hallowoods: (Horror, Supernatural) A dramatic entity beyond your comprehension visits your nightmares to tell stories of the people (in varying degrees of human and alive) that inhabit the strange, deadly, and beautiful Hallowoods, as they find meaning and sometimes eachother.

Hi Nay: (Supernatural Horror) A year after moving to Toronto, sound designer Mari finds herself drawn into helping people around the city with various horrific supernatural encounters due to her babaylan (shaman) family background. It quickly becomes apparent that there's something much more sinister and complicated happening in the background.

Inco: (Microfiction, Sci-Fi) A perpetually exausted interstellar information trader and her peppy AI find a mysterious (read: bratty) boy floating in space and are inadventently pulled into a world political intrigue.

Inn Between: (Fantasy) Ever curious about what the D&D characters get up to at the tavern between sessions? A generally lighter-hearted (with some exceptions) with richly-written and always-growing characters. A really interesting format, too: a lot of the adventure appears in the "next time" and "last time" segments which makes it all flow really nicely. Not a tabletop podcast.

Janus Descending: (Sci-Fi, Horror, Tragedy) A xenoarcheologist and a xenopaleontologist are sent to a study a dead city on a distant world. Nobody likes what they find there. A unique format, with one set of logs presented first to last, and the other last to first. I'd recommend listening to the supercut for this one.

The Kingmaker Histories: (Steampunk, Weird Fiction, Adventure, Fantasy Elements) In the Valorian Socialist Republic 1911, on her 25th birthday, tailor's apprentice Colette experienced the worst headache of her life. As a result, she fleed from town with a human artificer and a fae chef - both now smugglers - pursued by an utterly furious flesh-crafter. I'm not sure I'm selling how good this podcast is but it's very good.

Life With Althaar: (Sci-Fi, Comedy) A human repairman moves to a space station on the edge of human territory that is perpetually on the edge of self-destruction, and ends up with a less-than-ideal last-minute roomate. Althaar is polite, friendly, deeply interested in human culture, and eager to be friends. Unfortunately he belongs to a species that sends humans into a visceral panic at a glance.

Lost Terminal: (Sci-Fi, Hopepunk) Seth is a very lonely AI living on a satellite. His crew were left stranded aboard with no hope of return, and it's been longer than he can count since then. The Earth below him has changed dramatically, and with only a few other AI down there to talk to, he's very lonely. But! He has a plan to make some new friends.

Love and Luck: (Romance, Slice-of-Life and Urban Fantasy Elements) Voice messages cataloguing two young men falling in love and opening a queer dry bar together.

Midnight Radio: (Light Supernatural, Romance) Sybil McIntyre, host of the ever-popular 1950's nightly radio hour, begins exchanging letters with an old fan who has reluctantly returned to visit Sybil's beloved town.

Midst: (Weird Fiction, Western, Sci-Fi and Fantasy Elements) The old-western planetoid islet of Midst floats, rotating steadily, in a sea of reality-warping darkness. Down in the town of Stationary Hill, things are in movement, and vistors from the light above are about to bring unanticipated change. ft a monocycle-riding monster-hunter, radio-famous airship paladins, deadly mica, the universe's peppiest cultist, good dogs, and a really strange businessman.

The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality: (Weird Fiction, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy and Horror Elements) A friendly AI tour guide leads you on a tour of the Mistholme Museum, explaining the strange and often alternatural story behind each item.

Monstrous Agonies: (Supernatural, Relationship Advice) An interpersonal advice show for supernatural entities and other people living liminally in the modern world.

Night Shift: (Urban Fantasy, Investigative) Set in a modern world with the addition of magic, which manifests in small inherited skills/traits, can warp people in horrific ways, or can be manipulated with the right science (and intense work) to induce superpowers. Sebastian Fenn is a barista at Night Shift Coffee, but since things are slow he's decided to start a podcast to talk about various mysteries, crimes and conspiracies around the city, and of course finds himself deeper in them than he'd intended.

The Pasithea Powder: (Sci-Fi, Thriller Elements? I think?) The last major interplanetary war was full of atrocities, but none more infamous then the creation of Pasithea Powder, a memory altering drug which was used to horrible effect and landed it's entire team of creators in prison. So when decorated war hero Captain Sophie Green sees one of them wandering free, worlds away from his prison, she gets in touch with a very old, estranged friend: one Dr. Jane Gonzalez, who's behind bars for the very same reason.

SCP: Find Us Alive: (Weird Fiction, Supernatural, Horror and Slice-of-Life elements) You don't need to know anything about SCP to enjoy this. A research team gets trapped in an underground research facility when the complex collapses and the building is dragged into a pocket dimension. The tear it was designed to study begins creating tiny copies of itself, generating strange entities the team needs to deal with. And as if that wasn't enough, the entire situation physically resets itself every 30 days. And yet, this is genuinely also an office comedy.

Second Star to the Left: (Sci-Fi) Audio logs of a scout sent to explore and establish early infastructure new world, and the communications with the minder in charge of keeping her alive.

Seen and Not Heard: (Slice-of-Life, Drama) Seen and Not Heard follows Bet, who's still adjusting to life a year after a bout of severe illness, and the resulting hearing loss it caused. It's about the ways we make connection, and food, and art, and different kinds of grief.

The Silt Verses: (Horror) In a modern world where gods are abundant, frequently both commercialised and restricted, two devotees of an outlawed river god go on a pilgrimage.

SINKHOLE: (Sci-Fi, Weird Fiction) Forum posts from a data restoration community in a near future where the human brain is its own computer and one city hosts a massive void.

Starfall: (Fantasy) Seeking to escape her mysterious past and find some purpose, a young swordswoman joins a travelling actor's troupe. This new life is unfamilar and sometimes stressful, but she's taken under the wing of stagehand Fel, who's determined to help her feel welcome as she experiences the figurative and literal magic of the theatre for the first time.

The Tower: (Weird Fiction) A low-key, meditative podcasy about a young woman who decides to climb a seemingly endless tower. Gorgeous sound design.

The Vesta Clinic: (Sci-Fi) New GP Dr. Fae Underwood, with the expert transcription skills of resident AI Sec, writes up patient reports on human and alien patients of The Vesta Clinic, a medical clinic on the edge of human space. Really comfy and creative.

Victoriocity: (Steampunk, Mystery) Set in the steam-powered Victorian city of Even Greater London, an aspiring journalist and a tired detective find themselves working together to solve a strange murder. I say Victorian but as queen Victoria is now an extensive grandiocity of cyborg components following seven only-kind-of-successful assassinations, you may need to adjust expectations a little.

[amasec]

The Interrogator’s most recent report to the Ordo had been particularly critical of the Lord Captain – a truthful account, yet undoubtedly scathing – and he couldn’t say he was particularly eager to face the repercussions of her having discovered it. Having broken through multiple layers of alphanumeric encryption, Runa had likely taken the time to peruse the report in its entirety. Heinrix cringed inwardly as he recalled some of the more private observations that he had made – an instant reveal that he had, once again, been spying on her.

“Ten minutes, and not a second longer.” The Lord Captain stepped out from where she had been standing behind her desk, disregarding a secondary data slate onto the cluttered surface. Heinrix watched as it skidded across the spread of parchment. “You’re really rather good at following commands, aren’t you?”

Eyes narrowing as he glared at her, Heinrix swallowed his discomfort, recognising the ire that had begun to itch at the back of his neck. He wouldn’t rise to her goading. Remaining silent was a tried and tested tactic. His words could not be weaponized if he did not speak at all.

And so, the Interrogator remained silent, both arms held stiffly by his sides as he waited for her to continue. He knew enough of the brutish tenacity and extreme fearlessness of Calixian pirates to understand that even despite the length of his tenure on board her ship, he still did not trust the esteemed Rogue Trader in the slightest.

Regardless of his evident distrust, Runa appeared undeterred, continuing to observe him with a strange, unguarded curiosity as she circled him like a predator. Perhaps she craved the secrets of his very soul; his greatest fears, his clandestine desires. Or perhaps she was trying to find a weakness to exploit, searching for something she might be able to use against him. The latter was far more comprehensible than the former.

Oh, but how he wished he knew what she was thinking.