#theorycraft

[doledition]

whitney and affection

so. not a whitney fucker. a semi whitney enjoyer. yet there's something so...fascinating about whitney, so demented and truly strange about their behaviors, that makes me want to psychoanalyze them.

dolville, as we all know, is Rape Capital. Rape-Opolis. The super capital of getting abducted and violated. violation is the name of the game in dolville, whether it's mental physical or emotional. even characters who are considered fairly 'tame' or vanilla, also have their moments of violation- whether it be sydney during the rite of defilement (though it's arguable as to what extent sydney was fully lucid during it) to losing affection with robin if you refuse to sleep w them.

affection is tainted in dolville. it is a display of control, given by force. whitney is perhaps our most egregious example besides well. eden.(and i can do a lot on eden). whitney, from the onset, is violent. our first interaction w them is getting their knee shoved into our crotch. that is how we are introduced to them- as a menace, a violator. they're the most 'antagonistic' out of all the main li's right off the bat. i remember reading somewhere that vrel views whitney as a 'main antagonist' in dol, along with kylar and eden, though i could be off base with this.

anyways, even as we continue throughout the game, whitney is still the same level of cruel to us as in early game, except with more tender moments to balance it out. still, these methods of expressing affection remain a constant throughhout the game, even with high love. (granted, the dom and lust level also affects how whitney treats us but we'll get to that) whitney oftentimes takes on the role of a pimp for the player. there are many, many instances of whitney randomly grabbing the player up, as though in a scene of goodwill, and then marching them over to some rando in the park to pimp. and rest assured, you still won't be making any money, even at high love.

regardless of any amount of affection, really, whitney's behaviour continues to be cruel and violating, with no regards for pc's comfort. yet, there are tender, almost kind moments interspersed throughout our interactions with whitney. whether it's borne out of actual love for the pc or a need to display 'dominance' over them is well, debatable.

this does not negate, however, whitney's deep affection over the pc. whitney treats us how they were taught to treat others, not with respect but through a display of dominance, a need to prove how 'tough' and in control they are. whitney does not truly see pc as a person, but a toy-one they like, of course, but still a toy. pc's autonomy is nothing in their eyes, but a pesky thing to constantly contest with.

some people may say this is because whitney is just attempting to gain status, and inclusion, into their group of friends. however, while that may partly factor into why whitney treats pc as a prop, i'd argue that this isn't entirely the reasoning. i'd say whitney, at the end of the day, views pc more as a thing- a fun little thing, desperate and barking to play with-instead of a person.

this is magnified by pc's every move-if pc gives into them, this image is further solidified. if pc fights back, it beguiles them, entrances them to know more. we are treated very differently than whitney's other victims, entirely there's to torment. circling back to my earlier point of affection, whitney's treatment of the pc, their way of showing affection, is dependent on pc being a site of stress relief, a toy to play with, one without any capability of feeling any real animosity towards whitneys actions.

tl;dr: affection is violence, a display of strength, and cruelty to whtney. to get someone to love you, as the town has shown, you cannot respect them as a person. you must display your strength, and your great ability for violence and control. affection without violence and cruelty is not affection at all, now is it? (i wrote this pseudo-analysis on a whim very tired and without cross referencing the game so if there's something i'm missing or misinterpreted please let me know. also i probably just rehashed a bunch of Very Obvious Things so uh. twirls my hair.)

[hellomuller]

Great collaboration between SUMMONER and helloMuller for Theorycraft's game SUPERVIVE! Summoner brought helloMuller into the fold to develop the Pure Rush visual identity, toolkit and guidelines that captures the energy and action of the game, enhancing the core branding designed by Koto. Exciting times ahead for SUPERVIVE!

[criffyzou]

Finally completing my Dragon Age characters as D&D classes with the Veilguard roster.

This is completely separate because Veilguard does heinous things to my neat specialization system; I don't even know where most of the companions would fit in the classic specs.

Bellara: Wood elf Armorer Artificer

Harding: Hill dwarf Creation Bard

Davrin: Wood elf Cavalier Fighter

Lucanis: Human Soulknife Rogue

Neve: Human Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer (silver)

Emmrich: Human Undead Warlock

Taash: Goliath Ascendant Dragon Monk

[anuninterestingperson]

truth scrapper trailer theorycrafting extravaganza (part 1 - sosotte & saturated items)

so i mentioned yesterday that i had spent around six hours (from 1:31 PM to 8:40 PM, largely continuously minus lunch break) spouting off theories and observations after watching the truth scrapper trailer. it has been requested i share by, idk, some random disc or whatever /silly

i will try to format this as comprehensibly as possible and compress it a little given it is, like i said, six-odd hours of compiling everything that has been said about the game thus far everywhere, rewatching the trailer many many many times, talking with the other folks in the server about things, and overall just spinning my wheels wildly. but also, it is six-odd hours of things and i am absolute shit at compressing so i am going to do this in multiple parts lol. part 1 will focus on my theories on sosotte and saturated items!

also i'm only going to post stuff i personally said for the other folks in the server's privacy, and focus primarily on my own thoughts so that i don't take credit for others' without showing them =v= but def keep in mind other people were there and saying so many interesting things and we were pinging off each other a lot, so a lot of my thoughts were inspired by the other very smart very fun people talking! also note that alt text has been provided for all screenshots if they get hard to read anywhere. anyway let's start

[part 1 - you are here!] [part 2] [part 3]

so, sosotte and also saturated items

you'll see why i have these categories together in a bit. if sosotte's hat is unimportant this will all be very funny eventually

(p.s. system sosotte is in reference to tawny and everyone else's theory here! we're in the same server, the discussion from that post was from earlier in the day before i woke up but was being referenced throughout the day afterwards)

if anybody read this: wow! why /jkjk but also let us have fun theorizing together. i extend my hand, ibuprofenlike

next part will focus on theories about the truth scrappers guild and the dwell!

[bucksboobs]

Wow anyway who wants to have fun discussing potential Buckley Sibling conflicts over Tommy because I do. Maddie should accidentally say something mildly homophobic in front of Tommy because she’s Trying but she’s not perfect and this is Buck’s first ever boyfriend and then Tommy should be his usual acerbic self who lashes out with sarcasm when his feelings are hurt and hurt her feelings back and she and him have tension for a while and Buck is stuck in the middle because “well Maddie he is right that it was a bad thing to say” and “baby, you didn’t have to snap at her like that.” And because Chimney is her husband he has to take her side and because Hen is, y’know, gay she’s on Tommy’s side and then Athena and Maddie have to have a discussion about acclimating to a late in life coming out in one’s family and in the end it’s nobody’s “fault” but Maddie and Tommy get a one-on-one that deepens their relationship as future in-laws.

[cheshire-alice]

So I was thinking about Nice and the fact that he practiced ballet seems so interesting to me.

As a person with diagnosed OCD, the ruminating and intrusive thoughts become so debilitating that you can function. However, the only time my brain shuts off is when I'm dancing (I enjoy hip-hop).

However, a part of me wonders if he enjoyed it. His eyes look dead in one of the PVs where he's performing. Hands drowning him of being his own person. It's like it's signifying the need to be perfect. The perfect hero.

I haven't done ballet in a very, very long time, but it was hard. It requires so much time and is rough on the body. It's ridged, and a sense of individuality is not encouraged.

However, the we've only seen him his most free when he was dancing with Wreck. The movements weren't defined. The environment vibrant, fun, and he looks happy.

It also made me question the need to use his fist rather than his legs. The only thing I could think of was that dance (whether ballet, hip hop, pop, etc) is so important to him that he doesn't want to damage something that brought him joy.

Ling Lin doesn't think about it because to him "of course a dance would want to fight with their legs. Especially since they would be stronger."

I dunno, I'm prolly rambling at this point.

[rustedhills]

While Dream BBQ: Lonely Door has multiple "routes" to reach the ending, I find it interesting that some people ascribe either 'good' or 'bad' qualities to these routes, usually to the tune of Purge Event = smashed genie = bad end, and Ascension = meeting the genie = good end. But I think DBBQ itself actually refutes this idea!

After all, it's only in the purge event that we see ENA's opinions more truthfully--she craves freedom at the expense of her "stupid job", and acknowledges--implicitly--that the event is kind of fun, torturous as it is. You're more likely to "fail" getting to Theodora (frogger mastery notwithstanding) and meet Unforgiven Frank--a sign that, on this route, you are being reminded of why you are unforgiven: party too hard, don't do your work, and you don't get to meet the genie. Bad end, right?

Well, maybe.

The ascension route seems much better: if you do the right job for everyone, satisfy the needs of every character you come across, and stay chipper and trusting, you get the humanboard! Work hard to overcome the platforming obstacles in a literal 'struggle to the top' with your business fellow (the "ultimate board member"), and you are rewarded. You can even cross the river and meet the gen--BATHROOM.

But Theodora can't--or won't--forgive ENA even then. Even Frank remains unforgiven, and whether or not you cross the river of souls correctly, ENA's ending is the same--she loses her body in the disappearing Uncanny Streets and has to reform it at the hub.

Ultimately, while one route seems to be more "proper" and "good" than the other, both end the same--and I think this is a powerful statement on the part of DBBQ, or at least Ch. 1. It doesn't matter how hard ENA works, whether she does everything right, keeps her composure or loses it, parties on the job or not... she remains unforgiven yet, and the people in power seem uninterested in helping her.

So much for being a good worker, destiny or no.

So much for trusting in G0D.

[doledition]

hm. pessimist robin theme song 'sinking boat' by infinity song. it sounds as angelic as robin is portrayed in game...kind, loving, ever giving, classic girl next door. sinking relationship w pc, realizing that pc isn't the person they idolized...

robin giving up on whatever dream they had of escaping bailey. they know their place is in the orphanage. there's no saving any of the orphans- but they can try to make life in the orphanage better. 'they major on the minor notes...'they bring happiness into a dismal situation.

'why should i worry about rocking a sinking boat...it's all going in flames and we're dancing in a cloud of smoke...'oh robin....idealism naiveté ignorance...when simply it was a certain nihilism, an understanding of their doom, that leads robin to interact w the world without wanting to change it.

pc raising robin's confidence could be them fighting back against this form of nihilism, showing them that hope and the ability to fight back is within reach. it's confidence yes, but it's also an excitement, a knowledge- that they can climb out of the rubble of the past. they can become something, someone, *stronger*.

of course, then we have the whole 'oh no robin finds out you're a skank' plotline. robin! robin! pc is a WHORE robin! pc is JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE IN TOWN robin!

(yes, me and my Gay fellows ascribe to the 'robin has a madonna/whore complex'. one of the only good things to come out of freud's mouth). hmm...perhaps returning to the thesis of this song, knowing nothing can be changed, but trying to fight back as hard as they can in an attempt to make pc 'safe', to be able to idolize them once more? which can lead into some of their 'unhealthier' aspects in pc and robins relationship (such as the insistence on sex)

many thoughts. however regardless give this banger a listen it's Very Good

[honeyflashbang]

My theory on Sampo's true identity...

(Minor Spoilers for 2.4) (also, I’m no expert in… anything, really, but these are just my ramblings).

So, this has probably been mentioned before, but I have a teeny-tiny theory about Sampo’s true identity, and it relates to Finnish mythology.

So, “Sampo” in and of itself doesn’t have a set meaning, but it has its roots in Finnish mythology, particularly the “Kalevala” which is a 19th-century compilation of epic poetry. In it, a blacksmith god by the name of Seppo Ilmari(nen) forges the mythical device known as “The Sampo”. It’s never quite explained what The Sampo really is; some versions depict it as a mill, others as a cornucopia from which bountiful creations flow from, and some even have it as being a world tree/world pillar, so what The Sampo really is, isn’t entirely known. But, what is known, is that it brought riches and good fortune to its holder (again, the same as the cornucopia from Greek mythology).

But why am I mentioning all of this? Why bring up the Kalevala? It could be that Hoyo just chose the name “Sampo” for some flavour—befitting of a character who magics up relics from seemingly thin air and is trying to create riches—and yeah, it’s a possibility…

Until I saw these two screenshots from the 2.4 story:

You know what this means, right? 

Kalevala is a real planet in Hoyo’s Star Rail universe, and I find it awfully coincidental that they would use this name for a planet and not have it related to a certain blue haired conman, especially since The Sampo is such a pivotal element in the plot of the Kalevala—there is no way this is a coincidence (I refuse to believe it).

This leads me to believe that Kalevala is Sampo’s real home world, and is where he originates from.

Now, this is all well and good, knowing where “The Sampo” hails from, but I want to focus on its creator—Seppo Ilmari(nen)—and his parallels to a certain blue haired conman. For one, Ilmari(nen)’s name is quite interesting as the ‘Ilma’ part is Finnish for ‘air’ or ‘weather’, and as we know, Sampo’s element is that of ‘wind’ (And also the fact that Ilmari(nen) is credited as “Godlike smith-hero and creator of the sky”. I could go into a whole spiel about Ilmari(nen) and Qlipoth swinging their giant hammers in tandem together for all eternity (Go Sampard! Geppie is Qlipoth's true heir, you can't convince me otherwise!), but that’s for another conspiracy theory lol).

So, ‘Ilma’ means ‘air’, and Sampo wields ‘wind’.

Cool.

If the parallels ended there, I’d just say I was being crazy… but there’s more.

Sampo’s 4th (and arguably best) eidolon is called “The Deeper the Love, the Stronger the Hate”. Two out of his six eidolons refer to 'love', whilst the other 4 are to do with wealth and riches. The wealth and richest aspect leans towards The Sampo of mythology, whilst the ‘love’ aspect, well…

According to the story, Seppo Ilmari(nen) is the unluckiest bastard alive when it comes to love. Like, seriously. His whole storyline is that he can’t find a woman. For one, Seppo Ilmari(nen) is double crossed by his so called buddy, Väinämöinen, into creating The Sampo for the evil witch Louhi of Pohjola in exchange for her daughter’s hand in marriage (which, Ilmari didn’t even want in the beginning), but when the poor guy actually sees the daughter and falls in love with her (and subsequently creates the Sampo—after failing miserably a number of times, mind you—he creates a crossbow, a boat, a cow(wtf?) and a plough, all which are somehow either evil or flawed), she ups and just leaves him hanging! (in the original runes, however, he is successful in gaining a wife, as his ‘unlucky in love’ spiel was later added by Lönnrot in compiling the Kalevala).

As with any mythology and re-telling of it, there’s so many different versions of the same event. In “The Maiden of the North”, a 1898 opera written by Oskar Merikanto, both Ilmarinen and Väinämöinen compete for the chance to marry Louhi’s daughter, who is then mentioned as being “Ilmari(nen)’s first wife” and who later dies to Kullervo’s curse (apparently she was a bit of a bitch to Kullervo by taunting and tormenting the poor boy—who was a child slave mind you!). Distraught, Ilmari(nen) forges himself a wife of gold and silver, but he finds her to be too cold and callous—he forges her out of love but only finds hate—so he tries to gift her to Väinämöinen (who doesn’t want her either, lol), and suggests he cast her back into the furnace and to “forge from her a thousand trinkets”.

Here’s the accompanying poem:

Never, youths, however wretched,

Nor in future, upgrown heroes,

Whether you have large possessions,

Or are poor in your possessions,

In the course of all your lifetime,

While the golden moon is shining,

May you woo a golden woman,

Or distress yourselves for silver,

For the gleam of gold is freezing,

Only frost is breathed by silver.

It is apparently your standard Aesop’s fable of “money can’t buy happiness”, which is something else I see in our dear old Sampo Koski. During our time in Belobog, we see how different he acts with the Underworld and Overworlders. To the poor, he actually seems approachable (albeit a bit of a nuisance), going so far as to help the Underworlders (an example being the questline “Survival Wisdom” in which he and Peak set up a business together renting out his tools to help the miners make a decent wage to support their families). In contrast, we actively see Sampo being very hostile towards the Overworlders, scamming them and putting the nobles in their place or setting them up to be caught by the Silvermane Guards (an example being during the museum questline where you discover his identity as “Mr Cold Feet”. Sampo clearly states to who he thinks is his mark that ‘we are not friends’ in a very hostile manner, something which we’ve not seen from Sampo before as he is usually quite amicable). 

For all Sampo’s showboating and flashing his money around, he helps where it counts. He wants to make money, sure, but not at the detriment of the people who need it the most, only to those with excess.

Anyway, back to him being unlucky in love…

In another rune entitled “Kosinta”, Ilmari(nen) goes on a journey to compete for Hiisi’s daughter, and wins by completing various feats, one of them being “ploughing a field full of snakes”:

And as we know, Sampo is very heavy on the snake motifs (the head of the snake on his shoulders, the spine wrapped around him, the daggers are its fangs…etc.)

So that’s another interesting link between Seppo Ilmari(nen) and Sampo Koski.

So, why have I gone on this long winded tangent about Seppo Ilmari(nen) when I’m supposed to be talking about Sampo Koski?

Well, that’s because I think Sampo Koski’s real name is (or a variant of) Ilmarinen.

In the Hoyo universe, I believe Ilmarinen came from the planet Kalevala and ‘created’ the persona of Sampo Koski, much like how in the Kalevala, Seppo Ilmari(nen) forged The Sampo.

As I’ve listed above, there’s so many links between the two:

“Air” as a name and “Wind” as an element.

Seppo Ilmari(nen) ploughed a field of snakes to win Hiisi’s daughter’s hand in marriage, whilst Sampo Koski relies heavily on snake motifs for his attire.

Sampo’s two eidolon names that relate to love (which are completely different from the other 4 eidolon names), whilst Seppo Ilmari(nen) is known to be unlucky in love.

I’m pretty damn sure Sampo creates his own bombs and tinkers with the old relics to bring them back to life, whereas Seppo Ilmari(nen) is a smith who created the dome of the sky! They’re both artificers!

And now the revelation that a planet by the name of “Kalevala” exists is no mere coincidence.

So, either Sampo is Ilmari(nen) - or! - Sampo is a puppet (like Herta) created by someone called Ilmari(nen). 

(I would love if his 5* version is him with this name).

Right, I’m finished rambling. Gonna go huff some copium...

[cosmereplay]

I have half-formed thoughts about WaT I wanna write down before I forget. So I think the three MCs of the first half of Stormlight, Kaladin, Shallan, and Dalinar, each highlight one of the three oaths of the Knights Radiant--Life before death (Kaladin), Strength before weakness (Shallan), Journey before destination (Dalinar). Their journeys through the first five books highlight both the strengths of those oaths and their limits/drawbacks.

Kaladin chooses to live over and over again during tough times, and that's inspiring! But he's so dedicated to that oath that he will choose to live forever if given the opportunity. Given how the Heralds and Fused (and even people like Hoid) are doing, it seems like life over death Every Time might be a bad idea actually. (There's also the idea that Life before death doesn't specify a quality of life, which is another thorny issue I won't get into here)

Shallan chooses strength to cover up her weaknesses, and the idea that you can fake it till you make it is really inspiring! But she uses strengths that shouldn't have been used--using her power and privilege to brute force her way through situations and step on others, leveraging the power of denial to ignore her problems, and focusing on her talents (like lightweaving) to the detriment of learning new skills (like soulcasting).

Dalinar chooses journey over destination every time! He overcomes his doubts that he can recover by taking it one day at a time, and that's really inspiring! But when applied to other situations, like making unilateral decisions on behalf of Alethkar in escalating situations, or using threats of physical force to "inspire" Thaylenah to join the Coalition, each individual choice leads to an outcome that could have been predicted. Dalinar slowly usurps the throne from Elhokar, and the Coalition easily becomes shaken when built on a foundation of fear. Even when he breaks his oaths to show a lesson to Honor's power, he's thinking "I'm going to force the other Shards into dealing with this" and he doesn't consider the long term impact of his choice.

Throughout the front half, and especially in Wind and Truth, we start to really see the cracks, the weaknesses of the Immortal Words as well as the weaknesses of the Shards that founded those words. I'm absolutely fascinated to see where this is going to go in the back half, which Brandon has been affectionately calling the Voidlight Archive...

Dare I say we will learn about the strengths of Odium's power (we've already learned some of the weaknesses)? Or Retribution's? Will Honor remember creating the Knights Radiant and try to recreate them with Passion/Hatred as a co-founder instead of Growth? Will Ba-Ado-Mishram, perhaps? Ahhh so excited to see how this is going to play out...

[criffyzou]

My dragon age next gen kids moodboard were only humans and dwarves, so I started a new elfy one, and decided to document my process.

Here is the resulting rambling.

First thing I usually do is find stand-ins for the parents, to have *something* to start from. They usually don't appear on the moodboard itself, but I love to do that step.

I'm pinning these two deviantartists as Cammen & Gheyna, teens from the DAO dalish camp that the warden help get together (them but older & as parents). This is to keep to my theme of "kids that exist or survive thanks to the heroes of Thedas".

It's then time to pick a name. It can be a lore thing, i.e. Ailis Theirin is named after a chantry sister from Maric and Loghain's fereldan rebellion days, who raised Cailan and, I choose to believe, Anora too, once Loghain started bringing her to work. It can also be completely unrelated: I wanted an old french name for Pernille de Chalons, but as a french person myself, all of it sounded cringey; in the end her name is from the karpe song Au Pair. It sounds orlesian enough but is not actually french.

I'm not good at elven names in Dragon Age, my Lavellan inquisitor is named Sheana because I was being a Dune nerd when I learned there was a Siona among the emerald knights (iykyk). The reward for the quest Cammen's Lament is The Tale of Iloren and its corresponding codex, a book cherished by Cammen's family for generations. I like Iloren; it's technically a male keeper in the tale, but the name feels gender neutral, and I want that kid to be a girl.

Cammen & Gheyna get married in 9:30, but they're so young their first child doesn't have to be born for a number of years. By my referent point 9:52, I want her to still be a teen, around the same age as her parents when we meet them in Origins ? I don't actually know how old Cammen and Gheyna are. I also want Lena (born in 9:37) to still be the baby of the band; let's go with 9:35.

Now, class ! I really want a dalish warrior, but there aren't many interesting warrior specializations. Spirit Warrior is my favorite of what's left, and my favorite warrior spec overall, so it's perfect.

Identity down, now to the moodboard specifics !

I like to follow the old lavellanpls template because it forces me to think about the character in details I would not have thought of.

Complexion is a square I use for faceclaims. Both Iloren's parents are white, like a lot of Dragon Age NPCs; I've not had a lot of wriggle room for non-white next gen kids outside of Zerlinda's son, whose dad is not shown, and Kieran, both Morrigan and Alistair being biracial even if Bioware doesn't show it. I don't really brainstorm for that one, I simply look at a lot of pictures until something clicks.

Wardrobe has a few armor options from my initial generic dalish pin rampage, that I may choose from when I have a better idea of the dominant color. My main issue is the lack of consistency in dalish heavy armor, and how hard it is to find a real life equivalent.

Hair can be Gheyna's red, Cammen's ash blond, or a mix of the two, but I have too many redheads already.

Now is the time I start to lie invent rather than extrapolate. I want this elven kid to be strongly attached to her dalish way of life, à la Velana, because we have enough self-loathing elves in canon. That could Home accounted for then, something representing the dalish camp, or the nearby Brecilian ruins.

Obviously I cannot resist the Animal square for a dalish from that clan, born after the werewolf conflict, to be a wolf despite how on the nose it is. I like when things are predictable.

Iloren has to be an extravert, if not because she was raised in a commune, then because we have more introverts in the current next gen lineup and I like balance. E and J feel right, let's try ENFJ. Yes this is relevant, as I use either the Season or Element squares as clues for the character's personality. Season I will probably put Brecilian forest in its winter dreariness, so let's focus on element: First one I can think of is ironbark, "surprisingly strong and very light". It is also somewhat blue in color; that is our first official color of the moodboard !

Accessory square I often put down as a weapon, as that seems the most logical option for a prized possession. It could also be something sentimental from games lore, like Tini Kondrat's toy horse, like the one the warden gave Oghren as a joke, that he may have repurposed as an actual toy for his child. My best example of a Spirit Warrior is actually Fenris, who uses two handed weapons; however my only weapon idea is the Sulevin Blade from Inquisition, but it is not a weapon Iloren would have access to. Let's instead use the book Cammen gives as a reward.

Last square unaccounted for is Texture, which is usually my "make the moodboard actually cohesive" free card, while keeping it relevant to the character, adding personality or background hints I could not fit into the rest. Something Spirit Warrior-y, as it's been missing so far, like maybe their weird brand of fade cloak.

Aaaand we're done ! A brand new complete character, spun whole cloth from a vague desire to have an elf in the lineup.

[charmwasjess]

woke up thinking about that scene in Labyrinth of Evil where Yoda rightly points out how if you think about it, Dooku had less than zero practical reasons for calling off his guard escort and halting his escape from Geonosis to enjoy a silly lightsaber duel with Anakin and Obi-Wan. You know, the whole point is to escape capture, if something went wrong there, the CIS is dead on arrival, plus the duel proves Dooku is a martial dark side user and not just a political enemy.

And Yoda's conclusion, having known Dooku better and longer than anyone living? The reason was simply that Dooku couldn't resist an opportunity to show off in front of his lineage. It wasn't a tactical play, it was just his batshit awful personality.

[anuninterestingperson]

truth scrapper trailer theorycrafting extravaganza (part 3 - amour & betz and repeated symbols)

spent a while theorizing yesterday about truth scrapper after the trailer release; parts 1 and 2 focused on sosotte, saturated items, the truth scrappers guild, and the dwell. this final part will contain theories about amour & betz and observations about repeated symbols within the trailer!

as mentioned previously, i'm only going to post stuff i personally said for the other folks in the server's privacy, and focus primarily on my own thoughts so that i don't take credit for others' without showing them. but definitely keep in mind other people were there and saying so many interesting things and we were pinging off each other a lot, so a lot of my thoughts were inspired by the other very smart very fun people talking! also note that alt text has been provided for all screenshots if they get hard to read anywhere. anyway let's finish up this mess

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3 - you are here!]

(perhaps that is why i think betz should be a girlloser. howl is after all the original. but no more genuinely i think betz is so put-together-looking / 3 on silly little guy scale / 'kind and proper' / you get what i'm going for, right? like the vibes. the vibes of being someone who should not be a loser. that he just deserves it? they do apparently swear the most so i feel like when they do lose composure it'll be really something and i want it to happen <3 in the nicest way possible i swear)

(not really a theory. just an observation. good for you amour)

this isn't something i talked about yesterday but i'm interested in the juxtaposition of how amour and betz are described in the steam listing and the website.

for amour, the steam listing: mischievous and curious; website: annoying, but susceptible to flattery / dull, helpful. for betz, the steam listing: kind and proper; website: knight in shining armor / a bit of a pushover. it's like the website is saying the same or similar things in the least charitable or most clinical way possible. mischievous and curious - annoying. proper - knight in shining armor (which i think i understandably view as sounding sort of derisive in this context). kind - a bit of a pushover.

it'll be very interesting to see how this pans out in practice. which of the descriptions is right? is betz actually a pushover, or is who is speaking in those bios just condescending towards kind people? if the knight in shining armor thing is indeed intending to be derogatory, is it always a good thing for betz that he feels inclined to help, or will the people subject to it sometimes feel it condescending? betz has a brigade named after them. is it a fanclub (and if so, how does he feel about that? especially as someone who gets embarrassed easily) or people who feel they need to protect him (and if so, why?) or a group of people they lead (and if so, why, and are they a force for good overall or a larger symptom of a need for control or something)? is amour actually a proper herhimbo (as it were) this time or is the person who wrote the bios not inclined to dig any deeper because it isn't useful for the mission? we know from the faq that they're not always going to 'make the best decisions for themselves or one other' so while my first and also second and third reactions to the website bios are 'what?? mean' and i do still think that is true i can't help wondering whether there's some truth to it as well that will end up becoming pertinent to the larger emotional narrative

i also think that these characteristics will interface with sosotte's memory in intriguing ways. (yes i used 'intriguing' just so that i wouldn't use 'interesting' again hush it's fine) amour is curious--will he want to know more about sosotte's memory loss, and if so, is it something that will grate against sosotte for her to poke at? betz is kind, but could that feel like condescension to somebody with what equates to a disability (if potentially a magical one), and if they are also proper, could that rub up badly sometimes against sosotte forgetting? and that's not even getting into the fact that it's mentioned what you choose to remember can influence how sosotte reacts in the future. if sosotte writes that betz is kind, she will be more inclined to view things charitably. if she writes that betz is nosy and interfering or something instead, that can color everything a different direction. 🤔 missteps upon missteps

the last thing i didn't mention but that i'm still wondering about today is that the interview from yesterday mentions the game will go the classic vn route of needing to complete good endings for both characters before being able to unlock the true ending. i'm crossing my fingers for polyam true ending (we'll seeeeee i just love polyamory endings... [everyone who knows the fic i'm writing stares at me in deadpan. yes yes we all know what i'm about lol] but i am also very very curious if there will be bad endings. i almost hope there is...i'm highly allergic to being ~mean~ in gameplay so it'd wig me out on one hand but on the other, narratively, i desire Consequences

repeated symbols

these mostly were just me pointing out stuff i saw a lot within the trailer when i was going frame by frame! it's a lot more me asking questions about what they mean than proposing answers but hey

(the rest of the forget me nots are much more obvious but i think it's important that they're on sosotte's mind enough that she doodles them also!)

(these come from the scrapbook, front of scrapbook, scrapbook, and the walls of cul-de-puits respectively)

(walls of cul-de-puits for the first, scrapbook cover/insides blocked by gameplay window for the second two. if i had to guess, i'd think the previous symbols are different but related and have to do with rituals--some sort of writing system perhaps?--and the second is a truth scrapper symbol. mostly because light makes me think of, like, revealing the truth? but perhaps it has something to do with another element of the world)

anyway there we are, that's about the sum of the stuff i went over yesterday! i'm terribly excited to learn more and to find out more about the world. fighting off the urge to start a truth scrapper spreadsheet in all honesty. if you have any theories and wanna talk about them feel free to yell them in my general direction! otherwise i hope this was, if nothing else, something vaguely amusing for people to look upon one day. thanks for readin' o7 brin out

[alexanderwales]

I spent some time last night thinking about how you could create a procedural murder mystery that's actually fun to solve in a videogame, and the conclusion I came to was "steal as much of Wildermyth's background systems as possible".

The way that Wildermyth works is, there are a fairly wide number of pre-authored stories that have lots of built-in variations on them through their system of varying lines. When you play the game, and it's deciding on stories, it randomly selects one of those stories, then sees whether the available cast can fit in them.

So you might have a story like "secret affair", which would require:

Married woman, uptight

Married man, angry

Unmarried man, free-spirited

And depending on the script, you just further constrain their features, though the more you constrain, the less likely that script is actually going to be used.

So for this murder mystery game, we generate ~8 people, then we rifle through our scripts and see who can fit into one of them. We keep slapping in scripts until all eight of them have something going on.

So the game is, you interview these people. The questions and answers are, in part, tied to the individual scripts that they're a part of, so if you press whoever is in the married woman slot about her alibi, which is contradicted by someone else, eventually she'll cave and explain that fine, she was with unmarried man, but not to cheat on her husband, because she was being blackmailed!

And so gameplay is mostly this, a combination of talking to people and searching for physical clues. I would expect that physical clues would be relatively thin on the ground, because they're frontloaded, and that kind of makes for bad gameplay to have a half hour of noting the positions of glasses on tables and smudges of lipstick or whatever, followed by wall after wall of text. Ideally, these are interspersed.

And it's the nature of these scripts that there's something to uncover about everyone, and all kinds of scenes that play out, which is the meat of the gameplay. Several people are lying, but most of them aren't lying about the murder, they're lying about bribes, blackmail, affairs, lovechildren, financial ruin, etc., and the mess of contradictions slowly makes it clear who the killer must be so you can sit down and do the final confrontation after having locked in means, motive, and opportunity.

I think this "pile of prewritten scripts" approach is probably workable, the only issue is making sure that there are enough of them that someone would want to play the game ~20 times. The risk is that eventually the play will start to see the patterns, and is on the lookout for all the usual murder mystery tropes. It's going to be hard to surprise the player! But I think with some care it's possible to have a lot of fun stuff in there.

One other thing is that the way Wildermyth scripting works is that people are selected for scripts on the basis of their attributes ... except that the player generally knows those attributes, and here, we can make discovering those attributes part of the gameplay. Some things are outwardly obvious, but other things, like what class someone belongs to, or how much money they have, can be hidden and then uncovered, because obviously a part of a classic murder mystery is that people are lying about who they are.

The other thing I would want to do, which would be complicated, is to have a map of the interior space of wherever the murder took place, and some record of where everyone went and when. This would help to generate a hint system (which I think is obligatory in a murder mystery game), and with the right kind of UI, give the player something to check against, so you can have an automated murder board type thing.

The main thing is probably just writing a bunch of scripts that don't step on each other's toes, which in a classic murder mystery is kind of easy, since many of the people are strangers to each other. There's no particular reason for a wounded veteran to know a jazz singer, if their stories don't intersect, and the way the script setup works, if their stories do intersect, then they're being picked for particular things: a liason subplot, or childhood friends, or something appropriate to their age and station. And it's crucially important that you not overlap them in ways that break the suspension of disbelief.

Further, when there are a bunch of characters in a room together, you can have dialogue chunks that reflect their tensions and alliances, which are all dynamic ... except that this, too, is a lot of stuff to write, even if you have a modular and dynamic system set up for it.

I do think that this is at least one correct way to go though.

[cheshire-alice]

So I was driving and listening to Inertia and really listened to the lyrics. And it dawned on me that Inertia might be Lin Ling's Hero song. I found it weird that we didn't get a song for him in episode 4 and that Paragon was played at the end.

But then I remembered that Inertia is just the opening of the series.

It's not the actual theme of the series.

Usually, the opening is the song that represents the show as a whole, but on the official To Be Hero X website (the Aniplex one), it states that Jeopardy is the series' main theme.

I found it weird, so it made me pay attention to the lyrics.

So let's analyze this. Look at the first verse:

I always knew where I stood I tried to be so good Look at me now I dunno know how but I'm a real hero

Here, it feels like we're establishing that he's trying to be Nice, living his dream of wanting to be a hero.

No hiding in the shadows Time to strut I'm gonna make a splash to make this cut You've got to believe that I am free So no hesitation

Next, we have him wanting to be the ideal hero or it can signify what his type of hero he wants to be.

Now we get to the chorus of the song:

Jump into the night Cuz I can smell the trouble Don't you miss the fight Just get there at the double I gotta make a difference I'm moving with a purpose I'm feeling my inertia Inertia Inertia Stubbornly I will believe I will believe Keep dreaming Stubbornly I will believe I will believe Keep dreaming Is it my turn to be the hero? Yeah! Cuz I gotta be the hero Yeah! Cuz I gotta be the hero Yeah! Cuz I gotta be the hero Yeah!

Lin Ling, when we first met him, wanted to push the idea that any person could be a hero. To live that ideal hero life. The "I will believe, keep dreaming, stubbornly" is his to the core towards episode 4 when he decided not to live in Nice's shadow.

And then we get the "Is it my turn to be the hero?"

Why would this be the case for any of the others in the series when it is established that they are famous heroes of their own?

However, it's really until we get into the second set of verses that really pushed the idea that this is talking about Lin Ling.

Didn't you know it's enough just to deserve that love? Without a crowd Without a stage You're still a real hero I'm gonna be the last line of defense I'll blow it if I lack the confidence I've got to believe that there's a need for my whole existence

He ended up gaining his Trust value by wanting to protect the person that he cared for the most. He didn't care that his believers wanted him safe or not to fall into The Eye of Truth's trap. While he wasn't a hero then, he rose to the occasion.

[celestial-games]

Leaf beetles part 4: pea and bean weevils. I don't know why they're called this since they aren't actually weevils at all and they're not closely related and they don't even have the characteristic weevil nose. Can we all agree to call them something like "legume leaf beetles" instead ? :] that would also take care of the awkward "and" in the name...