soulsmusings

[soulsmusings]

Messmer is what happens when a tgirl has mommy issues and is forced into a hypermasculine role she is obligated to fill but simultaneously shamed for. Gwyndolin is what happens when a tgirl has daddy issues and is forced into a third-sexed role that recognizes her feminine inclinations but is still othered from conventional womanhood. Either way you are full of snakes and estranged from your family

[soulsmusings]

[soulsmusings]

What I miss most from Demon's Souls is how different every playthrough feels. After Phalanx, what path you choose depends entirely on what you feel like doing or what build you want to make, and a lot of mechanics facilitate this. Weapon upgrade materials differ based on your weapon and are found in different areas, your healing is done through consumables and thus they don't have to scatter flask upgrades in random locations you may miss or not get to until later, and each Archstone is self contained, allowing you to to go elsewhere to prepare for the more difficult sections or challenge yourself and get through one Archstone in a single go.

What I miss most from Dark Souls is the interconnected map. The reuse of old areas as bridges between new ones creates a tangible sense of growth and cohesion, and holding fast travel behind progression forces you to familiarize yourself with the environment. Even with fast travel, it's limited to certain "key" bonfires, and still could encourage deeper familiarization (if the second half didn't drop the ball in that regard).

What I miss most from Dark Souls II would have to be the build choice and variety. Magic is good, melee is good, bows and even crossbows are pretty effective, along with a greater lean towards experimental design. I really appreciate the idea of infusable special weapons, to suit a certain playstyle even more, and being able to buff most weapons on top of that makes infused weapons much stronger than standard ones (though I think that may have been a bit much). After all that, it has great visual variety as well, with a wide colour pallet and unique armour designs not really seen elsewhere in the series.

What I miss most from Bloodborne is the player moveset. Dashes while locked on, every weapon getting unique functionality, the way backstabs work, I find it's the most solid out of all the games. Parries working off of an attack rather than matching invisible frames with the enemy's invisible frames is another grrat change, as well as it making non human enemies susceptible to it. Pretty much all that I like most about the player's kit could be translated to better fit a different, slower style of game.

What I miss most from Dark Souls III is the consistency in its quality. It's low points aren't as low, and it has many of the best bosses and areas in the series. I've played through Dark Souls III the most, and I think the biggest reason is that it doesn't have as many quit moments or major fundamental flaws as the other games. It's not just consistent, it's consistently great.

What I miss most from Elden Ring is the presentation. The Lands Between is downright gorgeous, even the parts covered in rot. It's the only game with ambient and combat tracks, which help set the tone. The other games aside from Bloodborne didn't quite nail the look they were going for, aside from a handful of areas, but Elden Ring's open world, legacy dungeons, and large underground areas all look wallpaper ready.

[soulsmusings]

[soulsmusings]

Three hours remain, and Lothric is hot on the heels of Miquella!

It's time to ask the important questions.

I task you with surviving a date with one of FromSoftware's mentally ill girltwink royals. Where are you taking them, what are you doing, and how do you plan to avoid their holy wrath?

Here are the risks and benefits that you should consider...

Gwyndolin:

Extremely sad and depressed, fears being seen

Unhealthy parental relationship

Easily angered by sacrilege, blasphemy, etc.

Offers a sweet liege/knight relationship, with plenty of elaborate ritual

Gives rare and expensive gifts

Snakes

Lothric:

Frail, sickly, delicate; unable to do much physically

Apathetic to the plight of the plebs

Unfortunately, his brother will almost always be present

Fortunately, his brother will almost always be present

Very open-minded, willing to discard traditional viewpoints

Free teleportation services, big cushy bed inherited from Mom

Miquella:

Self-hating detransitioner with a white savior complex

Childlike body when he's halfway decent, heartless maniac when he's not jailbait

High risk of being brainwashed if he really likes you—or if he really dislikes you

Genuinely cares about intersectional justice

Has a darling alter-ego who does aromatherapy

Extremely helpful social network

[soulsmusings]

It's the Chapel Dweller with the steel thurible!

A little over one day left, folks! Will the Lothric faction, loyal and true, overtake Miquella's faithful? Can anyone unseat the Dark Sun from the Holy Girltwink Throne?

Cast your votes now—and don't forget to give us your date ideas!

It's time to ask the important questions.

I task you with surviving a date with one of FromSoftware's mentally ill girltwink royals. Where are you taking them, what are you doing, and how do you plan to avoid their holy wrath?

Here are the risks and benefits that you should consider...

Gwyndolin:

Extremely sad and depressed, fears being seen

Unhealthy parental relationship

Easily angered by sacrilege, blasphemy, etc.

Offers a sweet liege/knight relationship, with plenty of elaborate ritual

Gives rare and expensive gifts

Snakes

Lothric:

Frail, sickly, delicate; unable to do much physically

Apathetic to the plight of the plebs

Unfortunately, his brother will almost always be present

Fortunately, his brother will almost always be present

Very open-minded, willing to discard traditional viewpoints

Free teleportation services, big cushy bed inherited from Mom

Miquella:

Self-hating detransitioner with a white savior complex

Childlike body when he's halfway decent, heartless maniac when he's not jailbait

High risk of being brainwashed if he really likes you—or if he really dislikes you

Genuinely cares about intersectional justice

Has a darling alter-ego who does aromatherapy

Extremely helpful social network

[soulsmusings]

re: the bloodletting arm being lost. wow! it’s almost like despite even being an ascended god doesn’t make you “perfect” and still you remain fallible and all the praise for you being “unalloyed” is true about purity, but also does not bolster against the faults that remain in gold itself

something also i think in the fact that said imperfection is still (likely) because of the bloodletting for the haligtree. something something, if you had just gone for the ascension first, you wouldn’t have lost that arm and gained that imperfection. but miquella only wanted that godhood as his last resort, after he’d tried everything else; and he was kind to the point of self-destruction

of course he sloughs off the rest of his body when undergoing the preparation for that ascension, which is already very evocative of his self-sacrificing for others. but this little tidbit is also kind of a microcosm of that

[soulsmusings]

It's time to ask the important questions.

I task you with surviving a date with one of FromSoftware's mentally ill girltwink royals. Where are you taking them, what are you doing, and how do you plan to avoid their holy wrath?

Here are the risks and benefits that you should consider...

Gwyndolin:

Extremely sad and depressed, fears being seen

Unhealthy parental relationship

Easily angered by sacrilege, blasphemy, etc.

Offers a sweet liege/knight relationship, with plenty of elaborate ritual

Gives elaborate and expensive gifts

Snakes

Lothric:

Frail, sickly, delicate; unable to do much physically

Apathetic to the plight of the plebs

Unfortunately, his brother will almost always be present

Fortunately, his brother will almost always be present

Very open-minded, willing to discard traditional viewpoints

Free teleportation services, big cushy bed inherited from Mom

Miquella:

Self-hating detransitioner with a white savior complex

Childlike body when he's halfway decent, heartless maniac when he's not jailbait

High risk of being brainwashed if he really likes you—or if he really dislikes you

Genuinely cares about intersectional justice

Has a darling alter-ego who does aromatherapy

Extremely helpful social network

[soulsmusings]

See, this is what I'm talking about, people.

It's time to ask the important questions.

I task you with surviving a date with one of FromSoftware's mentally ill girltwink royals. Where are you taking them, what are you doing, and how do you plan to avoid their holy wrath?

Here are the risks and benefits that you should consider...

Gwyndolin:

Extremely sad and depressed, fears being seen

Unhealthy parental relationship

Easily angered by sacrilege, blasphemy, etc.

Offers a sweet liege/knight relationship, with plenty of elaborate ritual

Gives elaborate and expensive gifts

Snakes

Lothric:

Frail, sickly, delicate; unable to do much physically

Apathetic to the plight of the plebs

Unfortunately, his brother will almost always be present

Fortunately, his brother will almost always be present

Very open-minded, willing to discard traditional viewpoints

Free teleportation services, big cushy bed inherited from Mom

Miquella:

Self-hating detransitioner with a white savior complex

Childlike body when he's halfway decent, heartless maniac when he's not jailbait

High risk of being brainwashed if he really likes you—or if he really dislikes you

Genuinely cares about intersectional justice

Has a darling alter-ego who does aromatherapy

Extremely helpful social network

[soulsmusings]

It's time to ask the important questions.

I task you with surviving a date with one of FromSoftware's mentally ill girltwink royals. Where are you taking them, what are you doing, and how do you plan to avoid their holy wrath?

Here are the risks and benefits that you should consider...

Gwyndolin:

Extremely sad and depressed, fears being seen

Unhealthy parental relationship

Easily angered by sacrilege, blasphemy, etc.

Offers a sweet liege/knight relationship, with plenty of elaborate ritual

Gives rare and expensive gifts

Snakes

Lothric:

Frail, sickly, delicate; unable to do much physically

Apathetic to the plight of the plebs

Unfortunately, his brother will almost always be present

Fortunately, his brother will almost always be present

Very open-minded, willing to discard traditional viewpoints

Free teleportation services, big cushy bed inherited from Mom

Miquella:

Self-hating detransitioner with a white savior complex

Childlike body when he's halfway decent, heartless maniac when he's not jailbait

High risk of being brainwashed if he really likes you—or if he really dislikes you

Genuinely cares about intersectional justice

Has a darling alter-ego who does aromatherapy

Extremely helpful social network

[soulsmusings]

The best Bloodborne Wiki is a passion project of a single person, is about to get even better + how it can be sustained for years to come!

Hello guys! So like many of you've learned from the post with super good model view of Winter Lantern, recently, on Twitter, Meph announced ( x ) the plan to fill the wiki with very useful, very comprehensive screenshots of the models for bosses, enemies, NPCs and even cut content! The wiki has already been a huge help for lorediggers and artists, but THIS is what we will get:

This page is for Lady Maria and you can check it yourself here: ( x )! It is broken down in the categories of general close-ups of her model, then very high-quality screenshots of every attack during her boss battle and walking, and then raw model!

(I never was able to capture a good look at her using Arcane too like here, for example!)

Winter Lantern page ( x ) is using similar principle!

This is not a secret that very often in Fromsoft games, additional information can be obtained not through descriptions but through visual hints! For example, some people only learned that Winter Lantern's head is made of melted Messengers only now, after a proper look at her model! So, of course getting a proper look at every single character and creature from the game could always be helpful!

This, however, is just a recent highlight for this Bloodborne Wiki! Even prior that, it has been providing invaluable help for the fans! Examples off the top of my head: comprehensive data on what character has what items used or not, great and comprehensive hints and tutorials on upgrades and farming and builds for the players, making every bit of information on Chalice Dungeons and glyphs easily accessible, making datamined NPC sliders of all characters way more accessible and easy to grab and repeat, access to much more obscure models (like Gratia's model), full list of internal filenames and patches progress, making information from physical Bloodborne tutorial book accessible...

There are probably more things to cover that me and others found a great help in, and sometimes we might not even notice! I am sure many people could name at least one way where this wiki has been very helpful, offering raw facts and 100% valid information (and properly sourced whenever someone else helped!) without any speculating, in the most elaborate manner! We should not take it for granted because all this information, found or reshared, was compiled by just one guy out of raw passion for the game! And although this project is not profit-based and Meph is willing to commit to it and pay as much as needed to keep it living, I really still wanted to share the Ko-fi link that exists for anyone who is willing to help sponsoring it!

This is not necessary, and Meph has stated the same, but this project is not only helpful but also really hefty to sustain. The monthly support is only $3 per month, but every little bit not only helps the sustenance, but also knowing how much fans care and simply feeling their support is very significant and sometimes you don't even know how much. Heck, when Meph learned how excited people on Tumblr were about Wiki improving with full compilation of models from every angle.. the reaction was "I am so glad that people still care"! I think everyone who does their best to be useful for the fellow fans needs confirmation that they ARE, for sure, helping!

I just really wanted to get the word out anyways because honestly, none of my super elaborate theories and detailed fanart would've been possible without Meph's Wiki. and also because I am trapped in a clown country where I can't send any international money transfer so the feeling of 'do what I can't' got to me too fsdhfdhs There is no pressure or necessity, but here is the link to anyone who can help and feels the wish to! You've noticed I didn't tag Meph.... since there is no Tumblr account to tag, but again, the Twitter link is also here: ( x )!

[soulsmusings]

Good choices, good choices...

Here are mine!

Blue-Eyed Knights – The quintessential "Boletarian Palace" enemy; brutish freaks in fancy, overwrought armor.

Immature Bearbugs – Somehow they improved upon an already perfect design, blessing us with the sight of these ungainly little nuggets buzzing through the air on their too-tiny wings.

Prisoner Horde – Perhaps not the most original design of the zone, but it provides some very good payoff to the tension that has been building throughout your exploration of the prison.

Storm Beasts – In gameplay, the most annoying fuckers around; in design, a crucial element of beauty in an otherwise dead environment.

Depraved Ones – The sad, unwashed masses, without whom the Valley would struggle to rise above Blighttown; easily the best regional Dregling variant.

My favorite monster from each archstone of Demon's Souls:

Hoplite

Bearbug

Giant Man Centipede

Phosphorescent Slug

Giant Tick

[soulsmusings]

One of my favorite Miyazaki Soulsborne tropes is that being born disabled also disables your destiny.

Lothric and Lorian were supposed to be a legendary prince who would save the world, but something went wrong with the pregnancy and they were born a pair of sickly fucked up disabled twins, who grew to resent the cycle of the flame and the violence it represented.

Bayle the Dread was supposed to be an archdragon but he was born with only one pair of wings, and thus denied a place among the imperial authority of the ancient dragons. This developed into a chip on his shoulder so deep it warped his entire being into an unquenchable desire to kill and eat Ancient dragons. A desire so powerful it can be spread to non-dragons and turn them into dragons.

In the same way that Miyazaki associates gender nonconformity with overwhelming divine power, he associated disability with a challenge to tyrannical social orders. Dope.

[soulsmusings]

Every Elden Ring boss theme: "You are about to fight a tragically fallen legend. It's a little bit sad that you have to put down this once-glorious thing."

Mohg's Theme: "Evil Gang Evil Gang Evil Gang"

[soulsmusings]

It's a sad irony that I'm not a slimefucker...

Spin the wheel. You are now dating this SoulsBorne boss.

The sequel to the Elden Ring wheel, now with 222 entries (no images because of my fucking god)

Same rules: -Animals were cut -Assume all monster bosses can consent -Consort Radahn was cut cause I don't need to whack that hornet's nest