#…it’s because of *the cutscene* isn’t it

[thebestusernamepossible]

‘We need more morally gray women’ you can’t even handle Ceroba from Undertale Yellow

[bowl-of-fruit-loops]

high chaos emily is so juicy, ESPECIALLY if corvo was low chaos in dishonored 1. high chaos corvo to high chaos emily—we can see a direct through line. emily draws a picture of corvo’s assassin mask. she makes the comment that if corvo didn’t kill all the usurpers, she would have had them killed. it’s generally a “worse” ending and we can easily see how high chaos emily came to be.

but LOW chaos corvo to high chaos emily? delicious to think about. emily isn’t following the example of her father. in fact, given everything we know about jessamine and the comment she makes when she’s released from the heart (something about how emily has become everything jessamine was against) emily isn’t following either of her parents’ examples.

this isn’t to say that high chaos emily doesn’t make sense in terms of the character or story. it does! emily is ten when her mother is killed in front of her, she gets kidnapped, rescued, only to get kidnapped again and held hostage. and then fifteen years later it’s happening again! her father is taken from her and her friend is killed and she’s been overthrown. she has not only a motive but the means (thanks to the outsider) to carve through everyone that gets in her way.

but. imagine what happens after the game. what happens when corvo, who executed an entirely bloodless campaign, wakes up and finds emily the vengeful? what happens when emily, whose mother’s last words were of disapproval, has to face her father?

[inspector-montoya-fox]

Today i have mustered up the courage to ask you:

If Sly got a sidekick spinoff like Daxter and Secret Agent Clank, would it be a Bentley or Murray game?

[no1ryomafan]

I’m debating if I’ll just use tumblr for proper analysis rather then me just typing up shit at 1 am-like I did last night lol-that I rotate because I’ve been thinking of multiple subjects that could either be video essays or long posts but I do think to test it out I should try writing up a post about Vent from ZX because I feel me making a tumblr post about why he’s not as bad of a character as people think he is I will get less flames then if I made it into a video 💀

(Also I said I’d do Grey but imma be real: love the boy but I feel it’s redundant to go in depth about him when the whole point people don’t like him is because he’s not like Ashe, where as I feel Vent suffers from “he’s just a worse Aile”. Grey deserves better though but I’ve seen more people like him than Vent being fully honest)

[forcedhesitation]

I love that the bg3 guys are all written to have this intense adoration of karlach and lae’zel’s abilities to absolutely eviscerate their enemies. they’ve all got the same taste in women, which is “she could gut the big scary man chasing me, and then princess carry me to safety in her blood spattered arms.” and I respect and relate to that, as a bisexual man myself.

[simcardiac-arrested]

cutsceneificiation

sometimes i’m like ughh i don’t even like languages or philology or anything. but today in russian class we were studying how words are made and i was just hit with uber autism. i was just sitting there and i realized: words. oh my god words. Arent they fucked crazy. isn’t it crazy how there are SO many ways to take apart words and then make up new ones with those parts!! just like what you did!!! cutscenefication is a combo of cutscene + the suffix -fication which signifies. uhmm. well it signifies Some Sort Of Process happening. i am being cutscenified right now. BUT THAT’S NOT ALL! because you see cutscene is also a combo of the words cut and scene. isn’t language just crazy forreal. i like looking at words and seeing all the similarities and differences between them. i like looking at words and figuring out how they came to be and from which other words they might’ve developed. etymology is cool asf because every word on planet earth has such a rich history and different meanings in different regions and time periods and you can see where it was used the most and the least and how important it might’ve been to people at a given time. synonyms blow my entire mind. Can you believe bamboozled is even a real thing people say

[cinnamontoads]

i’m divorcing solid snake for the foreseeable future because his game made me annoyed

[lulu2992]

I haven't played Collapse, but I was watching some videos showing stuff from it. And I don't think I'll ever forgive what they did in terms of Joseph's relationships to his siblings (especially Faith though since that was particularly egregious imo). Reducing all of them to victims of Joseph's manipulations and machinations ruins all four of their characters and puts such a sour taste in my mouth. And I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Honestly, not everything was bad in Collapse. Like in its two predecessors, I thought the world was well-designed and interesting, visually speaking, because it was a perfect balance between familiar and strange. As for the story, some of the apparent mistakes regarding the relationships between Joseph and his siblings can be explained and justified by the fact that everything takes place in his tortured mind, that he feels guilty about their death so he imagines them angry at him and vindictive, and that part of what he sees is created by the Voice who is clearly manipulative in that story.

But, yes, unfortunately, when I think about Collapse, I mostly remember what I didn’t like, and your message sums up exactly how I feel. Too many things were oversimplified, sometimes to the point of inaccuracy, and that really doesn’t do anyone justice…

[void-kissed]

my mum: it’s nice you’ve been able to talk to your friends so much today

me, now over 750 words into a new writing piece I started today: ah haha yes they’ve all definitely been around today and that’s been what’s preoccupying me

[asterdeer]

got really spoiled on all the cutscenes from doing more long rests and now in act ii there aren’t as many and i feel very :< about it. i wanna talk to my friens

[revvethasmythh]

wait but also can we talk about Aylin. can we talk about her. because not to be bisexual but oh my god. oh my fucking god

[prokopetz]

Video game cutscene introducing a female non-humanoid alien who looks exactly like her male counterparts because her species isn’t dimorphic in any way that humans can perceive, but the camera angles and audio cues still do the thing. All slowly panning over her dorsal ridges before getting to her light-sensing organs and lingering on her secondary manipulator appendages just a bit too long.

[babyaiker]

And quietly in the distance you can hear the Braithwaite Manor explode

But ye! Finally getting out of art block and I decided to draw these two! I’ve seen a small handful of posts talking about these two and how they could’ve been friends, but I know for a fact this is akin to an ask @honeyzephyr sent me ^^ At the time I wasn’t able to come up with an idea based on the prompt they gave, so instead I have something that while is a tad different, still fulfills the niche!

Yes I want these two to be friends it would be so fun. I can absolutely see Kieran offering to hear her out whenever she needs. (like a mix of genuine empathy and a lack of social awareness to understand why the others in camp seem to want nothing to do with her) So in the drawing we have the reverse, Molly stopping by to make sure Kieran isn’t too shaken up about his “involvement” in Jack’s kidnapping. Because yes the empathy goes both ways, even if Molly possibly has some reservations about talking to him. (I mainly got this idea from the fact that at the beginning of the Braithwaite Manor raid mission, both can be seen near Dutch in the cutscene)

*insert that one gif of Kieran helping Molly step down from the stagecoach in the background of a cutscene beginning of chapter 4 :3*

[wordslikesilver]

I swear I’m almost done being mentally ill about Elden Ring I promise but I never see anyone talk about Morgott’s heart wrenching death scene. It’s never overtly pointed out but please imagine the progression of events from his perspective. Lying on his back, staring up at the sky, defeated. He’s one of the ONLY bosses that leaves behind a corpse and it’s heart wrenching okay, it’s OBLITERATING. Because he’s lying there withered and broken, staring up at the golden boughs of the one thing in the world he loved, not the golden order, not the greater will, he loved the Erdtree and dedicated his ENTIRE life to it even though it never loved him back because not even a man as scorned as Morgott could live without love and the love was to keep his heart still beating in his chest when he felt most like a monster. He has spent his entire life keeping this crumbling kingdom together. For his mother, who hid him away so the world wouldn’t hurt him, for his father, the man who taught him how to bear the weight of a crown and stand taller than the ignoble origins you come from. And he was so alone. The only constant in his life being that golden tree that shone down into the sewers. He is the last of all kings. The horns about his brow weighed heavier than his crown.

And then the tree was burning. Lying broken on the ground, unable to truly die, his curse expelled from his body, he could only look up and watch the only thing he loved with all his heart burn down around him. The ashes falling like snow on his face. Can you imagine the heat? The resignation? The misery and the promise that if there’s ever a next time, he’ll do better, and if there isn’t then this shall be his final legacy and he’ll just have to accept that final truth before he dies. The self hatred washing over him and passing into quiet peace as he chooses to pass away together with it. Omens do not get reincarnated by the Erdtree. Loved and blessed by the crucible of life, they are not loved the same as all the rest of us. But that’s okay. For Morgott, that was okay. He would live nobly and die with honour in its service and that would be enough. He’d spend the last moments of his life bathed in the warm ashes of orange and grey, content that even if he never felt loved by anyone at all after being cursed and shunned all his life, he did his duty as best he could and finally repaid the debt he felt towards the tree that showed him the light for so many long, lonely years.

And then, then it makes me so fucking miserable because then a pair of gentle, scarred and terribly rough hands lift him up from the ground and cradle him with all the tenderness in the world. The roar of a lion salutes his passing, honouring him, mourning him. “It’s been a long time, Morgott.” No anger, no disappointment. Simply, sadness, that he could not see you sooner. Godfrey, his father, returned at last to hold him one final time as he passes away, the rune of death now unbound and finding its way to Morgott after all this time. His last memory would be of being held by his father, loved for all that he is in the ashes of all that he dedicated his life to. His body fades, his entire world upheaved one final time, and an easily missed detail in the cutscene is that Morgott’s body becomes a Grace that points towards you, the player, to guide his father to his next step along the path of Lordship. One final time, Godfrey is guided by the unyielding love he feels for one of his children. Fuck it makes me so miserable. How do write something so tragic and not spend more time with it? How do you leave that beauty hidden in the details like it’s not one of the greatest moments of the entire game? It’s so quiet it’s private, almost. Like we’re not supposed to see that side of either of them, being such an outsider. It’s sundering to think about. Annihilating. I love it with all my heart and I hope more people love Morgott too after reading this.

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

Just like how botw had small details telling us the probable ‘canonical’ route Link took (aka Zora, Rito, Goron, and then Gerudo), totk has something similar. I’m sure all players noticed that the newspapers will feature one region that is meant to direct Link to go aid the people there. First is Rito, next is Goron, third is Zora, and last is Gerudo. BUT! They also added something else.

Zelda’s role in the story. Namely, her interactions with Tulin, Yunobo, King Dorephan, and Riju. Annnnnnddd Link’s reactions to her!

Tulin’s interaction with her is one meant to confuse players: Zelda was in the past, but Tulin saw her? So she’s here in the present and we’re chasing after her. Sounds a lot like Skyward Sword, okay (which was released on the switch last year, so anyone who didn’t play it back in 2012 had another chance to). It confuses Link, but spurs him to become a journalist ? Cool, I’m here for it. I did journalism for 4 years, I’m sure Link can do it too!

Then, for Yunobo, he actively speaks to Zelda, we see her figure, and Link will actively gasp whenever we see her. He has a genuine reaction to her presence, because he’s surprised, but then we see pink gloom glow in the mask that Zelda have Yunobo and it makes him freak out land turn against Link. That’s when we start to put together that maybe Zelda is being controlled? Or she’s NOT Zelda, just as Yunobo begins to theorize but can’t quite wrap his head around it.

Next, we have King Dorephan who is actually attacked by Zelda and is injured to the point that he decides to hide from his people as to not create more chaos in this time. He chooses to give Zelda the benefit of the doubt here— he could have easily had his people turn against Hyrule and all Hylians because of Zelda’s actions. But he doesn’t! Because it simply doesn’t make sense. And by the end of the quest, Sidon comes to the conclusion that the Zelda in the past and the Zelda in the present are NOT the same.

And we see that thought truly stick with Link in a cutscene in Gerudo. After defending Kara Kara Bazaar, Zelda appears and Riju calls out for her. There is no gasp from Link like with Yunobo’s story, instead he watches Zelda with a slightly narrowed gaze and does not stop watching where she was last seen until Riju directly addresses him. They actively show the players that Link is suspicious, but he is still so very dedicated.

And it happens again, in the center of the light triangle. Zelda appears and Link begins to walk toward her, but there is no intake of breath, no shock at seeing her… instead he slowly walks until Riju calls out for him.

After Link finishes each phenomenon, going to Lookout Landing gives the players a clue in how Link is reacting. Specifically, if you speak to Buliara before going to see Purah, she says something along the lines of “Purah is up on the top deck, but don’t miss a wrung in your haste to get up there.”

Link is expected to rush. Because everyone is muttering about a figure that MIGHT be Zelda. At the castle. Right. Then. And. There.

Link GASPS when he first looks into the scope— Purah doesn’t even say it’s Zelda, not before Link sees for himself. It’s seeing her, clear as day, and even if Link KNOWS it’s not her… there’s still that seed of doubt that lives in his mind. And then at the castle, Link does twist and turn whenever he hears Zelda. He rushes after her every. Single. Time. She disappears. Despite that he knows it isn’t her, he can’t give up. He can’t. It’s quite literally not in his DNA. He sees it through; he needs to make sure it isn’t her. And it’s all a trap, one he walks right into, because he just HAS to see that it isn’t her.

And if you want to say “but Ash… this is just a recap of the storyline in the present.. not small details” let us just remember that Link’s driving motivation in this game is to find Zelda and bring her home. So many people just ignore these little moments or miss them completely.

And I’ll be damned if I don’t talk about link’s gasps or his twists and turns or his micro expressions that tell us so much about how he is feeling.