#BIG MASSIVE SPOILERS

[dykealloy]

whatever. fem law be upon ye

[foxstens]

the side missions are really cool in this game... but i don’t like them

or well i do. i just don’t like doing them. i mean i have a hard time even knowing what’s side content but you know. like i just got through the entirety of the da vinci disappearance stuff and i just found out it’s all dlc lmao. it was pretty cool like each memory related to it sent me to the vatican which is an area i never go to otherwise (idek if i have access to it normally) and they were all very stealth-based and had some cool ideas which i liked. but they were fairly difficult and i have a lot of trouble when trying to stay undetected especially when there’s sync requirements as well, it’s both cool and not that fun to play through for me.

then there’s leonardo warmachines of which i’ve done two and attempted a third one, the idea behind them is really cool, the areas are also places you don’t get to go to and each mission deals with a different warmachine that you get to drive, so you can crush people with a tank or shoot ships with a floating cannon or whatever, yea it’s really cool.

but the first half of each of them is also stealth-based and i have so much trouble with them like i get so stressed and stuck, not to mention that the controls for the warmachines fricking suck on keyboard because of course they do. i might still end up doing a few more or even all depending on how many there are, bc they are neat and they have cool cutscenes and have i mentioned you get to crush people with a tank. it’s a really interesting experience especially since this is still reinassance rome. but the reward is a parachute which i actually don’t want at all lmao

then there’s the courtesan assignments which are kinda lame tbh since you usually just gotta tail someone and then kill or beat up one specific guy, i really can’t be assed to do more of them, like i barely use courtesans anyway so the leveling them up is pointless.

the copernico ones are... well the story is really interesting imo but the missions themselves are just ‘deliver this letter to this guy in this specific amount of time’ and sometimes you either just can’t fucking find the guy bc they don’t give you the actual location, or he fucking dies anyway. i’d like to get through the entire story bc i imagine it has an end or smth but idk if i have to do all the missions or what

then there’s guild challenges which are basically just so you can level up each faction like the thieves and the courtesans and the mercenaries, and then when you do them all you get a reward, usually a weapon or smth. they’re just kind of a hassle for me and i don’t care to pour in enough time to do all of them.

although doing the ones for the assassin recruits gives you altair’s sword which is apparently the best weapon in the game, and i’d like to get it bc i never got altair’s armor in ac2. having a really hard time completing them though bc i have no one to engage in combat with and i’m also scared of the recruits dying if i do call them to fight?? they’re nearly fully leveled up though so once that happens maybe i can get my notoriety up and then just fight everyone. then again it’s very pointless bc i won’t really get to use the sword at all?? unless i do all this before continuing the plot thus making sequence 7 the longest sequence in existence

OHH AND THERE’S ALSO THE CRISTINA MEMORIES i can’t believe i forgot about them oh my gooooood they’re def my favourite of the side stuff, i’ve found out that they show up based on your sync level so you could maybe go through the entire game without even knowing about them. i mean the sync requirements are kind of a pain sometimes but other times they’re really easy and this is basically the only reason to even pay attention to them. idk how many memories there are but i’ve seen 3 so far and pretty much each one made me cry, like they let you return to florence for like 2 minutes and the entire thing is so interesting and sad

like the first memory was about how they met, like ezio saw her on the street and then very badly got her interest, in the second one it was somewhere around the beginning of ac2 when ezio went to retrieve his brothers and his father’s corpses and she was basically his emotional support for it, and then the third one was two years later when he came back to find out she was engaged to a guy. so ezio saves the guy from some shit and then threatens him to be a good husband. then he smooches cristina for a loooooong time and then fucks off and she’s left like ???? 

honestly i feel really sorry for both of them like it’s obvious they love each other but idk how they could possibly make it work considering everything. or technically they could have if ezio just said ‘I LOVE YOU COME WITH ME’ instead of fucking off. i think. but who knows there’s still more to the story and i can’t even speculate about how it ends but it’ll probably make me cry buckets so yea. best part of the game for sure. fuck i miss florence

on an unrelated note i have found out that you can in fact sync a viewpoint however many times you want, it just won’t update your map bc it’s already updated. isn’t that the best thing to discover when the viewpoints in this game are so few and far between and so hard to actually get to thanks to the shitty architecture AND YOU DON’T EVEN GET THE SOUND AND VISUAL EFFECT WITH LIKE 12 OF THEM BC BURNING THE BORGIA TOWERS DOES IT AUTOMATICALLY >:(

also there is one thing about this game that i absolutely love that doesn’t exist in ac2. basically there’s this huge ass acqueduct that spans across one of the district and you gotta repair it as you go through the game and when it’s fully repaired you can climb it and be really high up and run for like 10 minutes in water. the splashing sound effect is so fucking funny for some reason i’ve spent way more time there than necessary. i’ mso sorry ezio i know running in wet shoes sucks bUT ITS SO FUNNY. it’s also pretty much the highest place in the entire game if you don’t count this huge ass structure that walls the entire city that i can’t even get onto. nice

[000marie198]

Look at them! I love them

The boys ever

[a2zillustration]

I did this fight in exactly the wrong way but Mama K saved the day by being absolutely terrifying apparently

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[hydrachea]

Man, what a great character Hoolay is. Proud, extremely so, but not so arrogant that it'd easily be his downfall. Confident, but not to the point where he believes himself irreplaceable - even the opposite, where he sees the way other borisin see him as a great savior as a weakness. And smart. Very smart. It'd have been easy to make him a savage beast going on a mindless rampage, but instead he was extremely cautious and strategic and was playing mind games with both his hostage and pursuers. And all that made the stakes feel that much higher through the story, because the hunt is a lot more dangerous when the prey is always one step away from becoming the predator.

[rainbow-sunshine-unicorn]

I’m going to miss them so much, and I will forever mourn that we don’t get to see the birth of their child, never get to see them be parents, never get to see them truly settle in as Viscount and Viscountess but I’m thankful that we at least got a few glimpses of their happily ever after

[lucabyte]

i am looking at nohats au 👀 please share more

So! NoHats! I'm going to grab you and use this to ramble. A Lot.

The NoHats AU is @samhainian's it's just that I'm the strange little freak who takes the words said unto me and executes on them. But I can still do a little explainer on what our overall thoughts and vibes are. (And, that we are in fact propping up a little box with some cheese under it here. 🪤 Please (PLEASE) feel free to pick up what we're putting down.)

We're far from the only ones exploring a "what if siffrin fucking died" AU, though the main difference with NoHats is the placement of the death in the timeline. Instead of being 'Mal Du Pays Wins' or 'Act 6 encounter goes horribly wrong', the death is… Just after the (literal) falling action.

(This placement is because Sam is a comic book fan who thus has become used to characters being ripped away at the cruelest times by shitty writers. THANK FUCKING GOD adrienne is not that and isat is delightful yippieee, but, back on topic.)

Giving the party the full understanding of What Happened that you get by putting the death after black hole siffrin, but before the A6 encounter leaves an interesting gap to be filled. See, making Siffrin's death very much not Loop's fault means that… this once again reads (when not read as simply a tragedy...) as the universe doing what it sees fit to fulfull Loop's wish… Thus making Siffrin's death Loop's fault again, but only in their eyes. And only in a way they could express if they were honest about who they were…

And this is where having had excuse to waffle about my general Postcanon Loop thoughts the other day comes in handy, because Sam and I have that as our canon-compliant reading to begin with, NoHats plays off of a lot of the same readings of Loop's character. Namely: Uh Oh Somebody's Lying By Fucking Omission Again. (BECAUSE TO BE FAIR THIS TIME… HOW THE FUCK WOULD YOU HANDLE THAT?)

Now, neither Sam nor I are fanfic writers, so this has been a little bit trapped in our heads and DMs (and my unfinished art but,)

But our thoughts on how NoHats like… Goes.

Siffrin's death is peaceful, but that does not mean the aftermath of it is. I can't imagine the party takes it well, especially after understanding the circumstances of the Loops. (And, of note, in A5 where nobody had the discussion on what to do with each other's bodies should something happen…) But I'd imagine it traumabonds them somewhat (understatement of the century) and now knowing how the rest of the party feels, they resolve to travel together for the forseeable future.

The party track down Loop to deliver the terrible news, since they were clearly Siffrin's friend too, and invite Loop along to travel at least long enough to (let them grieve) get the burial over with. Loop, here, can be helpful in knowing what Siffrin would've wanted where the party would be at a loss. Loop, I think, takes a bit of a lead on the funerary aspects of it all, because, um. (Performing rites on your own body, huh?)

Then, as things are after a death, life just… Kind of has to continue on as normal. The party travel, pick up Nille, and get to know Loop as this mysterious new person. Maybe in this situation they might stay in Bambouche for a while to give Bonnie more stability since. They are probably taking it the worst. It would've come out of absolutely nowhere for everyone in the party obviously but god, for a kid? For A Kid?

It should be stated NoHats is not intended to be grimdark, just y'know. An exploration of grief. This is also why it's got a bit of a lopsided focus on Bonnie vs the rest of the party because hhrrhghghhghghhhghhghhh <- incoherent

Now, a crossroads.

How does the party discover Loop to be Siffrin? How long does it take. How much have the party embraced them as part of the family (especially with something as intense to bond over as this)?

There's the Odile option. Have her put it together and have to bring it up somehow. This could also be done by Isabeau, perhaps. He's smart. (which. God. If anything's the real Isabeau Torment Nexus it's this)

Then there's the other option batted around by Sam and I. The: The Universe Dislikes Duplicates option.

The items in the house that fzzt away when inspected. The Universe doesn't like there to be two of something, at least not when they're acknowledged. But one of something is just fine…?

Which is to say. I'm not a personal proponent of 'Loop getting their body back'. EXCEPT …… except this one time.

There's only one Siffrin now, so they don't need to be obfuscated to exist.

Consider, if you will. Loop swallowing their guilt for long enough to be comfortable. Falling back into old habits. Without another Siffrin around to compete for the niche of, they actually begin to act like Siffrin again. Not intentionally, it's just… The party is as welcoming as they've always been. And the party swears they keep catching glimpses of a face under all the light.

Then, one day, while still not fully human again, the resemblence becomes undeniable. Loop having not even noticed until everyone looks at them like they've seen a ghost.

Has it been months? How long have they kept up this lie? Is it even a lie, to them? They're Loop. But they were, once, Siffrin.

Even after explaining it, does that make it better or worse?

Bonnie cuts through the betrayed, struck-nerve reactions with a sobering "I missed you."

… Anyway !

Yeah so that's the vibe for NoHats. As for LoopLoops? That's more nebulous. I think it can go anywhere really in the NoHats timeline. I err personally toward the "Loop continuously replays the last 10 minutes before Siffrin's death almost immediately after they find out and have to parkour their ass up the House in the most distressing situation possible to try and get them to hold on, just please hold on." (Remember! Siffrin can remember the contents of Loop's loop backs in the A6 fight!)

But there is the possibility that this happens months, or worse years down the road. One last Loop back. Throw it all away for the chance to just get that one thing you didn't know you even wanted but now know you NEED.

Misc:

Okay miscellaneous time.

This is where I admit that I have a bunch of unfinished NoHats art that I haven't gotten around to yet because I feel like a right tool being so obviously Loop-Centric with my fancontent (I AM . . I REALISE I AM NOT DOING MUCH TO BEAT THE ALLEGATIONS.) So like if people want to see that please say because euaghghghhfh <- the nervous.

this is like the most fucked up place to do isaloop fr. anyway.

one of Sam's mid-game observations that I'm just going to share for no particular reason is that Bonnie's hair shares a bunch of shapes with Siffrin's. The flick up at the top, the 3 pronged shape of the fringe… just something to think about.

Without 2 Siffrins around to compare each other to it'd likely be a lot harder to notice Loop's similarities. Doesn't mean that those similarities don't sting more in this context though.

If you do NoHats without LoopLoops. The concept of this all fading into memory years down the line while they just have slightly-glowy but otherwise regular Siffrin hanging out is fucked up to think about. Just like real grief. Augh

6. a peek into the original dms as a treat from us

[undead-knick-knack]

[utilitycaster]

It's a very small thing, but from a sometimes DM's perspective, Chetney asking for the list of Novos's items is just...one of those things that separates the best D&D players from the rest of the pack. The DM creates the world, and often has a general storyline in mind, but the players are, ideally, driving the action. Railroading is a bit like murderhoboing, in that while you can have people who do it in bad faith, a lot of the time it happens because the players aren't invested enough in the world (or are too tied to a single outcome that cannot be guaranteed in a game of improv and chance), and so having players who are always looking for ways to expand the world and seek out the hooks themselves and connect with NPCs is truly what every GM wishes for.

Anyway, Travis is incredibly good at opening up these little optional avenues that he, other cast members, or Matt can pick up later and use in-game to guide the story. Maybe Bells Hells will decide they've got other priorities and the list will only serve to give us a tiny glimpse into who Novos once was, but that's still a small piece of the world we wouldn't otherwise have! Maybe it will be a fun moment of Bells Hells coming across an item down the road and make space for another interaction with the crew of the Crimson Abyss; maybe it will allow Matt to guide them towards some other important things they need to know for the Solstice plot. But because he asked for this silly list in earnest, those doors are all open in a way that feels organic and player driven.

[markantonys]

andor's colors are red and white, in eotw the opposing factions in caemlyn are red (pro-morgase/white tower) and white (anti-morgase/tower), in tsr gawyn chooses red (elaida/tower) and galad chooses white (whitecloaks/anti-tower)..............gawyn and galad really are complementary characters who parallel and foil each other

[yuseirra]

Okay so I read onk ch 154 and kamiki literally SAYS Ai was the girl he was willing to sacrifice his own life for. The phrasing is EXACTLY like that. That really lines up with what's being mentioned in Mephisto and Fatal about giving lives and all. Those must be HIS songs and I'm getting this idea that he still means what he says

Because, just when would he have thought about having to "sacrifice" his life for Ai? I don't think thoughts like that would've crossed his mind in the past when they were still young and together, there wasn't a need for something as "dire" as sacrifices then. It must be something that's came after

When they were dating, Ai was the one that was older and SHE was the one who's protected HIM. It looks like she was the one who had more control over the relationship too. She was the one who's probably made the sacrifices(with the breakup being one too, from her point of view) so what circumstance brought kamiki to say he was willing to do that for her? (Though, I get how he'd be like he'd be able to give anything for Ai, it can be inferred that he was that attached to her) I'm sticking with my earlier guesses that he's actually doing that now and it has something to do with the gods (his name IS KAMIki + hikaru(light), right?)

Even Aqua's never said he'd give his life away FOR Ai's, did he? For her cause, and revenge, maybe, but Ai's already someone who's passed. I think the songs are really onto something. They sound too.. strong.. And a bit murky for it to be entirely from Aqua's perspective. It's going in even further than what's normally considered healthy, aren't they? It's about someone who's hopelessly lost and seeking for love. That's how Ai thought Kamiki was like too, she thought he was lost and needs saving.

Fatal's lyrics are too close to this guy's mental state, I just can't unsee it, seeing that new chapter having the same kind of stuff the lyrics are saying!! Makes me go this has to be it!! I think this should be it!! He's ACTUALLY thought about giving his own life for Ai at some point confirmed!! So shouldn't there be some things that leads up to/stems out from it?

I might embarrass myself later with these theories I'm throwing out later but I gotta say.. Try listening to Fatal and Mephisto picturing it's kamiki that's singing it, it clicks.

[whoopseydaisy]

Bits of the transcripts from ep #3: The Charter with Capt. Karkoth’s ship on the way to Carrow. Was this perhaps the ship of the shipwreck the Antivolist discovered the glass lenses in? Either way with Carrow coming up again, along with being the site of the Catycalsm of Carrow where the wizard’s civil war started— I wonder if that’s where our party will be headed next??

[wolf-king-art]

Inspired from @masterqwertster 's fic Full-time Soulmates, Part-time Problems

[oifaaa]

How is trying to kill yourself in order to force a reaction out of someone else "personality" or "bravery" and not straight up emotional manipulation, what the fuck. I get that she was upset and had trauma about the situation but why are we trying to spin that into something positive

Why are you trying to spin this into something toxic and problematic my god she wasn't trying to kill herself she knew Clark would catch her could you please get some common fucking sense

[desired-misery]

So about that whumptober...

Lots of words written, not that many prompts covered. Am I doomed? Probably lol

[delta-orionis]

I know Iterators being A Thing is technically a massive Rain World spoiler, but honestly that’s what got me to play the game in the first place. You’re telling me there’s massive supercomputers built so tall that they reach above the clouds? They’re so huge that their processes dramatically alter their surrounding environment? You can get inside them and run around and explore?? AND they have names and faces and personalities, and you can talk to them personally????????