#Here's a hint: it's a post-game dungeon

[ramons-elevator]

Fuck it. Appreciation Post for the amazing QSMP admins.

Heres a list of just a small bit of the amazing shit that they did on/for the QSMP and its players:

Made a huge prison/event for Pac e Mike which later turned into a job for Fit for his lore

Helping Foolish out with his Titan by raising it up, lighting it up, and even making sure the brightness of the light blocks where okay for him

Listening to Fit and Phil the day the task was "Make a grappling squawk" and made it interesting with Walter Bob delivering the news

Making Gegg a reality and letting him run for president

Every event is so cool no matter how big or small. The dungeons the The Jaidens did was so fun and interesting. Every new players event is always chaos but very detailed. Even making stuff for French Independence day and the 4th of July so people could experience each other's cultures.

The amazing wedding cake and rings for Cellbit and Roier's wedding

Helping Tazercraft with the Hide and Seek Arena and making the code so they can actually play hide and seek easier

Giving Charlie, Roier, and Max (idk if theres more) key binds so they easily switch their skins and their names in game

The little jokes/ nods to stuff that happens on the server. Like the day after Missa came back and failed a water bucket clutch, they made one of the tasks "Have a water bucket competition".

Them elaborating on stuff that happens on the server. For instance, Bad putting up mini bulletin board at spawn so they keep everyone updated. So the admins started putting the newspaper there so people could see and be updated.

Philza found an insane mob that basically soft locked your game and Phil messaged the admins telling them that information, to which they immediately disabled the mob.

The side NPCs that everyone fall in love with them. From Walter Bob, a random admin who they let the players create a story and love for, to the Capybaras, which are basically the admins having fun but turned into them having their own lore.

The insane enigmas they make for Cellbit and the story it tells. They make the puzzles very detailed and sometimes can hint to other stories.

Fucking making Felps a new member

Making a button so people like Cellbit who frequently switch between Portuguese and English dont have to constant fiddle with the settings and can just switch easily

The fucking insane shit they do with Max and his story is so cool. From what Ive seen, they give him so much room and freedom to make what he wants. Im always so impressed by whatever Max does and the things he does with this server.

They make sure everyone's lore/story is seen/heard and also try to connect the lore together. From what I have seen, nothing is half assed. Cellbit finding books about a powerful weapon? It is used to trap Pac and Etoiles had to go through the nether to get the shield to counter the sword.

Lastly, just listening to the members and hearing their concerns while also letting them having fun. They joke with the members/audience, but also hearing them out when they think something is unjustified.

The admins care so much for this server and put so much work and love for it. I hope they know it never goes unappreciated or looked over.

[katyspersonal]

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 )!

[its-leethee]

What kind of magic does the Jailer use, and what is her connection to the Key of Aaravos?

I have thought for a while that perhaps the Jailer is neither a primal nor a dark magic user, and that she utilized the Key of Aaravos to serve an important role in his imprisonment. Now, there isn't a lot of overt evidence for my hypothesis here; this is a ramble of pure speculation. I'm going to do my best to present the dialogue and canon-consistent logic to support my thoughts. Here goes:

The prevailing opinion in Xadia is that "human magic" is akin to trickery and sleight of hand. When confronted with Callum's claim of being a primal mage in 5x07, Nyx dismisses his boast reflexively: “I’ve seen ‘human magic.’ Fake ropes, false doors, birds and rabbits stuffed into clothing.” To her, it's common knowledge that humans can't use real primal magic, and her derisive attitude shows she doesn't have much respect for human magic either. As for dark magic, Nyx doesn't even mention it at all; as Lujanne said in 2x01, "we do not call that practice magic. It's an atrocity."

But human magic has one more specialty: creating and solving puzzles. The mechanical devices and riddles guarding the secrets in Kpp'ar's labyrinthine house and the rock-stone puzzle hiding the staircase to Viren's dungeon are story-significant examples of the types of innovations created by human magic. In 1x03, Ezran solves the rock-stone puzzle to reveal the staircase hiding Viren's dungeon. Callum answers the riddle posed by Rex Igneous in 4x08, "having knowledge isn't knowing knowledge…. He has a map!"

So neither a primal mage nor a dark mage would resort to puzzles and riddles, the gimmicks used by magic-less humans. So let's now consider the Jailer.

During the post-season four Discord Q&A, Aaron Ehasz states that the Jailer is a "mastermind of prisons and puzzles."

In episode 5x05, Archmage Akiyu tells the story of how she met the Jailer and introduces her as "a human mage." Akiyu goes on to explain:

"The archdragons had given the Jailer a daunting task, to design a magical prison that could hold a Startouch Elf. She needed my powers to craft the prison itself." (emphasis mine).

It stands to reason that a competent dark mage, with the notoreity to catch the attention of the archdragons, could bring that kind of power into her grasp on her own. So why would the Jailer seek out the powers of primal archmage, unless she couldn't wield that power herself? Furthermore, knowing the prejudice that the archdragons hold against dark magic--all of humanity was driven out of Xadia for refusing to forswear its use--I don't believe the archdragons would ever condone cooperating with a dark mage, even to quell an existential crisis like a demi-god bent on world destruction.

Akiyu tells us one more intriguing thing that the Jailer said:

"'The puzzle is the real prison,' she told me with a proud smile," (again, emphasis mine)

There's another word besides "magic" that we can use to describe the practice of creating and solving puzzles: cryptography; the art and science of creating and breaking codes and ciphers. The terms code and cipher are often used interchangeably, but their meanings are technically different. Basically, a code uses arbitrary substitutions while a cipher uses an algorithm.

Now, if you wish to solve a puzzle, you're going to need all the pieces - and if you wish to solve a cipher or code, you're going to need a key.

More than one use has been hinted at for the Key of Aaravos. We've heard Rayla refer to it several times as a toy and a game piece (1x04, 2x07). In the book two novelization, Callum notices that the Key left marks on the ground that appeared to point toward Xadia (we get a glimpse of those lines in early episode 2x07). In 4x07, we get suspiciously up-close framing of the Key when Callum asks, "is there no primal gem for star magic?"

And a few months back, one of the TDP creators shared on Twitter about a season 6 scene that was eventually cut. In the scene, Callum holds the Key up to a symbol on a wall and says, "I'm gleaming the cube!" (if anyone remembers this twitter convo and can provide me a link to this, I would be so grateful)

This is the Key feature we're all most familiar with: its glow. When exposed to a source of magic, the corresponding primal magic symbol on the Key lights up. This is why I think one of the potential functions of the Key of Aaravos is as a cryptographic key. If it were held up to a magic-infused symbol, the glow effect would reveal the primal magic source - and in this way it could be used to decode a secret message.

In cryptography, a key is the series of words, symbols or phrases that contain all of the basic information you need to decode or understand a specific coded message. Both the sender and receiver of the coded message need to know the key in order to create the coded message or decode it into plaintext - to lock or unlock the meaning behind a cipher or code.

I can't speculate on the exact nature of the secrets that she encrypted with it, but the Key can literally shed light on the solution! It was a toy that was repurposed by a the Jailer, magicless human mage and mastermind of ciphers and codes, to protect the secrets of Aaravos and his prison.

Exactly what secrets it will be used to reveal remains part of the Mystery.

if you're interested in learning more about cryptography, this page has links to a lot of my favorite resources

Recommended reading for more Key of Aaravos and the Jailer theories:

the post that initially enabled my crazy train of thoughts, thank you @beautifulterriblequeen

super rad analysis of the Jailer's unique character design by @kradogsrats, who also authored one of my favorite alternative hypothesis for the real function of the Key of Aaravos

an amazing thorough and detailed Key analysis, by @raayllum and another very interesting conversation about the Key here

Special thanks to @raayllum for answering my random Akiyu and Jailer questions, and to @self-spaghettification for giving me the push I needed to bring this essay together!

[justablah56]

Dndads?

DNDADS !!!! I'm assuming you're asking me like . what it is n shit . if not . my b . bcs I am about to give you as big of an infodump as I can without spoiling anything lmao .

anyways hello my dear follower , my beloved dungeons and daddies (not a bdsm podcast) is my favorite thing ever <3 it's usually very loosely a dnd podcast , season three tho switches into the call of cthulhu system .

season one is 69 (nice) episodes about four normal world dads and their sons who all get sucked into faerun , a dnd world basically , through a portal while trying to go to their kids soccer game lmao . they end up losing their kids and basically the whole season is them trying to find their kids and then trying to find a way back home with tons of little side quests and detours that they take along the way . most of it is super comedic and lighthearted and it's also just fucking insane sometimes but it also has a lot of super compelling emotional moments and iughencmd it's so good oh my god .

season two is a continuation of the world created in season one , but now the players are playing as the teenaged grandchildren of their original dad characters , and it's heavily influenced by season one so you can't really listen to it on its own . season two is 50 smthin episodes of these teens basically trying to clean up the world after the things that their parents (aka , the kids from season one , aka , the kiddads) and their grandparents did between seasons to try and fix things and kinda ended up making everything worse cbnsndnsnd and it kinda starts off with the kiddads all going missing and suddenly these teenagers are supposed to be in charge of everything the kiddads were originally doing to fix everything . season two is I think a bit less comedic than season 1 , but it does have like . twice as many of those absolutely fucking insane moments lmao , and it does still have a lot of cool emotional moments and ougjfj it's all so good .

a lot of what I post abt usually has to do with this sort of untold season that happened between seasons with the kiddads . a lot of people are very attached to the kiddads , and to me a lot of it is bcs these are the characters we've known for the longest and we've seen them as kids and we see how the events of the first seasons shaped them into the adults they are in season two and man . it's just so cool . season two gives us a lot of small hints to stuff that happened between seasons , and we get a few flashbacks , but there's a lot of stuff that we don't know , and there's so much speculation abt how things happened and it's a very fun sandbox to play in chwndnsnmxx anyways .

season three started just a bit ago , there's 3 episodes so far . they switched who was the dm and so it's a new universe with no relation to the first two seasons , and could pretty easily be listened to on its own . season three is set at some point in the 1950s , and the four characters don't really have like . a solid thing they can all be described as . there's like . a teacher and a weird wife and a car salesman and a teenager . they're great . but it's these four characters who are all in a bowling league together and they're kinda figuring out that hey weird stuff is happening around here and there's monsters and just a ton of stuff and so far it is absolutely hilarious , I love it dearly <3 every character is just . fucking insane . and the dynamic is great , it's just awesome and I personally am having a blast with it so far

ok anyways . thats dndads lmao . if theres anything more specific you want to know literally pleaaaaase ask me and I will be soooooo excited to tell you cndnmxmdmd I'm completely and utterly obsessed with this podcast , I've listened to it . so many times . I will talk about it any chance I get , it's just great . I love it . and that's not even to mention the wonderful community here on Tumblr !!!! it's a relatively small fandom , so for the most part everyone at least recognizes everyone else , and everyone is just so awesome , ive made so many friends through this fandom , its great

[slarpg]

SUPER LESBIAN ANIMAL RPG v1.1 IS HERE! This is the most substantial patch since launch. On top of the usual bug fixes, we have new area maps, the new Additional Guidance mode, and most importantly... Melody now has a pet cat!! Look at him

As always, Steam users should get the patch automatically, while itch users can redownload the game from the store page. Common technical questions are also addressed in our FAQ page.

To try and manage expectations here, while this update contains more than the usual bug fixes, I don't currently have any plans to add a huge amount of content to the game. Right now I think it's already long enough, and the game's structure (with a definitive ending and no postgame) isn't conducive to adding DLC. And also, you know, what's there already took almost eight years of my life to make, and that kinda takes a lot out of you. But these additions felt like they would meaningfully improve the experience of what's already there.

Full changelog below!

v1.1 Changelog

"New content":

Additional Guidance mode can now be toggled on or off from the start of the game or via the in-game Options menu! When enabled, this will occasionally offer more direct hints on what to do next in a few specific parts of the game for more story-focused players - particularly a few puzzle segments, as well as helping you find the side content late in the game.

Ultimately, the total number of hints added across the game is low. Exploration, dungeon puzzles, and returning to previously-visited areas with new tools are core pillars of SLARPG's design, and I don't want to hold the player's hand every step of the way. But these specific bits have been parts where some players just gave up and messaged me (usually at like 3am), or posted a cry for help in the #SLARPG tag on Twitter. Which isn't optimal! So now an extra nudge in the right direction exists in-game, should you ever need it.

New area maps have been added for the Amber Woods, Sapphire Coast, and Uncanny Valley! They can be acquired from Park Ranger Taylor, the beach souvenir shop (first accessible in Act III), and Rafael, respectively.

And finally, as was originally intended, Melody now has... a pet cat in her house!! He is truly the most important part of this patch, and the most important thing that will ever be patched into the game.

Other tweaks:

Unrevealed enemies should no longer have their health bars displayed when using multi-target attacks.

The menu (and, by extension, the options menu) can now be accessed during the Prologue.

Fixed the Bestiary entries for the Loot Scooter and Helper Jelly not properly unlocking in the Sapphire Coast.

The animation for Megalith from the Geomancer Spellbook now plays for each individual enemy that's caught in its area of effect. (A compatibility issue was found with the script that made AoE attacks only play one animation, and this was the only skill in the game that needed said script.)

Originally the columns in the last "puzzle" room of the Flurry Mountains had no collision because that room is just a joke and I didn't want people to get stuck in a maze that exists purely for a gag but they now have collision so that I stop receiving bug reports about it

Added new line when entering the Fortune Teller's shop late in Act IV (or Act V) saying that he can help locate uncompleted major side quests at that point in the story. (He will now also point you in the direction of Fawna's side quest if you haven't completed it.)

A backup method of acquiring the missable Spellbook in Act III has been added late in Act IV. (You can still only get it once.)

The Crypt boss can no longer be defeated in a way that makes a certain unique status ailment remain after the battle.

There's now an additional warning at save points past the point of no return.

Other minor fixes.

Enjoy the update, everyone!

[chirpsythismorning]

The Hellflire Club Foreshadows Mike's Monologue (and More Than You Think...)

Several fans have noticed already that there are direct parallels between Mike's monologue in The Piggyback, with Eddie's monologue in The Hellfire Club.

While we've been grappling with all sorts of supernatural creatures over the course of Stranger Things' entire run, here Eddie is warning us about forced conformity and how that is the real monster.

This has also led fans to joke painfully about the fact that Max 'died' because forced conforming; that's what's killing the kids, aka Mike's whole speech to El wouldn't have happened the way it did in the first place, had him, Will and El not been trying so hard to be who they think they're supposed to be, instead of who they truly want to be.

However, what I want to add to this discourse, because I haven't seen anyone else acknowledge it (correct me if i'm wrong!?), is that this scene at lunch has two extras with whom Mike sits between, which are very likely meant to represent Will and El.

We've seen a lot of (love) triangle blocking used with these three before, often with Mike between the two. This screen-cap below has gotta be one of the most iconic and so I feel the need to mention it briefly:

What also makes this shot relevant as an example for this post, is the costume choice for Will and El here: the same shade of dark blue (hints of gray), and the fact that this doesn’t align with the colors/style they usually wear as individual characters. However, this was presumably one of the few times Will and El have genuinely interacted beyond supernatural happenings. And so now, with both of them standing on either side of Mike, after two seasons of him having only one of them beside him, and while the other was out of reach, what we're seeing is that these two are more or less two sides of the same coin. Whether Will and El are actually blood related (I'm like 75% sure they could be) remains to be seen. However Mike's bond between both of them individually is causing him to sort of be at war with himself (and his identity).

Now bear with me, because I know so many of you see theories/analysis involving set design/blocking/costumes and you just instantly check out and stop taking it seriously. But I can assure you, this is the real deal.

What follows, is so outrageously easy to overlook. And yet upon thinking about what it actually requires to film a scene, especially a scene like this with dozens of background extras, along with how this scene actually turned out, I'm going to explain why there are several factors which make me feel fairly confident about what these two specific extras represent.

To start things off, we know how this scene begins, with Eddie dramatically reading a Newsweek magazine:

"The Devil has come to America. Dungeons and Dragons, at first regarded as a harmless game of make-believe, now has both parents and psychologists concerned. Studies have linked violent behavior to the game, saying it promotes satanic worship, ritual sacrifice, sodomy, suicide, and even... Murder."

After they give us a short introduction to some of the faces of the Hellfire Club (notably Eddie), they cut to this point of view shot from Mike:

Here we are instantly introduced to the two extras that are going to dominate a majority of this scene outside of the main characters themselves, aka Willel...

note: interesting they don't include Mike in the shot for that specific sound bite below... almost as if he considers himself a freak for a different reason...

Yes, on the surface this scene is establishing that Mike and Dustin are finding a place in High School, as the freaks and geeks, but a place nonetheless.

Though, is that really all there is to it?

You'll see what I mean.

note: there's no meaning behind the circles touching here. i just wanted to acknowledge here that the El extra is visible at first, only for her to become hidden the moment that the Will extra becomes visible.

Now, this shot right here below is kind of iconic, because it's what made me realize that this girl extra here in the scarf represents El.

To provide a little more context, the Will extra next to Mike has already been picked up on by a decent amount of fans. I've even posted about it at least once. This guy definitely resembles Will at certain angles, to the point where he could arguably be a stand in/stunt double for scenes that don't require a close-up of him.

Also keeping in mind, this is a scene of the party in high school, in a D&D club. Assuming Will could have stayed in Hawkins and went to high school with the party, he would've more than likely been right here beside them. So that's what I initially got out of this scene and still partially do get out of it, regardless of these other observations I'm discussing here.

What's so fascinating about the Will extra though specifically, is that they avoid showing his face as much as possible, which is a unique choice that we're just not seeing be applied to the other extras in the frame. They even let us see the face of the guy across from the Will extra (blue/yellow striped shirt guy) multiple times, but apparently they really wanted to avoid showing this guys face (there are a few notable, but fleeting side profiles from an outside POV), almost to keep up this guise that we could imagine this is Will and hell, it could be him, bc it's pretty damn close.

However, upon recently rewatching this scene, I remember looking for other points when this Will extra might have been prominent, to see if I could find anything else.

And that's when I realized this girl in the scarf, directly blocks the Will extra at the most convenient time.

And that's when it hit me...

FORCED CONFORMING!!!!!!!

The following images below is when it really starts to get obvious that there was an intended direction going on here with the blocking of these two extras, in accordance with Mike's placement in the frame.

What sealed the deal for me, was noticing how the other extras surrounding them (excluding Willel), do not seem to be granted much importance in the continuity of this scene.

Continuity between shots is pretty essential to filmmaking. It's gotta be the main thing about film that just bugs me, which is that you can tell very visibly when a shot is followed by another shot, but from a separate take (has the capacity to ruin the illusion that this is real and not all fabricated).

For example, what I gather from the beginning of this following conversation, is that there were at the very least 2-3 takes done for these reaction shots of Dustin and Mike, and it's because the extras in the background give it away. Sometimes they're in the frame, sometimes they're not.

The Will and El extras provide a contrast to all the other extras, in that the continuity for their blocking in the frame is fairly spot on each time, equal to the standards of the main cast arguably. Meaning they had a mark and they had to stick with it.

Check this out:

side note: star wars reference (luke & leia??)

The most obvious thing that gives away the importance of these two extras, besides the blocking, is them both sporting an almost identical color in their costume. While the Will extra wears a maroon shirt, the El extra wears a scarf in that same color.

This is so simple yet sort of genius, because again, from what I understand, no one has noticed this, and so it's pretty epic once you finally do pick up on it.

The Will extra is almost always in the frame on Mike's right? The El extra is facing the the opposite direction as them (not on the same page), and wearing a scarf, which is there to represent the tentacle choking her during Mike's monologue...

This theory does take a turn for the hilarious, when at a later point Eddie starts monologuing again, while Dustin and Mike look at him fondly (w/ Mike in focus), the Willel extras are now nowhere to be found...

I think this choice was made to indicate that Mike's attraction to Eddie is based on the most basic type of attraction, while what he shares for Will and El is so much more complicated (and deep). When you're just experiencing everyday attraction, you're not thinking about your significant other or your hearts desire in that moment, because this moment is just a blip encounter that isn't going anywhere, it's attraction and that's all there is to it. Whereas what he feels truly for Will is true love, while what he feels truly for El is familial love. This tiny moment isn't about his conflict over his romantic feelings, it's about the fact that Mike is attracted to men.

And then what follows directly after this, is that little snippet of Eddie's monologue, which echoes Mike's monologue to El at the end of the season...

Oh and look who it is?! The El extra has made a reappearance, just in time!

This is one of the few times they made a point to have the El extra in the frame while the Will extra wasn't, which I also think is intentional because it could be a hint to how Mike's speech about falling in love with El the moment he saw her is a fabrication (copyright to be exact), and it also doesn't resemble the love that Mike has for Will, hence why he was almost entirely left out of those shots. (Also similar to Mike's monologue at the end of the season, where Will was in certain shots but not others, because the words did/didn't match Mike's feelings for Will at those points).

Lastly, we get a Gap (gay and proud) reference for Mike. And low and behold, the Will extra is making a reappearance, just in time!

I think what makes this scene easier to understand on a basic level, without making it too complicated for yourself, is comparing the implications that come with it, to the implications that came with Mike's monologue.

The choice to put Will in most of the shots, directly behind Mike as he professes his love to El, who is lying before him unable to look in his eyes or even respond, leads those truly paying attention, to the conclusion that this is not how you shoot a satisfying love confession. Therefore it can't be a genuine love confession.

Instead what this scene more so depicts is a character having a confession practically wrenched out of him. And because of all the other details happening over the course of this season and just the series overall, we can gather that Mike feels pressured to go through with this because he thinks he has no other choice.

They didn't beat the big bad this time, instead they lost. Because forced conforming, that's the real monster.

With only one season left, they're going to have to face the truth if they want to make it out alive this time (and happy!).

[strangefellows]

I’ve been shouting about it on Twitter for the past two days, so I’m going to put it here too:

CANTO IV PART 3 SPOILERS! Or, why the Yi Sang and Ayin parallels in this chapter got me extremely fucked up.

Like. Dear sweet absolute FUCK, I was getting the parallels already from the basics and the fact that both Fourth Match Flame Yi Sang (the outfit) and Spicebush Yi Sang (the eyes) make him look incredibly similar to Ayin, more than he already does with the exhaustion and similar dark hair. But then the dungeon came out and hit me like a warp train.

Like. Okay. There’s a lab. A group of people with like minds that came together to better the city and make people happy, even if it’s just in small ways, under the leadership of someone they all looked up to. Little by little, it begins to crack and crumble apart...and then it is betrayed, raided by City officials. Some people die. Some kill themselves. Some give up and let themselves be caught. Some flee. Some fight back tooth and nail til the very end. But in the end, two people are left alive...one of them completely, utterly broken; the one who had always had trouble expressing themselves and their feelings towards others, but who cared deeply for them.

That broken person ends up in a room, trapped there by their own misery, working on their project, their dream, given in part to them by the person they looked up to-- to the point they’re wasting away little by little, drowning in despair and depression, wishing for the people they loved and the place they felt they belonged. There is a person, the other survivor, who had only ever been there for their sake in the first place, that wants to keep them there forever. There is their other self, who at turns seems to want to help them and seems to want to take advantage of their pain.

Who am I talking about?

Then there is the script-- the scripts Yi Sang left for the others to read, to play out what happened.

Then there is the fact that the dungeon backgrounds are an exaggerated, overlarge tableau of the lab-office in Yi Sang’s memories, similar in no small part to the Keter Suppression’s office background -- and how that white room looks very similar to the white room of the final day in Lobcorp.

Then there is the finale of the fight with Dongrang (who spoke to Carmen by name and whose mechanic, though this is reaching, involves seeds) -- where he has one final conversation with that other self, who encourages him and comforts him and who guides him to the beautiful finale of self-realization: wings made of shimmering light. This reminded me so much of Day 50 in Lobcorp that I almost cried just thinking about it again today.

Then there is the last little bit, that final narration, the last letter from Yi Sang, where he says of the Sinners, paraphrased “I would like to consider them my friends, even if I don’t know how they feel about me”. Maybe a bit of a reach, again, but I feel as if it mirrors how Ayin feels about the Sephirah, though it might be conjecture here.

I’d even venture to point out how this whole canto has Yi Sang’s narration take forefront even over Dante’s in some places, similar to Ayin narrating his own flashbacks. 

There’s just so much there that it’s impossible not to notice after a point. I really appreciate all of it among the insane lore drops about the City and the wonderful character development of the other Sinners beyond Yi Sang, who the chapter stands on its own for without thinking about the parallels and who is now firmly one of my favorite characters in the game. 

(Not to mention the hints about Dante, which considering all of this just solidifies my theory that they’re Ayin, but that’s a whole other post.)

Nonetheless, whether or not my theory is true, this is so good, and what I feel like is just the start of them giving Ayin’s character more room to breathe and context for Lobcorp he never got before.

[iamluzgar]

I finally finished FFXIV Dawntrail and I have many many thoughts about it. So, spoilers, and bare with me.

I had a lot of troubles to get into it at first, but I always feel that way for much of the extension I've played so it didn't change much. I pushed through, and I'm glad I did. I loved the theme of discovering new people and cultures to get to know them, and to like them. Which was an ongoing thing.

I liked Wuk Lamat a lot as a character. She's a bit immature, but she has a lot of potential, as you say to Gulool Ja. Loved having Thancred and Urianger against me for a change, especially in that dungeon. I got into it more and more, wanting Wuk Lamat to succeed because there were many hints showing she would do well (like for example with the bandits, I saw another post on tumblr mentioning it, but she directly thought about a system failiure problem, rather than thinking the people were bad). She adapted herself to the best of her ability to the culture she met with an open mind, even when she was afraid, unsure or disagreed with it. The VA did a fantastic job imo for her voice.

Of course the rest of the gang was here too and it was incredible. I loved how Erenville finally got the spotlight he so deserved. I wasn't a fan of Krile, but now I do like her and that's the power of FFXIV imo.

Anyway, the first part was great, and it was an important part because the WoL can finally indulge in some "selfish" actions like battling big dudes, deities, eating stuff, traveling, meeting people, doing the good old Azem and I think they'd be proud. The game keeps pushing you Emet, from what he said to you on the last expansion, and I liked that, it keeps him alive. I obviously missed Venat, Hythlodaeus, Elidibus and Emet a lot from this expansion, so it was nice to have some mentions of them. However, especially with the second part of the game, you realize how the shadow of the Ascien still fly above us and all of the reflections. Because I am persuaded they had a hand in the creation of electrope and the key.

The second part was even greater. It started weak with the Western like stuff (I'm not a fan of that and it felt like post-MSQ quests), but then it really starts: not only it brings back stakes (because... Well, I laughed when people made Valigarmanda a "big threat", considering we killed Despair a few months ago in the game), but it also is a pay off from the first part. You grew attached to Wuk Lamat, to Tuliyollal and its people. And now they're in danger.

Which brings us to New Alexandria, with its strange culture of pushing away death. The whole part with Alexandria felt like a metaphore from our own real world. We too, tend to push death away, put people dying away from society and from our eyes, forget them. It really resonated with my experience, especially considering I've been a volunteer in palliative care for a year. The whole thing of accepting death is a main topic in this second part of the game.

We brushed a bit too fast over the identity issues Zoraal Ja felt, I feel, sadly. I wish we could have had a bit more to humanize him.

Then the last zone... It truly touched my soul. We do the exact opposite thing that we did in Endwalker. In Endwalker, we started from nothing, we added music, colors, we reanimated species from death. In Dawntrail, we "turned off" people, we removed the colors and the songs from the places we were visiting. It was powerful to observe it, doing a different kind of walk, maybe even a harder one. Idk for WoL, but it was harder for me. Because we were still "killing" people, and we can only sympathize with Sphene's desires to let her people live more, whatever the cost of it. We hope and pray there might be another way for everybody to be happy.

It brings me back to palliative care in the real world. This world Sphene created, was a metaphor for therapeutic obstinacy and the artificial prolongation of life. At some point, there is nothing you can do, and you have to "pull the plug". You have to say good bye. To your own family, to your friends, to people you knew more or less. What's left of them then? All the memories you had with them, and that's it, and as the Yok Huy's philosophy, they kinda live through you that way.

Contrary to Meteion, our action of killing the people in that zone was not born of desperation of not being able to save them, but from an acknowledgement that this artificial prolongation of life is no longer sustainable, it will give more pain and will sacrifice ressources that could be given to people who still have a chance to continue living. At some point, when there is no chance to sustain a life, we need to make peace with the fact that it's over. That death is a part of life, and might always be. The next day always happen, with a beautiful sunset, new lives, new hopes, new stories, and new adventures, with new people. It's an end, but it's not the end.

As someone who lost my mom when I was a teenager, it was comforting to see those moms having so much hope, love and pride for their children. I could hear my own mom through them. We see a lot of moms, and we have to say good bye to a lot of them, and that was difficult. I both hate and like the fact that FFXIV has a tendency to kill moms or otherwise important female caretaking figures. :( They displayed a lot of different relationships between family members regarding their future death, and that was also interesting. Family, in the large sense of it, was a very big topic of this expansion.

On a gameplay part, I loved almost everything. They upped up the difficulty a notch, and it was perfect. I love how they made new ways of seeing AoE while also still making it clear it's an AoE. Very good ideas there. Loved the last two dungeons.

I was not a fan of the music this extension, but well nothing is perfect. I'm not a fan of FFIX and obviously a lot was taken from it.

Hope that didn't bore you out!

TL;DR Incredible writing as usual.

[hanakogames]

Patreon 2023 Summary

Following on from last year, here's some of what I posted to Patreon this year:

Regular news and development updates

Sneak peeks at character designs for Galaxy Princess Zorana

Character concepts from the abandoned Hammer Horror game

Notes, sketches, and placeholder screenshots from Wolf Hall dungeon designs

Early design notes for Black Closet and how the second half of the game changed

Polls for future game concepts

Character design sketches from Cute Bite

CG Sketches from England Exchange

Chibi and Character design sketches from Wolf Hall

Notes on possible future Magical Diary halls

Character and CG sketches plus original background art from The Confines of the Crown

Character design sketches from Night Cascades

CG Sketches from A Little Lily Princess

My personal sketches for Sword Daughter (placeholders / notes to artist)

Black Closet bonus art that was abandoned because it was too saucy

Background designs from Cute Knight Kingdom

Bonus art from Date Warp

My sketches for Science Girls monsters

CG sketches from Fatal Hearts

CG Sketches from Long Live the Queen

Placeholder/development dungeon screenshots and item lists from the original Cute Knight

Sword Daughter sprite sets

England Exchange costume designs

Design notes and downloads for Charm School

Secret background details in Night Cascades

CG Development in Date Warp

Hints of UI development in Galaxy Princess Zorana

Character design sketches from Black Closet

Notes for proposed or abandoned game design concepts

…. and that's just the overview! There's more!

Just a sampling of the exciting behind-the-scenes info you can get by becoming a member.

[margindoodles2407]

Okay people wanted to hear about my Original Zelda Game Concept so

Here Tis

Title- The Legend of Zelda: Hero’s Spirit

Game Mechanic- Literally just. A game that cares about the Timeline.

Plot:

A Dark Souls Aesthetic, but with the heart and humor of a Zelda game. I just want to amp up all the character designs to 5000, if you get what I mean.

Well I don’t really know how it would start yet but the idea is that it’s like. The FINAL Zelda game. The last one in the timeline. And there’s these dark whisperings of the Return of the Demon King.

Basically the plot revolves around finally cohesively tying up the timeline. Ganondorf remembers the previous incarnations of Link. He knows how to beat you. He’s been killed by you time and time again. He is out for blood- or, an end to the cycle. See, it torments him. He hasn’t completely lost his humanity. He wants it to end. 

You have to learn from the Spirits of Past Links. Think the Hero’s Shade, but like. Dialed up to 10,000. And all the temples revolve around a specific Link. It goes in more or less reverse-timeline order (I say more or less because some things ARE out of order, and the BIG dungeon-temples are only the main console games. The lesser console games get mini temples that function more like Shrines)

Temples (I'll make individual posts about them as ideas come to me):

Hero of Hyrule: Primordial Sorcerer (it’s gotta be the first temple. you know, “it’s dangerous to go alone” and all that)

Hero of the Wild: Calamity-Feller

Hero of Legend: Undertaker of Ordeals

Hero of Winds: Conductor of Tempests

Hero of Twilight: Twilit Wolf

Hero of Time (I can't decide what I want his boss title to be. I'm caught between Symphonic Anachronism and Master of Masks and a secret third option that I haven't discovered. If you have any ideas let me know!)

Hero of the Skies: Forger of Destinies

And then the Shrine-esque Temples would be as follows:

Shrine of the Four Sword (Minish Cap/Four Swords): Would function as a weapon repair/upgrade site.

Shrine of Spirits (Spirit Tracks): Would allow you to communicate with the Spirits of the Heroes of the Temples you've beaten. I... don't know what this would do story-wise yet, but I think it might be something like the Hint Glasses in ALBW? Like if you were stuck on a story segment you could ask them for help? I don't know.

Shrine of Light and Dark (A Link Between Worlds): Magic Upgrades. Let me explain this one. The "Dungeon Item" of the Zelda 1&2 Dungeon is the Magic Meter. And at the end, you get the first Spirit (you need the spirits of the heroes to repair a broken Master Sword), the Spirit of Magic, which gives you the Magic Meter and the Spells from Zelda 2. At the Shrine of Light and Dark, you can learn the magic found in other games.

Shrine of Warriors (Hyrule Warriors): Combat Training (think the Test of Strength shrines). The more temples you've completed, the harder and more complex the fighting is.

So yeah! That's the idea! Feel free to ask me questions- it would be AMAZINGLY helpful and would help me flesh the concept out. Thanks for reading!

[nothingrpgzone]

The Bay of Birini

I have recently started work on a bronze age lost world style setting called the Bay of Birini. It's a hex crawl over a 50 x 50 mile area. It uses a bunch of shit from other people because it's a home game thing so I am not gonna post the hexes because a chunk of them are written by other people. Instead here is the plain map and the hex fill procedures that used for the making of it!

Roll 1d24 1-2    Obvious Feature 3        Hidden Feature 4        Obvious and Hidden Feature 1d4

Settlement

Monster Lair

Weird

Dungeon

Settlement Roll 2d6 and multiply the results 

1    Hermit

2    Thorp

3    Village

4    Village

5    Fort

6    Fort

8    Town

9     Bandit Holding

10    Town

12    Town

15    New Imperial Outpost

16    Religious Commune

18    City

20    Collapsed Imperial Remnants

24    Wizard

25    Dragon

30    Theocracy

36    Kingdom

Weird

Animal Behavior

Magical Feature

Treasure

Resource

Historical Location

Hint to nearby Hex

Combine 2

Monster Spark Tables

Monster Themes

Hidden danger

Predation

Mimicry

Mutation

Religion

Curses

Stalking

Ancient

Rumors surround it

Venom

Storms

Hunger

Monster Type

Chimeric creature

Large animal

Dinosaur

Undead

Chimeric Types

Two animals

Human and modern animal

Human and prehistoric animal

Existing mythological creature but with prehistoric parts (e.g. minotaur but triceptops instead of bull, )

Plant and animal

Undead Types

Ghost with mission

Mindless body

Avoider of death

Formless phenomenon

Special Thank you to Luke Gearing and Mark Conway

Recommended modules

Fire Pearls of Aya Gahn

The Ruinous Palace of the Metegorgos

Bronzelands (unpublished as of yet)

Seas of Sands (unpublished as of yet)

Into the Wyrd and Wild

[zealsoughtsequesterustanxiedemon]

Realized I finished Mushoku Tensei S2 and never posted about it on here. It was good. I liked it. Stuff from all over the place that I liked (loooooong):

Rudy tries a rebound relationship with a girl like Eris, he absolutely beefs it in a way that is very understandable

Said failed relationship actually also ruins his relationship w/ all of their mutual friends (this shit actually happens IRL)

Erectile Dysfunction is a major plot point

He gets another father figure (he seems really drawn to those) who treats his problems seriously and practically

Show continues to have sex as a core element and is actually pretty normal about it (including being p respectful about sex workers)

Fitz making Rudy question his sexuality

Having someone else who got isekai'd in a way completely different from Rudy

Said person wanting to go back to non-isekai and that making Rudy feel like shit for all his regrets

Sylphie actually having an elaborate, but awkward plan for making Rudy remember her (and it totally succeeding)

Finding the love of his life doesn't automatically solve Rudy's ED issues (they actually need medication for it, but the combination gets him there)

Rudy almost reliving his abandonment trauma and crying when she comes back in the morning

The question of "How do you get married?" being answered with "You get a house together, I think"

Rudy bouncing back and being a total horndog once his ED is fixed, to which his wife can only go "Oh, Rudy" and embrace him happily

Norn

Norn is just great, they made her a mirror for Rudy, one where he can help save his old self, but also her own person

Norn is a great reminder of where Rudy came from, that he really is that privileged now even if he has his own problems, AND the he can still be criticized in world

She's someone who can like Rudy, but can never really fully accept him for his faults

Perfect that she is the one who pushes him to go to save their mom

Nice little tidbit that teleportation is funky w/ time

Orsted stores his clothes near teleporters lel

Rudy saves Roxy in a way to make me genuinely believe she falls for him before she knows who he is

Her being saved doesn't actually make her look helpless, she somehow survived in a dungeon for a whole-ass month

Paul is still his same old flawed self, but he gets to actually show off in front of his Son and look cool

He foreshadows that he's going to have The Talk with Rudy later, but the talk is about Polyamory and he hints at with a dual-wielding metaphor

The dungeon boss is actually some pretty stereotypical video game monster

They have to back out of the fight and regroup

Paul acting irrationally as soon as his wife comes into the picture

Rudy metagames about burning the Hydra's heads, but it doesn't feel cheap because it's just a video game monster

The hydra attempting to ripoff it's burned stump to regrow it's head, and the dungeon group being able to handle that and adapt in real time

Rudy and us being unaware of Paul's fate until we see it at the same time

Zenith not even being okay after the fact

The man god really lived up to his word, Rudy really did regret going there even if he couldn't choose anything else. Horrible pain was waiting there for him

Roxy taking advantage of Rudy. IMO it was so satisfying for his childhood crush, this girl we knew was going to become a real romantic interest that has been hanging over the plot since early season one, to enter his romantic life at a point that is so messy

The woman who is cursed to have sex all the time, who is about to commit to a monogamous life, gives him the polyamory talk

That he walks into it knowing it will be messy and upsetting, but that doesn't mean people won't be happy, I mean his dad, mom, and maid are the perfect example of that

Norn is the one who tells him off, and she is both right to and wrong to (think of your sister Norn!)

Sylphie is actually very accepting, she p much expected this when he was going on a big trip ("well he's not going to have me to fuck"). There's a real power to accepting your man is a complete horn dog and loving him for it.

Sylphie and Roxy actually get along v well and I totally buy it (v shippable)

Norn starting to learn swordsmanship to take up her Dad's sword (Rudy was not going to do it)

Rudy coming to accept that despite him coming into this world with his past life's worth of knowledge, Paul really was his father

This whole combined season has really made it a point for this world to simultaneously attach Rudy to it more AND confront his regrets from his old one. It's nice. It's like it's a good isekai story or something

Stuff I didn't like (much shorter, but still v much problems):

The story was a little too homophobic with how it had Rudy "no homo" his way into denying Fitz was a boy

Just make Rudy actually thinks he's bi. You don't have to go through the process of actually accepting it before the Sylphie reveal, the story is much less homophobic (also it would be make the dual-wielding talk with Paul even funnier)

It does the "Ethical Slave Master" thing

[anneapocalypse]

Thoughts Before Endwalker

As I'm about to start Endwalker, I thought it was high time I actually write up some closing thoughts on Shadowbringers, and since I really haven't done this for any of the other expansions, this has turned into a general "thoughts so far" kind of post! And also long. This is not any kind of an essay, just a big long thoughts dump. Spoilers for everything through the end of the Shadowbringers patches.

And I trust I don't have to say this to my own followers at least, but just for the record: please do not tell me anything about Endwalker here, even if you think it's minor, even if you want to hint at something I'll like. I know very little and I'm looking forward to watching it all unfold.

How it started!

It's been a year and change since I started playing this game in the fall of 2022. I didn't actually expect to play very far (I only picked it up in the first place because I was helping a friend set it up! I swore I would never play an MMO! I hated multiplayer games!) and I certainly didn't ever expect to get as deep into it as I have! ARR is very handholdy for new players, which was exactly what I needed to enjoy playing and keep playing. I love the story and the characters and the world and while I do enjoy the solo aspects of the game very much, I've also ended up really actively enjoying playing with other people! I enjoy dungeons. I enjoy raids. I run roulettes more or less every day. Free Company life hasn't always been smooth sailing (long story I won't get into here), but it's also brought me a lot of fun times and some new friends, as well as seeing me step into an active leadership role and not hate it. Who am I? 😂 I don't know! It's not that I've never tried to step out of my comfort zone before when it comes to games and hobbies, it's just that most of those experiences haven't been good and I've ultimately walked away from them. I don't know why this has been different, but it has. It's challenged me to tackle and let go of a lot of old insecurities, which I'm glad for (and grateful to friends who've been patient with me along the way). It's also just been a really good time, and continues to be.

How it's gone! (ARR through Stormblood)

So here I am, in 2024, about to start the last current expansion! Shadowbringers is easily my favorite expansion thus far, but I have really enjoyed the whole ride.

I enjoyed all of ARR, because while I don't think it has the strongest writing and certainly not the strongest characterization, it's really more a very long introduction to the world and its major players and conflicts, and while slow-moving, it does serve that function, and for someone brand-new to MMOs like me, slow was okay. It gave me time to get my bearings and learn the game.

I did really love Heavensward. It hits on several aspects of Fantasy Politics that I enjoy (generations-long war, class politics, structural reform), and postwar Ishgard, while maybe still a little rosy, still doesn't shy away from the growing pains of social change. Also the dragons were cool. I loved Haurchefant a lot, and was heartbroken by his death even as I knew it was coming; I also wouldn't change it. I think his death was meaningful and the natural culmination of his character. A Knight lives to serve. I think Haurchefant was always going to go out sacrificing himself for someone else. If it hadn't been the Vault, it would have been somewhere else. He was a delight and I miss him dearly, but it was a good narrative beat and one I wouldn't change.

Ysayle, on the other hand, I really don't think needed to die. She undergoes a fascinating character arc in Heavensward which I think the writing really drops the ball on at the end. Ideally, I think Ysayle coming to terms with her missteps while continuing to fight for what she believes in would be fantastic. She could have been a meaningful figure in Ishgard's reforms, and she would have made a great Scion. Her death also simply isn't treated with the same reverence as Haurchefant's, and I think that's sad. Heavensward has a bit of a Women Problem, in that it really doesn't give us a lot of female characters who are central to the plot, in contrast to a lot of great and memorable male characters. And the one who is most central dies with a lot less fanfare than WoL BFF Haurchefant. (And I'm not knocking Haurchefant, whom I love dearly, or Aymeric or Estinien! The imbalance is just very noticeable and I wish it wasn't so.)

Stormblood tends to get a bad rap among FFXIV's expansions. It's so common to hear people say it's their least favorite, it wasn't as good as Heavensward, etc. It came up recently in a server I'm in, where a newer player said they were having a bit of content fatigue after Heavensward, and having heard that Stormblood wasn't very good, they were considering buying a story skip. Other responses were, not outright negative, but mostly lukewarm, and I felt like I was the only one who really came out for Stormblood's story. First of all, I don't agree that it's not as good as Heavensward! I grant you that not everyone is as enamored of Fantasy Politics as I am, but as mentioned above, Heavensward is also very political, so I don't really think that's the big difference. Stormblood is maybe a bit grittier in its depiction of war, and that's something I like about it; it's really about the horrors of imperialism and the cost of resistance, and it doesn't pull its punches on that.

Ironically where it does pull its punches is with character deaths, heroes and villains alike. It does feel a little like someone thought they might have hit us too hard in Heavensward, given that we haven't had a lot of major character deaths stick since. I'm not complaining about Gosetsu's return, as I liked him very much and was very happy he lived. I will grumble a little about Zenos, though I'll go easy because I know a lot of people like him. 😛 He just doesn't do much for me. Yotsuyu was a great villain, and I was really dubious when they brought her back, but was pleasantly surprised with how her story ended, to the point that I'm willing to eat a lot of what I said about memory loss as a plot device. They did well with it, and her ultimate death did feel appropriate. Yotsuyu was never going to have a redemption arc, because she didn't want to be redeemed.

It was very refreshing in Stormblood to have more female characters taking essential roles in the plot. Colorism issues aside, I do really like Lyse as a character, and I also loved seeing Yugiri and Alisaie taking prominent roles, especially Alisaie who really hadn't gotten to be in the main plot much before. Rolling around with the three of them was a blast. Raubahn is also a favorite of mine, so seeing him play a major role in Ala Mhigo's liberation and get some character development was excellent. I'm happy that he's stayed involved with the Resistance in the time since.

I also just think Stormblood's new areas are absolutely beautiful. Kugane and the Azim Steppe are particular faves, but I just think they did a great job with the environments and I loved exploring them, including the underwater bits! Eorzea and Ishgard are so European-inspired, and I really enjoyed seeing Asian cultural influences in a fantasy setting. It is after all a Japanese game!

Just this week I finished the reconstruction of the Doman Enclave. As a player who's joined the game more recently, it's always bittersweet to learn about game elements that were temporal and are now lost to time, like the evolution of Mor Dhona during the ARR patches, or the Ishgardian Restoration in the Firmament. I can go hang out in the Firmament and craft and do fêtes and custom deliveries, but I'll never get to see the Firmament being built. It was done when I got there, which for me was after completing 3.3, very soon after completing the main story of Heavensward. The Doman Enclave goes in the other direction. It is a solo experience by necessity, but it's an experience that every new player can have: making their donations every week and watching the Enclave grow. Such things are always a trade-off for an MMO, but between the two, I would definitely choose the one that doesn't lock new players out of the experience.

And to give one last shout-out to Stormblood, I think it's pretty essential setup for what's happening when Shadowbringers begins. It's not just that the Scions are dropping like flies, it's that this is happening on the brink of a full-scale Garlean invasion. Said invasion is also critical to the bad future that G'raha is ultimately trying to prevent. The state and history of Garlemald is inextricably tied to the Ascians who are tied up in all of this. Stormblood is arguably more important to the events of Shadowbringers than Heavensward is, though Heavensward is also not unimportant, both with the continued presence of Estinien (reluctantly so if we believe him 😉), and with the involvement of Tiamat in the Shadowbringers patches. It's all connected!

How it's going! (Shadowbringers)

Urianger is, unsurprisingly, a big part of why I love Shadowbringers so much, as he gets some wonderful character development there and actually gets to be in the plot! But it's not only him—I like how character-driven Shadowbringers is overall, how much the major characters are driving the story and not merely reacting to events. ARR was largely driven by the world itself; the expansions are where the story starts to become character-driven. The driving forces of Heavensward's are much bigger than the main characters, but Haurchefant and Ysayle and Aymeric and Estinien bring a personal face to the conflict and a reason for us to be invested in it. Stormblood's emotional core is Lyse, Yugiri, Gosetsu, and their collective drive to liberate their homelands from Garlean occupation.

Shadowbringers, to me, really brought all of that home. It's not only character-driven but it brings a much more personal touch, I think, to the Scions themselves, with the major players being characters we've known since ARR but now get to know in a deeper way. I've always liked Y'shtola as a character but never felt I really connected with her, and Shadowbringers changed that, even as her story in Shadowbringers is in many ways about her isolation from the others, her (sometimes justified) mistrust and the way she closes herself off even to the people closest to her. Yet there is a deep caring beneath Y'shtola's prickliness as well, which we see in her leadership of the Night's Blessed, the new family she is willing to risk her life for. She's complex and difficult, sometimes angry and stubborn, and we all know I love that in a fictional woman. I really gained a deeper appreciation for her as a character here.

I've said my piece on Minfilia already, so I'll try not to repeat myself too much. I will say that Thancred is the main character I have the hardest time with in Shadowbringers. I appreciated the additional character development given to him at first, but as the story made Minfilia's death more and more all about him to the exclusion of everyone else, the more I started to kind of resent it. It really gets under my skin how he treats Ryne for like, the entire time until Minfilia Prime's final departure. The narrative kind of treats it like oh, he just has a hard time expressing how he really feels! and honestly I don't fully agree with that framing. I think Thancred's cold and harsh attitude toward Ryne does reflect how he really feels at that time—namely, he's angry and lonely and upset for valid reasons, but he's taking them out on a teenager who's fully dependent on him for her survival, to the point that she admits she thinks he hates her. His legitimate pain doesn't justify that to me, and it really kinda chaps my ass how everyone just agrees that he's the one with the most claim to call Ryne family, when Urianger was far kinder, gentler, and more comforting to Ryne than Thancred ever was. And Urianger was in pain too. He also regrets what happened to Minfilia, and his part in it. He was carrying a terrible secret that he couldn't tell his closest friends, which put one of those friends' life in danger. He just owned his feelings, instead of taking them out on a scared kid. I know my bias is obvious, and I swear I don't hate Thancred 😛 but I really didn't like his behavior here and I wasn't really satisfied with the way the narrative handled it.

Probably my least favorite part of Shadowbringers was Vauthry. I just do not like "fat" as shorthand for "evil" and I think there could have been better ways to design him that didn't fall back on that trope. Even Dulia-Chai, a very lovable character in the end whomst we stan, does fall into some fatphobic tropes, and it's unfortunate that in a game without much body diversity (not to single out FFXIV, that's a problem for games generally), we only got fat character models as signifiers for "rich person" (yeah, I get that "fat cat" is the joke, it's just not a good joke) and "repulsive, evil abomination." No love!

On a lighter note, the return of G'raha Tia as the Crystal Exarch was simply wonderful. G'raha was very cute and fun during the Crystal Tower story but his presence was quite short-lived, so we didn't fully get to know him then. I think it's pretty easy to guess that it's him under the hood; he has a distinctive voice and lip shape and also the tower is right there. So the question becomes why he is hiding his identity, what his true motives are, and that's all intriguing! The fact that his plan hinges on his pretending to be the villain at the end and he utterly fails at convincing anyone is… deeply charming. But one of the things I love most about him is the kindness he extends to the people of Norvrandt. Even though his primary mission is the salvation of the Source, he gets attached to these people, offers up the resources of the Crystal Tower freely to improve their lives, helps build a home and sanctuary, fights for the First and becomes deeply invested in their survival as well. He has a huge heart, and I love him. I'm delighted that he gets to return and join the Scions at the end, and it's already been a lot of fun to have him along on the patch quests.

And of course, Urianger my love. 💜 He really shines in this story and every scene with him was a delight, even when I was climbing the walls needing to know what he was hiding. He gets so much good character development in Shadowbringers I could go on for hours about it, but I did especially love the Echo scene where you see G'raha asking him to lie—and you see how much he doesn't want to do it. Urianger's really been on a long arc ever since Moenbryda's death, and I don't think that arc is over yet, but my biggest worry for him as the cracks started to form in his story was that we'd find he hadn't changed, and was lying here for the same reasons he did in the Heavensward patches, and as easily. And that's not the case at all. He hated doing it before, and he really doesn't want to do it again, but G'raha's reasoning is just too strong for him to refuse. I brought it up recently but I think Shadowbringers reveals an Urianger who despite his long isolation really doesn't want to be alone, and does want his friends' understanding and approval and their trust. The look he gives the Warrior of Light if they say they trust him, and then the way he submits himself to their judgment when things go wrong while begging to be allowed to help fix things… god. I love him. And I'll stop there for now, since I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say about him in the future. ;)

Emet-Selch is a fascinating villain, certainly the most interesting Ascian we've seen so far, and the one who finally turns what have been fairly two-dimensional powerful bad guys into a truly motivated and complex faction. My favorite villains are always the ones who believe they're the hero, and there are a lot of parallels between Emet-Selch and Solas from Dragon Age: Inquisition which will be obvious to anyone who's played both games. FFXIV being a more linear story afford the player a lot less choice in how they respond to their villains true motives and history, but there's definitely still an expectation that we will sympathize somewhat with Emet-Selch, and recognize the tragedy of what happened to his people.

Ardbert's ghost, too, was a welcome addition to the story. Between his presence and the role quests (which were 100% worth doing in their entirety), I felt like we finally got to actually know the Warriors of Darkness against which we briefly clashed back in the Heavensward patches, and I really felt the pathos of their story, all they fought for and lost, but also their friendship and how they cared for one another.

Shadowbringers is beautiful in so many ways. The design of the Crystarium is gorgeous. Il Mheg is probably my favorite location in the game so far. Eulmore is a fascinating dark mirror of Limsa Lominsa. The way the game takes the idea of "a world being swallowed by light" and interprets that visually is so stunning. The sky over Lakeland arrests you immediately upon arrival, and the crystallization of the Flood of Light where it was halted at the edged of Amh Araeng is a chilling reminder of how much the First has already lost. The music has also been a highlight for me! I really adore the Shadowbringers music, and it has prompted me to go about collecting orchestrion rolls more deliberately than I had before.

The more I sit and write about how much I loved this expansion, the more I think of, so while I could definitely go on, I think I'll wrap it up there. 🙂

Onward to Endwalker. I'm not making any predictions this time, because I have done my absolute damnedest to stay unspoiled for this one and I know very little about what's coming other than what the locations are, what's been revealed in the Shadowbringers patches, and that it's the end of the big story arc we've been on since ARR. I'm extremely excited.

[alexod]

Gamedev Update Summer 2024

It's been a hot while since I've done a post so thought i'd give a quick overview of what i've been doing.

Long story short i've been busy making actual levels! Namely the overworld hub areas and the dungeons. My aim is to get the main key checkpoints in place so the demo can go from A to B, before filling in the enemies, puzzles and details inbetween.

That being said I've had to implement some further mechanics and features along the way, some of which have been inspired by games i've played over the years. I won't reveal the full nature of the game but here are a few screenshots of what I'm going for:

First draft of the Calendar System

I needed a way for the player to track the hints and clues they find around different places. Outer Wilds has a really good UI for tracking this sort of stuff so I implemented my own interpretation of that as a first draft.

I also intend on uploading YouTube videos (I haven't forgot I promise) on the main channel. It's unfortunately been a very busy few months for me at work, and without sacrificing dev time its been to difficult to dedicate time to the channel.

So yeah, I'm still plodding along. Will hopefully be in a position soon to start really going in on the character and location art.

-AlexOD

[browniefox]

The Final Crisis Core Playthrough Post!

Might end up making a video or something that kind of puts all my thoughts on the game together, but I'll leave it as this for now.

I feel like I'm always harping on the same things, but this game is always trying to get me to care about characters that it hasn't set up well before hand. I think there's something interesting about Cissnei, but there's not enough interactions with her for me to really care about her, and them trying to be like 'hey, don't you care what her read name is???' just makes me dislike her more tbh. I appreciate she's looking out for Zack, but there's just not a lot there for me. Who knows, maybe she'll end up being super cool in Rebirth.

It's also funny to me that she's like 'wow Zack, coming to Gongaga? Of course they're looking for you here' but Zack makes it sound like he kind of came here by accident.

Hollander and his dumb ass little wing. Also, in this light, Genesis is doing pretty well for himself, all things considered.

Genesis' goal is just... It's all over the place. I was sort of beginning to understand him, but this last section of the game I just stop being able to get a read on him. What I hate most is the lack of feeling like anything has changed for him. It's been four years, and sure Zack's life was at a standstill, but the rest of the world shouldn't have been. I'm glad the game let me finally kill Hollander, though, I've been wanting to do that for hours.

And I guess right now they've decided they need Cloud's S Cells? Why do they think S Cells will work? Are they just grasping at straws? I think they are.

How has nobody talked about Lazard???? I thought what happened to him was a mystery bc I've never heard anyone mention that apparently he became an Angeal copy to survive or whatever the purpose was again. It's so weird to see him with Angeal's face.

I think there's something interesting, though, with us finally getting to learn a little bit more about the connection between the copy and the original, with Lazard mentioning he's been feeling some Angeal emotions or whatever. We never get to hear what his deal was though. I know it's implied he's a Shinra bastard, but I guess I think it would have hit better as text rather than subtext.

I do think it's cool that the shelling of Banora was one of the first things to happen in the game, and now we're back here and we get to see the fallout. At least it looks pretty. I think there's only one Banora White tree left, from the looks of it? I'd love to be able to come here in Rebirth, though I have a feeling we won't.

Are you trying to tell me that Genesis was the first person to think of making apple juice??? Yeah, sorry, don't believe it. This party just feels... weird. Like, I think it's supposed to hint to something? Like, something about the juice? I was just too caught by surprise by Genesis the Apple Juice Inventor.

I realize he didn't invent apple juice but just, uh, was the first to decide to juice Banora Whites? Was there something stopping them from doing so before?

The dungeon in this section also does not have to be this long. Bull shit dungeon.

Okay, so now there's a weird statue that was under Banora. Okay. I believe it's said or implied that whatever this thing is is what gave Banora White's their special taste or whatever or special properties, I wish it was gone into before. Is that why the trees were fruiting at weird times of the year? At least Genesis seems to believe this is what he was looking for.

It's sort of interesting that Genesis looks and Zack and goes 'Ah, you have both Angeal and Sephiroth in you, and thus we are all reunited', but like, that makes it seem like Zack will then get some part of Genesis to me, but that never happens.

The armor looks cool, but it made me expect a much cooler fight than I ended up having. The fighting in this ends up being just spamming spells, which isn't all that fun tbh. I like that Genesis' face was kind of cracking as he was getting the power of the Goddess, but then he's totally rejuvenated after this which is soooo lame.

Why and how does he claim this power anyway? It's one of the more minor questions, tbh. This is going to sound weird, bc god I could not get thi guy to stop talking about loveless, but I wish there was more Loveless? Like, that we could get a better understanding of the epic to better see how it fits the story of Genesis, Angeal, and Seph.

I do kind of like that Genesis at this point is still fighting. Like, he doesn't seem to understand when to throw in the towel - it's why he's been trying to find a cure this whole time. I kind of see it as what was probably once one of his best qualities, but now has become one of his worst.

I think this is supposed to be, like, the Goddess from Loveless, right? But, is that the same as the Planet? Is she some Ancient from long ago? Something else? These aren't questions that I necessarily need answered, but if would be nice to know if, you know answers to them did exist. I do think this whole scene is very pretty at least, and you get the idea that Genesis might even be coming to some sort of revelation about like, his life and what all of this is, and I for sure thought he died here.

I also think it's sad that Zack keeps getting into this situations where people are essentially using him as a form of suicide. How mean, he's just a nice little guy! Stop being mean to him :(

Wow, reunion of the Firsts. You have Lazard as Angeal, Genesis as himself, and Cloud as Sephiroth, how touching. I just, ugh, I was so done with this story by the time I got here. Like it’s a nice picture, and you get the idea they’re going for something, but it falls flat to me. Also,  Lazard says that they were attacked, and I realize it would have been more work, but I wish they would have done something to the area to look like there had just been some sort of fight here. I could easily believe otherwise that Lazard just fell down and died bc he looks that shitty. No offense. Also damn, the dog dies too :( 

And also we all get to eat an apple? Do the apples have something special going on with them or not? I got the impression they do from what I’ve heard other people say, and maybe I’m just not picking up on it bc I’m going through the story too quickly or something, but the pieces are just not coming together for me. I’m planning to watch both the CC and CCR cutscenes after this to get some other opinions and also to try and get a better grasp on all of this, so hopefully that will help…? 

Oh my God, I do kind of like the detail that Zack had no idea it’s been four years. I mean, why would he know how long it’s been. That being said, however, why hasn’t anyone else mentioned how long it’s been? Maybe they don’t realize he wasn’t able to account for that time or something, but still. It does break my heart that Aerith has been writing letters this whole time, but just now she’s finally giving up. 

Bye bye Genesis, see you in Dirge or whatever. For some reason I thought it ended with him, like, encased in crystal? I realize that that Zack really only has room for one comatose friend, but you couldn't have put Genesis somewhere a little better? Then again, he is a little bitch, and where else would he want to be than as close to home as possible? Not that he stayed there very long, of course.

Again, we see that the Turks care at least somewhat for Zack, and not just Cissnei. Either it’s because Tseng likes Zack or because he cares about Aerith, and tbh I’d take either answer. I think it’s nice that he’s been holding on to the letters she’s tried to send to Zack, that Tseng hasn’t thrown them away but clearly has always planned to give them to Zack, should he ever turn up. I do like Tseng a little more after this game, at least. 

I know that this game expects you to have played FFVII before hand, but I wish some of the repeat cutscenes were done more justice, like this one in the back of the truck. For a game that deals with the time between Nibelheim and Midgar, I kinda was hoping for more of these moments between Zack and Cloud. 

Ugh, this moment is good though, Cloud reaching out for Zack, probably the most he’s moved in years, but Zack has his back turned and is walking away. We all know what’s coming. 

I didn’t take a lot of screenshots during the fight. I wish it had let you fight them until you couldn’t fight any longer instead of ending it earlier. The way the DMW breaks down over the course of the battle is heartbreaking! I think it’s cool to interpret it as, like, Zack losing faith in those people, his loss in hope of what they thought, they believed, or maybe losing the values that they thought were important or something. And the way that Aerith’s DMW held on so long. When I tell you I screamed the first time he’s came up, and I almost cried when the it finally disappeared. And that grueling end fight! Where it’s you against three simple infantrymen, but Zack at this point is so tired and exhausted he can barely lift the buster sword. Oh my god, at least they did this part super well. 

Okay, my switch wouldn’t let me take screenshots of the ending cutscene, boo, but here’s my thoughts on that. 

God that last scene is so brutal.

Zack bleeding out and dying, and it not shying away from showing the blood and how painful and sad this is. And Cloud, managing to crawl over. I already knew this scene, but it still hit super strongly. Like, how relieved must Zack hae been to hear Cloud talk for the first time in ages? To say his name? Confirmation that Cloud was still in there and still cared about him? And all he can offer him now is a purpose and a weapon to carry on. And the way Cloud SCREAMS at the end! And Aerith looking upward, and you know that she can feel that Zack is dead. I have just have one problem, and that’s that it becomes a music video??? Like, why the hell would you do that? 

I also like the detail that the post-credit scene is the opening to FFVII. Very nice touch in my opinion. 

In summary, I like a lot of the ideas and themes that Crisis Core says it's going to deal with, and most of the ways that it expands the FFVII universe, but i wish it was better and more thoughtfully written. Everything feels so rushed, and like it's going a million miles an hour, and I don't get the chance to get attached to people as much as I wanted to.

[aasherstarr]

👾🍭 new pinned 🌈💫

hi im asher/eluca/rex, im 15 and im an author + artist !

im working on a book called early-bird malice: rex's (not me the character) infamy (more info at @ebmri-official-blog,) i would appreciate it if you would check it out!

i lovelovelove rainbows and decora fashion (although you probably wont see me post outfits here)

i speak english y español 🇸🇻🇵🇷 im learning german + planning on learning asl and italian (i was learning simplified mandarin about a year ago, but i lost motivation. i still plan to learn it but for now it's on the back burner)

art tag is just #art, random stuff is #asher yapfest, i tag all my diff fandoms

my main fandoms/interests

ocs (spinterest), pvz (almost all games), danganronpa (almost all games + dra/sdra2), pretty blood, kick the prince, backyardigans, fnf, welcome home, run 3, mobile suit gundam, dungeon meshi (kinda,) mario

b4 you follow ! important i think

i am a copinglinker, i mostly identify as the characters who r my c'link characters (list is here) and therefore im kinda uncomfy with people who selfship/similar with some of said characters .... NOTHING AGAINST YALL /gen, i just partially see the characters as me

im autistic, pls b patient if i dont catch a hint right away

dni

basic dni (racist, ableist, homophobic, etc), proship/comship, that's kind of it

other places 2 find me

twitter

insta

that's it i think :o)

here are some of my favorite emojis 🌈👽🤓😜😆🍭👾🔥🙌🏼😯😭☹️🙏🏼🫶🏼😈💀