#I have a lot of feelings about this game

[andwhentheangelscome]

go off about the DE debrief pls

Okay okay okay okay SO - gosh, where to even begin.

Okay, so: You're standing above the Whirling-In-Rags (which - by the way - is an INCREDIBLE name for this particular location, as Harry is quite literally caught in the storm of his own hopes and failures and responsibilities and poverty BUT I DIGRESS ALREADY), and you're invited to take in a view of the square which will comprise a central location for the game's central drama, and here, at the end of your first day - for a new player, spent running around haphazardly, talking to people who hate you, who have strong opinions about you and about this world that you barely understand - both as the player AND diegetically as Harry - and right before you try to pack it in and give it another go tomorrow, Kim does something important: he invites you into the story in a way that frames not only what you have done in a way that is encouraging (something needed as a player after all the disorientation) but also deeply personal for this character.

This moment isn't just about the narrative gameplay utility of taking the player aside after they've finished Chapter One (so to speak) and making sure they understood the major components of the story that they're in. It's about giving the player a chance to see Kim Kitsuragi - a character who is deeply straight laced, and particular, and necessary for Harry's potential to heal and to move forward from this point where he's found himself - in a moment of genuine vulnerability, and also genuine power.

Kim pulls a cigarette. His minor vice, his personal challenge, one of the markers of his Cool. He takes you through the days events, making sure that as a new player, you aren't completely lost as to what your goals are here, and what's central to achieving them.

(I had forgotten about this until I've been watching it back - he also compliments the snakeskin shoes!!! The green does compliment the orange!!! And those SHOES - one of the many things that makes me headcanon Harry as a closeted-even-to-himself bisexual, like - Kim KNOWS that it's a bold fashion choice and admires it, okay I'm veering off what's just in the text itself now here)

And then he "zooms out," so to speak. We get a discussion of the RCM, an organization which is core to Kim's belief system, which I read as being a steadfast commitment to the ideals of self-governance, of propriety in the social order, of there being a right way to carry a weapon, and a right way to protect the things worth protecting.

He talks about having been a Moralist (a political ideology coded as being similar to specifically European Liberalism), when he was younger, and falters when trying to articulate why he moved on from their beliefs, except for throwing in a comment about how their motto is more about "what they want you to think about them" implying that, for all their talk, they fail to truly meet those values of "Love, Compassion, Self-Discipline", a statement which the situation in Martinaise genuinely supports.

And it's hard to understate how good the music is in this scene too. Breathy and expansive and yearning and defiant and sad.... It's everything that the story is set up to make you feel. It's big, and it's aching, and musically it's all about how it isn't time to give up yet, not now, not while there's still some way to stand on your two feet and do something about all the problems in the world.

And what's insane about that feeling and that idea is that it's actually the central thing that Harry and Kim deeply share. It's what makes them good cops. The story tells us - both directly through text, and through their actions (assuming that you're not playing Harry as a fucking fascist) - that they get up, every day, broken as they are, and try to Do Good in a world that is beautiful, and hostile, and complicated, and impossibly hard to see clearly through all of the ideologies, and the daily grind, and all the pointless pain, but you still have to try to do the right thing. Because it's worth it. Because that's what you owe it.

Harry has been beaten down by this challenge. He's tried to be good, and smart, and tough enough to take on the problems of the world, and of his community, and he has been brought here: to his last leg, to the Whirling-In-Rags, certain in his heart that he's been beat.

But Kim refuses to accept that answer, and so does Harry's soul (a stand-in for us, as the player), he refuses to accept that nothing can be done, just because the problems seem so large, and intractable.

And then Kim does the best thing that he could for Harry, and for us, who are facing the same exact questions in our own, much bigger, just as complicated world:

He stares the challenge down with courage. And despite what he believes through the clarity of his sight, he hopes for a better world:

It's this line, this Perception check, that I always come back to, when I think about what this game really wants me to take away from this whole story. There's more to it than just that, of course, this game is full of lessons about money, soldiers, workers, sex, power, honor, and beauty,

but this is the thing that I need the most, when I'm trying to find my own way forward. I need to be able to acknowledge that maybe I won't see the world become more kind, more loving, and more honest before I die. Maybe it'll still be just as hard and bleak in 20 or 50 or 100 years.

But still.

I still have to believe that the struggle won't break me down. That the work, the very belief that trying is worth it, will drive me forward,

that it will make me look young. when it should make me look tired.

And then just like that, it's over. It's time to go back inside, to let the moment fade, and to take that courage as far as it will take you.

There are so many good scenes and interactions in this incredible masterpiece of gameplay and storytelling, but the Day One debrief will stick with me forever, I think.

[sorarini-art]

Spoilers for ISAT under the cut! 💙💙

I LOVE games with choices in them. I ADORE it, CRAVE it, chew on and DEVOUR games that give you choice. Let you choose. Things change and mutate depending on what YOU do and say. It's my fucking JAM.

In Stars And Time FASCINATES me. Because it gives you choice. You can CHOOSE to look at something, or not go in a room, or talk to someone, or ignore things to do. And things change, characters react, YOU react, depending on what you as a player choose.

But the thing is, in this game, it's not real. It's the illusion of free will. You'd think since it's a time loop, okay maybe there's a certain number of things you can do but the order can be different? But it's not, it just makes you THINK it! The side quests are avoidable sure, and you can or not look at certain things, like your coin, but at the end of the day there's only one ending and only one path to get there. No matter what you do, no matter how you play, the true ending is Inevitable.

I have so many feelings about this. For one, the feeling of having free will but it being an illusion is AWESOME. It's a fine line that this game struts with ease! I never felt shepherded or like anything I did as a player doesn't matter! And then theres the morality behind the story. It doesn't matter what you do. How long you prolong is and procrastinate. The end WILL come, and what's to be will be. And in this case, Siffrin struggles and suffers all on his own. For SO long. How long depends on you the player but the fact is its SO SO LONG. But the fact is that the end, the one true ending of the game, is inevitable. It doesn't matter what Siffrin does, who he is, or where they go, the truth WILL come out and, no matter what, he WILL be loved. Your choices don't matter in the end because your friends, your family will be there, will help you, will guide you and then support you. Will give you what you need and have never ending patience as you heal.

It just feels like, the moral of the story is, regardless of what happens, what you do, what you forget, what you say, it is INEVITABLE that you will be loved. Your friends, your family, they will always love you.

And isn't that beautiful.

[prose-priest-potentate]

There's a lot of fun symbolism and a lot of fun looping plotlines in our cos game that I just totally fell in love with man.

MOST recent on my mind is Marileina and Arabelle as morbid little best friends - like yeah, on the surface it's two girls of similar ages who meet and have similar powers and attitudes and get along like a house on fire. Love that.

But also Mari as Strahd's heir and Arabelle with direct ties to Madam Eva sort of just inheriting a better version of that relationship where technically the Zarovich royal line, the legitimate line, is integrated into the Vistani people again by this friendship between the girls instead of dangling by the aging remnants of Eva's care for her bro. And then Viktor! GOD I hated him at first and he IS awful but he's grown on me. And deciding that he's not Vargas' legitimate son???? That Lydia cheated with a Vistani man? WILD. Vargas Vallakovich who is OBSESSED with legacy and image, with a fucked up heir who causes problems politically who isn't even HIS and an orphan he picked up specifically to groom as a knee-breaker who he treats like a dog but doesn't adopt -because Izek doesn't deserve to be part of the family can you imagine?? But Izek's the one whose loyal and Viktor ruins an important marriage alliance. I just love seeing Vargas lose.

and IZEK AND VIKTOR and their budding romancing KILL me. STAKE to my HEART the symbolism isn't lost.

Viktor who runs to Krezk and meets Vasilka and just thinks she's the most interesting girl in the entire world who adores the fact that she's this brutish amalgamation of dead bodies given life, and Vasilka who has rarely met someone who didn't recoil in disgust at her, a young lady who meets a young man and they try to run away together and make a little life?! Adorable! Precious! They're going to grow together and make each other better! Viktor will learn to love and see the value in the world, and Vasilka will get to follow her dreams of adventure and curiosity!

Izek who meets a beast of a man who gives him the time of day and specifically is friendly to him when so few people (none) are, so he runs away from his obligations to Vallakai on a paper thin excuse and starts chasing down a future he didn't even know was an option.

Both of them as cruel, obsessive, vicious sons of Vallakai who meet people who want to see them grow and be loved.

Izek, who leaves behind a place that has crafted him from something bad into something worse, who then has a chance at a happily ever after laid out in front of him on gilded tableware; he gets his little sister back, inherits a step-brother along with her, ends up with two or three unlikely and very annoying friends that adore him, and ultimately will 1.) get his soul and 2.) see even his sitting foster-ish-brother Viktor doing better and having a second chance too.

There's just an ENTIRE generation of young people set to inherit the ashes of the world and build it back up and it's beautiful and I love it and I always wanted them to turn into this extensive dysfunctional family where they don't always see each other but Viktor and Vasilka send Christmas cards, Mari and Arabelle get their own little spin-off of high school slice of life, and Izek and Ismark get to settle down in positions as noblemen and finally have some say in their own damn lives.

[icedvanillas]

Hot take but a game about the intricacies of free will and how any one decision by any character can impact all aspects of the narrative because choices don't exist in a vacuum and will have consequences on the outcome should not have had a "best ending" where everyone survives at all.

[ipsen]

i need you all to understand that ff16 was made specifically to make older siblings turn into real piles of mush and tears that shit was PERSONAL

[akitalockwood]

Someone probably did this before but who cares

✨ commissions ✨

[asterixer]

I refuse.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy.

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[haunted-xander]

Who's the "real" me?

+ some references for the Rise-related things I included <3

[invinciblerodent]

This is going to be very ranty and disjointed, probably borderline incomprehensible post, but with the "return" of Dragon Age Discourse (and really, did it ever go anywhere?) and me repeatedly seeing the complaints and dismissals of DA:I as a "chosen one"-type of a narrative, I just.... I keep finding myself thinking about the relationship of truth and lies within the game.

Throughout the course of DA:I, the idea of a malleable, flexible personal identity, and a painful confrontation with an uncomfortable truth replacing a soothing falsehood, follows pretty much every character throughout their respective arcs.

There are some more obvious ones, Solas, Blackwall, The Iron Bull, their identities and deceptions (of both those around them and themselves) are clearly front and center in the stories told about them, but this theme of deception (both of the self- and the outside world) is clearly present in the stories of the others as well.

Like, for example, ones that come immediately to mind are stories like that of Cullen, who presents an image of a composed and disciplined military man, a commander- all to hide the desperate and traumatized addict that he sees himself as.

Dorian grappled with the expectations of presenting the image of the perfect heir to his father's legacy, the prideful scion of his house, his entire life (he even introduces himself as the result of "careful breeding", like one might speak about a prized horse)- all while knowing that his family would rather see him lobotomized and obedient, than anything even just resembling his vibrant and passionate self.

Cassandra calls herself a Seeker of Truth, and takes pride in that identity- only to learn that in reality, she has been made a liar, a keeper of secrets, without her knowledge or consent, and it is up to her to either uproot the entire organization and painfully cut out the abscess it is to build it back from the ground up into something respectable, or let the information she had revealed sit, and continue to fester.

And this theme continues and reframes itself in, among others, things like Sera's own inner conflict between her elven heritage and her human upbringing, or in Cole being caught in this unconscionable space in-between human and spirit, between person and concept, etc.

The Inquisitor isn't exempt from this either.

I feel like this is where the core of the many misunderstandings of this plot come from, why so many people continue to believe that Inquisition is a "chosen one" or "divinely appointed" type of story, because I think many might just... not realize, that the protagonist's identity is also malleable, and what they are told in the setup/first act of the game is not necessarily the truth.

The tale of the Inquisitor is the exact opposite of that of a "chosen one" story: it's an examination and reflection of the trope, in that it is the story of an assumption that all wrongly believe to be the truth, and thrust upon you, even if you protest. The very point is that no matter who you choose to say that you are, you will be known as the Herald of a prophet you don't even necessarily believe in, and then that belief will be proven wrong, leaving you to cope with either a devastating disappointment if you believed it, or a bitter kind of vindication if you didn't.

There's a moment just after Here Lies the Abyss (when you learn of the lie you've been fed your entire journey in the game) that I don't often see mentioned, but I think it's one of the most emotionally impactful character moments, if you are playing an Andrastian Inquisitor who had actually believed themselves chosen (which I realize is a rather unpopular pick, lol): it's when Ser Ruth, a Grey Warden, realizes what she had done and is horrified by her own deeds, and turns herself in asking to be tried for the murder of another of her order. As far as she is concerned, she had spilled blood for power, and regardless of whether she was acting of her own volition at the time, whether she had agency in the moment, is irrelevant to her: she seeks no absolution, but willingly submits to any punishment you see fit.

And only if you play as an Inquisitor who, through prior dialogue choices, had established themselves as a devout Andrastian, can you offer her forgiveness, for a deed that was objectively not her fault- not really.

You can, in Andraste's name, forgive her- even though you, at that point, know that you have no real right to do so. That you're not Andraste's Herald, that Andraste may or may not even exist, and that you can't grant anyone "divine forgiveness", because you, yourself, don't have a drop of divinity within you. You know that you were no more than an unlucky idiot who stumbled their way into meddling with forces beyond their ken.

You know you're a fraud. You know. The game forces you to realize, as it slowly drip-drip-drips the memories knocked loose by the blast back into your head, that what all have been telling you that you are up to this point, is false. And yet, you can still choose to keep up the lie, and tell this woman who stands in front of you with blood on her hands and tears in her eyes, that you, with authority you don't have, grant her forgiveness for a crime that wasn't hers to commit.

Because it's the right thing to do. Because to lie to Ser Ruth is far kinder than anything else you could possibly do to her, short of refusing to make a decision altogether.

There are any number of criticisms of this game that I can accept (I may or may not agree depending on what it is, but I'm from the school of thought that any interpretation can be equally valid as long as there's text that supports it, and no text that contradicts it), but I will always continue to uphold that the Inquisitor is absolutely not- and never was a "chosen one".

They're just as small, and sad, and lost, as all the other protagonists- the only difference is that they didn't need to fight for their mantle, because instead of a symbol of honor, it acted as a straitjacket.

[whenthewallfell]

Peeta was always endgame no matter how you slice it. Obviously there's the narrative choice, already gone into that, but from a character perspective too.

I mean there's the whole 'gale winds are loud, devastating, and quick to pass' and 'pita (bread) is considered the cornerstone that helped create humanity' thing, there's war vs peace, wrath vs mercy, self vs many, etc etc.

One of them brings destruction (gale is defined by what he kills, be it rabbits or sisters, and the systems he wants to bring down) and the other, creation (peeta is defined by the things he makes - speeches, bread, art).

One of them will end the world, the other will rebuild it from the ashes. Obviously Gale is needed - you can't make omelettes without breaking eggs after all- but he was never a sustainable, long term option.

WHICH THEN BRINGS ME BACK OH SO NICELY to how love IS a central theme of the series, because there HAS to be a 'so after'.

[ruescott]

like I know the original post is unserious and love languages are Not Real but I made the mistake of thinking about ogata hunting and now it's all over for me

[shimmershy]

Buttercups and Golden Flowers

[fortheloveofexy]

it's a pet peeve of mine when ppl frame Andrew as hating Aaron and being needlessly cruel to him... bc while yes, their relationship is fractured and strained, Andrew genuinely cares about his brother and wants the best for him, he just doesn't know how to show that in a normal way.

like he might not know how to express it in a healthy manner but Andrew LOVES Aaron, like he truly just wants Aaron to be healthy and safe. It's like, his whole Thing. Aaron is one of the most important people in his life. Andrew wants him around. He'd do anything to protect him.

I guarantee Andrew wants to be emotionally close to Aaron too, he just doesn't have the tools to do that and the thought of letting someone in terrifies him. He also has no concept of what a healthy sibling relationship looks like, so he has no frame of reference to work from.

[squuote]

i wish more people made video essays talking about things they love. i love hearing people talk in depth about things they love, especially if its something new to me. like cool sure yeah you can talk about the history of something but like, maybe i wanna know your personal connection to it. maybe i wanna know what fascinated you to talk about it in the first place. many such wonders in the world, let me know why it tugs you to speak of it

[grooviestguru]

so i was just thinking about how, in trk, neil goes to talk to andrew for the first time since easthaven, and nicky is like, hm probably don’t give him knives??? and neil is like it’s fine -_- and he goes to andrew and they literally don’t say a word to each other, neil just gives andrew his bands and knives. we know that scene, right?

but i’m thinking that, for andrew, that neil’s first action was to give him back these things, things that make andrew feel safer on his own terms, is SO IMPORTANT. andrew surely knows that everyone else, even his brother and cousin, is nervous around him now that he isn’t medicated (nicky literally says not to give the knives back yet!). neil is the ONLY one who knows, who trusts, that andrew knows best for himself (we also know that andrew doesn’t really need knives if he feels like attacking someone, but anyway). like i just think about how sober andrew is putting all this together before he and neil even speak, how it’s adding up to an auburn haired boy who is clearly too good to be true, mostly because he respects andrew’s agency. no wonder he thinks neil’s a pipe dream