#I have... not played kotor 2. yet.

[mirialanist]

" I shall not fear, for in fear, lies death... "

( for @official-enttaeuschung! )

[alolanrain]

I have an interesting take on Ash being the Chosen One-namely, that he's not really a trie Chosen One for anything other than Shamouti.

There are multiple "Chosen Ones", but they're all his friends.

Misty and Brock are Gym Leaders and hold significance to the future of Kanto. May and Max are related to the People of the Water, with May's destiny leading to Samiya and awakening the Temple's power, while Max's to unlocking greater secrets of Mega Evolution. Iris is a Once-and-Future Unova Champion who will one day play a role in the fates of the Uneven Dragons. Lillie (at least in my version) will be sent to the past of the PMD Universe to save Dialga and the Dark Future. (AKA she's the Explorers of Sky protagonist.) And most importantly, Dawn is THE Chosen One, the one who Arceus has selected to be his Champion, and the one who will save Hisui.

Ash is not Chosen. He's "destined" to be just a supporting character in their journeys. And yet, by being their friend and supporting so many Chosen Ones on their journeys, Ash has become one himself.

(If you've ever played KOTOR 2, then think of how the Exile uses the Force. If not: it's basically that Ash isn't Chosen, but he can use/draw upon his friends' "Chosen One"-ness thanks to his emotional connection to them. He's Chosen By Proxy-which is why he has so many Legendary Experiences.)

I fucking love this, anon.

[klerothesnowman]

The Reason the Jedi Suck is Because Conflict is More Interesting Than Peace

Okay, here I go defending the Jedi.

I've mentioned it in a previous ramble, but my primary engagement with Star Wars for the past year or so has been a Neverwinter Nights roleplaying server set during Knights of the Old Republic. It is the most niche of niche corners in the overall Star Wars fandom, but it's given me a really great example of why a lot of people have the opinion that the Jedi are massive fuck ups who are responsible for all the problems in the galaxy.

If you somehow don't know, the big twist of KotoR 1 is that the player character is an amnesiac Darth Revan, the previous Dark Lord of the Sith who ruined everything. The Jedi concoct this big plan to mind wipe him, train him as a Jedi again, and then use him to turn the tide of the war. There's a lot of details to this that are up in the air, like if this plan was entirely premediated, or something spur of the moment when an amnesiac Revan exploded into their laps when Malak betrayed him. One of the Jedi Masters who is absolutely not on board with this plan is Master Vrook. Vrook is a real dick, he's crotchety and angry and he shoots down all of your achievements. At one point he flat out says that training you is a mistake because Revan will just come back. Homie does not care about OpSec.

In KotoR 2 one of the more shocking, yet extremely understated, twists is that Jedi Master Atris has fallen to the Dark Side and is partly responsible for the slaughter of the Jedi Order after she gave the location of the Order's meeting place away to the Sith in an attempt to lure them out. Because KotoR 2 was less about big twists and more about an unfolding of events you could see coming a mile away, the fact that Atris is evil isn't surprising, the first time you meet her she flips off the handle about how much she hates you and you watch a recording of her flipping out about how you should be dead later. The reason Atris' fall is shocking isn't because "Oh man, this character who I had a positive outlook on is evil? Say it isn't so" but more because she was all over the marketing for this game, she's on the box art fighting Sith, she's the one who juxtaposes the game's iconic Sith. She, metatexually, represents the light side for Kotor 2. Everyone who played Planescape Torment noticed that her name was an anagram of Trias and sniffed her ass immediately however.

These twists and characters are extremely well known, basically common knowledge to anyone who cares for KotoR. Like, for instance, the kind of reprobates who would roleplay KotoR in a 20 year old D&D RPG.

There was a time on this roleplaying server where, not getting into details, the Jedi players fucked up. The DM team deemed that their behaviour was unjedi, and that they needed to intervene to push them onto the right path. The method of doing so was to have their enclave be audited by Master Atris. When the announcement was given the Jedi characters panicked. Characters who were from Coruscant told horror stories they knew about how mean Atris was, one in particular described her as "The Worst".

There was another time where players ran into Master Vrook. Vrook was a dick, he smacked down any attempt to have fun, he seized on any attempt to criticize characters and completely wrote off particular characters as lost causes, almost gleefully rattling off lists of their failings. Vrook actually was The Worst.

These portrayals of Vrook and Atris were not challenged. Why would they be? They lined up with how players remembered them. Of course Jedi Master Atris is mean and awful, she was mean and awful to the Jedi Exile.

The issue with that should hopefully be extremely obvious. You're not the Jedi Exile.

Atris being an evil hateful shit is a twist, it's a reveal. Immediately after Atris flip out one of her Handmaidens steps up to her and asks "Are you okay? I've never seen you act like that before." The Jedi Exile was her hero, if you plan as a male PC she loved him, he stood as a testament to what the Jedi should be. And then the Exile betrayed the Order and joined Revan in the Mandalorian Wars. The Exile hurt her in a intensely personal way that only the Exile could. Atris acts mean and awful to the Jedi Exile and only the Jedi Exile.

Vrook is angry and dismissive of Revan because you're Revan, he thinks this entire plan is a mistake and that you're just going to fall to the dark side again and then everyone will be right back where they started. And yeah, he's angry, stubborn and dismissive of the Jedi Exile too, but again that's because you're the Jedi Exile, the guy who joined Revan. The guy who, in a very rare out of the way bit of dialogue that often gets missed, used to bully his Padawan.

Every time Vrook and Atris are interacted with is when they're at their worst, we the viewer never get to see them at their best, we just get to have the little not-Yoda's word that Vrook is actually pretty cool. The entire fanbases perception of these characters are tainted by whose perspective they were seeing these characters from, and the moment you are seeing them.

This is something that the Jedi get screwed by in the entire franchise.

Starting from the prequel trilogy, it's pretty oldhat to point out that these movies are about the Jedi Order falling for a trap, after being manipulated for over a decade. It's a story about good people having their flaws and fears preyed upon by an enemy they're unprepared for. The severity of the war, combined with the knowledge that the Sith are behind it somehow, pushes the Jedi to get involved. The Clone Army falling into their lap is too good to be true, but its discovery is intentionally timed with a sudden urgent need for an army. The Jedi are forced to make compromises on their ideals and convictions, and that's what leads to their downfall.

Meanwhile in the Original Trilogy, a similar narrative is playing out. The Jedi are defeated and in hiding, traumatized by life under The Empire. When Luke's friends are in danger Yoda urges caution to continue hiding, saying he's not ready to face Vader and that he's rushing into it. When Luke says that he can't bring himself to kill his father, Obi-wan laments that if he can't do it then the Empire has already won. But the thing is, Obi-wan and Yoda are wrong, their beliefs influenced by their fear. Luke isn't rushing to face Vader, he's trying to save his friends, Obi-wan thinks Vader cannot be redeemed but Luke holds onto that hope to very end. And in that end he's proven right, Luke redeems Vader, and the galaxy is saved. Luke stands true to his ideals and convictions and is rewarded for it.

Both of these narratives require that the Jedi falter, require the Jedi to not meet their own ideals for both tragedy and Luke's eventual victory as one of the greatest Jedi who ever lived.

Furthermore, once Luke can make a new Jedi Order, he makes one that has learned from the mistakes of the previous Order but also, crucially, understands why certain decisions that he wrote off as mistakes were done. There's an entire ass story about Luke coming to the realization that a lot of Star Wars fans have to make, that Attachment and Relationships are not the same thing, and that the Jedi Order were right to bar the Jedi from them.

The thing is about Luke's Order though is that the stories told within it could not be a three part movie series. They're episodic novels and adventures, where the writers have room for the smaller, day to day operations of the Jedi Order. Missions where Jedi swoop in and save the day, and it doesn't need to feed into a narrative that only has one to two hours to wrap shit up. Where they protect people, not lead armies against their enemies. Where they get to be everything they're supposed to be.

These novels are also a lot more niche. It's more of an investment to read a book than it is to watch a movie, meanwhile the movies are one of the most successful blockbuster franchise ever made, everyone watched the movies, no one read the books. So it's the movies that influence people's perception and ideas. And then it's those perceptions and ideas that make people go "It would be interesting to explore how the Jedi are actually not that great." which perpetuates the image of Jedi as fuck ups.

And it IS interesting to explore how the Jedi are actually not that great. You should always be critical of institutions, it's how you keep them honest and watching institutions fail makes for interesting storytelling. The institutions failing is the inciting incident for the movies. But the movies still maintain that the core of the institution was something good.

[ospreyeamon]

revan as the ghost

I had the odd experience of playing KOTOR 1 and having my Revan, then playing KOTOR 2 and discovering that I liked its Revan more than mine. Revan as Narrative Ghost/Controversial Historical Figure is far more interesting to me than Revan as main character.

Part of it is that 2 fleshes out Dark-Side pre-amnesia Revan into a more compelling character. All of the juicy hints about the deeper plan and purpose behind the Jedi Civil War, the past relationship with Kreia who is as preoccupied with her former student’s legacy as with her own, the probable betrayal of Revan’s own forces led by the Exile at Malachor V.

The motivation of preparing for the future great war against the True Sith is great because it doesn’t preclude the other motivations of vengeance, power-lust, and the love of warfare. Revan might have despised the atrocities of the Jedi Civil Wars as evils necessary to save the galaxy. Revan might have subconsciously latched onto the True Sith as an excuse to solve the problems with the Republic and Jedi Order using outright warfare because everything looked like a nail after the Mandalorian Wars. Revan might have just been acting with an eye to the long-term logistics of forcibly holding power in the Republic post-conquest and was never planning on fighting the True Sith Empire because Revan thought it was a real threat, but because another war would be politically convenient. Revan might have slid from one to another over time.

Maybe Revan always considered himself to be loyal to the Republic, even if the Republic didn’t always appreciate the form that loyalty took. Maybe Revan decided that democracy doesn’t work and the Republic would be better off under a competent autocrat. Maybe Revan decided that the structure of the Republic’s constituent governments – mostly monarchies, aristocracies, and corporate plutocracy – meant that it wasn’t a real democracy and believed a benevolent dictatorship could be used to build a foundation of true democracy. Maybe the future long-term structure of the Republic’s government wasn’t a major consideration, with Revan taking the pragmatic view that the best government for the Republic would be the one that enabled it to survive.

Supplying that backstory as a jigsaw of character dialogue was an excellent choice, especially since it also works well for the events of the first game. Brianna the Handmaiden believes Revan showed the desire of his heart when he killed Malak during the Battle of Rakata Prime; Kreia thinks she’s completely wrong about that.

All the characters have at least heard of Revan; the Exile, Kreia, T4-M4, Mandalore, HK-47, and the Jedi Masters knew Revan personally. And, beyond being a mere person, Revan represents things to people.

Kreia is invested in the idea that Revan was always driven by some vision of a greater good, that she never became primarily ruled by hatred or power-lust. Kreia has a low opinion of those she views as dominated by emotion and is unwilling to believe her prize student ever fell into that trap. She really wants every choice her old Padawan made to have been well-informed and well-considered, always feeding towards Revan’s larger goals rather than undermining them. (Yet, there are a couple of Revan’s actions, like killing Malak, that I feel Kreia would have preferred to blame on the Force, on the unfairness of the universe, rather than on Revan.)

It’s a major blind-spot in Kreia’s assessment of Revan. Cutting Malak’s jaw off but keeping him as her second-in-command – seemingly not expecting any negative effect on Malak’s loyalty – is unlikely to have been anything but a short-sighted emotional outburst on Revan’s part.

In contrast to Kreia’s narrative, I think that Revan’s disappearance in unknown space between the games was unplanned and unwilling. Revan apparently spent years attempting to build a massive logistical staging ground for a war with the True Sith; locating the Star Forge, invading to capture Republic infrastructure, brutally converting captured Jedi. Why, after previously engaging in such large-scale preparation, would Revan leave to fight the True Sith alone, without telling anyone but T3-M4? Why would Revan leave without warning Admiral Carth of the Republic Navy and battle-meditation master Bastila Shan about the threat?

More likely, I think, that Revan’s memories were returning in tatters and scraps. Revan became increasingly sure that there was something important she couldn’t remember; some vital secret that would explain so much, and spell disaster if not uncovered. Revan’s journey to unknown space began as a temporary trip retracing a past journey, searching for prompts to resurface those memories. Something went wrong.

Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Revan despaired of the state the Jedi, Revanchist Sith, and Galactic Republic were in after the Battle of Rakata Prime and the “end” of the Jedi Civil War; despaired of the mess she had apparently made trying to manipulate the Republic and Jedi into forms capable of standing up to the True Sith. Maybe Revan came to doubt his previous assessment that the True Sith Empire were planning to invade the Galactic Republic, since it had been more than a decade since the beginning of the Mandalorian Wars with still no sign of them, and left to do some quiet scouting without raising what might be a false alarm that triggered an avoidable conflict.

Another judicious choice of character trait with KOTOR 2’s Revan was – and even post-amnesia still continued to be – secretive. Revan kept the grand strategy for the Mandalorian Wars close to her chest; good for operation security, but also good for hiding your plan to purge your own forces. Even HK-47 and Kreia, who were close to the Revanchist Sith’s upper command structure, aren’t certain what Revan was trying to achieve because Revan didn’t tell them. When Revan vanishes between the games, it is seemingly without having told any of her companions save T3-M4 where or that it was to investigate the True Sith Empire. That repeated failure to share information provides another justification for the ambiguity.

That bled through when I replayed 1 and imagined a new Revan, a stranger even to himself.

How did you change so much? Could you change again?

You remember your mother’s face, remember her voice as she read to you from the histories she loved so much, but the records in the Jedi archives imply that’s impossible, that you were given to the Order too young. You remember racing your swoop bike across the fields of Dantooine as a teenager; as a teenager you were a Padawan studying in the Enclave there. How many of your memories are real? How much of you is real?

Is there a monster slumbering under your skin that might awake, unravelling the person you are now to take your place? Did the young Revan have all the Jedi Masters fooled, rotten from the very beginning? Might you eventually live your life haunted by nightmares of committing another person’s atrocities?

More frightening than the idea that you and the Revan lost to amnesia are different is the idea that you are the same; that your past choices won’t be beyond comprehension or justification. If you remember, will you understand why you started the war? If you remember, will you understand why you bombed Telos? If you remember, will you discover that you have been the person who could make those choices all along?

[serenofroses]

ok list of ocs that I have YET to update my pin post and add to toyhouse. (maybe i get pages up and upload images to use on profile)

plus I'll give you tiny info for them to get you familiar with.

Kritanta - tsis - first born son to Revan and of Kressh bloodlines. Was put into cryogenic machine for 100 years. Main Wrath. Married to Vowrawn (Vowrawn was his first love back in kotor 2). Jugg spec leaning in offensive tank. Real name: Sevket.

Elysia - tsis - second born daughter to Revan and of Kressh bloodlines. Like her brother, she was place in cryogenic machine. Love interest to Nico Okarr since kotor 2. Shadow spec leaning in offensive tank. Former Wrath known as Venera. Became legal guardian to Jazz when she joined Jedi Order.

Jazmyn - miraluka-tsis - first born daughter to Kritanta and Vowrawn through trans pregnancy. Main Consular. Deaf and had head injury trauma as result of being rescued from the Red Reaper cult. May or may not take on child! Nadia as padawan while Tau took child! Vaylin on. Sith name: Savitri. Main love interest to Tau. Assassin spec.

Ania - miraluka-tsis - second born daughter to Kritanta and Vowrawn through trans pregnancy. Also Deaf. Main Imperial Agent but goes by Cipher Fourteen. Was trained as Sith but lost all of her ability to use the Force physically by (redacted) that she later go to Imperial Intelligence. Main love interest to Marr and Jadis. Sniper spec.

wow, only four ocs and any other class ocs are more background or played for sake of romance/class story/play other specs in endgame lol. x) then again, I made my own raid group version for my legacy consist of ocs plus npc-turned-ocs.

[pastafossa]

Stumbling and crashing and tripping with various crashes and a Wilhelm scream into your askbox to ask, YOU PLAY BG3????? ISN'T IT GREAT?!?!?!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH AKSHQKXBQ it's been my Focus since December!!! Who's your favorite so far?? How far are you in?? What kind of route are you doing?? Have you discovered any funny loopholes yet?? What race do you favor playing?? I LOVE to hear about other peoples playthroughs,

IT'S GODDAMN AMAZING AND I ALREADY HAVE MULTIPLE PLAYTHROUGHS PLANNED BECAUSE ONCE IS NOOOOT ENOUGH! I AM IN LOVE. Like I know these types of games (I've been a Bioware slut since KOTOR 2, so I looove this genre), and so I feel very confident saying holy shit, BG3 is one of the best! ALSO IT'S HUGE??? INSANELY HUGE??? AND FULL??? I LOVE IT SM.

Oh god favorites are hard, I'm gd attached to all of these little ducklings following my Tav. So far at least, storywise it's SCRATCH HE IS THE BESTEST BOY maaaybe Astarion. I LOVE his arc, his voicework is stunning, (I accidentally killed him with the big monastery laser and his reaction was hysterical) and his quest has been very moving. A close second is KARLACH, MY GIRL, MY FIREY BFF, like damn I HAD my little battle group (Gale + Astarion + Wyll) when I found her but I adore her so much I'm rotating Gale and Wyll to keep her permanently, SHE JUST WANTED A HUG. 😭

I'm in act 3, I just hit the city! I have no idea how but I am also STILL on my first PT after over a month of play. I love to sniff around under every nook and cranny granted, AND YET I STILL MISSED THINGS, IT'S SO BIG???

So far my route has been a chaotic good route! Outside, uh, occasional murdery hiccups goodbye creche but ya'll were assholes I've mostly managed to follow that alignment, and somehow still made friends with Lae? That was unexpected. I thought she hated my Tav's guts before she hit on her. 😂

Hilarious moments: setting off the giant laser at the monastery cause why wouldn't I grab the shiny weapon (sorry Astarion); being instakilled by Vlaakith at said monastery after basically mocking her with 'if you were really a god you'd be able to just kill someone yourself ha ha-splat'; friends telling me to talk to animals so I got excited when I saw a squirrel and ran to talk to it - it proceeded to bite me, then I failed a persuasion roll about being friends and it told me to fuck off; trying to get to that dwarf lady's husband in the Underdark and shooting an arrow at one of the mushrooms in the field he was in, thinking I could clear them one by one to get to him, only to set off a chain reaction that incinerated him and left the entire field a smoking crater (me as the explosions begin: oh, OH, oh no - wait, sir! Sir! Oh you're fine, you're - oh fuck, RUN SIR RU-shit he's dead); placing my druid in rothe/battle cow shape at the top of a ladder and charging whatever bad guy comes up so they fall back down (catchphrase: MOO, BITCH); and finally, I was having trouble with that one boss guy in the goblin camp, the one that sits on the throne. So when I saw I could get to the rafters, I painstakingly dragged every last explosive barrel and grenade I could find into the room and innocently placed them around the throne, then went up to the rafters and had Astarion shoot a fire arrow. I figured I'd at least bring the guy's health down but instead I set off the fourth of july, blasted that guy so hard he bounced around the room like a pinball before his body wound up glitch-stuck halfway through a wall, but hey, dead as a doornail sooo... it worked? Chaotic good alignment: MASTERED. 🤪

I'm playing a half-elf druid CAUSE I CAN BE AN OWLBEAR OR DINOSAUR TO FIGHT. I now have a chance to run around as a dinosaur druid with my 200 yo elf boyfriend, my BFFs, and find random bowls of poutine, this is the BEST GAME EVER. Also hilariously, I didn't check the stats closely and her intelligence wound up quite low, so she is very wise but also dumb as a bag of hammers, I love her, my first Tav is a good-hearted, unintentional bundle of chaos.

[hnnny]

I see so many of your animations on YT and I have to ask. What is your favourite Star Wars game? And I mean the older ones like SWOTOR, KOTOR/II or republic commando ( my favourite )

First, thank you! That means a lot to me that you enjoy my animations so much! I should get back into making those. I do have a silly one in my drafts...

Second, oh for SURE Kotor 2. I love that game, the characters are so much fun and I love how they all interact and the exile is my baby.

If you guys don't know the story at this point, I actually played Kotor 2 for the first time and immediately played the game again because Atton died at the end since I didn't make him a Jedi. I loved the characters so much already, that when I figured out that not just Mical could become a Jedi, I was like "welp, time to dedicate a lot of time to this game!"

At the end, I started to become more attached to these characters and their story arcs. I also felt that Bao-Dur had a missed opportunity of being able to wear Jedi robes since the designers didn't want to worry about the robe clipping through his prosthetic arm, or perhaps having to worry about model discrepancies. And that's when the character sheets happened...

I made a unique character sheet for everyone, from their days in the Mandalorian Wars, to post Kotor 2 when they establish the new Jedi Order. This was back in 2021 when I completed everyone from Kotor 2, and I also had thoughts on what a few characters from Kotor 1 would be doing during this time (namely Juhani, Mission, Carth, and Bastila).

But I had no one to share this obsession of mine with.

You may have guessed it by now, but the whole reason I have a Tumblr is because of Kotor 2. And to this day, I still haven't shared all of my thoughts, story beats, headcanons, and even the full character sheets that I drew a long time ago.

This game has given me so much in terms of getting better at my art and design work, writing stories, and meeting friends I adore and want to know and hang out with for the rest of my life.

And I think it's finally time I share the rest of those character sheets with you all, so here's my Revan and Exile at least. I'll share the other ones in more reblogs on this post.

Torellia Vell - Darth Revan

Zena Paloh - The Jedi Exile

These are super old now, so there are things I would now change (like a LOT of changes), but some of these outfits I still draw since I don't have other references made yet.

[eziojensenthe3rd]

Midnight gaming: Blue milk run

So last night i played the 1st level of star wars: jedi knight 2: jedi outcast past midnight, checked socials to find... us congress recently voted to block a cancer research bill.

Yikes, lets start with star wars. Jedi outcast was one of my most played star wars game on the gamecube, it was one i sunk many hours into the multiplayer itself solely because it had bots allowing for a single player to have fun on their own. I played the switch version done by aspyr and it felt....off. Moving felt a bit slippy and aiming was tough, enemies moved rather quick at times and with a lot of weapons being projectile based, i often had a hard time hitting stormtroopers. That certanly played havoc with my memories of the game since i've hadnt had this much trouble mowing down troops with a blaster going full auto. Was it me, the game or the wired controller i was using?

So i decided to try running the pc version on my steam deck. Now steam does say it was "unsupported" but shockingly it ran pretty well, no problems at all. Granted i had to rebind the controls so that this pc game can play well on a controller, i used the community layout by wunderbred which is a modified version of hankopotus's layout with added mouse sensitivity and gyro. It felt slightly better? The gyro did help with aiming so i was able to play a bit better though it left me thinking. Is the aspyr port bad? I cant really make that call on one level right? Aspyr hasnt had the best luck with the fiasco with kotor 2s dlc and being kicked off the remake, not to mention their recent problem with the battlefront remasters. But the switch version ran well enough, albiet stripped down to only the campaign, but it does work? Is it fair critique to judge a version of a game based on the controls for that version? Is a game that has average yet serviceable controls that you can eventually adapt to, fundamentally worse than one that lets you rebind in any way that suits? Again, this was only one level, not really a fair analysis on either version but it was a thought that occured.

After finishing the first level on steam deck, i went back to the switch and replayed the first level again but on the console itself undocked and with the motion controls setting on. It played a bit better than with the wired controller, again tilting the switch worked well for aiming. In the end, i guess its something of a personal perference, maybe someone would have a worse time with gyro aiming and would rather use a plain controller.

Anyway long spiel over, now to news. So apparently the US Congress had apparently voted to block a bill for funding cancer research written by Biden called the Moonshot Initiative and there were excuses thrown around about money and what not but theres also tall about it being personal. Done out of spite to prevent a win for biden. Thats pretty dire and extremely petty if thats the case.

Heres an article from usatoday covering it :https://eu.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2024/05/05/biden-cancer-moonshot-initiative-congress-funding/73525016007/

Speaking of dire and bills, have talked to your senator about opposing KOSA? Cause a full senate vote is coming up on the 30th tomorrow so please get on that. Anyways, talk to you again tomorrow.

[ainulindaelynn]

[20 Question Fic Writer Tag]

Thanks for the tags, loves! @brasideios @whereforartthoumisthios

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

1, technically, as they’re all connected.

2. What is your AO3 word count?

Currently 12k-ish. I pulled a bunch down a few months ago to rework things that were half-edited and bothering me. They haven’t returned yet, but I’m optimistic.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

AO3 will tell you only AC Odyssey, but in my active drive I have WIPs for AC Valhalla, Red Dead Redemption 2 (which I need to lure more of my AC mutuals into playing... ;)), Stardew Valley, and BG3. There maaay be a few pieces I'm reworking from fanfiction.net also. Those ones are for Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age Origins, and maybe even a Snow White & the Huntsman (xD). As a teen I wrote a bit of LoTR and Star Wars (old republic era OCs mostly), but that's been ages.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Fewer than five posted, so I'm skipping this one!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, mostly because I know most writers love comments, so I try to reward people who take the time. Honestly, if not for that I would blind-post everything and opt out of seeing kudos/comments. I love them, but it's too easy to depend on the reassurance. I'd rather drop them into the internet abyss and interact with people who seek me out on tumblr. I’d never give up the chance to connect over them though. You all are too kind and awesome <3

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

KotOR probably. It’s about Revan recovering her memory and reconnecting with the purpose of her fall, which leads her to walk the same way again, but with more care and less hope. Also going alone, as repentance for Malak’s fate.

ACO's has an angstier storyline (Brasidas Dx), but the actual ending is long after that wraps up, so it doesn’t quite count ;)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

SDV probably. How could anyone write Shane without giving him a happy ending? That guy needs a happy ending!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not so far.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, mostly by accident. There's a lot of chemistry exposition there and I always cave to that. Probably equal parts F/F and F/M.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Nope! Open to it, but my brain doesn't leap like that.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge. Although if anyone wanted to take my old ideas and run with them, I' it'd save me a lot of work reconfiguring! xD I also love re-writes. Everyone picks up on different nuances and I love to see the same idea expressed different ways. Direct theft not so much.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

When I was a young teen, but not since. My co-writer and I reconnected last year and its funny the kind of bond (and friction) that forms.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

I'm not capable of answering that question. Genuinely. Pass!

15. What's a WIP you'd like to finish but doubt you ever will?

I'm happily in denial about all of them, thank you very much. Leave me and my 25 fics alone! xD

16. What are your writing strengths?

Oh gosh. I've been told action, but if that's true it's entirely by luck. Writing it is like pulling teeth. I'm going to join this question with the next, because I think strengths and weaknesses are often two sides of the same, and say introspection and body language minutia, because I LOVE those, but could easily write entire chapters of that, so I'm constantly cutting that down. Blessing and a curse, ya know?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

The above, because it's to excess, but also OCD editing tendencies. I have a thing about cadence, varying paragraph and sentence-length, and (most oppressively) magnetizing my sentences. I'm not sure what the actual term for that is, but when you tie the end of one sentence to the beginning of the next with a common thought or word. We’re taught to do it with paragraphs, obviously, but on a tighter level. Every sentence. It's fun for reader fluidity, but way too much work.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I have no skills for it, but as long as it's translated, I enjoy reading it!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Probably LotR. I had an OC who insisted on following two steps behind the fellowship, intersecting with them a few times. Third Age, the game, was built on the same premise, so I eventually abandoned it in lieu of that.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Imagined or written? Because the answer is different. Imagined is probably DA:O. Written is ACO, by far. I've never put so much time in on a story. Someday I'll make it cohesive enough to post! xD

I’m still emerging from my hermit cave and don’t know who’s done what, so I’m going to skip tagging this time, but I missed you all and am glad to be back(ish) 😂

[commander-krios]

twenty questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @heymacareyna <3 thank you, I don't think I've done this yet? So here I go!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

213 published works

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

394,466

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mass Effect, Andromeda Six, SWTOR, KOTOR (eventually BG3), and formally, Dragon Age and Fallout.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Fall (Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition) (1,591 words)

If It Pleases You (Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age (Video Games)) (923 words)

Don't Do That Again (Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition) (295 words)

Not Nothing (Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition) (315 words)

The Woman I Love (Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition) (1,023 words)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Of course! It may take a few days to get in the mindset to respond, but I always do.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

My platonic Shenko fic, A Lost Friend, where Kaidan sits at Shepard's memorial after Alchera.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

The fic where my Shepard and Joker get engaged: Anything For Her

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No! I don't think my fics are well known enough to get to those parts of the fandom.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, usually F/M but occasionally M/M. I don't think I've written F/F before.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I don't. I prefer to stay within the fandom.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of. Like the answer for #8, I don't think I'm popular enough to have a fic stolen.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A long time ago with an IRL friend but that was when we were teenagers and that fic doesn't exist on the internet anymore.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Geez, Femshep/Thane Krios. I will always have a soft spot for them.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

There are sooo many but I have a fShepley fic that I would love to write where Shepard has a control chip and she takes orders from the Illusive Man while also getting indoctrinated. It's in a rough state and not sure I'll ever finish it, but it's too good of an idea to completely abandon.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Banter, Dialogue, Emotion. I enjoy all of these things.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Setting the scene. Description can allude me at times.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I won't do it unless it's a fictional language and I feel comfortable enough to use it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I honestly can't remember? Maybe Harry Potter, Maybe Buffy? But I do remember my fic writing became more of thing after I played Dragon Age.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

I'm really proud of this fic I wrote for SpecReqs with James Vega/Joker as the ship: Yours

Tagging: @mightymizora, @starknstarwars, @sullustangin, @n0rmandysr1 and @eluvisen

[ordinarymaine]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 for whatever you want <3

HEHEH

1. resident evil 8 was such a missed opportunity to do like. idk. anything. im not sure if i necessarily agree with people saying that it was nothing more than a tech demo for re4make, but i definitely see where they're coming from. the factory is a slog, moreau's swamp sucks. house beneviento is by far the scariest part of the entire game and the atmosphere is incredible, but it is CRIMINALLY short. castle d is gorgeous, but lady d herself falls flat as a nemesis / mr x type of enemy. i also just? dont like the writing in re8 at all. the characters are written strangely. i dont know how to put it into words. ethan feels weird. chris feels weird. mia feels weird and was tossed to the side and went from who she was in re7 to like an anime mom. this one is very petty but the fanbase for re8 is annoying as SHIT also. most re fans are irritating but re8 fans are something ELSE. the best thing about re8 is how it looks

2. this very quickly turned from unpopular opinions to Lilith's Hater Hour and im not sure how to word this either but a part of me hates how popular aw2 got. like a big part of me LOVES that, i feel like alan wake has always been underrated and ive loved it for years, its one of my favorite games ever, and im so happy to see it get recognition!! but predictably most of the fanbase has latched onto casey and zane/darling while completely ignoring saga as a character. its a bit annoying </3

3. i do not understand the hype around star wars, or why it got so popular. sorry to my mutuals for saying this on twitter like 3 times in the last 2 weeks and then again here FJFGHJH but i dont get it! i like the prequels, i like the sequels, i like rogue one, i like kotor (havent played either of them but i enjoy them nonetheless), i liked kenobi (pointing obi wan fan) i havent watched andor yet but i know i'll enjoy it. but most of star wars as a whole i just dont think its that. good? like. dont get me wrong when its done well its enjoyable!! but there are better sci fi serieses out there by far. star wars feels like lucasfilms throwing shit at the wall because it looks cool but has little sustenance. i will NOT start on my star trek vs star wars bullshit again because its INCREDIBLY biased LOL

4. i hate fallout 3. i hate traversing it. i hate playing it. i hate how it looks. i dont like the characters. i dont like the story. i dont like the writing. i like fallout 4 more than i like fallout 3, because 4 is at least enjoyable to play and lose myself in, even if the writing is arguably worse. when i first played fallout 3 i kept thinking to myself like. this is it? because for years all i heard was how good it was. and it just isnt LOL

5. i hate alien 3 also. i have not seen it and i do not plan on watching it because i KNOW it will make me angry. i am a BIG hater of shit thats just needlessly pessimistic / depressing / nihilistic simply for the sake of it, and from everything i've read of alien 3, thats exactly how it comes across to me. im sure if i WATCHED it i could more coherently explain why i dislike it, but im so attached to the dynamic that ripley, hicks and newt have that seeing it get thrown away immediately in the start of alien 3 would make me pass away badly

HELP. i didn't mean to ramble this much omg JJFDGJKFDGH i dont think most of this is very well written im sorry it's all very word vomit. i have had a little bit to drink and im feeling very haterish tonight. something in the air. thank you for indulging me <333

[enby-ernhardt]

Some things I’d like to see in the KOTOR remake(s), assuming they actually get released. I know some of it is a bit idealistic, but I can dream 😆

More customisation: maybe your character has a larger body, or freckles, or the braided hairstyle but blonde. They’re Twilek, Mirialan, or Zabraki! Non binary! Asexual! Anything goes, babey!!

Improved graphics and animation: ok, this is practically a given, but still. Have you seen characters get killed, then stand back up so they can die properly? Or characters knocked down when frozen getting back up and re-freezing (in that ridiculous pose) 😆. Revan’s dance moves stay, obviously, they’re just smoother.

Companions can roam ship/have schedules: Mostly they’ll be where they are now, but sometimes you’ll find Atton taking a nap, or Mission at the food replicator, and so on. Maybe you’ll even see someone patching themselves up in the med bay after a particularly rough battle.

Seperate the first name/last name fields: Sometimes I find a good first name but want to randomise the last. Also, giving every character my full name whilst trying to stay under the radar is counterintuitive. 😄

Romance: make Carth and Bastila bi, improve Juhani’s romance options (keep her a lesbian though), and add romance to the Kotor 2 characters (and Canderous in K1 because I know some people want that). You should be able to turn them down at any point though if you want.

Hide weapons unless fighting: We’ve all had a character stab themself when meditating or something. Also this

Small decorations: just having little trinkets and stuff appear throughout the game as you complete various tasks. Maybe you could keep one gizka, or pazzak cards/credits stack up as you win more games, or you get a sticker saying “Visit Manaan!”, etc.

Containers say when empty: this one is just here because I’m stupid and can’t remember shit 😆

[K1] Change Tach sound: those seconds between descending into the shadowlands and finding the mute button are the longest seconds of my life. (I know there’s mods, but they aren’t available on console)

[K1] Influence system/relationship changes: It really doesn’t make sense that Carth and Bastila will watch you do something dark sided and just make a small comment before pretending it never happened. Lightside companions should become more wary of you the darker you get, with Bastila giving you more lectures, for example.

[K1] Solo/not mc sections: I really like these sections in Kotor 2, so it’d be nice to have some in the first one too. Maybe someone could deal with the Mandalorian raiders while you’re training as a Jedi, or Canderous does the Genoharadan quest. Or entirely new stuff.

[K1] Change equipment on the Hawk: Also from Kotor 2. It’s very annoying to keep taking characters off the ship just to give them better stuff

[K1] Cutscenes on ship: yet another thing from Kotor 2. Carth asking Bastila how she got captured, Carth and Canderous’ Warrior or Soldier discussion, and Mission asking Bastila about using the force for fun could all easily take place on the ship, along with other convos.

[K2] references to/import data from K1: I’d like to see people talk about the time Revan saved/destroyed Hrakert rift and affected the kolto, or about them being swoop champ, and stuff like that.

[K2] Finished product: all the stuff the Restored Content Mod deals with should be there from the beginning, no need for mods or dlc *cough* Switch port *cough*. I know we’re going to mod the game anyway, but it should be for fun stuff and minor bug fixes, not restoring half the game!

[kenobihater]

i should clarify. kotor will give you brain rot…kotor 2 will utterly wreck your brain. i’m literally insane abt that game. the philosophies…you are a wound in the force made to face what your actions have caused…….oooooohhhhhgggggg

i have yet to play kotor 2, but i've heard nothing but glowing reviews!! i adore when star wars actually has good and compelling and complex narratives (unlike like 90% of the material 💀) so i'm hyped as hell for that :^D

[khapaleaf]

Done with my unfair run, finally (well, I was done with it on the 10th, but I wanted to celebrate by gorging myself on extremely sour candy, and afterwards I needed a day to calm down). It took me longer to finish than I had initially anticipated, but it was a grand experience filled with fun times. Anyway, trying to organise my thoughts here, because it will be interesting for me to see whether my opinions will change over time later on, and so into archiving mode I go.

First things first, I think Owlcat did a fantastic job at making this versatile and complex setting accessible to those who are not entirely familiar with it. Prior to playing the game, my own knowledge of this universe was limited to a small number of short stories and a much bigger number of memes without context. Yet going into the game, I never felt overwhelmed with new information, and felt right at home in the Koronus Expanse (or about as much as one can in this grim and unforgiving setting). The in-game glossary and the informative mouseover parts that can appear during dialogues to briefly explain what this or that organisation does, or who that person is and so on helped immensely in helping to ease into it. Bless all developers who do this, honestly. The soundtrack (10/10; not a single bad track, a triumph of a mood-setting music that seamlessly blends with the visual style), art design (pretty fucking metal – love the skulls everywhere; and it is also very interesting to see how Owlcat makes progress with each new game in terms of graphics), and characters all also play a big role in making the game a cohesive and truly engaging whole, and allow to uncover the myriad of complexities native to this setting. I laughed, I wept, I felt a myriad of powerful emotions. This is really it, this is what I want in my rpgs! And I want to play it over and over and over again. Fortunately for me, my brain is wired in a way that allows me to do just that without getting bored.

The main story itself is ultimately not all that complex, but the way it is built up within the game is genuinely interesting and engaging even despite the relative emptiness of the post-Commorragh chapters. I like that the planetary quests are structured a bit like self-contained episodes, while at the same time falling neatly into the puzzle that paints the bigger picture of the state of the Expanse. Still, I wish that there was a kind of overarching red thread present throughout the narrative like in the Pathfinder games (even though, yes, I get that these are vastly different settings and narrative experiences). For example, in Kingmaker, the kingdom has to resolve numerous issues throughout the years, but the threat of Nyrissa destroying it altogether looms over the heroes at all times – that is the kind of red thread I am talking about. It seems to me that there is a distinct lack of such a detail in this game, but if it were actually present in the story, the momentum after the third chapter would not have been lost, and it would have added some gravitas and an emotional punch to the later part of the game. Maybe there should have been more focus on Theodora’s involvement in the grand scheme of things, and how it affected the present timeline, maybe there should have been an overarching antagonist... There should have been more interactions with Nomos, definitely. Still, even with the blemishes, the story managed to draw me into a state of fascination and infatuate me with its vast cast, even though at times it felt as if I am taking part in a quietly moving tragedy, with every small decision slowly leading to a point of no return (but it fits the setting, so no complaints there). And really, this is not my first time loving a game with a less than stellar closing chapter. After all, both Tyranny and Kotor 2 stand among my favourites.

I do wish that it were possible for the player character to be a bit more involved in/written into the setting in terms of reactivity to their background and selected class. The amount of variation in the character creator with all of the different backgrounds, archetypes, skills and triumphs and so on is phenomenal, but the fact that it is all there pretty much only to serve the game mechanics side of things instead of the narrative is honestly a bit of a letdown. I suppose that this could be related back to Theodora’s insistence to forget their previous life in one of the earlier dialogues, but the option to acknowledge the character’s background would have been a fantastic touch nonetheless. I thought it was ridiculous that my first (and main, as is customary for my playthroughs) character, a voidborn, had the option to ask Vigdis to explain just what the hell a voidborn is, and how their lives are structured, but no actual option to relate to her on that level. Of course, it is entirely possible to disregard those questions completely, but then there would not be much to talk about with her, unfortunately. And she explains things so poetically, too. Just... give my character the option to relate to this experience (even though, as far as I understand, the rogue trader cannot be too voidborn-y, otherwise they would not have had the option of becoming a rogue trader in the first place). They did apparently add in some reactivity options along with the big patch back in February, but I do not have a save from that early in the game, so I cannot check whether anything at all was written in for this particular instance, or if this reactivity meant something else entirely.

Also, when it comes to the player character, I am still not entirely sure whether I enjoy the conviction system or not. I like that it restricts certain items, decisions, colony projects and such to specific conviction levels, but I do not like how it ties into the endings in the sense that one with the highest rank overrides everything else without taking into consideration the actual decisions made in the game. Basically, do tell the story of my character’s deeds, but do not presume to know what they were motivated by. My character had the most points in the Iconoclast branch (though it was roughly equal points-wise with the Dogmatic branch prior to the lock-in), and was described as an open-minded, merciful soul because of it. Open-minded, perhaps, certain in-game decisions do point to that being a possibility, and I do not even mind the fact that the Imperium feels the need to go to war with the entire Expanse because of those decisions – this fits, more or less. But was she merciful and compassionate? I do not think that a person who servitorises people left and right, uses them as fertiliser, thinks that cutting out the tongues of servants is a great idea to emulate, executes entire noble families as a precautionary measure, nukes and purges whole ass planets, and pretty much channels her inner Camellia on a regular basis is the space mother Teresa that the game makes her out to be. She is a basic bastard, but she is my basic bastard like all of my characters are, but I enjoyed her journey and I am rather protective of her, for lack of a better word. Perhaps it is a minor thing, but I do not like that the narrative makes assumptions about my character like that. And what of nuance? Sure, she did offer help to certain individuals, but it was done more from the point of view of someone who wants to ensure their loyalty, not someone who is genuinely concerned for said individual. That one dialogue with Cassia in particular was a defining point in her character building.

So here I am, trying to make a cohesive portrait in my mind, taking mental notes on what makes my character tick, and then the ending slides come up, and introduce their own static idea of what my character was like. Oh well, I suppose such are the limitations and restrictions placed on the character due to their native environment being a video game. Perhaps I could simply ignore this part, as I did with the whole kidnapping shenanigans timeline in WotR. Something to think about, I suppose.

Fortunately, the other characters, both the companions and the support characters are all a colourful bunch. And largely consistent in their attitudes and beliefs! Each of them speaks and acts in ways unique to no one but themselves, and I really like when the companion characters specifically chime in with their opinions and even have their own back and forth interactions in conversations. There is a lot of that, more than in any other Owlcat game to date, I would say. Still, when it comes to the companions specifically, I wish there were more deeply developed ways of interaction present. What I mean is that there is no option to really get to know them and become confidants, if not friends. I do feel attached to them as a player, but I would like to see my character actually interact with them more outside of their personal quests. Talking to Pasqal while he is being involved with all of the tech stuff on board? Cool! Cassia visiting the rogue trader to ask for their advice? Excellent, give me more of that, please. Getting drunk with Jae? Absolutely fantastic and hilarious (well, that was actually part of her quest, but it was still pretty unique bit, I think). I wish there were more scenes like that throughout the entirety of the game, but that is honestly my wish for any game that features companions.

On a smaller note, I also think that the book excerpts, letters and notes were wonderfully written, and I could easily imagine the personality of the author behind them, their worries, their beliefs and their desires in life.

I do think that there should have been a bit more voiced dialogue, especially when it comes to non-companions, to get a better feel for their personality as well as their presence in this world, but at the same time I am also not at all upset that a huge bulk of the dialogue happens through nothing but pure text, as I generally prefer to read and skip past the voice acting in video games on subsequent playthroughs, anyway. Unless the lines are really good, of course. And what is actually voiced is fantastic – Owlcat always manages to pick voice actors that are so vibrant and memorable and are a joy to listen to, always. Even now, I can read a line, any line, and imagine that it is spoken by Ekundayo or Jaethal, for example, all with their unique speech patterns and inflections. Here as well, the voice actors did such a remarkable job of bringing life to the characters, that I find it easy to imagine what their unvoiced lines sound like.

That said, I did not particularly enjoy the voice sets for the player character this time around, at least initially. It seems to me like they all have a bit too much personality, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I am used to selecting these voices as a mere formality (so that the character would make noise when they are hurting in combat, or when they find something on the map), not as a pretty damn defining feature for my characters. It definitely took time to adjust. Still, it was an interesting experience, because these voice lines, somewhat surprisingly, helped me develop the character even further because I go into games without having a clear vision of what the character is going to be like, and instead develop them on the go. But! The voices for the dudes are all kind of revolting to listen to. Unfortunate, but not surprising, because I also disliked all but one in the Pathfinder games. They all sound like they have a fish bone stuck in their throat and need someone to german suplex them to get it out, looney tunes style. How will I ever experience the romance with Lady Cassia under these conditions, damn it?

Speaking of romances, I think it is hilarious that the one my character ended the game with (Marazhai) is on the opposite spectrum in terms of pretty much everything to the one I wanted her to end up with (Yrliet) before playing the game. On my first run, I was certain that the latter caught a bug sometime during its course, and thus ended abruptly without even having a proper start, but apparently Yrliet does not like it if one decides to stab a dude in the neck in front of her, as it was later explained to me. Not a fan of such colourful methods of courtship, then. But it is fine, I would rather see the characters fit together rather than force anything by having my character act in ways that do not fit them to keep the romance going. So in comes Marazhai. The dude definitely has some enviable home decor skills, is very useful in combat encounters and deals a ton of damage, sends out a bunch of his kabalites to kill the enemies of the dynasty, gives not one, but two very cool and useful buffs (and they are intangible, which means more place to equip all sorts other beneficial items – and there is such a wide variety of items to choose from, it is incredible), and is pretty hilarious overall. Also! He managed to take out nine fucking participants (five of which were at full health) of the Aeldari ambush all by himself after the rest of the party was taken out of commission. That was the most clutch moment of the game for me. So... A worthwhile investment, I say. And, most importantly, he and my character actually fit. It is stupid and hilarious, perhaps unintentionally, but they fit.

The combat! I approached it cautiously because, while I do enjoy turn-based combat, I did not actually like what I saw of it in WotR, because it seemed a bit too wobbly to me, as if the camera was swimming all over the place whenever I tried moving the party, and that made me nauseous (I never finished the fallout-bunker-type side quest due to this). To my surprise, I ended up enjoying it very much from day one, even with my immensely stupid decision to experience the game on hard difficulty during my first run of the game. I am not going to say that it was an easy task, but it was fairly manageable, and I also think that it actually helped quite a bit with making the story feel more fittingly uninviting and grim, given the amount of obstacles the characters had to overcome. Thus far, I have three full runs in total: my main run, which I did twice now, and a kind-of-sort of gimmick run with three officers in the party (plus three other characters to bash enemy heads in), though playing an officer and controlling a party member that happens to be an officer feels different to me, and I have to admit that I did not actually enjoy having the main character be one.

For my unfair run I decided to take my first character, partly because she is the one I consider to be my main, and I wanted get a more polished version of her journey, partly because I read a brilliant comment of someone saying that the warrior class is shit in this game, and my character is indeed a warrior. Well, a warrior/psyker/assassin, with the psyker disciplines being telepathy and biomancy (some people shit on telepathy, too, but it is my favourite due to offering quite a few ways to debuff and damage enemies). Still, I became curious whether she is fit to handle the unfair difficulty. And she is! My strategies may not be the best, and my builds do not allow for instantaneously killing the big bosses (oneshoting a creature with over 20000 hp? In your dreams, maybe), but they do get me through the entire game without me ever needing to lower the difficulty. And at the end of the day, so long as there is more of the enemy on the floor than there is of my guy and their party, that is the only thing that matters. Here are some of her greatest hits.

Considering that she is a bit of a hybrid build, and thus has to juggle between more ability scores than a pure warrior class, I think the results she can show are pretty good. These are all from the last zone, of course, but she is indeed able to hold her own in a fight and dish out substantial damage, both mental and physical, throughout the entirety of the game.

Overall, I was expecting the unfair difficulty to make me feel like the tussles with the wild hunt in Kingmaker did – as if I am about to experience explosive diarrhoea and vomit at the same time. And while there were numerous times when I felt like a single enemy attack could dismantle my entire party (fortunately, that tension is all part of the fun for me), ultimately as the companions levelled up their archetype abilities, and the number of available actions and manoeuvrers grew bigger, most of the fights stopped presenting a challenge in a way where it felt that the deck is truly stacked against them. I often felt like going into the difficulty settings just to check whether it is still set to unfair. Still, while I do not think Owlcat has plans for such a dlc just yet, I would actually enjoy going through a purely combat-focused one, perhaps with a planetary multi-level dungeon with an extravagant amount of dudes to have mega tussles with. More challenges, please!

But I will also admit that I do not yet understand how to build some of the party members to make them valuable in combat. Idira should be extremely powerful, in theory. And she is, but she is also doing way too much damage to the party and often gets taken out of commission during the first round, and look – now the party has to fight a shit demon on top of these other twenty guys. I am missing something crucial here, a way to prevent that from happening, a way to reduce the perils of the warp phenomena from occurring. Could it be the difference between a sanctioned and unsanctioned psyker? Mine is able to spam both damaging abilities and buff the party when the purple warp bar is at full capacity, and yet no demons will be summoned, what the hell?! Heinrix is another character that I do not know how to build properly just yet in a way that would make him strong on the lower levels. Passing out during his own quest? Pathetic!

I know it is my own fault for failing to build him properly, but come on dude, work with me a little!

I have not yet grown fond of the space battle mini-game within the game. I can see them being thematically necessary an largely unavoidable when taking the setting into account, and yet I appreciate them only slightly more than the puzzles in their previous games. I think I would have liked them more if the battles were presented in storybook format (with skill and equipment checks and so on) in order to make them feel less like padding in the game. Oh look, the green field is now positioned in a way that forces the ship to fly in the opposite direction of its enemies! And now the damaged enemy ship is attempting an escape, and now our guns cannot even reach them, and now they are successfully leaving the battlefield. And I have to reload the entire thing and try to shoot them down immediately because I cannot accept anyone making a successful escape. I understand that one enemy ship escaping still counts towards our party’s victory, but I need to see everyone in pieces.

Well, I am probably forgetting about a number of smaller details I would have liked to talk about, but the main thing is that I loved the game. Top 3, definitely! I will not deny that there are quite a few blemishes that hold it back, and there is still a lingering feeling that it game could have been even bigger and more complex, if only the development time was longer. Hopefully, that potential will be tapped in a sequel, if Owlcat ever decides to make one. And I hope that they will stay true to themselves when they do so.

[book-of-baba-fett]

For the OC ask game!

Talia: 2, 7

Storm: 14, 20, 24

Edgy/Misc OC Ask Meme

Thanks so much for asking, Alli!! These are all really good questions for these characters.

2. What's something about your OC that people wouldn't expect just from looking at them?

So when I designed Talia, I purposefully wanted her to be shorter in stature and not look as physically tough just because she plays into that a bit in her combat style, how she would be underestimated or how she could easily work in undercover situations because she wouldn't be suspected. That does shift a slight bit when she gets her scar from Maul, just because it's more obbvious but she cans till use that to her advantage. I also think Talia is the type who is good at pushing through whatever she's struggling with, atleast on the outside. Someone could look at her and not know if she was upset or worried about something because she's good at putting on a brave face, that only falters with people she really trusts (like Rex.)

7. What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

I had originally planned on her being a Mandalorian Jedi! I was playing Kotor 1 and 2 when I was in the early brainstorming stages, and also watching Rebels and the idea of Mandalorian Jedi were really sticking in my head and I wanted to explore that a bit, but my idea for her shifted. I've also had some other plot details and such that shifted a lot as i've written this (it's been a two year process which is INSANE). But a lot of the overall has stayed the same.

14. How does your OC want to be seen by other characters?

I don't think Storm ever put a lot of thought into how he wanted to be seen by others, besides maybe as a capable cadet when he was training. Some of that shifted after the incident with Maul and losing member of the 412th; he out in extra work after that so he could still be seen as a strong command figure, and kinda shelved his own guilt over it. Storm succeeds in portraying himself how he wants to be seen; most know him as a steady, strong, and reliable man, and what Storm really wants to be seen is as someone good who tried his hardest for his men, and Talia.

20. What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

So this is an interesting question for Storm, because I haven't gotten into much of his story with his love interest, Rhys yet. Storm isn't the type to get jealous in the way that if Rhys were hanging out with someone else or mentioning and old lover. What he gets jealous of, even if he wouldn't admit it, is the way other couples can have a normal relationship, that they can go on without thinking about the war and be happy but circumstance overshadows his and Rhys's whole relationship.

24. What is an alternative life path your OC might have gone down? How different would their life be if they'd made those decisions?

So Storm started out as a member of the Wolfpack: he was promoted to Captain after the start of the war when Talia was knighted with the goal that he would head her battalion. HIs entire trajectory would have changed then: he missed the Malevolence because he was in command training.

There's also a big AU I have for Storm, but I can't say yet because SPOILERS. BUt yeah. We haven't seen the end of him in cannon.

[neosilverthorn]

So.

Vtuber Amano Pikamee got bullied off her stream for playing Hogwarts Legacy.  In tears.

And yet, I haven’t heard a damn thing about Hololive’s Usada Pekora and Hoshinova Moona being bullied, despite playing it themselves.

Makes me wonder if folks got permabanned by the Cover staff before they could whip up trouble, or just opted not to because Cover’s made it plain the last couple months that they’re perfectly happy to drag folks into court over that kind of thing.

Either way, that kind of bullying?  Shit behavior, folks.

I get it.  Rowling is a crappy human being and her beliefs have pretty much tainted the franchise.  I get that any royalties she gets from it are all but guaranteed to go to awful causes.

Thing is, going to someone’s stream and bullying them to end the stream in tears because them opting to play the game on stream is tacit endorsement of Rowling’s views?  That’s crap, and what’s more, it’s hypocritical of you.

Frankly, any of you who think that, let me give you a picture of what you’re claiming:

Enjoy anything by Disney, or one of its subsidiaries (Fox, Lucasfilm, ABC, Buena-Vista Pictures, and on, and on, and on)?  Congrats.  You approve of a parasitic mega corporation whose previous CEO openly supported oppressing LGBTQ youths.

Play Fallout: New Vegas?  Planescape: Torment?  KOTOR 2?  Congrats.  You support sexual harassment.  (Chris Avellone, lead writer on all of those, was accused of such a couple years back.)

Like anything from Blizzard?  Congrats.  You approve of sexual assault and degradation of women in the workplace.

Like the work of Justin Roiland?  Guess fucking what.

Starting to get what I’m saying here?  The reality is that most the things you like were handled by people who genuinely aren’t much better than Rowling.  The argument that you approve of the views and things done by someone involved by opting to partake in that piece of media?  That could just as easily be said about a lot, if not most, of media you like.

We might make jokes about “none of you are without sin”, but it’s kind of literal here.  You don’t get to be righteous when you’re guilty of the same crime.