#and for other stuff about my playthrough I guess

[wavetomuse]

there are rumors that chase has a soft spot for the rancher that waits outside his door at the crack of dawn and doesn’t work—

I started another play through of Animal Parade bc I’m determined to marry Chase but I also love Toby LOL and also im playing with cheats so like…I’ll meet a bachelor, then the next day I get their heart events 😭

I named my character/Molly, “Mollie”. : D

She doesn’t rlly want to be a rancher, she just wants to have fun. I imagine she’s very spacey and the type that other ppl take care of by instinct

[maddieandangel]

Had a weird Hollow Knight-related dream a couple days ago, so I decided to draw a major scene I remembered from it dgsgshf

More context will be in the tags, for those interested!

[kelean]

insane over a sudden realisation that the relationship dynamic between my tav and astarion is basically "the guy who despises all authority and thinks that true freedom can only be achieved through enoying simple things and allowing yourself to express your feelings and the guy who thinks that freedom and safety can only come at a cost of having power over people and hiding your true self from everyone around so no one could take that away from you". what if i blew up

[lightishlilac]

I can't explain why but for some reason the von Karma family becoming German in like every localization is so funny to me. They're Japanese in the original games but then they just. Became German

Assigned German At Translation Service

[tariah23]

Apparently, people were still complaining about the Demeter boss fight on twitter and were calling it “P2W,” and unfair like man, what??!?($(?

[choccy-milky]

Status update on the dark relic nsfw comic please ma'am 🙏 my family is dying

ITS DONE!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉...well, the DRAWING part is as of yesterday BAHAHA. now im just adding all the dialogue/speech bubbles/sfx, SO ITS DEFINITELY GONNA BE SOON!! DEFS BY THIS WEEKEND!! ive just been very nitpicky on the font which i cant decide on LMAO and im also nitpicky abt other final touches LOL. i didnt wanna show anymore cuz ive already shown so much but HERES THE FINAL SNEAK PEEK

and speaking of fonts, i normally use handwriting by jeremy paz!

oh man its so random, but i either use the name lumi or clora for everything whenever i play rpgs (baldurs gate 3, dragon age, you name it) and clora originated from rune factory 4 LOL. theres a character named 'clorica' and i really liked that name, it sounds so elegant and fantasy ish, so i eventually just shortened it to clora bahaha. now its my go-to. i like how simple it is but it also sounds unique and works in modern AND fantasy settings, imo

my first and ONLY playthrough was as clora! i originally did try to make myself at the start, but i have short brown hair and straight across bangs, and they didnt have a style that felt 'me', so i went with just making a ravenclaw that i liked, and then gave her my go-to name of clora HAHA. and yea, i built up her and sebs relationship in my head as i was playing, especially with all the running around the castle i did. i just liked to imagine her constantly out of breath and flushed and seb just watching like ....🧍girl chill...

AND SPEAKING OF MY DARK RELIC COMIC/SMUT, my biggest advice for writing smut id say is to have a reasoning behind it, i guess? i focus a lot on their headspace/WHY they're fucking at that moment when i write it LOL instead of just the movements/sex for the sake of sex. in your case, the sexual tension leading up to the first time gives you SO much to work with, since you can just be in his head with how much hes looking forward to it, how much hes savouring it, how he's also nervous but enjoying it and trusting the other person, etc. the thoughts are hotter than the actual deed a lot of the times (which is why when clora and seb did it for the first time it ended up being like, 15k words of just foreplay and build up from sebs perspective LMAOO) so yeah id just try to focus on their emotions and desires if you can! and a lot of the times with consent stuff it CAN feel forced, and you dont even really need your characters to talk about that stuff verbally, at least not too much. you can do it in body language, or just something as simple as 'ill stop if you want'. it doesnt have to be a long therapist-like conversation about consent, which CAN tend to sound a little awkward and unrealistic (esp in the heat of the moment), if thats the problem you're having. HOPE I COULD HELP

also i love this for you and for me. YES GO ON AND MAKE A BUNCH OF CLORA CLONES, I COMMAND IT👉👉👉

and last but not least the most important question. honestly i like plain sweets a lot with no icing/filling. im a slut for shortbread cookies and also just plain glazed donuts. and also custard/portugese/egg tarts, which i also forced clora to like in my fic HAHA. IF YOU HAVENT HAD THEM YOU HAVE TO, THEYRE SO GOOD😩😩💖💖

[infinitebrians]

Favorite Games of 2023 Part 4: Pseudoregalia

I knew Pseudoregalia was going to be good the minute I started the game and did the input for the Mario 64 side flip jump and the game’s main character Sybil did her own version of that satisfying jump. One of my all time favorite things to do in a Mario game (or any game) is that side flip, a jump that is as practical as it is just simply satisfying to do. Sybil being able to do that jump without needing any of the power ups found in the game told me that the developers of this game knew the importance to making character feel good jumping around in a 3D world. Her movement only gets better from there with a bunch of new platforming abilities that makes her capable of getting what feels like anywhere in that game world if desired. The pure control you have over Sybil's platforming capabilities gave me so many great moments of pure curiosity to experiment with what could work. What's better is watching friends and others play the game and figure out their own solutions to the game's open ended platforming design. There are no wrong answers in the world of Pseudoregalia, just results.

This game was a complete surprise in just about every way, just the best feeling platformer I’ve played in a long while in this small, cleaned up former game jam game. I’ve followed the main dev rittzler on twitter for a few years because the gameplay clips of their work have all looked fun and impressive and they always shared other really cool indie dev work as well. So, I was excited to finally play Pseudoregalia when it was announced to be released. It's super low price (6 dollars USD) and being something I was able to finish in the span of one day alone was a huge breath of fresh air in this current gaming environment. It’s something I’ve been personally thinking a lot about recently is the appeal of a simpler, lower priced game. It’s appeal to me coming from playing something that never needs to be some sort of omnipresent, super game. Instead, Pseudoregalia presents itself in a humble statement of, ‘here, enjoy a few hours jumping around this wacky maze like castle as a goat bunny lady!’.

I'm not a person who typically ever has a desire to replay a game right after finishing it, I usually prefer to immediately move on to another game that I've been wishing to play for for a while. Pseudoregalia is a game I've played four or so times now from start to finish, I even started another playthrough in preparation for this drawing/writing and found myself wanting to play it all the way through again. Its the first time I found myself actually physically seeing the appeal of speedrunning, a hobby I always just enjoyed as a spectator. Pseudoregalia just lends itself so neatly to that part of me that loves routing out a path for stuff. How quickly can you find all the vital movement abilities for Sybil? What's unnecessary, what can be improved, what can be gathered while on the path of gathering something else. From at least my perspective of not actually investigating the proper speedrunner's routing, the options feel immense. From these handful of times replaying the game I've gotten a good handle of finding my way around the map and a good idea of how to get a lot of the really important movement abilities almost immediately. It also made the game feel quite different from how it felt to me with my first playthrough, what was once mysterious and labyrinthine was now a familiar playground.

That is one thing I will miss when doing those repeat playthroughs is that sense of discovery that occurred with that initial run. Soon before Pseudoregalia came out, I watched a lot of Videochess and spaghoner's exploration and documentation of the incredible Mario 64 hack, B3313 ( https://youtu.be/pLKB0SG0i8c ). I found that hack incredible at creating a sense of uneasiness and wonder from simply keeping you constantly guessing what was next behind each door something even those two expressed while streaming. During my first playthrough of Pseudoregalia, I was completely lost in that castle and was constantly finding paths that led to new zones or ones circled me back to old ones from hours ago. It was a pretty incredible feeling of discovery that only wore out it's welcome at the end when I just needed one more big key necessary for progression. What helped make exploration in both of these games engaging the whole time is that aspect of having a really fun character to move around as while being lost. It was okay with being completely lost because I could still just keep doing these long jumps into wall kicks that just make Sybil go fuckin' fast in an immensely satisfying way.

I think in the time it's taken me to think about this game again, and briefly revisit it in preparation for this art/writing I've come to decide that this is probably my favorite new game of 2023. In a year full of fantastic platformers to pick from, this one was just a class above in terms of movement design and movement application.

[theminecraftbee]

Hi. 3rd life looks super interesting, but I don't know where to start. Do you have any recommendations on how to watch it?

certainly! the good news is, compared to a lot of mcyt, third life is fairly short! the original 3rd life is only eight episodes by most povs, with last life being eight or nine, double life normally only being six-ish, and limited life being about eight, meaning that if you wanted to watch one player's playthrough of every season, that's still only thirty episodes. that's like... getting into one network tv show before the netflix model took over!

so, i guess my advice is just to pick someone's pov and watch it!

the players who have been in every season are grian, inthelittlewood, smajor1995, goodtimeswithscar, smallishbeans, zombiecleo, bdoubleo100, bigbst4tz2, impulsesv, tangotek, ethoslab, and solidarity. skizzleman was in every season but double life, pearlescentmoon was in every season but third life, rendog was in every season but limited life, and mumbo jumbo and ldshadowlady were only in last life.

if instead of watching one guy as a single continuity, you want to watch the "best" pov for each season, that's going to be subjective. i'd say grian or inthelittlewood for 3rd life, zombiecleo or smajor for last life, zombiecleo or pearlescentmoon for double life, and inthelittlewood or zombiecleo for limited life... but as you can tell, i have a bias towards a very specific player, haha. in reality, you can probably choose whatever pov you want and have a good time, and other fans will have a different opinion about the best povs! and then, if after you watch that pov, you have questions about what other players are doing elsewhere on the map, you can go watch that guy's pov! that's how i normally approach it, at least.

each series mostly stands alone; while the fans like making connections between series, and there are running bits of continuity, you could easily, say, decide the gimmick of double life appeals to you, but you aren't interested in watching any of the series that came before it, and you'd probably end up fine. many new fans join on when the new series starts! if you are interested, in fact, the players have been hinting at the next one starting sometime soon, although we don't have any kind of date yet. when that starts, starting with episode one of whatever that one ends up being called is as good a starting point as any!

finally, you may have noticed some of the players have videos titled stuff like "3rd life: the movie" on their channel. these are, as far as i'm aware, exactly the same as the contents for their series, just edited together as one big long video instead of a series of videos. the one exception to this is bdoubleo100, who was in limited life but didn't put out episodes as it aired, instead releasing all of his footage only recently as one long video. it's up to you whether you prefer to watch the series as a series of episodes or as a long episode, if you choose one of the povs who put out videos like that!

so yeah! there is my list of advice for getting into the life series. hopefully this is helpful and not just a block of text!

[silicon-tmblr]

[Reposting this because I'm dumb stupid and don't know how reblogs work! This was supposed to be a reblog of this post by @g0nta-g0kuhara, a multi-part analysis of Kokichi Oma in Chapter 4]

Ooh a meta post! Sends me back to when I was first researching the DRV3 fandom before playing the game (I'm a little backwards, I know...). I only read the one part, but I wanted to chime in with some additions on top of the existing analysis.

Interestingly, the "neutral Kokichi face" that's highlighted in this post is one of two "neutral faces" that Kokichi makes throughout the game. That would be stand_005_037, or Kokichi's 37th sprite.

The other "neutral face" is the next sprite over, stand_005_038, which appears in a different context from the previous sprite. The difference between the two is really not terribly noticeable at a glance, so here's a visual.

Up to now, I've considered sprite 37 to be Kokichi's "unserious neutral", as his expression appears more relaxed than that of sprite 38, what I've thought to be his "serious neutral".

You know he's not serious when he's agreeing with Maki.

With the information from this analysis, though, it might be more accurate to call it his "masking neutral". Kokichi will use sprite 38 in low-emotion situations when he has a point to get across, like here in the Chapter 3 post-trial.

However, in high-emotion situations, as said in the initial analysis post, Kokichi is likely trying to hold himself back. That's when sprite 37 comes in.

Bro is either stifling a laugh or seething with anger in there

Regarding Kokichi's sprite 38, there's some stuff I've come across which loosely implies that it initially had a different design. When Kaito recaps his conversation with Kokichi in the hangar in the Chapter 5 post-trial, the conversation is portrayed with a sepia tone. The sprites for this conversation aren't really "sprites", per-se -- the entire scenario is actually stored as a series of background images in the game files.

One image that caught my attention, however, was bg_201_11:

On my first playthrough of the game, I dubbed this sprite "Kokichi angy"

This image stands out at a glance because of the Kokichi sprite, which isn't seen anywhere else in the entire game. Compared to the other images in the set, this image actually seems to be from an older build of the game, as the shadows in the background, shading on the sprites, and position of Kokichi's arm-belt-things are different.

bg_201_11 vs bg_201_01

My guess is that this unused sprite was an older version of sprite 38, especially since the current sprite 38 has similar errors as the older sprite.

Personally, I'm glad "Kokichi angy" wasn't actually used in the final game. He looks a little too much like a wet cat.

On another topic, also related to the linked analysis: let's talk about the ever controversial whiteboard note written by Kokichi under Shuichi's photo which, in the English localization, reads "trustworthy?"

As many people have pointed out, both now and in the past, this note was translated oddly and the original text was 「油断ならない？」 (yudan naranai?).

Though it's often translated by fans as “sneaky or cunning”, the literal translation is actually “don't be careless”, with “yudan” meaning “careless” and “naranai” meaning “must not (be)”. This is translateable in most situations as “dangerous”, hence that being the stock translation supplied by Jisho.org.

After all, "don't be careless" has essentially the same meaning as "this is dangerous", in most situations at least (think mountain climbing, or traveling through a dark alley; you wouldn't want to be careless because it is dangerous, you don't know what to expect so it's treacherous and sneaky).

When translating a note regarding a person, though, I would think "don't be careless" would be more appropriate, especially considering Shuichi isn't particularly dangerous compared to some other people in the academy whose dangers are well known (*cough cough* Maki)

You can find the independent translated meanings of yudan and naranai on Jisho as well as on Wikitionary (yudan, naranai).

So, Kokichi is essentially telling himself to stay on his guard around Shuichi, since he doesn't know what to expect from him. His attempt to team up with Shuichi in Chapter 4 was probably his confirmation that Shuichi wanted nothing to do with him, and that he should formulate his plans accordingly. It would probably have been ideal for him to have Shuichi on his side, as he saw Shuichi as a wild card (rather ironically; I'd imagine the group perceives Kokichi as the wild card of the group). So despite the translation error, the points made by the linked analysis still hold decent ground.

All in all, despite my belief that Chapter 4 is absolutely ridiculous, the linked analysis is quite good when one assumes Chapter 4 is logically sound (it's not), and still holds up even to someone like me who really dislikes Chapter 4 for its severe logical fallacies (my suspension of disbelief was absolutely thrown out the window when I played it... but maybe that's a matter for another day)

[barbwritesstuff]

I just caught up with all of the latest stuff today (hadn't managed to sit down and read for a couple of weeks) and was excited to see what all the fuss was about! AND DAMN MY... MY HEART. I was on the edge of my seat during the entirety of the trial.

The way this sold me on Tracy!!! Like, she came through for MC when NOBODY else did. Tears. And the way she plays it down, I love her so much...

Also, while (or perhaps BECAUSE) I love Ilya as an RO, in the other playthrough it was simply shattering to have him betray MC. Makes me wonder... does a Blackwell who isn't romancing him get a chance to take revenge, maybe? I know he's, like, level 3 Path of the Beast so I guess it's improbable, but I do hope.

Last thing on my mind, I read on here that there's some Chris content at the end there? A kiss scene or something? My other main playthrough is for Chris, and weirdly, that part didn't show up for me. Does Blackwell need to do something specific for Chris to be there in the latest chapter?

Apologies for the long ask. Big fan btw. Since Blood Moon. Long time lurker, first time asker so to speak.

Oh! I love this ask. Thanks for sending it. 💙

Iliya will appear again on all playthroughs. Revenge will definitely be an option (no vampire in the game is too strong to kill).

Chris currently only appears in Chapter Ten if you have a kid, but I will write a version of the Chris/MC reunion for non parents. It's not currently in the game but it's coming. I hope that's okay.

[redundantharpoons]

larian plz

Apparently Minthara's VA has been in the studio again for some after-release recording, so I'm just going to go ahead and drop the headcanon I came up with during EA for "good playthrough but you get to keep Minthara" here just in case . . .

I feel like if you side with the tieflings during the grove event but toggle on non-lethal damage to knock Minthara out rather than kill her, the after-battle scenes should include one where you find that they have captured Minthara and she's basically bedraggled in a cage, fully restrained with shackles and such. In just a really pitiable, pathetic situation but she keeps her chin up and her jaw clenched, too proud to be broken even in this situation. And perhaps, just perhaps, her faith gives her confidence that The Absolute has planned this.

When she sees you walk through the camp and everyone thanking and cheering you, maybe she pushes into your mind with the worm, maybe not. I think only if you're drow or depending on dialogue choices before to make her think if you can be easily turned back or not. But I think for most people she's written you off as an infidel and traitor to the absolute and other than a glare she doesn't acknowledge you at all.

While talking to Halsin, or Zevlor, or someone "in charge," you are being thanked for all you did for the grove and tieflings, and they express that they are in your debt, ask if there's anything they can do for you despite having so little, etc. And you should be able to choose "I'll take the drow prisoner off your hands."

Depending on who is with you, most of your party members are going to be disapproving/wary, but you can (and this is true, it should be an option later in the game) say you will use her as leverage or a bargaining chip in Moonrise or otherwise when dealing with the Absolute, or acknowledge that her insider knowledge of what's going on would make her a valuable prisoner to keep nearby.

If she overhears you asking for her as your "reward," she might push in now, but I still don't think she does, she just watches, appraisingly. (Or, perhaps depending on your dialogue choices this was all her orchestration via the mind worm; that she reached out to you when she saw you and assured you that The Absolute is not done with you, and that she brought you together and spared you both for a greater purpose, and you must free her so you can return to Moonrise together, as The Absolute clearly intends!)

The druids and tieflings are clearly uncomfortable with the idea of letting such a dangerous prisoner out of their hands; odds are they intended to kill her after a while (they were letting people throw food and stuff at her through the cage for a while as catharsis :( ) and so the idea of her possibly escaping or being set free by you later doesn't feel good. But you can convince/intimidate them over how much you've done for them, how you are clearly the more capable group to look over her since you had to look over them too, etc. Eventually they acquiesce, and there's a prisoner handoff scene, some banter with the party members about how you better know what you're doing.

And in my headcanon there's tons more content that gets very sexy in the times after that once you have Minthara in your camp as somewhat of a prisoner-in-tow (lots of her pushing into your brain and . . . showing you things, making you feel things 👀 with you second-guessing if she's actually into you or just manipulating you for her freedom), but suffice it to say from there the various game experiences maybe allow her to warm up to your party or your party to warm up to her . . . or maybe not and you just trade her away to slavers or kill her or whatever. But I always felt that was a pretty simple way to allow you to spare the tieflings and recruit Minthara, and I'm sad it's not in the game.

[patchwork-crow-writes]

More Thoughts on Kris x Ralsei

This is a continuation of my prior post on the subject, inventively titled "Thoughts on Kris x Ralsei". This is Part 1.5, because it adds on to Part 1, but isn't really substantial enough to be its own standalone thing.

If you wish to read any of the other parts in this series, here's a handy TOC linking to all the parts written so far!

Part 1: And They Lived Happily Ever After Part 1.5: I Believe Your Choices DO Matter <- (You Are Here!) Part 2: A Pair of Star-Cross'd Lovers Part 2.5: In Another World, We Could Have Been (Just) Friends (Future parts to be added as they are written)

Part 1.5: I Believe Your Choices DO Matter

I wanted to add a bit onto my previous ramble about Kralsei, on the nature of how Deltarune heavily encourages you to invest in the pairing. On that post, I did receive some feedback saying that many of the options to "flirt" with Ralsei are largely optional. And that's entirely correct! Most of the interactions ARE entirely within your choice to accept or refuse.

...but take another look at some of these choices we're offered, and you'll start to see something interesting. Let me show you what I mean.

So, we have the tutorial battle. During this battle, Ralsei will instruct you to hug the dummy (which looks just like Ralsei, a fact that will become important in a moment), so that you can practice ACTing. You hug the dummy, lesson's over. But then you see another option: Hug Ralsei. You choose it, Kris hugs Ralsei, who lights up like a fluffy christmas tree. That was cute, wasn't it? And hey, guess what? You can do it again! And again! And again! In fact, I'm pretty sure that hugging Ralsei is the only action you can perform repeatedly that won't force him to end the tutorial. (feel free to correct me if this is wrong!)

Here the game is teaching you some things, quite separate from the battle mechanics: One: Ralsei is huggable. Two: he really, REALLY likes being hugged. Three: there will be situations specifically tailored to allowing the player to positively interact with Ralsei. The game (and perhaps Ralsei himself) is priming you to expect more of these little interactions, and if you're receptive to that, you'll start looking for them.

And you won't have to wait long, either, because the next example I want to talk about is the ribbon. Picking up the ribbon in the treasure box will prompt Ralsei to give a tutorial on armour and equipping. He'll suggest you equip it to Kris, but you can choose instead to equip it to Ralsei, who will make a comment about looking cute.

There are many ways to avoid this dialogue - don't open the treasure chest, equip the ribbon to Kris, don't equip the ribbon at all. But here's the thing: the game assumes the player is familiar with the conventions of RPGs. You always open treasure chests. You always equip better armour as soon as you get it... and you will usually equip your strongest armour onto your most frail party member. And who would that be in this scenario...?

Why, if it isn't Ralsei... what are the odds of that?

Deltarune does something rather sneaky here: it uses player habits from other RPGs to ensure that a dialogue option that is ostensibly "optional" is in fact much more likely to be seen by a large number of players. And if you're trying to avoid that dialogue, it's because you're aware the dialogue exists and are going out of your way to ensure it doesn't happen... which more than likely means you already triggered it on a prior playthrough.

(This then primes a receptive player further, by saying "look, Ralsei says cute things sometimes when you try equipping him with stuff!" Which is probably how a lot of people stumble onto the Snow Ring interaction: "Are... are you proposing?")

Not enough for you? Okay then, to Chapter 2, and the return of the Dummy!

There's an option to return to the dummy at the beginning of the chapter - specifically, after Ralsei asks you to return to the abandoned classroom, but before you actually go there to orbify the room's contents. Interacting with the dummy prompts a yes/no choice on whether to hug it. And here, you can choose no, and "walk the path of fluffiness no longer".

But interact with it again, and you're given the same choice again. Say no again, say no ten times, or a hundred, but you'll always be given the choice again... UNTIL you say yes and hug the dummy. Then a text box will appear proclaiming "you're all hugged out." The choice only becomes closed when you accept hugging the dummy; until then, the choice remains open.

Of course, once you do hug the dummy, if you go back to Ralsei, he'll make a comment about not needing the dummy anymore, and how he'd rather you "practice on the real thing..." Which is a pretty unambiguous statement to unpick.

So what's the point I'm making here, exactly? Only this: You DO technically have the choice to not initiate these interactions, but the choices you ARE given are weighted towards initiating them, in one way or another. And for some of these options, it doesn't even matter what you choose... but we'll get to that in Part 2 proper.

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next one :)

[star-gazer101]

Pet Names

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Pairing: Idia Shroud x Reader

Characters: Idia Shroud and Ortho Shroud

Warnings: GN reader, Slight OOC, Uses of the nickname ‘Darling’ despite gender-neutral reader

AN: Just a fun side story, before anything serious happens.

-

Today was just an typically ordinary day. 

An ordinary day to do nothing but laze about in Idia’s dorm.

Ortho paused his current playthrough of farming dancing blobs to gaze at the “potential couple” doing their own thing.

His brother was currently raiding online with his online companion Crimson Muscle, while you were busy playing on a handheld console. You had said something about wanting to help solve puzzles with a “Gentleman traveler and his apprentice” before the new game comes out sometime this year.

Maybe he should be more concerned about his brother’s personality rubbing off on you than the other way around.

On the other hand, you both were now comfortable enough to do whatever, he guess?

Perhaps you missed a step after skipping the confession?  He really doesn’t know.

What exactly comes next?

Please don’t let it be another session of feeding his brother peeled apple slices when he last got sick…

Thankfully, you broke the silence. “Hey, Idia?”

Idia only grunted in response, his eyes fully fixated on his game. However, he was listening.

“I know we’ve been friends for quite a while, well, more than that, but…I was wondering…Would you…Would you be okay with taking our relationship to the next level?”

That…Was so sudden! You really do have no shame! Idia is choking on his drink and everything!

Better calm him down before it gets worse!

“S-sorry if that was too sudden Player 1,” You apologized as you patted his back. “I should’ve waited until you were done drinking.”

“Yeah, you should have!” Idia gasped. “What’s with the sudden sneak attack? Are you trying to send me to an early grave?!”

“Maybe?” You gave a teasing smile and then awkwardly giggled when he glared. “It’s just that…I’ve seen things where the best of friends use special names for each other. Not that I’m against our current nicknames: Player 1 and Player 2. I just want something a little more…intimate y’know?” 

At this Idia groaned as he quietly muttered things like “typical normie stuff”, but the pink in his hair never faded. “I knew I should have never let you watch late-night shojo anime…Too many unrealistic expectations…”

“He’s just shy,” Ortho whispered on the other side, finally giving his two cents on the topic, causing you to giggle.

“We don’t have to, if it’s too much.”

“I-I never said that! And Ortho, stop enabling them!”

“No promises, big bro!”

“You are so cute when you’re flustered, Idia~”

You two were going to be the death of him!

-

It only had been half an hour and Idia has crossed out pages worth of random names. Most of them were just you messing around and coming up with the cringiest of nicknames that even made Ortho flinch with how sugary sweet some of the names were.

Seriously, how can anyone call their friend ‘Schmoopsy Poo’ and keep a straight face?

“I’m sorry, Prefect, but I can’t agree with any of these. And what’s the deal with ‘Smashy-smashy Eggman’? That doesn’t make any sense!”

“Sorry. Had a favorite movie back from my world on the brain and just couldn’t help but quote it at least once while I’m here. I’ll tell you all about it after we’re done with all of this.”

Idia sighed. “How about something simple? What kind of name would you want to go by?”

You paused mid-scribble as you pondered on what he suggested. It took about a few minutes before your face burned an alarming red.

‘Quite the reaction there, Prefect. Mind sharing with the rest of us?’

“Well…There is one that I kinda want to try…”

“Oh? What is it, big sib?”

“Idia…Do you remember that one horror game with the little girl and her black cat?”

Ortho had an idea where this was going, but let you continue much to his brother’s embarrassment.

“I…would like to be called one of those names of endearment that the cat called her. I would like to be called ‘darling’ and for you to be called ‘dearest’. Is that okay with you?”

“D-d-darling…D-d-dearest…”

…

“Idia?”

“Brother, are you okay?”

-

“Again, sorry for overheating your brother, Ortho. Didn’t mean to overdue it this time.”

“Don’t worry about it, big sib. He lasted longer than his previous record which is 10% less.”

“That’s quite an achievement. Is there anything I can do?”

“Don’t worry about it too much. I’ll just put some gamer stuff under his nose and he’ll be back up. For now, just head on back to Ramshackle.”

“Alright…thanks again Ortho, for humoring me.”

With you finally out of the room, the younger Shroud could only shake his head as he stared at how pathetic his brother was being. All of that because of a simple pet name…

“They wanted me to call them darling…and me dearest…how cringworthy can they get…how lame..”

“Idia, I can’t take you seriously with that dumb look on your face.”

Only in the Ignihyde dorm would that count as progress. Best of luck to you, Prefect.

[coeluvr]

Huh, the Lancelot asks make me wonder...

So, in one of the recent ones you said that: "I think MC will be able to call him out like "you don't truly care for me, you only pretend out of guilt" but not about how MC gives him hope and all that"

But what about the opposite? Will we be able to ask him to STOP feeling guilty at some point in the story (which could understandably be way later down the line)? My reasoning is that if the MC is very close to him and other factors, they wouldn't necessarily want to see that person they care about still beating himself up on this stuff. It isn't really about what would "objectively" be a better opinion on the matter - MC isn't known to always be the most reasonable person, though that would depend on the playthrough - but simply about what would make sense for one type of MC or the other, I guess?

I'd say yes! Likely in the same conversation as when the others can make him feel worse.

I doubt MC's word will suddenly make him feel less guilty though lol.

[lutethebodies]

"Nobody Cares About Your Original Characters"

CW: earnest middle-aged bewilderment

For a blog allegedly dedicated to my BG3 Tavs, there's a lot of companion- and/or NPC-related content here, because like any rottenbrained fan of this game, I find several of its characters compelling, well written, and frankly hotter than a fireball in Avernus.

But I want to focus this thing back on my Tavs/OCs, because that's why I like D&D and by extension BG3: the game allows me to create my own heroes and play out their stories as if they were as epic as Link's or Aloy's or any other famous franchise hero. Some of these folks have been TTRPG characters of mine for over three decades, so I've lived with them for quite some time and they're as real to me as I'm sure yours are to you.

However, in my brief (and therefore probably unrepresentative) experience with this blog and a few other places, nothing I post about my OCs resonates with very many people. (If it has, thank you and you're very kind). And while being creative for myself (whether in fiction, music, cartography, whatever) has always been about doing it regardless of attention, I'm at a loss for how to do it in this case.

So I'm throwing a few questions out to the ether for the sake of received wisdom and, say, interesting stuff about characters that (mostly) nobody knows about. Help an aging roleplaying fan feel relevant, won't you?

When you find an original character compelling, what usually hooks you?

Once you're interested, what else do you want to know about that character?

I'm guessing researching characterization in general will help, but specifically for this platform, what helps? I was thinking well-made or well-captured images, sure, but also maybe:

their in-game builds/profiles/gear

their backstories (brief, I promise)

their playthrough highlights (romances, unique events, etc.)

their original 5e incarnations (because they're all from my time playing D&D 5e or even 3e)

I'm laughably mid at fic (my only self-published novel is old and likely problematic), I'm passable at "art" (I'm a creative professional but I've never been a "real artist" the way Tumblr probably defines it), and my favorite creativity related to these characters has been music and maps, which probably won't resonate here.

So what should I do? What would be interesting? Seriously.

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff: Orion and the Dark

You know? I remember playing Pajama Sam 1 many moons ago and to this day I find it lovely to play. Great characters, incredible artwork, the differing routes each playthrough which I didn't even realize until then, and the ending which really stuck with me. That what was kept me anticipating Orion and the Dark, as I felt it was that spiritual successor I never knew I wanted. It sucks that Dreamworks dropped this onto streaming like it was nothing, not even on the site they own no less, but I genuinely looked forward to this and that's what matters. Now that it's out, let it be known I can't believe this will be the first Charlie Kaufman film for me. Just saying, any interest in his previous movies is gonna feel like whiplash.

Just imagining some kid loving Orion & is eventually in awe for a movie called I'm Thinking of Ending Things

To truly start this review, this might be the best kino non-Pixar Pixar movie Dreamsworks ever made. I didn't think of it having the whole "what if X had feelings" factor until now but I actually like that they take it not only in a reasonable direction, but twists the dynamic in a way Pixar honestly hasn't done since... Toy Story 4 I guess? No spoilers, but I enjoyed that Darkness and his entity friends have their insecurities, this is before they all met Orion, and they take that in a very great if offputting direction. Plus I love that they were able to personify these elements I didn't actually think about when it came to night time. They also present the biggest problem with the movie and that's the lack of real camaraderie with the entities and Orion. You enjoy the friendship between the boy and Darkness, but they streamline the bond Orion has with the others and that really makes the story hit or miss depending on if you grow to care about them. I brought up Pixar and yeah, while they have their great individual moments they don't have the same effectiveness dynamic wise as the emotions from Inside Out. Also small nitpick, but I didn't like that Dark's name is "Dark" and not "Darkness"; doesn't roll of the tongue, you know?

Plus we didn't get Orion and Dark playing Cheese & Crackers like missed opportunity of the year

Now again, this is my first Charlie Kaufman film, but I was familiar with his writing style and I gotta say I loved what he does with the structure of the story. It's a story within a story where as soon as the curtain is pulled, I was fully hooked. I love how Orion essentially helps himself overcome some of his fears both thanks to unexpected but welcomed help and developing his own confidence. It was clever how when you put a face on a fear, that fear slowly fades but the film shows that it's not something capable of a cure. Orion's neuroses dilate thanks to this adventure, he probably wouldn't have lived to tell it if otherwise, but it presents that growing up doesn't mean everything will work out perfectly or immediately. Does it do a lot to get to that point? Yes, but I felt the risks paid off in a way I don't think I've seen before in a story like this. I know as a kid I didn't have constant paralyzing premonitions regarding the worse outcomes imaginable like Orion, but on some level I remember what it's like and how it'll still fester your mind as you get older. This film, pun unintended, gets dark on a personal level and will probably stick with me long after watching it.

Can't say this scene broke me, but damn did it get close

Orion and the Dark impressed me as something thought-provoking, that does a lot more than being another adapted storybook. Is it an insanely masterful modern Dreamworks movie like Puss in Boots 2? No, even with its great subversions the movie doesn't juggle everything as well as I hoped. Then again, I highly appreciate that this was a risky movie Dreamworks was willing to release, that got both Kaufman and Werner Herzog of all people on board, as opposed to shelving it like some companies I know. A movie that doesn't spell everything out, that gets to be a family movie not constantly upbeat but colorful and optimistic in all the right ways. Orion deserves a chance where I think everyone will have interesting takeaways even if it won't be their favorite Dreamworks film in recent years. I'm overall glad I saw it and kinda want to see it again soon for missed details.

4 Out Of 5; The night truly shined with this one.