#and hate looking at it‚ the DLC was also a pain in the ass. and maybe is part of the reason i like the sv DLC way more

[front-facing-pokemon]

[crystalelemental]

Alright, now that I'm completely wrapped up, even have Geeta in the Lounge, I think it's time to talk about the wave 2 DLC as a whole.

I'm going to preface all of this with some general biases I absolutely hold. Specifically, I fucking hate Double Battles. I can't stand them. I am not good at them, I find them infinitely frustrating, and unlike Singles there's no real way to cheese anything if you walk in unprepared. I am also a Day 1 hater of Max IV/Max EV/positive nature on opponents. It sucked ass when BDSP did it, it is no better here. ScarVi may give you at least some tools to make it not completely outside of your ability to replicate, but the actual need to EV train is a pain in the ass, and max IVs remain damn near impossible to achieve barring 6* raid dens, and even then I don't think it's easy to get everything. So you'd need to over-level to 100 just to Hyper Train, which also requires the bottlecaps, and look the EV mechanic is fucking stupid as hell and its only selling point is that it's a hidden mechanic that solely benefits the player. This pivot makes this more obnoxious than it needs to be, and doing that in a Doubles context as well makes this a very, very steep learning curve if you're not relying on the same team you've run all game that's likely level 100 by now. Regardless, my point is I'm not going to harp on the battles, because I am bad at them so of course they frustrated me to no end, and took forever to beat.

Which Is the major issue I take with this DLC. Man, I just want to get through the story. I want to see what's up with Kieran and Carmine. I want to know what the deal is with Terapagos. I want to rebattle the gym leaders and elite four and check out Geeta's new team. And all of this optimally trained doubles battle bullshit is in my way. That is all it was to me; an impediment. It would be great on rematches, when I'm not specifically doing anything, but they frontload it and it's annoying. Worse, the only ones fully trained in that frustrating way are the Blueberry students. Everyone from Paldea has no EVs and presumably no nature, and probably not max IVs, so by the time you get to them? You're so over-prepared for those fights they're a joke. Which is great, sure can't wait for all the discourse about Geeta being a bad boss who mismanages the region again. Can't wait for the continued complaints that her team is super easy despite how significant an upgrade it got, ignoring how well the fight itself is crafted and mis-attributing the ease to her being a weak champion rather than this game having a garbage level curve. I was looking forward to these rematches, and they do not hold up by the time you pass the doubles shit.

But whatever, hey, eventually you get through, and the story's really good, right?

It's fine. I admit I don't love it, like I came to with Kitakami. I think Pokemon falls in a weird position where it's not ready to tackle this kind of setup in a way that permits interesting resolution. Of course Kieran is going to be friends with you again. Was there any doubt? I will say I do like some of the beats they play with for him. Getting a moment to express his frustrations around how much you have that he doesn't, the continued obsession even after he seems to "snap out of it," the fucking Master Ball at Terapagos. All of that is excellent. My main issue is it resolves in the same way literally every game has since XY.

"Wow protagonist, you are just so special and amazing in ways we can't be!" In XY it was part of the general narrative; Lysandre's belief being that the exceptional must lead the rest, and your protagonist making a choice they didn't need to, that literally almost killed everyone, and your friend group being the recognition that collective teamwork supercedes exceptional individuals. In ORAS, you mostly just shitstomp Zinnia's dreams by being the one to take Rayquaza and save the world like she planned. In Gen 7, you have no reason to even be here the story is so focused on Aether Fam, but your presence is elevated to no you have to take Nebby and are recognized by Koko etc etc. Gen 8 is mostly just shitstomping Hop's dreams. Legends Arceus is being the literal chosen of god to save this world in its time of need and somehow it's the least frustrating. And now we have Gen 9, where the DLC starts with an interesting story of Carmine and Kieran, that resolves on...you're just so darn special that it's okay Kieran can't measure up because how could he? Okay. Sure game. This is...definitely a satisfying resolution for this kid.

The situation with the hidden treasure is similarly frustrating. Compared to how much shit goes into this new league structures with characters I never asked for, the actual stuff with Briar is...done in like 20 minutes. I'm glad they didn't try to spin a villain, I think the game is better without trying to build up an antagonistic character, but I kinda wish there were just a bit more. What we get is nice, it just feels too short lived compared to the League stuff. And it's mostly repetitive battles against the Stellar Pokemon to keep moving forward. There was brief hope, bringing Terapagos itself to the Crystal Pool and getting the scene with Turo, but (1) I do not like this kind of closed time loop shit that implies they only figured things out in the past because of meeting someone from the future, and (2) it doesn't actually unlock anything else. I had hoped that getting the Violet Book from Turo back meant we could turn on the time machine again. That's this book's purpose. I thought maybe, if I was extra lucky, we'd get another expedition down there and either find a way to address the current problem of Paradox Pokemon that made it through, or find a way to bring back AI Dad. Instead, nothing. You can't get back to that at all, it doesn't seem to accomplish anything. So that's fun.

Characters! Are also fine. Cyrano doesn't get enough play. Lacey is my girl, I love that you have the option to tell her she's the cutest after her match and she shuts you down so hard with "Wrong! We're talking about the Pokemon!" Drayton kinda annoys me, I think he can be part of interesting things but mostly agree with Carmine on this one. Amarys is alright, I love that she's friends with Carmine and picked up the heart hands pose from her, though her taste in boys is atrocious. Crispin. Sure is there. Okay fine, I do kinda like that he's the sane one that's like "why don't you people just say what you mean?" and then struggles to tell Lacey he has a crush, apparently repeatedly. Briar never does anything too fun. Like she's alright, I like that she spends most of Area Zero nerding out a bit, but they don't really lean too hard into her obsession being more important than safety or anything, beyond just being oblivious to Kieran's mental state, something that seems to just be part of her personality since she brings up the champion match before you even go, so it's ultimately pretty mild. Carmine gets some decent bits but not a ton to work with. I think Carmine's best stuff is interactive. Her frustration with Drayton is great, her friendship with Amarys is great, the fact she has to be the sane one while working with Briar is hilarious, and there are some cute moments with Kieran as she chuckles at his true nature poking through or snaps at him to get moving when he's being edgy.

Then there's Kieran. My initial stance on Kieran was "he's kind of a brat." I did ultimately come to really like the siblings, finding them very interesting characters overall, and what I will continue to enjoy is that they didn't go the route of "what if Kieran was just affected by the Toxins from the Loyal Three" like one theory espoused. Thank god for that. His continuing edgelord nature generally goes well here, like it's honestly hilarious how over the top a lot of the league stuff is presented given how low-stakes it actually is, and I've already sung the praises of Master Balling Terapagos. My problem is his design. Buddy...no. Come on. Put it back. Your hair looks stupid up like this. The jacket hanging around the shoulders in the tank top makes you look like a tool, and the fanny pack like a dweeb. This isn't working. It's a perfect design, evoking exactly the vibe I think it's meant to, but that vibe is unfortunately relentless mockery.

The only other thing worth mentioning right now is the BP system. It sucks. BP costs are ridiculously high, BP quests offer far too little, and this shit just takes forever. It took me like a week to gather up enough to unlock the Terarium biomes and be ready for the coaches. I don't have anything for the Snacksworth quests. I don't think I care enough to do them either. My wife actually gave up on it and switched to playing Scarlet, and she's as bad as me with completion when she's enjoying what she's doing. She won't suffer like me, but she's been way more invested in this DLC than I am, actually finding herself enjoying Doubles as a format, but even she couldn't be asked. It's too much for too little, and the fact that only two coaches exist at a time and you need even more than the theoretical maximum to achieve trades if you want to search for unique dialogue is just asinine.

There are a few odds and ends things. Like how I haven't done Perrin's quest. Really need to get on that. Or how Snacksworth has quests you literally only get access to by playing multiplayer, all but demanding you buy the stupid Switch Online subscription despite the fact the system uses local internet not company servers so you are literally paying them for nothing. You know. The garbage that Pokemon could do away with at literally any time and only have positive outcomes but refuses to let go of.

If my general tone was not an indication, I did not have a particularly good time here. That said, the majority of my frustration stemmed from wanting to just get through the story. You know. The part I cared about. Now that I've had that, a subsequent playthrough, say on Scarlet, is likely to be significantly less frustrating, because I'm not getting constantly annoyed about the time it takes me to get through BP for rematches I'm not doing there, or how hard the double battles are that are blocking me from progress. More than likely, I will take a second shot, and be much better about the experience overall. What's unlikely to change, unfortunately, is this feeling that this way of DLC didn't give as much story around the elements I wanted, and has pretty unimpressive rematch battles for the characters I wanted to see again because of the ongoing problems of level scaling in this game. So you know. The stuff I cared about. Oopsie doodles, I guess.

[sapphic-scylla]

I’m sure people are tired of these, but I can’t just not do this for my favorite game in the series.

Dark Souls 3 Boss List (Best to Worst)

Sister Friede and Father Ariandel: The true test of endurance. 3 full phases, all of them require you to deplete a full health bar to progress, and Blackflame Friede after two other phases? It’s a brutal ask, but I’ve never enjoyed any fight more. Plus the music is FIRE.

Dancer of the Boreal Valley: Music mentions will appear a lot in this list. Dancer takes the win for best base game boss because of the music, the ominous vibe, and how difficult she can be. It’s always a coin toss how long it takes me to clear her and yet I love it. Her weapon drop is also pretty fire despite how much everyone else tends to hate them.

Darkeater Midir: WE STAN A GOOD DRAGON FIGHT! I maintain the opinion that this is the only well designed dragon fight in Dark Souls. Elden Ring tried, and I respect it, but Midir just really is everything to me even though he kicks my ass a lot.

Slave Knight Gael: This imposing figure gives me chills and makes me feel all kinds of accomplished after I beat him.

Abyss Watchers: They remind me a lot of Lady Maria and honestly that’s enough to put them up here. Never hard per se, but it’s definitely a badass fight and the music is really freaking good here.

Demon In Pain/Demon Below: Not a lot of people talk about this one, but they should. I really like the design here. The music is a banger, but this, in my opinion, was the closest they came to Ornstein and Smough in being an amazing gank fight.

Twin Princes: I got hard stuck on these guys in my first playthrough. They have a lot of nasty attacks, but there is a rhythm you can get into if you follow their attack speed. Also, music again.

Nameless King: Before DLC, this guy was THE FIGHT. This guy was the controller destroyer. He still kind of is. Dude can bring the hammer down on people who aren’t focused. His health bar is nothing to scoff at either.

Champion Gundyr: A solid, fair fight. This fight gives me chills because the only person I can blame if I die to this man is myself. Difficulty is mid, but I really enjoy this fight every time I do it.

Aldrich, Devourer of Gods: I get scared in this room. I shouldn’t, but he moves weird and he swarm attacks you like a menace. The music is also dope because it’s an ominous take on DS1 music and I love it.

Dragonslayer Armour: The one guy in this game that surprises me every time with how much damage he does. It’s like a jump scare really. I do like him a lot, but it’s always wild to get hit for so much damage and panic heal right afterwards.

Soul of Cinder: A great end to the series and a fantastic homage to the years I spent playing this game. He also attacks like Gwyn which is really nostalgic.

Yhorm the Giant: More about the cinematics than anything. Imposing guy and you take him down with a wind sword. Great power fantasy fight.

Pontiff Sulyvahn: The only fight in this list that actively makes me nervous. This dude has a lot of health no matter how leveled I think I am and he has a way of hitting me no matter how I try to avoid him.

Iudex Gundyr: Best first boss in the Souls franchise. Not hard by any means, but definitely a wake up call.

Oceiros, the Consumed King: I’ve never understood how I can beat this dude so easy. Logically, he should be destroying me, but I regularly come out of there with a win in 1-2 tries. Weird guy.

High Lord Wolnir: The solid middle of this list. Easy as hell, but he just looks so cool.

Vordt of the Boreal Valley: Solid easy game clap. Nothing too special about this guy.

Curse-Rotted Greatwood: Tree balls. That’s all I’ve got.

Crystal Sage: Forever my benchmark for kill or be killed bosses. By no means hard, but he will hose you the fuck down with magic sometimes without warning.

Old Demon King: My kryptonite in this game. He kills me for really stupid reasons. He’s like Magma Wyrms in Elden Ring. I should not struggle with this boss and yet…

Deacons of the Deep: Good place to vent out my frustration about organized religion.

Champion and Gravetender: The dog makes this fight a hassle.

Halflight, Spear of the Church: I hate PvP. Fuck this guy.

Ancient Wyvern: Why is this here? Does this count? I really don’t think so.

[keibea]

alright here we go the moment you've all aimee's been waiting for, my final thoughts for dragon age 2 LETS GOOOOO

CONTAINS SPOILERS!! this ones a long one guys theres a lot to cover and beware probably many spelling mistakes and opinions you may not like you have been warned. but tbh i love all characters so let that be known. even anders. sometimes...

this is for you @amuhav 💗💗

so like wow, just wow. like i knew kinda what was going to happen but like WOW to see it just made like everything more real, now for my chaotic commentary

lets start from the beginning of act three. firstly didnt i bloody have like half ownership of the bone pit??? yeah well that went down the drain didnt it stupid dragon. that could've been very profitable to! also dragons are big, can confirm, previous suspicious were indeed wrong.

the qunari are gone which is bloody depressing. i mean not all of them, those damn tal-vashoth are still hell bent on stopping me from minding my damn business THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MOTHER TRUCKERS BTW and attempting to kill me, which like varric says, is suicide.

i freaking hate those stupid gangs. like why. also 'followers of the she'?? seriously? they are so annoying. like leave me alone. im not trying to kill you, im just suspiciously walking around the docks at night in heavy armour with weapons leave me ALONE. so many of them too UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH piss off

also went to visit orsino after one of the main quests and he gave me robes. im a warrior. what the f am i going to do with those????? does my hawke LOOK like she wears robes? NO she's always wearing armour i give the frick frack up.m

i hawke has a cousin which is coooool her name is charade for some reason. also gamlens still an ungreatful prick what a shocker. i was so nice to him too and he like "stay out of my business" HELLLOOOO i just reunited you with your daughter you bastard suck a toe

aveline was starting to piss me off. LIKE GOSH GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS BITCH. idk if i mentioned this last time, but i gave her a shield and she got all mad at me. LIKE SORRY FOR BEING CONSIDERATE AND WANTING YOU TO HAVE A GIFT. she didnt even take it in the end! i was like fine you salty bitch im going to keep it hmph. also she got all mad at me when i questioned her about the rumours cullen told me to look into. SORRY BITCH FOR WANTING TO DOUBLE CHECK. she's so touchy. like do i need to remind her I WAS THE ONE THAT GOT THE BITCH MARRIED??? i give up on her shes so mean

merrill is still a bitch, but less of one. but still a pain none the less. the mother trucker was still going ON about that stupid mirror. okay fine so it's not a stupid mirror i have played the dalish elf opening but STILL. so when the option was given for her to maybe get possessed for a demon, therefore leaving me HAVING to kill her, i took it instantly. cause bitch. unfortunately the selfish bitch instead had the keeper die. and then she was crying so i just said I TOLD YOU SO. yeah she still doesnt like me much. and by that i mean she hates me, but quite honestly suck it up i dont care. so i couldn't kill her :( not that my hawke would want to anyway. and i accidently ended up killing her whole clan. I DIDNT MEAN TOO, i accidently said "stand down" because i thought that was what my hawke would do i didnt realise id have too kill anyone FRICK but tbh if i was in her clan i would want to kill her too couldnt even blame them, felt kinda bad for stopping them ngl i said what i said

the mages really werent helping me help them. i supported them none the less but the least they could do was not resort to blood magic so i could make them look a little bit better. but i understood why, it was just really inconvenient LOL

get.rid.of.the.spiders.

sebastian, good old sebastian. yes i did buy all dlcs before the sales came on, yes it did cost me 30 bucks, yes i kinda regret not waiting a month to buy it but in my defence i wanted to play the WHOLE game straight away so. i like him sometimes. sometimes he's a bit pretentious. ALSO LELIANA??? HELL YES!! i saw her in the mark of the assassin dlc but we actually got like a really meeting that counted in this. if you didnt know, my warden originally romanced her before moving to zevran so i have a soft spot. she still looked like a baked potato, like come on do them some justice bloody hell.

follow up on this, poor bloody cullen, he looked like dry spaghetti.

meredith was getting increasingly crazy which i loved. LOVED her hair btw, always like perfectly stunning. honestly she had the best vanilla hair of everyone else in my opinion.

varric is the best thing ever. like what an absolutely babe. the whole haunted house thing was funny lol. like a bloody chair was stuck to the roof at one point and all i could do was laugh LOL. i let him have that shard, my come back to kick me in the ass idk.

isabela was good this act, and didnt stab me in the back, which was very nice.

fenris OH FENRIS gosh i love him. still needs to learn when to shut the f up in some situations but gosh hes so cute. and whenever he says "im yours" (and yes i did keep clicking on him to hear him say that leave me alone) i just melted and said "yes you are bitch!" gave him a sword, he seemed to like it. it glowed, pretty cool ngl. still grumpy as frick but the end scene before they went to war like HAD ME OH MY GOSH when he said and then hawke said and then they AWWWWWWWWWWWW okay im a sucker for romance leave me alone.

bitch im dead

also bethany stopped being a massive BITCH so thats nice.

anders (lovers of anders dont come at me im fragile) is a bitch. like WOW. like what a dick. firstly when i was helping HIS ASS with HIS QUEST which i didnt even need to do because he was just going to explode the chantry anyway, he had the NERVE to come at my relationship with fenris. when you start a mother freaking sentence with "i know it's not my place" STOP, because bitch it is not your place leave me and my bae alone you unhinged mother trucker. WOW sorry lots of aggression towards him whoops. probably because i did everything i could to be his friend and he still stabbed me in the back the dick. so i stabbed him back in the back. yes i killed him, kinda regret it, because im pretty sure my hawke wouldve spared him but my own feelings got in the way whoops. seriously though, i bloody swear that blowing up the chantry did nothing but start a war what the frick was he thinking come on bro.

also this game only took me 46 hours?? which is weird because origins took me AGES to get through, and although ive started and stopped inquisition many times, i still have like 200 hours on it. and let it be known, that because of my ocd i did finish every single bloody side quest (well except for the awiergan scrolls and all the swords and one other one where it wouldnt show in the map which probably meant i would have to search every single damn cave again and kill spiders and i just could NOT be bothered. other than that, every signle thing was completed. is it a shorter game or did i somehow manage to get through it quickly? then again i did get a mod that made combat easier (LEAVE ME ALONE OKAY, IM A LOVER NOT A FIGHTER. im also a lore and history nerd so the main reason im playing these games is for the storyline leave me alone) so that probably made everything a lot quicker but idk.

in the end i sided with the mages because

A. meredith has lost her marbles

B. i wasnt going to let her kill all of the just because anders is a crackhead.

C. i felt like it idk

so yeah battle won, meredith turned to stone or whatever, all is right with the world and i am on to inquisition. TO WHICH i actually bought the whole game + bonus content + DLCs for 5 bucks. im so ready to romance cullen lets go. still debating whether to be a human or an elf. i think i might go mage for once but idk let me know what you did aimee and anyone else who read this whole essay

all in all INCREDIBLE GAME and im so glad i went back and played it. yeah the places got a bit repetitive sometimes but it also felt nice not being lost in the hinterlands for 8 hours so idk. the characters were amazing, and looked much better, although the nobles look like they have no dick with those weird pants but whatever. definitely recommend so much fun, and really funny at times too.

BYEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[alotsgonnachange]

Mystic Messenger Saeran’s AE Thoughts (.......And Prayers..) #Spoilerz

Hello, I just finished Saeran’s after ending and I have a lot of things to say and I am going to write it down while I'm still all keyed up about it.

First of all… Please DO NOT ask me how much money I spent to finish this as fast as I did…. I’m grown but my bank account is certainly going to have a good ole fashioned CHUCKLE at this….. It’s been a long quarantine I deserve a lil happiness as a treat methinks!

I have been playing this absolutely insane game since I think 2016? When I first started playing the deep routes had JUST come out I think? And I was just finishing up high school and am now a college grad...lmao

I’ve played all routes at least once except Jaehee but i’ve seen walkthroughs of her route (I’ve heard it makes you hate Jumin and he’s my favorite so um. hehe). V’s and Saeran’s routes I found to be so emotionally intense and just….a lot and I've been waiting a long ass god damn time for this after ending okay…. I would theorize and make up an ending in my head but i’m no writer so it was hard to figure out lol. I’m a Jumin stan mostly but I love everybody and yeah I should probably play that jumin dlc too but I need like a DAY to recover from Saeran’s AE. Enough about me HERE are my thoughts on it overall

Major Saeran AE Spoilers under da cut!

Can we please discuss V showing up to the C+R conference room with basically chloroform and made everybody Pass Out like??? I was alone in my room at like midnight just SCREAMING at my phone???? And the creepy ass CG ???? It’s like that gif of sarah paulson from ahs being like “I put arsenic in the wine….and the pasta”

Anyway I screamed at V a lot during this process!!

Loved RFA being sweet and kind to saeran (before V fucking drugged them…)

This is such common V behavior “I have to do it all myself...there’s no other way..” GIRL SHUT UPPP You do this every route....

SO many CG’s and I enjoy them a lot

Saeran’s sprite looks a little TOO crisp compared to everyone else but maybe its a glitch??? V next to him is in 480p while saeran is like 1080p

Hearing both Saeran and Saeyoung missing the other brother the whole time??? PAIN. All my homies know is PAIN

BOSS and his V for Vendetta ass guy fawkes mask??? I literally yelled “this game is TERRIBLE!!” several times at my phone

Their dad is so>??????? When he was sitting on the couch with saeyoung in that one CG while simultaneously telling him to kill himself?????????? Maybe chairman han is actually the best dad in this game somehow

When V and Rika were like we’re back together teehee teehee okay pack it up bonnie and clyde ..

When chairman han calls u and says hes jealous of u and saeran…..HUH????? I’m calling HR

When they go to the apartment and see boss and vanderwood and poor saeyoung is sitting there seeing his brother for the first time in years i wanted to D word sooooo bad like PAIN...PAIN….

Can we HAVE A DISCUSSION ABOUT JUMIN HAN BEING THE BEST CHARACTER IN THE GAME AND HE LOST EVERYTHING IN THIS AE……. he just took the blame and moved on jumin what the hell….. I love him so much r we serious? He watched his 2 closest friends betray him in the worst way and found out abt how Rika abused Saeyoung and Saeran???? I felt just AWFUL. Terrible ...Terrible….

Rika’s change in demeanor from Saeran's actual route is certainly a Choice. I find her much more bearable this time around and unfortunately i think I was too nice to her and ended up with a bad end LMFAO

I was happy to see Saeran stand up for himself and become stronger and confident. You go king!

The CG of Yoosung laying in Zen’s lap is everything to me…

HOWEVER YUP I sure did get a bad ending and I was so mad fdsafdskfdhsf ! (I would be happy to clarify how I got the good one the second time.) MAKE SURE To SAVE EARLY in days 2 and 3 bc the branches on day 4 is where the bad end will show up. For me it was the first day 4 chat and then a story mode titled “SAVIOR”.... If you see that RUN FOR THE HILLS!!

I was so mad! But I had saved in day 2 and replayed and MANAGED to get good end

I’m obsessed with everyone calling V and Rika “that psychotic couple” like…..its true its true…

No those two are so toxic… V’s route was torture watching them go on and on about the sun like yo can yall just call each other babe like normal people.

I respect straight people but not V and RIka that shit was just wrong… Straight marriage was a mistake

Oh lord i also FULLY Forgot Rika killed the twins’ mother…. Yeah that scene was um Certainly a lot but it needed to happen eventually

Like it’s good they know but damn that storyline is just so bleak

I think it was satisfying TO A DEGREE….To see Rika understand where she was wrong, why she was wrong, fess up and even APOLOGIZE! I was very surprised.

Saeran and Saeyoung are Certainly twins with the amount that those two self sacrifice in every route MY GOD…..

The scene with Jumin talking to his father and the other scene of him praying oh my god I cannot tell you how happy I was to see him begin to understand and address his own feelings in a route that was not his own. My main problem with Jumin’s route has always been the trapping MC in his penthouse aspect.. This way Jumin understands love and emotions without being overly possessive !!! YAY also loved seeing him be on good terms with his dad who was surprisingly profound

That last Story mode was Really a Lot…. and Strange things occurred which I will get into in just a minute

Jumin becoming a politician is so funny but ngl … i see it.

Yoosung going to france to study pastries ok king I see u! (it made more sense to me than the vet thing anyway)

Lastly Zen FURRY ERA

MY BEEF With the AE

I was happy with how they handled it for the most part. I think Cheritz heard our feedback about V’s after ending and was like okay….let’s try something different

HOWEVER

Saeran…. Sweet kind saeran… IS SO AFFECTIONATE HAHA….

He must have said I love you like 300 times…..very mushy gushy flowery language...and maybe that’s just his personality but for me it was like eating cake with buttercream cake. It means well, but god damn is it sugary and going to cause a stomach ache later.

He was just… SO MUCH! SO forward and ON all the time in his affections. I honestly felt kind of smothered and by day 3 and 4 I was sooooo over all the compliments… King you’ve come a very long way, but ur still putting MC on a pedestal and probably need to see a therapist.

Nextly….Rika and V….. Naw that knock out gas really ...that hurt lol. Coming from “I would do anything to protect RFA” V? Idk like…. EYE felt betrayed reading that. It was just hurtful. I can’t even imagine how the members would have felt as they were passing out. It was just so cruel. I suppose I understand why but like?? Just TERRIBLE

Them being in cahoots with the agency and the prime minister..HUH??? Also too much

V just felt so irresponsible like I do understand that he ended up in a weird web of secrets that’s hard to untangle but he’s so fucking stubborn he’s SO stubborn it makes me insane. Like sir… It seems like in other routes he wanted to try to protect Rika and the RFA.. But in this AE it seems more to me that he was like yeah i’m protecting Rika and That’s It… so fucking hurtful to me. Both of y’all apologize ESPECIALLY to the twins and Jumin..

The forgiveness thing…… Okay so I think some people will not like that Saeran decided to “forgive” the people who hurt him (Rika, V, Saejoong, his mother). I would point out that I actually think this was approached somewhat well. He says at one point that he doesn’t think they’re good or bad, just people. I think he sounded mature and like this was the way for him personally to accomplish his healing process. Would I have loved for Saeran to flip V and Rika off and kick Saejoong off a cliff? Yea I really would. But like…. If that’s what HE needs to do to heal then who am I to judge?

HOWEVER…. Everything Eye just said goes out the window when the scenes at the end with Saejoong come up… I was PERPLEXED. Like why did he HUG his deranged father who just kicked the shit out of him??? Also all the chat options that MC has with him r like blah blah you’re like this because no one loves you were so corny to me LMFAOOOO?

AND WHEN HE WAS IN THE ROOM LATER WITH SAERAN… i’m sorry but if that were me I would have called a nurse to deck his ass. Cool he turned himself in YOU SUCK SOOOO BAD AND I NEVER WANT YOU TO COME NEAR SAEYOUNG AND SAERAN AGAIN THANKS.

*scratches ass* I wish I got to see saeyoung and saeran finally sit down and have that first conversation after a long time and hug CG but the ending was fine I GUESS….. I dont care about ROMANCE I want those boys to be happy brothers together

Anyway that was really emotionally exhausting but I fr think I got it out of my system after literal years… And I can rest in peace knowing the choi twins are happy. THATS ALL I WANTED TO KNOW!!!!

[sugarandspice-games]

Okay, so I finally got through Saeran's good ending, I might go back and play the normal and other bad endings later if I feel like it, but as that was an emotional rollercoaster, I need some time to recover. But I'm going to put my full review under the cut.

Will I be releasing my rewrite outline at this point (though not really a rewrite, since I made it before the AE was ever released when I was drunk and salty at the lack of news)? I'm not sure. I wasn't 100% satisfied, but we'll call it a good 65% as I feel like there was more I liked than I hated. I'll leave that decision up to my dear readers, whether or not they want to see it. (Though there are only like... 8 of you here and I know you're probably here for Obey Me content and not MysMess)

I do plan on playing the Jumin Bad End DLC, but I may not liveblog it as I haven't really heard good things. This seems like another ploy for fanservice, but I do want to get more lore about Jumin's backstory, and honestly... I'm gay and want to see those sexy CGs. That being said... this is the last I will discuss the canon material on this blog, and it may be the last time I engage with the canon material (as I believe cheritz has announced that this is the finale anyway, and will no longer update the game). I will most likely continue to create fan content for it, as Sugar and I have our own sort of... fanfic thing going on with the characters and our OCs. But this is a personal and huge special interest of mine, and rather than go through everything and pick it apart for the rest of my days... I want to leave the game and the characters I love so much with only my happiest memories. They'll live on in my heart.

But I digress... here is my semi-condensed review. Sugar may talk about it as well, though I do not speak for them. THIS SHOULDN'T NEED TO BE SAID BUT HERE THERE BE SPOILERS. DO NOT READ IF YOU DID NOT COMPLETE THE GOOD END OF RAY'S AE.

The Good:

Saeran. Saeran was the best thing about this route. His character development was beautiful, and every time I saw him, I felt my heart swell with pride and love. His new sprites are so adorable as well as his beautiful CGs, and he looks healthier and happier in a lot of them. He's grown to be such a loving, gorgeous, wonderful man despite everything that happened in his painful life, and his story is nothing short of inspirational. I have a lot of love for Saeran, I have from the moment I saw him but this route really drove it home for me. He will have a special place in my heart among my fictional loves that can never be replaced.

Jumin Jumin Jumin! Jumin was one of the absolute MVPs this route, he was doing the most and boy... I just want to hug him. Even though he was in horrendous pain he was doing the absolute best he could to help everyone. He's been a love of mine for a long time, and that love only grew in this route. I was also glad to meet Driver Kim and see the interaction between him and Daddy Han Sr. (Because obviously Juju is the junior Daddy Han lol)-- even though I have mixed feelings about the Chairman, it makes me happy to see Jumin getting the caring he deserves from his father. And the fact that he even turned his back to let Jumin express his emotions without feeling embarrassed... Fucking killed me.

They did Rika right this go around. Yes, she got off to a really rough start, but she was very human and bearable here... and complete with her realizing her wrongdoings and working to right them in the end. It was a gorgeous arc, I'm so happy for her. I have a love hate relationship with her character, as she used to be a very badly written villain IMO... but one of the good things about Another Story in general is that it gave her depth that she didn't have before. And if they wanted to redeem her, they 100% did it right here, even if she had a rough beginning and had to make mistakes to get to where she was. I thought it was very human. Good on you, cheritz.

Vanderwood got a lot of good interactions here, and I'm really happy they gave us more Van content. Even if we're not getting a route for him, it's enough to me to finally see him expressing the affection we all know that he holds for Saeyoung, and working to help him.

The twins finally get to be happy! Need I say more?

Everyone doing well in their lives made me really happy too... most of the other routes had this problem where if one person got to be happy, someone else would have to suffer in exchange. I'm so glad that everyone got a happy ending.

The new chats made me extra emotional... I'm not sure why, to be honest, I think I'm just happy to see everyone again. It had been such a long time since I played Mystic Messenger, and talking to everyone again just like old times felt like returning to a childhood home (though I was 19 when I discovered this game initially, haha). I cried a lot, which is extra weird for me since I don't tend to cry in general.

Yoosung loves Saeran soooo much... in fact, everyone does. It made me happy, bc I was initially worried that he wouldn't have made friends with the RFA or that it would be awkward, but seeing everyone loving him and him being sweet back to them was adorable. Jumin also loves him and you can't change my mind (though maybe that's my wishful thinking of being in a Jumin & Saeran sandwich talking...)

So many good messages in this AE, and they hit very personally. I came to the same realization last year, that in the end, nothing in life matters except love, since you can't take anything else with you when you die. I shan't elaborate more!

Everyone's voice acting was so good! It was so beautiful and emotional, I could feel it through their voices. I usually skip the voice lines since I read so fast, but I'm happy I didn't.

The Bad:

Oh Jihyun... what have they done to you? I know I said he wasn't OOC and I stand by that, but it really feels like the writers hated him this AE. Even his sprite looked so awful and blurry. And he didn't get any good realization that he deserved better or anything, the literal cult leader and prime fucking minister got to be redeemed when he didn't. What the actual fuck. Sugar will definitely have more to say about it, and probably in a more articulate way, but let it be known that I don't like it either.

Furthermore, even if it's not OOC, it's structurally sloppy for him to come to some realization only to stay the exact same as he's always been. And same with Rika too. As I said in a previous post, having them both go through these realizations only to make them the villains again really felt like beating a dead horse. What can I say except AAAAAAAAA. WHAT THE FUCK?

Again, I must reiterate... why'd they make it so you have to be a bitch to Rika to get the good ending? I get that it's probably wish fulfillment for some people in the fandom, but it isn't for me. I really don't have any desire to berate or insult her bc in the end she needs serious help (even if I wanted to throw hands with her sometimes), and if the point was to call her on her misbehavior... some of it went too far (looking @ the "Don't stab Saeran's eyes out!" choice. I didn't like that at all, especially since it felt like you were making fun of Jihyun's trauma.) It especially made the end of her arc fall flat when she's like "Thank you for being kind and trying to understand me..." like, gurl... the game didn't let me do that without making me bad end! Jeez.

Also, literally why was it necessary to redeem the prime minister? He's a monster who tried to murder his own children. It's okay if they needed that scene where Saeran and you tried to understand him, but having him actually come around made no sense... why would he want to listen to you or Saeran when we've seen time and time again that there isn't really any good in him? He's just not a good person. And no, I'm not saying this because I wanted him to die or anything! ...Okay, maybe I did. Fuck that guy. I hate him. (Also the whole "you're only this way because you're lonely!" was so corny, I didn't choose those options but gjkgkgkfk)

The Ugly:

Have y'all heard about how much I hate the agency Boss? I hate him so much... I want to drown him in the toilet. I want to feed him taco bell laced with laxatives. I want to-- anyway, I digress. Not classifying this under bad because cheritz did their job by making him hateable and oh boy, did I hate him. He made me want to barf. I also commend his voice actor for somehow making me feel greasy through the screen. Seriously, dude, hats off to you. You are a genius.

That's about all I have to say for now... you can peruse my talk tag if you want to see any of my other thoughts on this game, but they don't tie into the good and bad. Despite the flaws, I enjoyed myself this route and I'm happy I played it. Even though there will always be things to improve upon in this game... I'm happy I picked it up, and I'm happy I met everyone. I would write them all letters or something but that'd be kinda corny since they're just game characters and won't see it anyway, and I know I'm not the only nor am I the most attractive MC out there... so this is Spice, signing out! Byebye, Mystic Messenger. You'll always have a special place in my heart.

All of the... weird horniness between Rika and Saeran made me feel grossed out. Her having him in a collar with a leash, and the game options that insinuate she has a thing for him... ew ew ew. Please stop it. That shit is so disgusting and I'm going to puke.

@ Both Saeyoung and Saeran: stop fucking trying to die all the time! Seriously! Let me love you and want to save you, when will you get it through your thick skulls that one gay ass MC who loves you very very dearly would NEVER be happy if you died? AAAAAAAA

[phcking-detective]

HOT SINGLE ANDROID IN YOUR AREA WANTS TO FUCK

Gavin barely even notices the annoying pop ups anymore. He’s tried a dozen different scans and virus protection programs, but obviously they’re not going away.

And it’s kind of fair.

Not that he would ever admit this shit out loud, but his views have ... OK, they haven’t changed. Not technically. He always thought androids were watching him and--like--alive in there. Screaming on the inside. So fucking creepy. But every time he went on one of his “rants” about how they were going to rise up and kill everyone, people scoffed and very condescendingly told him “they’re just machines” and “you’re paranoid, Reed” and “do you need to take your BPD meds again?”

So yeah. Technically, his “views” on androids have stayed the exact same: they’re secretly people, they hate us for abusing them, they’re going to rise up.

HOT SINGLE ANDROID INTERESTED IN YOU

Ugh. And of course the one single time he decided to be an ass and take out his anger issues on someone everyone swore up and down didn’t have any feelings or experience pain, the little fucking twink bot went crying to Hank with his big boo-boo bambi eyes, and then Lieutenant “throw them all in a dumpster and light them on fire” suddenly hated HIM for being the racist asshole.

Whatever. If sucking it up--wait no. Taking it on the chin--fuck! If not complaining about Connor infecting his terminal with horny malware as a revenge-prank is what puts all that shit behind them, then fine.

HOT SINGLE ANDROID WOULD LIKE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE

Wait. That doesn’t sound like malware.

Gavin stares at the newest pop up for a moment. He’d started ignoring them, so he can’t remember when they switched from saying shit about single androids--plural--in his area to one singular android.

Not plural.

He tries to casually glance around the bullpen without being obvious. Connor isn’t here, but would he even have to be? He can like, wirelessly do this shit, right?

Also, isn’t he fucking dating Hank??

OK, so maybe he’s imagined it a few times.

With HANK, not Connor. No one could work underneath the DPD’s youngest, hottest lieutenant for years and not have a wet dream or two, OK?

HOT SINGLE ANDROID OPEN TO EXPERIMENTATION

Yeah, that’s a six syllable word, definitely not horny malware. But what kind of “experimentation”? Does Connor think that’s what swinging means? He wouldn’t--

If he’s cheating on Hank, Gavin will kill that cocky little ipod shuffle for real this time.

Shit, but what’s he going to do? He can’t click on it and accept ... whatever the fuck this is ... without looking like he’s actually interested, and he’s not going to do that to Hank.

Maybe he should ask Nines what the hell his brother is up to.

“H--”

The hey dies in Gavin’s throat when he looks over and realizes Nines is already staring directly at him. His partner’s LED swirls yellow.

HOT SINGLE ANDROID GROWING IMPATIENT, DETECTIVE

Gavin honestly feels like he just got shot in the chest. Like when you’re wearing a vest, so the bullet doesn’t kill you, but all your mcfucking ribs break at once and you can’t breathe and you’re not dead thank god but fuck at what cost??

OK, so maybe he’s imagined it a few times.

It’s not his fault everyone he works with is hot! So maybe he’s imagined with lots of--and Nines was just, like, included. In his horny daydreams. Wet dreams. Nightly jack off sessions.

Whatever! Anyone would be attracted to him.

He just didn’t ever think it would actually happen. That it could happen. They’re partners, for fuck’s sake. Just because Hank and Connor want to shit where they eat, doesn’t mean Gavin planned to be that stupid in real life.

Oh god, Nines is still staring at him. He’s like a stupid little baby bird mesmerized by a snake. A beautiful, blue-eyed--

No! Get it together, Reed.

YOU MAY CLICK X TO DECLINE, DETECTIVE

Gavin grabs the mouse and desperately clicks on the message itself before his brain can interfere. CGI confetti bursts across his screen and an invitation appears to La Antoinette’s in Bricktown at 8 pm.

Oh my god.

He knows this was really made by Nines too, because his partner is approximately ten million times more expressive via text than in person. The confetti matches perfectly with the hundreds of smiley faces and hearts and a couple of knives, but mostly--

Oh my god.

Nines likes him. Nines HAS liked him.

Gavin looks back over at him. Nines sits at his desk with his back perfectly straight and his hands neatly folded in front of him. His face looks as impassive and slightly-bored as ever, but that’s because Cyberlife only programmed four facial expressions into him and he’d have to trust a technician to install more like they’re fucking DLC.

His LED circles yellow again.

YOU WILL PICK ME UP AT PRECISELY 19:30 FOR OUR RESERVATION

Oh my god.

“Ye--” Gavin stops and clears his throat to get back down to a normal octave. “Yeah. Seven-thirty, right. But uh, can you get rid of the naked androids on my screen now?”

Nines continues to stare at him without expression, but the bare no-skin androids to either side of the pop up messages disappear. A new picture pops up, and he thinks it will be more details for their reservation until his brain processes that it’s a torso-shot of an android--Nines, has to be--in a black dress shirt tucked in but unbuttoned all the way down to show off his chest and pump, hands in the action of taking off his belt.

BANG BANG. Shot directly in the chest twice. A double tap. Gavin wheezes as he tries to remember how to breathe like a functional human being, but all blood previously in his brain has now relocated immediately to his dick.

“Incentive,” Nines says.

The picture disappears, thankfully for Gavin’s sanity, which is currently fracturing. 

Sure, he and Nines have gotten close. Maybe Nines spends more time at Gavin’s apartment than his own, maybe he sits in the chair next to Gavin’s bed and spends the night sometimes, maybe they already eat lunch and dinner together regularly and Nines will wake him up in the morning and make him coffee and they’ll lay on the couch together at night to watch action movies and documentaries and

And they’re dating. Shit. He’s been dating his fucking partner for months now FUCK Tina was right and she’ll never let him live it down goddammit.

So the date part makes sense. But Gavin would swear before God, Jesus, and Captain Fowler he’s never gotten any sexual vibes off of the android. 

Shit, that’s probably why he didn’t realize they’ve been dating each other.

He grabs his cellphone.

love ur incentive super hot bby

but we dont have to have sex tonight

can take it slow

or like

not take it anywhere but dating

Gavin makes himself stop texting before he sounds even dumber than he already does. He looks up and checks Nines’ face instead. Just because the android can’t make clear facial expressions doesn’t mean there’s nothing to see. 

It’s in the way he shuts his LED off so it can’t spin red, and the way he finally looks away from intensely direct eye contact to stare off to the side. Moving his hands off the desk and into his lap so no one can see his fingers twitch at an inhuman speed.

Yeah, Gavin knows his partner.

<3 <3 <3

Noted. But may we still try certain sexual activities, detective?

Gavin knows from the way he can hear Nines’ processors whirring from across the desk that he’d be blushing if he could. And then when the android looks back at him from beneath his lashes, LED back on and spinning a shy blue--

God, he’s going to date the fuck out of his partner and take him home and kiss him all over and suck his cock so so good.

“Anything you want, baby.”

[vicar-dei]

My Love-Hate Relationship with Bloodborne

I’ve made it a habit to always play a game from the company From Software, especially after being drawn in by the first Dark Souls game. So when Bloodborne came out for the PS4 as an exclusive, not only did I buy the game day 1, I even played around in the Bloodborne open beta. The beta itself was nice, I really enjoyed the combat and the new trick weapon system. In addition, the lack of shields forced me to think a bit differently about how I played. I was the type to play lighter, dodge-based characters already, but not having a shield to fall back on when I messed up a dodge really helped me refine my skills (or so I thought).

The official game drops, and I buy it. I go through the starting areas, breezing through it all with relative ease. The beta had trained me for this, I thought, I can do this! Then I hit my first pitfall, the Forbidden Woods. Now the area itself was fairly easy, if not a bit of a slog. No, the real trouble I had was with the Shadow of Yharnam, a set of three hooded figures each with their own unique moveset. On top of dealing with all three of these enemies at once, I also was severely under-leveled for the task. So I ran away, quickly clearing out Hemwick Charnel Lane. Somewhere along the way, I fumbled into Iosefka’s Clinic and acquired the Cainhurst Summons. This item is required to get access to Castle Cainhurst, probably one of the most beautiful locations in Bloodborne, in my opinion. Unfortunately, this locations’ beauty blinded me and left me defenseless for the ass-kicking I would soon receive. 

Giant, bulging moquitos with woman’s faces. Large dining rooms and libraries filled with tanky ghosts. Deranged servants who pretended to be regular servants. Weird gargoyles with tons of i-frames (in Bloodborne this happens for alot of enemies, but it still doesn’t make it any less painful). Cainhurst tested me at literally every new turn I made, and I can safely say that my death toll in Cainhurst alone riveled my death toll for my entire playthrough up to that point. What awaited me at the end of my struggle? What’s my reward for me endlessly throwing my poor, innocent (no, his hundreds of beast kills don’t count, he was so pure) hunter to his death? Master Logarius, in all of his unsightly glory. Now I won’t lie, this boss broke me. He broke every single good feeling I had for Bloodborne, and all he left behind was pure, blind rage. Rage at the game, rage at the developers, rage at my own hunter. After my final encounter with Logarius, I quit out of the game, uninstalled it, and didn’t touch Bloodborne again for years.

Fast forward to 2020. I’m older now, a bit more experienced in Souls games. On top of playing Dark Souls 3 backwards and forwards, I’d also played games such as Code Vein and Mortal Shell, two more “souls-likes” that I thoroughly enjoyed the hell out of. On top of this, I went back into the first Dark Souls with Dark Souls Remastered, reviving my old DEX/ INT rapier, crystal magic spamming character to dominate the PvP scene (spoiler alert: the meta had evolved, so I ate pavement). Anyways, as I was looking up cool build videos to try out, I came across a few guides for Bloodborne as well. The more I kept reading, the more confused I got. Chalice dungeons give you the best blood gems? Grinding chalice dungeons for levels? Chalice Glyphs to help with farming? Since I had come directly from Dark Souls to Bloodborne, I didn’t even remotely look into doing chalice dungeons. I had assumed it was all side content, or maybe the more co-op sections of the game. As mad as I still was at Bloodborne, I had wanted to see if things would change if I just grinded out chalice dungeons.

So I bottled up my contempt, and I re-downloaded Bloodborne. I didn’t have PS Plus during my first playthrough, so I ended up making a new character, but I didn’t mind much. Cleric Beast, Father Gascoigne, Blood-Starved Beast, chalice dungeons! I started out simple, selecting chalice glyphs for high damage gem farming and enemies that drop lots of blood echoes. After about 3 hours, I had went from level 30 to level 100, with cursed gems on all my weapons (really good stat buff, usually comes with a really big downside). Needless to say, the game was a cakewalk after that point. Shadows of Yharnam, Rom the spider, even Master Logarius were a complete snooze. Before I knew it, I was close to the final boss, and was ready to delve into the Old Hunters DLC (that experience is a story for another time).

After this emotional roller-coaster, what do I think of Bloodborne? While the game made me question my life choices originally, after “properly” playing through the game I actually got to properly compare it to the other games From Software had produced, something I had never even considered doing due to my initial rage-quit. I can honestly say that I put Bloodborne up in quality in line with Dark Souls 3, if not maybe even higher. The atmosphere, the lore of the world, the bosses, and so much more. In addition, completing this game made me compare it to a lot of the other games I’ve tried out in the souls-like genre, which makes me value it as an art piece even more. It’s one of those games that I’ll definitely keep playing, and talking about, in the future.

[imagine-organization-xiii]

Can I request the Organization taking their own kid(s) trick or treating? Would they wear matching costumes? Bully the home owners to give their children more candy?

Buy me a coffee here!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE EVEN THOUGH THIS IS SUPER LATE

Guess who’s back and ready to do some headcanons!!! If you guessed me, you guessed wrong. Sam - aka NoPantsSaturday - bought the KH DLC and went down another organization xiii rabbit hole, so she is entirely responsible for half of these!

Xemnas

Doesn’t see the point of trick-or-treating when he can just get his kids whatever candy they want from the store, but you insist that the holiday is supposed to be fun and it’s a good opportunity for him to spend some quality time with his kids. He doesn’t get it, but he’ll do it if that’s what you want.

He’s intimidating as hell, so the adults who answer the doors to give out candy will just end up swiftly pouring half of their candy stock to your kids while he glares at them before they escape back into their houses to get away from them.

An older kid, maybe about 14 or 15 years old and without a costume, teased your kids about their costumes and Xemnas pretty much had the laser eyes of death, so the kid kind of stuttered out an apology and bicycled away as fast as he possibly could.

Xigbar

Takes a little convincing but will go trick-or-treating and WILL wear a costume if your baby gives him those beautiful puppy dog eyes (as long as it’s something cool and badass or even spooky. If your kid happens to find something awesome that they can wear together, then he’d go for that, too.

Goes by the rule that if he’s wearing a costume then he deserves some candy as much as anyone else, despite the fact that you tell him that’s not how it works.

Pretty cool about the whole trick-or-treating thing in general. He likes Halloween and he enjoys spending time with his kid, so it’s a win-win situation. He’s just happy to go along with the situation and have fun while he’s doing it.

Xaldin

Another intimidating man who makes sure your kid gets the best, most high-quality candy instead of just the scraps that no one likes. Probably won’t dress up but he’s happy to follow his child around with you as you all go door to door. It’s all worth it when he gets to see the smile on his kid’s face.

Will no doubt end up carrying at least one of his kids before the night is over because they’ll be complaining about how their feet hurt, but he really doesn’t mind. They barely weigh anything to him.

Gets really into it toward the end of the night. Like his kids will be tuckered out and sleepy and rubbing their eyes and he’ll just be “Oh, but there are only two more houses on this block, let’s go to those and then we’ll go home.” But then two more houses turn into twenty and then your babies are practically falling asleep as he carries them around.

Vexen

Such a whiny little bitch!!! Goes on a twenty minute rant about the origins of Halloween and Samhain and how it isn’t just about giving candy, but that the holiday has deep roots in history and that he refuses to participate in such a trite practice. He’ll complain only to you, though, because the last time he said something like that around your kid, there were tears on both sides. So he keeps his mouth shut around them and you’ll both know that he can never say no to your kid. Ever.

Which means that he’ll definitely be walking beside you as you accompany your child to get their candy, pouting and frowning and arms crossed over his chest, but he will be there. Furious because everyone thinks that his organization cloak is some kind of costume, even if they can’t figure out what he’s trying to be.

Actually goes through his kid’s candy later to make sure there’s nothing bad inside - and he ends up stealing one or two pieces for himself.

Lexaeus

THE BEST DAD. Dresses up with his kids - whatever they want, whether they want to be something badass and awesome or if they want him to be a prince while they’re princesses. He doesn’t care - he just likes to see them smile.

Like Xaldin, he’ll go trick-or-treating for as long as his children want, but you can bet that he’s going to end up carrying them halfway through the night because they just got a little too exhausted. He doesn’t mind, though - carrying them home is one of his favorite parts!

Zexion

Zexion was never one for Trick or Treating, even as a boy. The others at the castle would always ask if he wanted to go, and would go if only to please them, but would always look forward to being home and watching the other costumed children come to the door.

Now that he has his own child however, he really wants to make sure that they are having fun how they want for the holidays. But much like he was, his child was similar, very quiet and shy. So the two go trick or treating for a short while, and when both are finished, Zexion, his SO and their little one like to cherish their tradition of curling up in soft (and spooky) pajamas and watching some fun Halloween specials on tv or read scary stories from a cherished book.

Saix

Will happily take his kid out to go trick or treating, but he mostly just acts as a bodyguard to make sure that people are nice to his child. He pretty much refuses to dress up because he says that he is way too old to do something so trivial and childish.

Does Saix give the death glare to people who don’t give a decent amount of candy? Absolutely.

Axel

Axel will most certainly dress up, though maybe not matching his child. It matters on what they’re wearing. He’s not afraid of dressing up as a princess or anything. He just doesn’t want to be forced to be something stupid like a lawyer or a doctor.

He also would most certainly egg a house that doesn’t put out. What’s that? His child is too small to throw eggs? Doesn’t matter. He’ll do it himself if he has to.

Demyx

well of COURSE Demyx LOVES taking his kid out truck or treating! It’s so fun! ( Demyx likes to snag his own candy too, running up to each and every door as I’d he IS the child!) but Who wants to put in effort with a costume?

Every year Demyx tries to pull the same “this is my costume” routine with some stupid pair of glasses or hat. Well, no one is taking this shit, especially not Demyx’s little girl who is the most determined and hardworking four year old Demyx had ever encountered.

Good thing his little one has already picked out the exact costume she wanted for her daddy with her other parent 3 days earlier. “No Daddy! You need to wear a real costume! That’s just a hat!!”

Luxord

Luxord loves taking his little child trick or treating not for candy or pranks. (though pranks are pretty amusing to watch) What Luxord likes the most is seeing his little one come out in their costume for Halloween and play along with them. Pirate? Time for a night of swashbuckling adventure! A princess? Well he must be their knight! Whatever they choose, the two always make it a night of imagination and games as well as collecting a fair bit of booty!

Marluxia

Okay. If his kids are going to go trick-or-treating and wear a costume, then they are going to do it right. There will be no half-assed face paint or cheap, falling apart costumes from your local party store - oh no, only the best fabrics, the best paints, the best EVERYTHING that he’ll usually end up recruiting his kids to help make from the beginning. It’s a pain in the ass but the costumes always look perfect and like they were professionally done, so none of the kids find it in them to complain.

Doesn’t intend to do it but he gets too into it, almost competitive because he wants his kiddos to look amazing and he has the resources to make them look amazing. His kids don’t mind because they’re just as competitive as he is.

Larxene

Okay lets be real. Larxene HATES going trick or treating. As a kid she only went along with her friends or to throw a few eggs. But she vowed to do this parenting thing right and vow she shall keep. 

She brings her child up and down the avenues, watching from the street as the little one runs to the door to collect their treats. But watching them turn away and run back to her? “Mommy! Mommy! They have BIG BARS HERE!! Do you want some?” 

So maybe it isn’t so bad after all.

[missvalerietanner]

The Last of Us - Part II

Completion time: 24 hrs. 48 mins.

After lots of reflection on the story and reading a lot of other people’s takes on the game as a whole, here’s my two cents:

The #1 feeling I had at the end of TLOU2 was relief.

And I’m SO surprised I don’t see more people saying they felt this way. 

After almost 25 hours of emotional turmoil and a lot of tears and rage and disgust, I felt as weary and drained as Ellie. I was ready for it to be over. No matter the outcome, I wanted an ending. I wanted everything to stop.

When we’re first placed in Abby’s shoes, I knew it was leading no where good. And when Abby starts saying she’s looking for “him,” I know the “him” is Joel, no question. Then Tommy and Joel stroll into that room, the Wolves close the door behind them. Joel says his name. Everyone sits up a little bit straighter, and the camera widens to show Abby holding a shotgun. 

I jumped when she fired the shotgun, and I was instantly in tears, just chanting out loud, “Don’t kill him. Don’t kill him.” The tears slowed; then we pan down to Joel’s grave, and I lost it again. 

From that point on, I wanted Abby to die. I wanted revenge as badly as Ellie. But as the story crawled onward, Dina almost dying, struggling to catch up to Tommy, Owen and Mel’s deaths, Jesse’s death, the looming threat of Tommy’s death, I started thinking, “Maybe this has gone too far.”

Then we get placed in Abby’s shoes again. That was a real struggle for me. I didn’t want to play as Abby. I didn’t care about her (and after finishing the game, I still don’t care about her or her loss or any of her friends). Honestly, Mel was the only one I really felt anything for, and that was mainly because Owen was a total piece of shit, clearly didn’t want the baby, and was willing to run off and leave her and the baby behind. Otherwise, her death didn’t really shake me ‘cause ultimately, I still didn’t care that much about her fate.

Then we have to play as Abby and attack Ellie. Excuse me, Naughty Dog, but wtf? Also: I did resist fighting Ellie at first, but she legit kicked my ass a LOT. But the conflict ends, Tommy’s bleeding out in the main hall with an arrow to the knee and Dina’s got a knife to her throat, and all I’m thinking is, “Tommy has to live. We can’t lose him too. And Dina has GOT to live ‘cause we (Ellie) dragged her down with us.”

Then we cut to the farm, and I think this is the end, the game’s over. But no. Ellie’s starving herself, suffering from PTSD, and having flashbacks and horrible nightmares. Then Tommy shows up just to be a dick.

1. That scene with Tommy felt really out of character. I was even yelling at screen: “Don’t do that, Tommy. Don’t you put that off on Ellie. She’s just a fucking kid.” But I think Tommy does what he does, placing the need to “finish it” at Ellie’s feet because he’s mad at himself for not being able to finish it. Maybe he even blames himself for not fighting Joel harder and being the one to take Ellie to the Fireflies in the first game. If Tommy was the one to deliver her to Saint Mary’s, I think he would have left her there. He would have let the cure be made. And I think that is part of his anger here. Even though he told Joel he would’ve done the same, I don’t believe him.

2. Dina became my absolute favorite character when she passed JJ to Ellie and stormed onto the porch to get in Tommy’s face like an absolute perfect wife should. I was so proud of her. You go, Dina!

Side Note: I adored Yara and Lev. Their whole story is tragic, and huge shout out to Yara, Ms. MVP, for killing Isaac ‘cause damn, he needed to go. He was a sick fuck. The Apartments? Housing and torturing Seraphites like that? Yikes, and the WLF acts shocked when their kind is being strung up and disemboweled. Yara’s death was almost as horrible as Joel’s; it certainly was more violent, but damn, she was a fighter. It sucked she had to go through all the pain of losing half her arm just to be gunned down, but Lev is an absolute treasure. I am so proud of him.

By the time we make it to Santa Barbara, I honestly didn’t care anymore. I didn’t care if Abby died. I didn’t see the point in it any longer, and much like Ellie, I was just tired and drained and emotionally empty. I had nothing left. 

So we start in Santa Barbara as Abby. I still don’t care about her at this point, but the radio call to the Fireflies? Honestly, I’d love to make it to Catalina Island and see what they’re up to. I would absolutely play DLC of Abby and Lev making it to that island and meeting the Fireflies. That radio call was the first moment in TLOU2 that I felt any kind of hope. 

Then the Rattlers appear. For maybe half of the game, I thought the story would turn and have Ellie and Abby working together. When the Rattlers came in, I thought, “This is is. Abby got taken, so now as Ellie, we have to save her.”

Eh, I was half right.

So we fight through Santa Barbara. We cut through the Rattlers, as mentally fucked as they were, and reach the end. We finally confront Abby after months of traveling to Seattle for 3 blood-filled days, then two years of some kind of peace on the farm, and now weeks of traveling to Santa Barbara.

Again, by this point, I was so tired, so ready for the game to end, I didn’t care. We find Abby as tired and beaten down as Ellie. She saves Lev, and we walk together to the beach. I thought that would be the end. But Ellie felt guilty; she felt she owed something more to Joel, something conclusive. So she pushes the fight, loses her fingers, and as she’s drowning Abby, she finally lets herself cry. She finally pushes through the wall of anger and cries, openly and honestly. 

I cried right along with Ellie, and I really felt nothing when she let Abby breathe. Her and Lev are gone, and there’s Ellie, all alone. 

I was relieved. There was an ending. It wasn’t a warm hug from Dina back at the farm. It wasn’t a huge party in Jackson with everyone smiling and laughing, but there was happiness in the ending.

Abby moved on; she found peace and a new family in Lev, and I know she’s on her way to Catalina Island. And Ellie set off to Jackson to makeup with Dina and try to heal her relationship with Tommy. And I hope when Ellie sees Tommy and he asks what happened, if Abby’s dead, I hope Ellie looks him square in the eye and says, “It’s finished.”

‘Cause it is. It’s over.

Abby lost herself and refound herself in her mission to save Yara and Lev, letting her life hold some value again ‘cause she had been so blinded by her rage and her need for revenge for too long. She probably hatred herself for what she had done, even though she felt compelled to do it. (Look at the way she talks about herself to Mel early on, “What kind of a person could do something like that?”) She thinks herself a monster, but by saving the lives of those kids, she balances the bad with the good and forgives herself. 

And Ellie stopped just shy of losing herself ‘cause she thought her life had no meaning because of Joel’s choice to save her form Saint Mary’s. But she let go of her anger and her hatred. She forgave Abby at the last moment ‘cause she knew she had already found her new purpose in Dina and in JJ and in her life in Jackson as a whole. And her anger was misguided the whole time anyway. She hated Joel for taking away her choice. She hated Abby for taking away her chance to find forgiveness and time to heal with Joel. But in the end, as others have pointed out, that’s all she really wanted: to forgive Joel. And in the end, she could do it when she finally let herself truly grieve losing him. 

Whew.

I really don’t know what to think of this game as a whole. On one hand, it’s hard to argue that is isn’t a masterpiece in all aspects: sound design, animation, visuals, controls/gameplay, acting, and of course storytelling. But on the other hand, this is the most depressing shit I have ever played, and I wouldn’t recommend that anyone play it. It is 25 - 30 hrs of pain that I don’t think I’ll ever revisit.

I don’t even feel any compulsion to edit GMVs or even think about the game, really (which is odd for me). The whole experience was so draining for me, emotionally and mentally, that I just feel exhausted by the very thought of the game.

And throughout the experience, I found myself comparing TLOU2 to Bioshock (beginning with Joel’s death, since he literally got Andrew Ryan’d via that golf club). And since Bioshock 1 & 2 both deal so closely with similar themes as TLOU2, I really feel like those games did a better job in all aspects; they found a better balance between the gruesome cruelty, the themes of loss and found family, and ultimately offered better resolutions to their stories with small glimmers of hope.

Sure, the fantastical side of Bioshock (splicers, plasmids, etc.) offer some relief from the intense brutality, but I can and have played B2 countless times. I still tear up at the end when Subject Delta dies, but your choices, good or bad, are reflected so immediately in Eleanor, that I really felt more connected to their struggles than to TLOU2. Despite all the pain and heartache, B2 inspires hope. TLOU2 just left me empty. For that reason, I don’t feel it was a great game. A brilliant movie, yes, and a compelling and gut-wrenching story, but not a great gaming experience.

It’s not the TLOU2 I would’ve wanted, but that’s obvious. I do feel that it is an honest game. It is the best answer to the first game because Joel’s choice at the end had to mean something. We needed to see the consequence of such a monumental decision. 

Mostly, I’m just glad it’s over.

So there’s my recount, as messy and wild as it is. 

... last thing, the birthday flashback to the museum was my absolute favorite segment. Joel is such a wonderful father, and when Ellie wanders into the space side of the museum and loses her shit, and Joel goes, “You don’t like this? Ok, we can go.” I started crying immediately. Then she says the fact about fruit flies being the first animals in space, and Joel is all, “You’re smart, kid.” I became a blubbering mess. 

And when they’re in the shuttle and he gives her the Apollo 11 launch tape and the camera hovers on her face just like it did in Left Behind when Riley acted out the Angel Knives segment: I cried through the entire scene. Joel is the best fucking father; he is a prize, and I miss him terribly. 

[supergenial]

Cindered Shadows was pretty decent

I recently finished the Cindered Shadows DLC and decided to once again write about my impressions, don't worry though, this one isn't as long as the previous ones. Spoilers: I think this is as good as fire emblem is gonna get for a while.

1) No Agarthans, thank GOD

A story as old as fire emblem: There's an interesting human villain with down to earth motivations or obsessions, but in the large scale of the story they're overshadowed by a supernatural being who wants to destroy the world for no reason other than "they're just evil". This is Edelgard and the Agarthans, Arvis and Manfroy/Loptous, Rudolph and Duma, Ashnard and Ashera, Walhart and Grima... you get it. This shit sucks to put it bluntly. Having these stereotypically evil bad guys who are clearly evil is one of the main things that brings down the plot of any fire emblem game. I'm of the belief that they should kick out these supernatural villains and just leave us against the human villains, the one's with actual ideals and beliefs other than "hurr durr, destroy the world".

And then there’s our villain for this DLC. Now yes, it feels like they recycled a certain professor from the Harry Potter series, but I like that he is "The" bad guy for the DLC, he's not being controlled by anyone. He's obsessed with Byleth's mom and in-game this makes a lot of sense. If Byleth, who is incapable of communication, can drive people crazy for them just by existing then just imagine a Byleth who can actually talk. Her "waifu" charms must be off the charts, so I can't blame this guy for being obsessed. More importantly he's not being controlled by the Agarthans, he's not being played by anyone. He's a man who's lived a righteous life, he took care of a lot of people who all love him but ultimately decided to use them for his own gain and his own obsessions. As far as FE villains go... He's good, honestly, great job Intelligent Systems, I expected a lot less.

2) Reduced avatar wanking

Shots fucking fired

Sure, Byleth's mom is a main focus of the plot, and Byleth is the one who sets the plot in motion, but rarely does it feel like the game is going "gee Player, you're so great, you're our god, we all love you and want to marry you". Byleth still plays a large role sure (unfortunately) but it still feels like this is the story of Yuri and his gang with Byleth being their strategist which is, idk, way better than the idea behind the main game? The one where Byleth turns into a literal god, gets every achievement of the army attributed to them only, has every other conversation remind us how glorious Byleth is, etc.

In fact the dlc goes as far as having Hapi constantly belittle Byleth and even make fun of their communication skills by calling him Chatterbox (good job to the localizers, she doesn’t say this in the japanese audio). Get that teacher’s ass girl, destroy them. (Obviously I would hate this behavior if it was directed to someone else, but in this case I'm willing to make a concession).

3) Yuri's backstory

Ashe: I admire and love this man who is my only parental figure but Rhea said he's kind of bad so I killed him Yuri: Church ordered me to kill a bunch of thieves and delinquents and I refused

You have no idea who much I love the fact that Yuri is someone who protested his orders and got kicked out of the church for refusing to kill civillians. This instantly sends him very high in my rankings. Playing through the first half of the game all I wanted was to stop and say "No, Lady Rhea, fuck you. I don't think it's very cash money for the most powerful military force in the continent to eradicate a lightly armed militia of farmers (with popular support in their locality!)" this is what true imperialism is all about! But there is sadly no option for that.

Just by telling us that Yuri is someone who was punished for saying "No, these orders are inhumane, I refuse to carry them out" that is enough for me, the game is saying "yes, we know, have your compensation price". In the end Yuri is extremely loyal to Rhea which is unfortunate but hey, at least they lampshaded one of the most glaring issues I have with the main game, so that's at least something.

4) "You've obtained all information. Proceed with the story, NOW"

Rather than wasting time forever thinking up which activity I should carry out, abyss is simply a place where you talk to the abyssal denizens to get some plot information or speculation, and boom, you're done. No running around forever, no quests, no doors that take ages to load. You can perfectly skip the abyss parts and at most you'll miss out on Edelgard's conversation with Dimiri (which is fucking hilarious) and a few rusted weapons that can be forged but that's it. Upon talking to every resident of the abyss the game will actually say you’ve acquired all information and will prompt you to go into combat rather than assume you want to dilly dally for a while.

I actually rather like this and would not be opposed to it being the philosophy behind future in-between segments between chapters. I can understand IntSys wanting to load in a ton of features like a sauna and fishing to rack up excitement for the game, I know I was excited for fishing, but when these activities have rewards tied to them, replaying becomes kind of a chore, "aw geez, I have to fish 69 fish to reach professor rank A+ AGAIN" (I actually had to when trying to get the piss screen from clearing maddening). Getting only some conversations and a bit of context for the story, that's... pretty good honestly, I liked this better than the monastery and better than My Castle. Throw in some skits with multiple characters at once and I’m gold

(seriously how come there’s no scenes with the three of the bros, Dimitri, Sylvain and Felix all hanging out together, the fact that a third character never shows up in support conversations is fucking bad)

5) Sometimes less is more

I've extensively complained about three houses already but bear with me. Yet another thing that infuriates me about the game is the extensive amount of work it required. I truly do think that if they had released only the blue lions route and left everything else in the plot as mysterious and unexplained loose ends left entirely up to speculation, that'd be a great game on it's own. Instead I have to see all the hard work that went into making the other routes only so that, in the end, they just had me going "well it was ok I guess". Every scene in the game requires work, many hours of coding, writing, voice acting, sound editing, making sure the models don't look too messed up, bug testing, etc. The amount of work that went into three houses was brutal regardless of what you think of the final product, yet a lot of people didn't even bother playing through all of that. So yes, I honestly wanted less, give me a more concise game rather than spreading too wide and ending up thin.

Cindered Shadows on the other hand is concise to a fault to make up for that. The story is pretty straightforward and leaves no loose ends to itself, there's no anime cutscenes, no supports (within abyss, you can support them all in the main game). There's even that very awkward sacrifice scene where some characters are having their life and blood drained from them yet the visual representation we see is just them standing around like normal, with Yuri even doing that hand pose he does all the time instead of squirming in pain or something. It's very awkward looking, objectively not good, but it gets the point across and doesn't make me go "wow you put in all this effort for nothing" because the whole thing is also fairly short (5 to 10 hours in hard mode).

I know, it sounds like I'm shitting on the dlc, but the point is I'd much rather get something short that leaves me satisfied than something like the main game that makes me go "this could've been so hecking gooood if they changed X" for the rest of my life.

6) The gameplay

Chapter 4 is my favorite mission in the whole game

They made Hard Mode good. I previously said maddening was the one difficulty where this game made sense, but this one achieves perfection with just hard mode. This is because the team actually knows what you have. In the main game there's all sorts of variables to account for due to the large amount of player expression that is possible, you can reclass anyone into anything and throughout many lucky or unlucky level ups, maps can be entirely different based on that rng and choices. Here though, your characters already have solid bases starting at lvl 20, and you can't reclass too much so the devs know exactly what you're working with and can plan accordingly. Beating the maps feels incredibly satisfying not just because the objectives have more variety now, but also because you feel like you found the right way to use the tools you were given. This is why the first few chapters of any fire emblem game often feel so good, because the devs know exactly what you have.

Not that I think player expression is bad! It's very satisfying to warp skip chapters and to use broken units like battalion vantage+wrath Dimitri as these things make you feel like you've truly subjugated the game, but it takes some time for those things to really take off. There's a time to reap and a time to sow, and the sowing time can get pretty dull sometimes but that's what makes the payoff feel worth it. Still, for a short experience like cindered shadows is, this style just fits perfectly, plus chapter 4 has quickly become one of my favorite chapters in the whole game, along with chapter 6.

7) In The End

Idk folks, I just like it. If you just want more adventures with the three lords, this is it.

If you’re looking for any excuses to avoid this I'd say the better ones are: maps are reused from the main game (they work much better here though), it's 10 hours at most so it's price-to-cash ratio isn't very good with the expansion pass being $30, and also the Abysskeeper feels a bit TOO winkwink nudgenudge to me, especially since Gatekeeper was popular enough to make it into Super Smash Brothers. Like yeah bro, we get it, we all love Gatekeeper, you didn't have to do this.

I also like that they finally gave Dimitri a semi-problematic quote where he says he kinda likes the idea of poor people living underground out of sight, I think it’s a very rich-white-boy flaw to have and not entirely awful given his life experience up to that point. And yes I do think he has no flaws and is entirely unproblematic in the main game, “feral” as he may look it doesn’t seem like he goes around killing civilians or doing anything other than busting up imperial troops which is kind of justified since they started the invasion, on top that he’s the strongest unit in the game and the most chill and honest ruler once he calms down, so little dent in his record that’s irrelevant in the large picture is indeed welcome.

Overall though, after being so massively disappointed by the Fates DLC, so much I didn't even bother with the ones for Echoes, I certainly like what I'm seeing here and that's a good sign, bravo Intsys.

[loversandantiheroes]

I haven’t had much of a chance to post about it with everything else that’s been going on, but I’ve damn near 100%’d Control.  All side quests down, all bosses down, all that’s left is expeditions, countermeasures, and a handful of hidden locations.

On the whole, I fucking loved it.  Every second.  It could be infuriating at times (just getting around is a pain in the ass when the maps are flat and the location Is Not), but the gameplay is excellent, the setting is gorgeous and engaging, and the story is, even at its worst, compelling enough that you want to know what’s going on.

I have a couple gripes, though, which I’ll toss under a cut to spare those who haven’t finished it yet.  

As much as I appreciate the fact that combat does get easier as you level things up, it does feel late game like the difficulty curve vs scaling gets a little cheesed.  The first time I even approached the fungus threshold under Research I got my ass handed to me by the sniper growths.  By the time I went back with a few boosts and my shield fully upgraded, the boss in the pit was a desperately quick fight.  Neither encounter with the Former even made me break a sweat.  These aren’t brags, btw, it’s more just...Tommasi was far more of a headache for me, and that was mostly down to my own stupidity when dealing with the butterfly (once I remembered that shield existed, it was a much quicker fight).  It just feels odd, there’s boss fights in this that definitely made me rage quit at least once, and then by the last it was just a bit facerolly.  It’s weird.

Now, and I hate to speak ill of any part of this game, but I feel like the story’s just a little flat when it comes to Dylan.  Part of it is that we’re going into the game only vaguely knowing that Jesse’s looking for her brother.  We have no hallmarks of this brother, no sign posts.  No flashbacks, no pictures, nothing.  So when we finally meet him in his Hiss-riddled state it’s just...alright this is a thing.  Add to that it feels very much like it was suggested that Dylan actively assisted the Hiss takeover (Dylan says he let them in, but we see Trench opening the door, and we see Dylan in the odd flashback/dream sequence of Trench’s suicide/murder) and while there’s a few bits that want to suggest that we should feel some sort of outrage over Dylan’s treatment by the Bureau we also don’t SEE enough of whatever they were actually DOING to him to really...well...care.  I don’t know.  I hope we’re going to get some answers in the DLC somewhere down the line, I can only assume at least one will be dealing with Dylan given his state in the end game, but yeah.  I wanted to give a damn, but because we’re given almost nothing to humanize Dylan as a character I found myself far more attached to NPCs like Darling and Arish and Emily instead.

[brachyurans]

current TW3 moods

already only 7 cards away from finishing velen in my gwent book!

have any quests been completed? monster nests been cleared out? no. gwent

me at every merchant, dithering over essential gear upgrades: but if i buy these i might not have enough coin for gwent cards later...

i finally have enough unit cards to run a Nilfgaard deck! it would be a shitty deck because it’s literally just the first 22 units i came across, but i could do it if i so desired. aesthetically, i desire this very strongly. in practice i am not good enough at gwent to give up playing clear skies foltest.

please say i get to play against emhyr at some point. i have not looked this up because if im gonna be disappointed i want the game to be the one to let me down but i want the white flame dancing on the graves of his enemies to beat my ass at gwent so badly.

conversely, i see dandelion and i just want to dunk on him mercilessly, so i would like this dunking to extend into the realm of gwent as well

it’s only 452 coins to get the complete nilfgaard DLC set from the crow’s perch quartermaster and i need a decent early game armor set and that one won’t require me to scavenge half the continent for the diagrams and the nilfgaard uniform is so fucking attractive. i am trying my best not to compromise geralt’s morals by giving in to my ginormous evil empire weakness but it is HARD, my pain is REAL

if not i’m going for the cat set because it too is hot and also i appreciate the cat style of ‘get in and get out as fast as possible’. rip cat school sorry you filled up with a buncha soulless mercenaries you were pretty cool otherwise. i am waiting for that Aiden questline it’s not for ages but i crave that witcher/witcher drama

i was having SO much trouble with velen initially until i figured out that like, you have to upgrade from the initial Kaer Morhen armor. i hadn’t changed it out for any of the stuff i was finding because i was too fucking vain. WHOOPS.

i’m still having trouble but much less trouble now. however, i feel my competence is strongly undermined by how stupid my gear looks.

like, can everyone not just TELL that i looted this junk off of some soldier’s corpse, it’s obvious that Mr. Cat-Eyes over here was never in the fucking army

i trust keira not even half as far as geralt could probably throw her and i’ve been avoiding going to meet up with her to start her first quest because i feel like there are TRAPS in there.

unrelated but i hate specters and particularly wraiths so fucking much. i also hate nocturnal necrophages. fight me in the daytime you BASTARDS.

letho of gulet nearly murdered me in one shot with his stupid crossbow traps but on the other hand, he cleared out a whole bunch of wraiths so i didn’t have to, and i really appreciate that in a guy

the botchling wraith fights rattled me so bad i accidentally set the baron on fire instead of casting Axii. thankfully he was immune to fire damage, it was fine

speaking of i’m actually REALLY BAD with signs i had to suddenly flee an outpost because my finger slipped and I Axii’d a nilfgaardian soldier unintentionally. they weren’t super thrilled about that

doesn’t really help that i can only reliably identify Igni and Yrden by symbol the rest of those little fuckin triangles i have to read the label for

still don’t know how to use potions, am utterly BAFFLED by decoctions (so...specific...), but sword oils are pretty sweet. i’m going to go on a personal quest to unlock all of the oils. 

geralt spends 90% of his time with me staring at the fucking question marks on the fucking map mostly because i have no sense of direction and also can never decide which question mark to commit to. they’re really stressful question marks because if i fuck up and it’s too high a level geralt has to book it on foot and he’s not that fast. i could use roach but i don’t take roach within 100 paces of a monster nest if i can help it. i know she can’t die or take damage but i LOVE her, okay, i don’t want her to be scared ever

how do boats work

[troofless]

Just finished watching a walkthrough of Tales of Zestiria, and I must say it is as HYPE as its opening.

My favourite parts:

Sorey and Mikleo bickering — actually, every sormik scene

I swear 99.9% of Mikleo revolves around Sorey, the other 0.1% is him getting teased by everyone (this could be his biggest writing strength and flaw depending on who you ask)

The opening song. A BANGERRRRRR

The different branching routes you can take in Ladylake. Sell the knife? The pipe? Don’t sell both? Sell the pipe later on to get a cool hat as well? How do you enter the Sacred Blade ceremony? YOU CAN CHOOSE

Mikleo leaving Sorey, in the game: Oh don’t worry, Mikleo will be fine, I trust Mikleo to take care of himself :) :)

In the anime: dkjasfnlD MIKLEO DID WHAT??! LAILAH WE MUST GO AFTER MIKLEO RIGHT AWAY

Tbh the argument ‘arc’ he has with Sorey? One of the best parts of the game.

'Does a frog think of getting rid of snakes?’ ‘OH SO AM I A FROG NOW?’ ‘Your LIABILITY will be waiting in the inn’

When in the manga this slow burn (JUST GET CONTRACTED WITH MIKLEO ALREADY) gets extended to after Sorey contracts with Edna

When Mikleo calls Sorey out on his blindness in a skit THEY NOTICE EVERYTHING ABOUT EACH OTHER OKAY

Yeah also, just thinking about how Sorey’s known Mikleo’s true name for a long time now HNNNRNNHSDGGGGGHHHH

Mikleo using his rod not as a conduit for magic but as a whacking tool. He has a mystic arte Crystal Rod where he throws his rod at the enemy saying NOPE (best...) and a mystic arte Final Player where he uses it like a hammer saying “I’ll crush you! Again! Again and again!!” smacking the enemy into the ground LOLLLL

That One Mystic Arte where Edna rides on her umbrella like it’s a flying broomstick and shoots out earth rocks with a finger gun

Zaveid coming out of nowhere at random times, busting out his persona shooting himself in the head and demanding that they fight him

Rose shaking her hands with Sorey at supersonic speed when Sorey gets her to hear the seraphim and she thinks she’s hearing ghosts

The whole ‘we’re married’ scene when they get to Rolance, and the whole joke of Sergei continuing to think Rose and Sorey are married

Dezel laughing at Lailah’s lame animal jokes in the background

Dezel not being able to see, but that’s okay… because he can read the wind!

Dezel being the walking encyclopaedia for all animals and plants bc he’s been everywhere

Rose wants to catch a butterfly and sell it for money, but Dezel interjects and tells her it’s a ‘shae monyurose’ moth, so Rose gives up on catching it, saying people don’t pay a lot for moths

Another skit where Sorey and Rose want to catch these rabbits to eat, (they’re cute... AND delicious.) Dezel is horrified and chases them away by shouting really loudly (HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT??!!)

Everyone who plays Zestiria complaining about how Alisha isn’t a permanent team member, then having mixed debates about whether the anime saved or broke the story with Alisha-Armatization

ZAVEID RUNNING DOWN A WALL

“My way is to put the hellions back in hell” Zaveid says while doing the Dio pose

WRYYYYYYY

I love how he just appears out of nowhere and gets him to fight you, multiple times, in both Zestiria AND Berseria

Dezel suggesting they could just fly all the way to the top but Sorey and Mikleo go “But we WANT to see the ruins...!”

In the bad ending Heldalf is just like ‘nothin doing… just standing here…’ when the team goes in and slays him

Heldalf: You want to defeat me, right? But if you do, you can’t get the TRUE ending… bitch

Sorey:

I love how Rose and Alisha are uncommon heroines, using lances and twin blades instead of magic (Mikleo takes that one, hah). 

It’s like the writers of Zestiria were like Hmm. How do we explore the dark elements in this game by showing how people in Age of Chaos possess immense malevolence in their hearts and align it to the main story, and then went, Got it. Assassins. (Story of how Shepherd Sorey went gallivanting around with a princess *cough cough redactedbecauseshedoesn’texistinthegame* and an assassin~~)

Mikleo: Zaveid, there is literally NO REASON for us to fight. At all.

Zaveid: You gotta beat this ass first

And I think that is very sexy of him

Apparently if you take Dezel out of your team during the third fight with Zaveid, he will yell at you

Zaveid, T-posing on the ground: oh don’t mind me, just setting death flags for the only other wind seraph in this game so I can fill the XXX-shaped hole in your team later on in the game. Also here, take my glock

Dezel 🤝Eizen

    being the same person

GIVE ME THE HIDDEN DEZEL AND ZAVEID LORE (but Dezel doesn’t appear in Berseria…)

Rose “I just noticed, whenever Mikleo gets angry, it always has something to do with Sorey” after merchants look at Sorey and think he’s a con artist Shepherd, then in a later skit comments that No, that’s not true Mikleo does get angry even when it doesn’t involve Sorey, then Sorey says, Nah, he’s not angry, just overreacting.

When the plot says Sorey and Mikleo were destined to be the Shepherd and Sub Lord all along :o :v :O

THEY ARE FRIGGIN MARRIED OKAY

BOTH OF THEM. FROM THE SAME VILLAGE. BABIES. RED STRING OF FATE AAAAAA

Sorey and Mikleo in a skit talking about how they’re not really affected by their past bc their real family now is Elysia. It’s a really quiet and sweet moment.

Zaveid in a skit doing flower fortune readings bc he’s worried that the group hates him bc he was all FIGHT ME! before, but Lailah cheers him up with her own flower fortune telling (‘Uh, your origami flower only has... one petal Lailah’) saying Zaveid is their friend AWWWW

GIVE ME THE HIDDEN LAILAH AND ZAVEID LOREEEEEE

gdi I know we see more Pacifist!Zaveid in Berseria but I want a sequel nowwwwww

Sorey and Mikleo having a final conversation under the stars

SOREY FILLS IN MIKLEO ON HIS PLAN breaking the trope of not telling his team that he’s going to save the world by disappearing

One of the main messages Zestiria delivers is how one person shouldn’t take all the burden on themselves and how Sorey learns to rely on other people

Like Lailah staying silent bc of her oath and how that pains her

Like Mikleo... forming a pact with Sorey.....

God I love Zestiria for breaking tropes everywhere

Did I mention how Alisha and Rose have such good platonic relationships with Sorey? Yeah and you can take out the romantic hinting and it is still a good relationship? Without any shoehorning of ‘forced het couple’?

Sorey calling back to the time he had to close his senses to get Alisha to hear Lailah, tying it back into the main plot!!!! :o GALAXY BRAIN

SOREY PUTTING DEZEL’S HAT ON IN THE STARRY SKY CUTSCENE AND ROSE AND ZAVEID TRYING TO TAKE IT BACK

How the hell is Muse alive and not, like, a hag

Love how the final part is Sorey going “I’ll defeat you with the power of friendship!! And this gun I found”

*flashback to AFOvsAll Might* Sorey: You thought it was over with that punch? I have TWO HANDS!!!!

Ok no lie the final fight was epic

THIS... IS MY EVERYTHING!!!!!!

fsdljfnsdkflsfs;fsf look all the seraphim went into the battle not expecting to live and Sorey went in fully expecting to kill his seraphim friends and prepared to KILL

Compared to the start when Sorey was full-out 'don’t kill hellions Zaveid how could you!!!!’, you can see how the darker themes shine here

What I wouldn’t give for a corrupted!Sorey though, I was expecting it bc of clips I saw on Youtube BUT IT NEVER HAPPENED!!! Lowkey sad tho. Would love an arc where Sorey gets overcome by malevolence and becomes, like a jerk, but as like a morally grey character not fully blown evil (like Jerk Rose ig)

The epilogue with everyone!!! The Lord of the Lands (yeah Uno is very pretty)!!! Lucas!!!! Sergei and Alisha!!! The little drawings in the credits detailing Sorey’s journey!!!! Awwww

Overall a happy ending for Sorey and friends which is GREAT

SMOL SOREY AND MIKLEO EXPLORING RUIN TRAPS AT THE END

oh god I swear they are lowkey married they just don’t mention it to anyone look if you go back and play the whole thing with that in mind NOTHING ABOUT THE PLOT CHANGES

Mikleo my friend you have too many cape thingys on your back PLEASE

The callback to Sorey catching Mikleo though is so cute. In the anime we get the callback to “So this is the world!” htgdgmfgmmmmgfg idk the anime is one hole I don’t want to explore rn

sfaljdfsdlf but yeah though the epilogue was nice and clean and up to reader’s imagination, I wished they expanded more on the epilogue (LET US SEE SOREY..... *fighting back tears*), at least THANKS TO THE ANIME we get to see post-Heldalf Alisha and Rose tho hnggggrrgh

*chanting* D-L-C, didn’t know they had a D-L-C

DLC

ROSALI VIBES jkahdfjksdfs give it all to meeeee

Rose and Alisha catfighting sjdnflsjdfadfhgnfghth THIS IS THE ICONIC ROSALI VIBE I SWEAR

Because of this, this DLC is now elevated to god standards

Edna and Lailah casually talking while Rose and Alisha roll in the background LMAOOOO

Rose must be the most unconventional Shepherd ever and that is GREAT

Bruh is Alisha wearing an abbreviated costume of Mikleo’s

Anyway she’s so cute in her DLC outfit!!!

Alisha ditching keigo is so. Very. Cute.

Alisha and Sorey: :) :D :)))

Alisha and Rose: Bitch. }:(  >:V

Love the girl’s party vibe, and how we get cameos of Zaveid and Mikleo (LET US SEE MORE DEVASTATED MIKLEO PLEASE....) along the way

Sadly no more DLC episodes :( wonder why that got axed, bc fans didn’t like it?

Overall I must say the Zestiria cast is awesome, I really like all the characters and how they are fleshed out very neatly with their own quirks and goals. Edna being god tier with her monotone sarcasm (she is QUEEN....), Zaveid being that dumbass that looks like a stripper (HIM.... baby...), Mikleo being ultimate waifu and how his comedic moments shine with Edna and everyone else when he’s being teased, Sorey being so pure and cute when he geeks out with Mikleo and how his character arc is just such a refreshing take on the hero archetype, Dezel with his stoicness Imma Get Revenge but also his cast knowledge and love for animals, Rose for exploring the side of reality in the malevolence in people’s hearts and her :3 smile and her determination to get things done and how she’s so different from Sorey which only brings out her charm, Lailah with her awful puns and eccentricity and quiet compassion. And uh, Alisha for being the bait-and-switch heroine but a decent character with her own personal goals that are separate from the main character. Sergei and Lucas are also very lovable.

As for the setting, Rolance and Hyland as two kingdoms seem a little small scale compared to lets say if they added one more kingdom, but seeing as this is a 2015 game I think the exploration map is pretty good (then I compare to Xenoblade Chronicles which came out in 2010 and just change the subject). Love the outside game mechanics Giant’s Fist, Wind Stepping and Water Shield (when Mikleo protects Sorey with that!!! And Sorey calls him out by saying he’s been practicing it for a long time... And you recall every time Mikleo asks Dezel and the other older seraphim to teach him stuff so he can get stronger to help Sorey and how 99.9% of his character revolves around Sorey). ‘That spinny mist thing sure gets the job done’ haha. 

Anyway, great game and plot, please go check out if you have time, esp rn since animes and other games coming out will be stalled it is a great time to check out older games aaaaaaa

[itsjamieithink]

so i finished pokemon sword today! 😌⚔👑

(discussion/thoughts below)

so the game was very fun~ i very much love the pokemon series and i finally got to play it after everyone’s moved on lmao

first things off the story isn’t great but that’s fine. i want to nut on rose’s soft tummy but like... c’mon elon musk delusion lmao. they really should’ve built it ip bc it felt like i saw him like 5 times during the whole game lmao. love oleana as well, she’s generally just very pretty and has the best expressions in game

i do want to kick in hop’s teeth tho. i don’t hate him but hau > hop by a goddamn mile, hop like a lot of rivals is just sooooo annoying. like i’m sure you’ll defs become the champion even though i’ve beaten you every single time we fight and never had a pokemon faint on my side... bitch

also i was neutral on leon and though he was semi-hot but then he came in with the fucking charizard with rock and grass type moves and maybe i hate him now... fucking bullshit i swear to god lmao. still mad that he one shot my dynamaxed drednaw

gym leaders are all stellar and have such great personality (even if most of them don’t feature very heavily in the story... sad).

milo is my husband... nessa is normani and just 100% That Bitch, kabu is kind of a foxy grandpa, bea is weirdly snatched but cool (and also gave me a lot of trouble ugh), opal is a trickster fairy and i love that (also the whole bede pink thing was hilarious, bede is a lil bitch tho), gordie is thicc and kinda not stylish and he’d be a top husband if he didn’t have ugly hair, piers is cool and total tumblr bait and raihan is sooo fucking tall what the fuck. i like his lil chompers and outfit, otherwise he was a pain in the dick and i’m glad i beat his ass

visuals wise the game looks amazing although some areas suck. that winter water-y place looks gross and a lot of environments are just waaaay too small. also there aren’t many stores around the place which is sad, it’s defs a rushed thing. i mean you have a restaurant and they don’t even sell pokemon food? ok then

the fashion in this game is good. i’m just happy to see more and more customisation options and the clothing style in-game is really good (sometimes when it matches my aesthetic lol). some things are waaaaay too expensive tho

the pokemon designs are also really awesome although there are some duds... rillaboom is extremely handsome and i love him and he’s my gentle and kind bara boyfriend (an anthro furry version tho lol) but the other evolutions for all the starters are not great lmao. the final versions are fine but fire bunny is boring and spy lizard is a lil weird (rillaboom gang rise up)

love toxtricity, i love toxel as well. i was gonna get one for my team but i wanted the high voltage version as a dude and i couldn’t get there without running out of patience. i just got snorlax instead and honestly he ended up carrying my team through a lot of things lol

also i wasn’t 100% sure on obstagoon as my aesthetic isn’t really punk rock-y but i like him! it was a big struggle with evolution bc i didn’t really love the first 2 stages but the final is cute. i was gonna replace him with toxtricity but you know how that went lol. he came in clutch tho, the friendship bar prevented him from fainting and then the counter would just instantly knock out the opponent... he’s a crazy bitch and i love him even if he wasn’t the most useful later on lmao

drednaw is also another pokemon i didn’t plan on getting but the type combination was super useful throughout the game... i woudn’t have be able to do a lot of things without her lol. thank u queen...

it’s funny though, i came into the game seeing all the bara versions of these guys as was so dedicated to getting dude versions but then i couldn’t find any dudes... weird. i still like the fact that the team is half female/male tho lol

and just a random joke but i can’t believe that half my team is naive... these bitches kinda dumb! they’re just relaxed and chill in general aside from  drednaw lol

mechanics wise i think dynamaxing is kinda dumb. the first time i did it i was like holy shit and then it became kinda op... not the most fun addition to the series but at least we don’t have to see it ever again lmao. i do think that the animations are great tho but i still hate the fact that only certain pokemon get a special dynamax form... the clownery

the wild area is really cool and i love that i could catch my boy snorlax but seeing the same pokemon over and over again in the grass and the time it takes to actually be able to catch high level pokemon kinda annoyed me. the size of it is great tho. the raid battles are cool as well but tehy’re often very easy. i didn’t play online at all so maybe that’s it but the difficulty is meh

i like pokemon camp a lot but it’s not great. it feels very unfinished and i didn’t want to put in the effort of mashing a for a minute to entertain my pokemon but i’m also one of those people who cares A Lot about my team so i spent a lot of time there as well lol

i want to get the dlc but tbh i don’t think it’ll be that interesting for me? when i finish a pokemon game that experience is dead for me so i don’t think i’ll get it unless it’s super cheap

it’s a pity that the short development time lead to a great but underwhleming game, there’s a lot of love that’s gone into the game and the new mechanics and ideas are fantastic but they’re just not deep enough... pokemon sun/moon remains superior i suppose

[atombombbagel]

romanced companions and sole have a massive fight and break up: how companions deal w it and how they react whenever they see sole afterwards??? (extra angsty w danse & mac pls i love them)

I’m so sorry it took me so long to get to all of these reactions, I feel extremely bad about it :(

ANGST AHEAD, this is very very over exaggerated…

Also, I know in the ask it says ‘how do companions deal with it and how do they reactafter they see Sole afterwards’ but I’m leaving that to part two (because Ihave another request to tie in, hope that’s okay)

Trigger warning; mentions of drug use.

 In gamespoilers, just in case you haven’t finished the game or what not - (Blind Betrayal, The Nuclear Option, Far Harbour DLC)

Hope you enjoy! 

Cait:Another one. Cait slammed the mirrored cupboard door closed, nearly shatteringthe glass. This was the last straw; her blood was boiling, and she hadn’t seenmuch action in weeks. She could barely control her rage. She stormed from thebathroom and into the bedroom where Sole was getting dressed.

“D’ya have te keep thisjunk lyin’ around the house?” Cait asked angrily. Throwing a psycho needle ontothe bed. “That’s not the only thing in the cupboard Sole. Why would ye keep theseinside the house when ye know my past.” She was visibly angry at this point.Sole turned around and looked down at the bed.

“I’m going to get rid ofthem, we pick so much junk up I forget to sell-”

“SELL THEM!?” Cait boomed,her Irish accent getting thicker. “Why would ye sell them knowing what they do.Get rid of them!” She put her hands on her hips, shaking her head.

“I think you’re beingunreasonable, imagine the money we could make-”

“Are ye thick Sole?” Caitfurrowed her eyebrows, cutting Sole off again.

“What are you so worried yourold junkie ways will return. Relax.” Sole snapped.  

“FUCK YOU.” Cait Shouted beforehuffing. “D’ya know what I can’t do this. I’m out.  You’re a fuckin’ asshole.” Cait threw herhands up before spinning around on her heel and walking hot feet out the door.

She does her best to avoidSole after she left them, because she knows full well if she saw them, she’d eitherjump their bones or punch them in the face. She wants to do neither.

Curie:“Oh no!” Curie whisper-yelled as she watched the poor settler getting mutilatedby ruthless raider. “We have to help them!” she turned to Sole who was alsowatching the horrible sight in front of them.

“We can’t, we’ll giveaway out position.” Sole hated that they couldn’t help. “There are too many ofthem, if we go in guns blazing, we’ll end up like that poor soul.” Curie knewthat there wasn’t much they could do, but it was in her nature to be caring.She had to do something. She got up attempting to go in there but Sole grabbedher and carried her away. “What are you doing?!” Sole snapped at Curie.

“Why did you stop me!They need me!”

“That was a suicide mission!I’m sorry but he was as good as dead.” Sole didn’t mean to sound so harsh, butthey couldn’t take back the words now.

“What happened to theminutemen being of the people, for the people?!”Curie questioned. Sole was taken aback by Curie’s tone of voice.

“There wouldn’t be anyminutemen if we all went on missions like that. We must pick out fights!” Soleshook their head. “I can’t lose you.”

“You may not have lost mein death, but you’ve lost me as a partner.”

“What do you mean?” Soleasked, their forehead creasing.

“You’ve changed. Those poorpeople. You would’ve helped them but now I’m not so sure.” Curie sighed. “Ihave to go.”        

Danse:The loud explosion reverberated through the sky, it would have alerted anyonefor miles and miles. So, when Danse heard the commotion he rushed outside, hiseyes scanning the mess in disbelief. It was gone. Metal and fiery rain. Whocould do this?

Danse lifted his head ashe heard the ding of the elevator, alight smile appearing on his lips as he saw Sole appear from the doors. Sole didn’tshare the same expression. He furrowed his brows.

“Sole? Are you alright?” Heasked, now filled with worry. Sole just looked at him for a moment, trying tobuild up the courage to tell him. They knew this was going to be bad.

“I had to do it. I didn’thave a choice. I’m sorry,” Sole said quietly, unable to look the taller man in theeye.

“What did you do?” Danse’sworry was exacerbated by Sole’s cryptic words.

“The Prydwen. The Elder,he didn’t give me a choice.” Sole swallowed the lump in their throat. They lookedup at Danse for a split second, his face etched with disgust.

“That was you.” His toneof voice was cold and its scared Sole. “There were children up there.”

“You think I don’t knowthat?” Sole shot back quickly. “There are children in the institute too.” Dansecouldn’t even look at Sole. What Sole had done was repulsive. “This wasn’t an easydecision for me.”

“You murdered so manyinnocent-”

“Innocent?” Sole snapped.“The Brotherhood are hardly innocent! Look at what they did to you!”

“Oh, and the instituteare much better!” Danse fired back. He turned away and looked down. What Solehad done had made him sad at heart, but all he could feel was this bubblingrage in his veins. “Get out.” He ordered, turning back to face them.

“Danse, lets talk aboutthis.”

“No! I don’t want to hearit. We’re over, I could never date someone so cruel and selfish.” He spat hiswords at Sole like a snake would spit its venom. Sole didn’t say another word,they just left, left Danse in his own misery.

Deacon:Deacon’s secret identity was all he had. It kept him safe, it kept him distant.That was until he met Sole. They saw straight through him and tore down thosewalls and identities he’d spent so long building. How could they do this to him?

“IT WAS YOU.” Sole hadnever heard Deacon shout so loud, in fact they’d never heard him yell at all.It was shocking to say the least.

“What are you talkingabout?” Sole asked, their voice a little shaky. Deacon scoffed as he looked directlyat Sole. He wasn’t one to be messed with when he was angry.

“Remember those guys wewere scouting? The ones who kidnap the synths and torture them?” He lowered hisvoice, but not by much. Sole nodded slowly.

“What about the-”

“Don’t bullshit me Sole,I know you told them of my identity. You. You are you the one who went to ‘speak’to them.” He took a step forward which made Sole take a step back. Sole wasstuttering.

“I didn’t, I swear.”

“You actually sold meout. I TRUSTED YOU,” Deacon boomed, and Sole swore his dominating voice shookthe room. “We’re fucking done.”

“Deeks, I wouldn’t. Don’tdo this. It wasn’t me. I wouldn’t do that to you.” Sole pleaded but the agent wasn’ttaking any of it.

“Stay away from me.”  

Hancock:“You were flirting,” Sole snarled, shaking their head. All Sole wanted was tochill out in the bar with Hancock and what did he have to do, talk to thatpretty girl who was so enamoured with him. “Oh, Hancock you’re so brave!” Solemocked coldly. Sole’s blood was boiling, and Hancock’s wasn’t that far off.

“There is a differencebetween flirting and being nice Sole,” Hancock fired back. “You get jealous ofthe stupidest things. It’s hard to take you anywhere.”

“WHY ARE YOU WITH ME THEN!?”Sole raised their voice louder than usual, making Hancock take a step back.

“Sometimes I don’t evenknow!” He shrugged. “You’re over the top! And you’re blowing this way out ofproportion! She was being friendly.” He paused before adding, “You’re just jealousI get the attention and you don’t.”

“Fuck you Hancock,” Solehissed, “She was clearly trying to get you to fuck her so why don’t you go andshack up with her?!” Sole knew that they were pushing him, whether it be onpurpose or not.

“I’ve had enough of this.”Hancock pushed passed Sole, heading for the door.

“If you leave now, we’redone,” Sole snapped. The ultimatum didn’t seem to bother him, he was too angryto care at this point. He reached for the doorknob. “Wow. You love me my ass.”Hancock ignored Sole completely leaving through the door to cool off.

MacCready:“I don’t need your help!” MacCreadyaccidently snapped at Sole, and this wasn’t the first time he’d done it either.Sole being the sweetie they are was only trying to help Mac patch up a wound,only they had poured a little too much alcohol in the cut. MacCready cursed asthe cut oozed blood and alcohol, the wound stinging beyond relief.

“Oh! I’m sorry,” Soleimmediately apologised to him, but it went straight over his head, the onlything on his mind was the pain emitting from his leg.

“Stop trying to be sohelpful all the time! I can do things myself you know!” MacCready’s shoutingfrightened Sole a little. They’d never been on the receiving end of MacCready’sfury. “Just, get away from me. I don’t need you here.”

“Well if you don’t wantme around,” Sole said sadly, taking a few steps back. MacCready just glared at them.“I’ll just go. I’m so sorry.”

“Good!” MacCready calledafter them as Sole left the room, heading back to their home. They never knewhe felt that way about them.  

Nick:Acadia, Far Harbour, The children of Atom. Sole struggled to decide what thebest course of action was. Nick had tried to put his two cents in, but Sole wasn’texactly listening to reason, they couldn’t they were too confused by the wholesituation and Nick, well he was obviously going to side with DiMA. Why wouldn’the? They knew each other.

“You don’t have to dothis. DiMA didn’t mean any harm.” Nick tried to convince Sole not to tell the peoplewhat DiMA had done. All the lies he’d told to keep the peace. But what is peacewhen it has a deadly cost? Sole didn’t know.

“I can’t deal with all thesefactions against each other, all the time. If it isn’t the Brotherhood and thesynths, its this. I can’t let him get away with what he did. It WAS wrong,”Sole informed Nick, knowing full well they couldn’t change his mind on the subject.

“One mistake shouldn’tdefine a person, you of all people should know that.”

“Classy. Bring up my mistakesto justify someone else’s actions.” Sole turned away from the synth, pacingback and forth as they did so.

“I will not stand by andlet you do this.”

“You can’t stop me fromdoing what needs to be done Nick, I’ll do what is right no matter what.” Heknew by the look on Sole’s face he wouldn’t persuade Sole otherwise, theirfinal decision would be just that, final.

“Maybe not, but I can end this. I can end us,”Nick threatened but Sole just turned and glared at him. “I’m not sticking byyour side this time. We’re done here.” Nick wasn’t joking either, he had hismorals and so did Sole. Maybe they weren’t meant to be.

Piper:Piper was fuming. She had spent hours findingout all the necessary information she needed to write the biggest story of herbudding career. Just when she thought she had the perfect published masterpiece,she finds out that her source was a phoney. The greatest piece of writing she’dever put together was fake and if people found out, her reputation would onlyget worse.

“You gave me the dodgiestsource out there!” Piper boomed as Sole walked through the door to the Publick Occurrences.As soon as Piper’s loud voice shook the small building, Sole stumbled back, startled.

“What do you mean? Theman for your interview? He told me-”

“You did it on purpose!You knew this would be a fantastic story! But no. No one can be a hero and savethe day except good old Blue, straight out of the vault, sob story and all.”Piper’s rage only increased when Sole tried to explain themselves, but she didn’twant to hear it, she didn’t want any of Sole’s lame excuses.

“That isn’t true at all.I was by your side trying to HELP you, not sabotage you. Who told you I stabbedyou in the back?” Sole asked, trying to stay calm.

“It doesn’t matter who!All that matters is that you did it! You wanted to see me fail!” Piper snapped,this time crossing her arms. Sole had seen her get angry, they’d just neverseen her get this angry. “I thoughtyou loved me!”

“I do love you. You haveto believe me-” Sole pleaded.

“Get out!” Piper shoutedand Sole took a step back. “GET OUT AND DON’T COME BACK.

Preston:Preston stood in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched Solehand over some Jet to Mama Murphy. He toldSole to stop feeding her addiction but instead of listening to him, theyused her sight for their own use, endangering the old woman further.

“Sole.” He grabbed theirattention with his thunderous voice. Sole could tell he was angry. They toldhim they would stop and here they were getting caught again. “A word.” Henodded his head towards the door. Sole gave a light smile to Mama Murphy beforefollowing Preston out the door.

“Before you say anything,I needed her help. I’m close to finding Shaun.” Sole tried to reason withPreston but at this point he didn’t want to hear Sole’s reasons.

“How many times have Isaid to stop giving her chems? They aren’t good for her. I know you want tofind your son, but this isn’t the way! You’re killing her! How could you be so self-centred?”Preston scolded.

“He is a child Preston! Ineed to find him!” Sole shot back, creasing their eyebrows as they looked athim.

“NO! Not like this!” Prestonshouted, moving closer to Sole’s face. He was visibly angry now, you could tellby the creased-up features on his face.

“You can’t tell me whatto do!”

“FINE! Then were done. Ican’t continue to support you if you’re going to force drugs into Mama Murphy.I can’t.” Sole’s expression immediately softened. Preston was breaking up with them.What.

“You’re not actuallygoing to break u-” Sole started but was cut off by Preston who was stillenraged.

“Yes I am. Don’t think I’mhelping you anymore. I’m completely done.” Preston didn’t even wait for Sole toreply before he backed away, leaving to them to their own devices.

X6-88:X6-88 tapped his transmitter in confusion, usually it worked fine, there havebeen a couple of instances where it had played up at sent him somewhere else insteadof the destination he wanted, but never had it just stopped working. It was annoying,he’d have to contact a member of the institute or find another courser to helphim fix it. And by fix it, he had to find a deceased courser… regardless, hewas trapped until Sole returned. Which they did shortly after it had broken.

“It is good to see you.”X6 said with a faint smile as Sole walked in their home. Sole smiled lightlyback at him, only X6 could tell something was up. “What is wrong?” He asked,sitting down on a chair next to his bottle of purified water.

“You’re not going to likethis, but please hear me out, okay?” Sole pleaded and X6 nodded. He was reasonablewhen it come to most things. “Shaun… Father, I do believe that deep down hethought he was doing what was right…” Sole took a long pause before musteringup the courage to continue. “But I couldn’t let him carry on with what he wasdoing, it isn’t right. I couldn’t let him replace people, destroy families. I’msorry.”

“I don’t understand.” X6said, confused.

“The institute. It’sgone.” There was a long moment of silence, X6 coming to terms with what Solewas saying. He stood up and removed his laser rifle from his belt, pointing it atSole.

“How could you?! How couldyou go against me like this?” The look on his face just read betrayal. Sole didn’tthink they’d ever see that look, mixed with a bit of sadness, on his face.

“I didn’t go against you.The institute and what they stand for, its wrong X6. But now, we can betogether away from all of this. We can start over and be happy.”

“I could NEVER be happywith you. You destroyed my home! You killed Father!” He stepped forwards, pointinghis gun at Sole’s head, ignoring the tears stinging their eyes.

“Put it down, NOW!” Sturges,who had heard the commotion, came in and held a short hunting rifle to thesynths head. “I think its time for you to leave.” He nodded his head towardsthe door as a demand. X6 lowered his gun and headed out the door, taking onelast look at Sole before leaving the settlement.