#basically just a lot of sidequesting this time

[obliviousriki]

I finally finished Future Connected. The game has been out for over two years at this point

[loganhowlctt]

it took me over a month but i FINALLY finished the tears of the kingdom story!! :')

[felassan]

Just some info I noted down from today's video in text form, under a cut due to what some peeps may consider spoilers, and length.

This video took place well into the game, meaning the beats in it are later in the storyline.

At least part of Davrin’s personal arc involves rescuing the griffons. In an earlier part of his arc you are introduced to his nemesis, the Gloom Howler, a creature that has been hunting and stalking Wardens for quite some time. It has kidnapped a bunch of non-Assan griffons and Davrin has been trying to track it down. In the quest shown in the video, he has found a lead and wants to go and track it down and get the griffons back from the Cauldron (a secret Grey Warden redoubt that was attacked). Davrin wonders what the Wardens were hiding inside the Cauldron, as he has no idea. When the party reaches the Cauldron, they find that something large tore down the gate. The party needs to find a way inside and help Davrin investigate.

Davrin prefers a Direct approach in dialogue. Tough dialogue choices can gain approval from him

The bond between a griffon and a Warden moving as one and having unity between them is called “turlum”. Davrin and Assan don’t yet have this

Grey Wardens: Lancit, Remi, Landon, Quincy, Miriel, Fisher, Greta, Beckett, Flynn (an apprentice physician, whose mentor is called Oskar). I think Flynn’s pronouns are they/them. We will do quests with Flynn including A Cabin in the Blight. They were treating patients and became low on medical supplies. Their mentor Oskar has some and lives in a cabin outside the village. Flynn asks Rook to tell Oskar they could use his help if Rook sees him when they are out there. Flynn is local to Lavendel and saw the Blight surge through their home.

A Grey Warden merchant / quartermaster is called Holden. The little girl seen with Davrin in the release date trailer is called Mila.

If you do content in an area it helps you discover more shortcuts, giving you more flexibility in how you navigate between different remaining missions and quests

Each exploration space has its own story to tell. The quests and sidequests there are narratively relevant and also contribute to a meta story/meta narrative about that space. In Hossberg / Lavendel the aim is to get to the center of the Blighty stuff that has been going on there

Another Warden sidequest called Lives Spared seems to involve some missing Wardens who haven’t checked in in a while

Rook inherits the Lighthouse willingly or unwillingly from Solas. It’s located in the Fade and is where Solas was able to start planning his rebellion against the elven gods millennia ago

The Lighthouse shapes itself around your personality. Companions’ rooms there shape themselves around the companions as they live there and go through their arcs. A glowing light above the entrance to a companion’s room indicates that they are ready to talk to us

Hossberg is a later game area. Hossberg Wetlands are dark swamps and the area has almost completely been consumed by the Blight, making it a lot more dangerous than before. As a zone it’s quite contiguous and has lots of branching paths and different areas to explore. The Grey Wardens set up shop in an outpost/fortress (this is only one of their bases) there called Grey Hold in the small town of Lavendel, which used to be a beautiful place full of life and flowers. The Blight has had a serious effect on Lavendel, but the residents are still there and trying to make the most of it. There are plenty of opportunities to help the residents.

The Wardens have noticed that something strange is going on; the Blight is not behaving as it should or as they would expect, or like it has done historically. A codex entry pops up called “An Improved Blight”. (basically we are getting Blight dialled up to eleven) Rook is there to work with the Wardens, help them out, and help them find the answer to their question about the Blight. In their outpost the Wardens have built up a small fighting force to hold off the darkspawn. They understand the stakes of the gods being released and want to help you but they have other priorities, so increasing their power allows them to contribute more meaningfully to your fight against the elven gods. The Blight has changed. It’s become a lot more organic, a lot more alive. Once a slow-moving wall, it now has almost-sentience and almost-thought behind it. This has something to do with the released Blighted elven gods.

Something bad happened to a place called D’Meta’s Crossing, it’s no longer standing.

It sounds like Weisshaupt has fallen.

Merchant shops can be upgraded, doing so unlocks new items.

The Crossroads is a location in the Fade that contains a number of eluvians, allowing you to travel across Thedas in a matter of minutes. At the point the video takes place, the Crossroads are under assault by the elven gods. It’s now a dangerous place.

The big eluvian in the Lighthouse is called the Vir Revas. (that could translate as Way/Path of Freedom). It’s the central focus point of the Lighthouse and it takes you to Solas’ pocket area of the Crossroads, which looks different to what we’ve seen in Trespasser. “A path has emerged from the mists of the Fade that leads to a gathering point where all eluvians meet – the Crossroads”. We will spend a lot of time travelling through the Crossroads as we go from area to area. At one point, it was also a space that served as Solas’ main base of operations and training ground for his rebellion against the elven gods. As we go through it we will find fragments of the past, things that Solas did previously that will give us insight into him as a character, and also into the elven gods and their motivations. If you go exploring in the Crossroads there are opportunities to relive some of the memories Solas had during his rebellion. We will actually get to take part in this ancient rebellion.

The Crossroads as a realm reflects the waking world. It’s a mix/ amalgamation of all the real world spaces that are tied to it, in this case for example Hossberg and other mountainous regions that exist in the game. The architecture around the eluvians here very clearly reflects where they lead. The first time you go to any of the new regions in the world you traverse the Crossroads to get there. After that you can fast travel if you want. But exploring the Crossroads is recommended because some of the deepest secrets lie within

There is a mysterious spirit in the Crossroads called The Caretaker who was there before Solas was. They started to help Solas with his rebellion and also to turn the area into a safe haven for spirits, as Solas loves spirits. In the video we see them piloting a boat through the air to transport Rook somewhere. Because the gods are assaulting the Crossroads, it’s no longer the safe haven it once was. Rook works with the Caretaker through a lot of ancillary content to rebuild it into a safe home for spirits.

There is an area in the Crossroads called Beacon Island

The darkspawns’ different looks is very intentional. Their new look is in part because Ghilan’nain, described here as "the god of monsters", has always been focused on using the Blight essentially as a crafting material, a way to alter life itself. she’s been enhancing and changing the darkspawn as part of her army. She uses Blight like a medium to sculpt and warp the darkspawn to do her bidding and suit her purposes. The idea is that the Blight and the darkspawn are an organic weapon. Instead of making swords and armor, the darkspawn use the Blight to augment themselves, effectively defeat you and give the gods the world that they desire. The darkspawn aren’t just coming out of nowhere. They emerge from Blight pools, like the Blight is spawning them. Part of Ghil’s attempts to turn this into an army for the gods is to use them for overwhelming force. Hurlock Blighters have disgusting growths on their backs that they throw, making them function like grenadiers as they rip off these pieces of themselves and throw them at you - these then explode as Blight – this kind of enemy design for the darkspawn is supposed to lean into the idea that the Blight is organic and disgusting. In places there are Blight boils throughout the area, and if Rook doesn’t destroy them during combat ghouls will continue to emerge from them.

It sounds like in terms of ‘factions of enemies’ and their designs, we have the darkspawn which use overwhelming force tactics, the Venatori which focus on magical power, and the Antaam which focus on physical strength

Zipline traversal is in

Each mage’s (Neve, Bellara, Emmrich) healing ability is thematically appropriate to them

I think Davrin’s special exploration ability, or one of them, is called Blight Hunter. (one of the ones Rook can channel through the dagger when that companion isn’t there). This summons Assan from above to destroy Blight Abscesses. He seems to have another as well that Rook can also use via the dagger called Griffon Strike. In the video Rook uses this one to destroy a mechanism that was keeping a load of wood suspended in the air from a beam.

We see Rook also using the dagger to "charge beam" and destroy what looked like a thick tendril of organic Blight across the ground, and to destroy a ‘wall’ of blight abscesses that was blocking the way. At one point in the video Rook comments that the dagger is vibrating, "like a song in a wine glass"

When companions go ahead to meet you at quests they’re invested in, they won’t complete them without you, but they do get things ready. If you start doing those quests and don’t have them in your party, they will move ahead of you and wait for you at the next point.

[pnutbutter-n-j-elyy]

Sidequests and Shenanigans

Jake x Fem!Reader (could be read an Gn! if wanted since the word girlfriend/she is used sparsely), Best friend Ni-ki, Protective Sunghoon

Warnings: Cursing, Injury, Mentions of Hospitals

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You and Jake were spending some last-minute quality time together before he left for a fashion show. It was a significant event for him, and you were excited for Jake, even though you would miss him terribly. You curled up next to him on the couch, enjoying the comfort of his presence. He smelled good, like the shampoo you loved so much and clean laundry. He was overall soft. Something you loved so much about him. He was so comforting.

So, it would be hard not being with him for the week or so he would be gone.

"Are you sure you’ll be okay while I’m gone?" Jake read your mind, his fingers gently combing through your hair.

"Of course," you reassured him, smiling up at him. "Ni-ki said he’d keep me company, and we’ll probably just hang out and watch movies, play video games. That sort of thing."

Jake chuckled, his eyes filled with affection. "Just don’t get into too much trouble." A small giggle escaped you as Jake planted a soft kiss on the corner of your lips.

"I’ll try my best," you teased, leaning up to kiss him fully. "But you know how Ni-ki and I are."

"I do," he sighed playfully. "You guys feed off of each other. If you two weren't so alike that you're basically the same person, I'd almost think he was trying to steal my girlfriend from me." He squeezed your shoulder. "Just be careful, okay?"

You nodded, promising yourself you’d keep things low-key. But little did you know, things were about to get a lot more chaotic than you intended.

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"I’m so bored," Ni-ki groaned, sinking further into the couch.

You guys had already played through all the games you had wanted to play through. Raided Jake's snack bin and his fridge - which you figured he probably wouldn't have been too happy about considering he just did groceries - and prank called everyone on your respective contact lists, plus the edition of some of the executives of companies Ni-Ki didn't belong to. Which was worth the 27,000 won Seungmin from Stray Kids had sent in exchange for a call to his superior and namesake of the company. Which was a call cut short once you managed to scam him.

"We need to do something fun." You guys were star-fished on Jake's living room floor, staring up the ceiling fan, Layla laying on her back as well copying the both of you.

"What do you have in mind?" you asked, a smirk coming to your face as you sat up, knowing that Ni-ki’s definition of fun usually meant something adventurous, a little reckless - and occasionally slightly illegal.

Ni-ki’s eyes lit up as he leaned closer, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. "How about a side quest? We sneak into that abandoned building downtown?"

You blinked in surprise. The building he was talking about was notorious for being off-limits. There were rumors of it being haunted, and it was technically illegal to trespass there.

"You mean the one we’re not supposed to go near?" you asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly," Excitement bubbled in his voice. "Think about it! We can explore, take some cool photos, and maybe even find something interesting. Like a ghost."

You hesitated. It was risky, but the thrill of doing something so reckless was tempting. And with Ni-ki there, you felt a bit braver. "Alright, let’s do it. But if we get caught, I’m blaming you."

Ni-ki laughed, already grabbing his jacket. "Deal."

The two of you arrived at the abandoned building as dusk was settling in, adding an eerie atmosphere to the already creepy location. The entrance was easy enough to find, and Ni-ki expertly picked the lock- a skill you only slightly questioned- allowing you both to slip inside unnoticed.

The interior was even more dilapidated than you expected—crumbling walls, broken furniture, and a thick layer of dust coating everything. It was both fascinating and unnerving. Ni-ki led the way, shining his flashlight around as you carefully followed.

"Look at this place," Ni-ki whispered, clearly in awe. "It’s like stepping into a horror movie."

"You know you're literally risking your career for this?"

"Ughhhh stop being super a party pooper Y/N. This place is quite literally never patrolled. And I've seen other idols post pictures here."

"Yeah, but they get permission- something that we don't have."

"Are you trying to be lame?" He said rolling his eyes. "You're acting like a boomer."

He hopped onto a set of slightly sunken in stairs walking up; and without a second thought you followed.

They creaked under both of your guy's weight, but you didn't think anything more of it as you bantered with your best friend.

"I'm only six months older than you. We're basically the same age."

"You may have the body of Gen Z, but you have the soul of a Karen."

"Hey take that back-"

As you further climbed a set of rickety stairs, the wood beneath your foot gave way. With a sudden, terrifying crack, the stair collapsed, sending you crashing down to the floor below. You landed hard, pain shooting through your leg as you cried out.

He rushed down after you, his face pale with worry. "Are you okay?"

You groaned, tears streaming down your face as you clutched your leg. "I think… I think I broke something." You whimpered.

Ni-ki’s eyes widened, panic setting in. "We need to get out of here. Can you move?"

With his help, you managed to stand, but putting any weight on your injured leg was excruciating.

And the sound of your scream was excruciatingly heartbreaking to Ni-ki. It was his fault you were hurt. If he had never proposed this idea...

Jake was going to kill him.

But he wasn't worried about that at the moment, he was worried about you.

Ni-ki wrapped your arm around his shoulders, practically carrying you as you hobbled out of the building. The adrenaline was wearing off, and the pain was becoming unbearable.

Once you were safely back in the car, Ni-ki allowed himself to panic. "We need to get you to a hospital."

"No!" you cried out quickly, shaking your head despite the pain. "If we go to a hospital, they’ll ask questions. And Jake will find out. He's my primary contact." You winced to the throb of your leg.

You placed your head back and closed your eyes. The pain was so bad you were feeling nauseous, and dizzy from the complete shock of the injury.

Ni-ki looked at you like you were crazy. "You can’t just walk this off, Y/N. You need help!"

You winced, knowing he was right but still not wanting to worry Jake. "Let’s just go back to my place. I’ll figure something out. If you take me to the hospital, I'll never forgive you. And Jake will absolutely murder you. And how will you explain it to the company?! They're gonna question it. We can go home and say it was caused by something else and have the ambulance take me or something."

The large gash was slowly dripping thick, red liquid from your thigh and it plopped onto the dog hair mat Jake had placed in the backseat for Layla. You look up at Ni-ki with wide eyes and you both groaned.

"Jake is gonna kill us."

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Back at your place, Ni-ki helped you inside and onto the couch. Your leg was throbbing, and it was clear that you needed more than just rest. But the thought of Jake cutting his trip short because of this made you even more determined to keep it a secret.

Ni-ki wrapped your leg as best as he could, using makeshift bandages and ice packs to reduce the swelling.

When you were discussing what your story would be, and unexpected visitor showed up, thwarting all of your plans.

Sunghoon stood in the doorway, watching Ni-ki struggle with the gauze and band-aids, Jake's apartment keys dangling from his keychain.

"Fuck." Ni-ki's voice seemed to echo the American curse word he loved so much in the silence.

Sunghoon stared at the two of you, with a disappointed look on his face, the worry he had masked by his calm demeanor.

“What happened to your leg?” Sunghoon questioned, scanning your poorly dealt with leg, and placing a hand on it gingerly.

You and Ni-ki exchanged a panicked look, but before you could come up with an excuse, Sunghoon was already dialing Jake’s number.

He let it ring on speaker, and placed it in the front pocket of his flannel and hoisted you up off the couch.

Neither you nor Ni-ki dared to speak while the phone rang.

Jake didn't answer the first time, so Sunghoon buckled you in the back of his car, and turned to Ni-ki.

"Speak."

"Y/N and I wanted to do something fun so we thought it would be a fun idea to sneak into the abandoned building downtown and everything was okay and fine, and it wasn't illegal really or anything but then all of the sudden we were walking and then Y/N kindasortafellthroughasetofoldbrokenstairsandshegothurt." Ni-ki rambled out, his head dipping the more and more disappointed Sunghoon looked.

He motioned for Ni-ki to get in the front seat and buckled himself in and started to head towards what you could only assume was the hospital.

Not even a second after he pulled into the main road, his phone rang. Sunghoon connected it to the car speaker. He gripped the steering wheel with one hand and waited for the connection while furiously working his gum between his teeth.

"Hey, Sunghoon! How’s everything going? Did you check on Y/N and Ni-ki?"

Sunghoon's lips were pressed into a thin and irritated line, and he popped his gum.

"Guess what your little devil spawns were up to when I walked in?"

The sudden shift in his close friend's tone immediately put Jake on edge slighlty.

"What happened? Did Ni-ki, Y/N and Layla destroy my home? Ni-ki steal my girlfriend?" He joked.

Sunghoon huffed and snapped his gum once more, maneuvering through traffic with one hand on the steering well, a muscle in his jaw twitching. His tone dripped with frustration, but you knew it was because he cared deeply for you and Ni-ki, and was upset at the thought of you being hurt- and at the thought of the possibility of the risk for injury Ni-ki could have had.

"I walked in on Ni-ki trying to play doctor, roughly bandaging Y/N’s leg after they snuck out to that abandoned building downtown. Turns out, she's got a broken leg, Jake. I’m driving them to the hospital right now."

There was a long pause on the other end.

"You're kidding."

Sunghoon didn't answer, instead he flicked his blinker and seamlessly merged lanes.

"A broken leg?! Why didn’t you call me sooner? How bad is it? Is she in a lot of pain?" Jake's voice was frantic, and it made you and Ni-ki wince at his worry.

Sunghoon's tone was curt but controlled. "Yeah, she’s in pain. And honestly, Jake, you would’ve lost it if you’d seen the mess I walked into. They were trying to hide it from you- like that was going to work. I’m just glad I got there before things got any worse." His gaze shot to the rearview to check on you, and then over to Ni-Ki as he took one last turn onto the street the hospital was on.

Your boyfriend's tone was strained and filled with frustration and unease. "I’m heading back right now. Please, just take care of her. And make sure Ni-ki isn't hurt either. I can’t believe they’d do something so reckless…" You heard shuffling in the background and the opening and slamming of drawers.

"Believe it, Jake. They were both in over their heads, and now we’re dealing with the fallout. But right now, my focus is getting her to the hospital and making sure she’s okay. You can handle the scolding when you get back."

Jake exhaled sharply. "Best believe. Ni-ki and Y/N are in for it. And I know they can both hear me." The youngest member and you turned to each other; eyes wide. "I've been gone for three days. Three days and they've gotten themselves into a situation!"

Sunghoon swerved into the Emergency Room lot. "We're here, Jake, I'll carry her in."

"Thank you, Sunghoon. Please, just make sure she’s alright. And check on Ni-Ki too." You saw the guilt wash over your best friend's face, that even in anger, and in worry of his girlfriend's serious injury, his Hyung was still concerned for him as well.

"I've got it under control now. I’ll keep you updated on her condition. But Jake, get back here as soon as you can.”

"I’m on my way, staff just booked my ticket. Just… keep watch on both of them until I get there."

Sunghoon issued his goodbyes, and soon enough you were whisked into the emergency room.

Sunghoon rested a hand on Ni-ki's shoulder and pet your head softly as you waited to get to the X-Ray.

"I know Jake and I seem upset but it's because you guys could've been hurt even worse. We love and care for you both deeply and to see you guys put yourself in a risky situation and then not ask help because of the fear of consequences is stressful."

Later on you were laying on Jake's bed with your leg propped up by all the pillows Sunghoon an Ni-ki had collected. You and Ni-ki ended up curled together and asleep, like two little kids who were worn out from a long day of playing.

Jake was sitting next to the bed with Sunghoon and looked utterly exhausted.

"I don't want to wake them up. They look tired." Jake frowned and ran a hand through his hair.

"You have to talk to them though. They can't think they're gonna keep getting away with these shenanigans. They're stunts are getting a bit too reckless. We can't risk them getting any more hurt. And if you aren't going to talk to them then I'll get Heeseung Hyung or Jay Hyung. But I'm sure they'd rather hear it from you."

You stirred awake when you heard their murmurs, and due to your shifting Ni-ki woke up as well, stretching and elbowing you in the face in the process.

"Ow."

"Sorry-"

You guys both stopped when you felt the stares of the two older guys. You tried to sit up but then realized that wasn't necessarily the easiest thing.

"Hi, baby..." You said quietly. Jake brushed a piece of your hair off of your forehead, placing a kiss there.

"Hi."

Ni-ki sat up and Sunghoon sat back, waiting for the talk Jake was about to give.

"I know you didn’t mean for any of this to happen, but what you both did was dangerous. You could’ve really gotten hurt—or worse. I love you both, and I know you were just trying to have some fun, but you’ve got to be more careful. You can’t just go breaking into places like that. Especially with all the physical risks." He sighed. "You guys are lucky the fashion show was on the first day, and the rest were able to be missed. You had me stressed." He groaned and put his hands on his face.

You and Ni-ki simultaneously let out an apology and Jake chuckled.

He kissed your cheek and ruffled Ni-ki's hair. "I'm letting you off easy this time. But next time, I'm making sure that you guys get a babysitter."

Sunghoon opened his mouth and made that little clicky sound he always did. He turned his phone to Jake.

"Goodness." Jake chuckled nervously. "I may have let you off easy but Heeseung and Jay told Sunoo and Jungwon saw you landed in Korea and asked what was up and they told him. They're all on their way now. Jay Hyung already said he knows I went easy on you two so prepare for a lecture."

You both groaned and Ni-ki hit his head back on the pillow with a thump.

"Well, if you didn't want a lecture than maybe next time you shouldn't have gone off on your side quests. Maybe just stay home and raid my fridge. Which speaking of I'm starving." Jake got up, placing one last peck on your face.

"Uh Hyung, why do you think we went on the side quest in the first place? We ate all your food."

"Well, I can deal with that. At least its not like last time when you prank called the entire staff team of ATEEZ. The amount of damage control I had to-"

Jake's phone started to buzz wildly in his pocket and when he pulled it out he looked confused at first but then smiled slightly. "I wonder what Chan is calling me for?"

Sunghoon's eyes met the eyes of the two troublemakers and you winced as Jake's face fell more and more that longer he stayed on the phone.

"You guys are getting an earful, alright." Sunghoon mumbles, opening his phone to type out a message.

Please keep spreading word about letting Enhypen rest! The boys are visibly tired! Don't stop until the boys get the rest they need and deserve!

[rontra]

drop your ffxiv lore

asking me to drop my pants in public would be less embarrassing..... you have to understand crucially that i don't know anything about anything and dont want The Knowers to see me

LMAO well i can talk about it a little but only on One Condition. as i mentioned before im a Certified Stormblood Gamer . in fact according to the wiki i am about this deep (level 64 questing atm)

so basically the condition is this: if something wasn't explicit in ARR or HW you cannot under any circumstances talk to me about it...! if you have any sort of reaction to this post that has to do with any later material than that i ask you Don't say it to me. if you are in doubt about whether something "counts", the safe answer is yes it does, and just going "neat!" instead & moving on will do fine. i really don't want to play spoiler chicken with you and don't want to know anything i don't already know. i'm enjoying taking my time with the game, so please refrain from correcting or corroborating anything i have to say about it atm!!!!!!! i'm still baby! thank you....!!! 😭👍

anyway my xiv characters are 1 a dude who was born in a wet cardboard box all alone and might be scared of women . & 2 a scary woman who did definitely kill her wife but is also the most Wife Guy for like secret reasons. the second one's lore is being ironed out as we speak so its all subject to change but the concept is there

1. ZT

love this guy. i even made an amv about it when i finished arr

(every xiv player voice) my wol is the most special boy in the world.

i actually had a whole thing typed up here about like his fucked up mom and whatever but i got shy and deleted it. i might go over it if someone's actually interested . but basically he's a poor little meow meow who, up until the beginning of the game, was abused pretty consistently bc of [evil cat people family dynamic reasons]. his family members mostly hate his ass and were rarely all that nice to him, so he has a lot of issues with self-worth and things like that--he doesn't feel like he's particularly good at anything or really "worth" much

he's from southern ilsabard which is a place i uh do not know much about. as a stormblood gamer. but it's fine the details don't really matter (walking away quickly)

his most prized childhood possession was the ruined scraps of an old arcanist's tome, and through sheer tenacity he managed to teach himself his first rudimentary spell from the incomplete paragraphs therein. he mostly chalks that feat up to the fruit of Time + Boredom and not talent or love, but those pages were the only thing he took with him when it finally came time for him to follow his older brothers' footsteps and leave the family.

gets on the boat. goes to limsa. enlists in the arcanists guild to cultivate what he sees as the One Single Skill He Has. people in the guild ???praise him??? and encourage him?? to keep at it??? which he is not at ALL used to, but it motivates him to work even harder at his training. he's pretty far from home and deeply unsure of himself, but he absolutely does not want to go back to the limited world he knew until now. so that unwillingness to look back sort of inherently keeps him trucking in search of a new purpose to latch on to

he's very sensitive to people being niceys to him, because he's not used to it at all. he's 4x weak to it and might cry if it's coming from an older woman who is even vaguely maternal, due to his horrific mommy issues. also, he wants to be useful to people ("for once"), so he has a hard time saying no to all the million quests and sidequests in the game. perfect

his inability to say no to people who request his help puts him on the Old Nymian Scholar Investigation Mission of course. i am Scholar Guy for a reason and that reason is ZT. this dude never had anything his family valued, and lived as the expendable runt of the litter his whole life, and now is suddenly entrusted with something important for the first time in his life--something bigger and older than him, a way of life, a legacy to uphold and carry forwards into the future

and that mantle is pretty heavy. but he'll carry it! and that's how he becomes a healer boy who will defend any random tonberry with his life. he feels very strongly about the extinct art of the scholars and also about being a healer in general--boy finally found his calling! also he has the echo and is our funny warrior of light but like that's fine. i'm sure the "not being able to say no to people, no matter how tired/hurt/etc he himself is" thing is not catching up any time soon. i did play DRK up to 60 though and lmao. well. hang in there. i even made an amv ab

there's some more stuff about him like how his path through eorzea and as a healer specifically is in lockstep with death at every turn and also how he's a blue mage on the side and whatever but this is long enough. here's a pic of him with one of my favorite "no one else gives a shit about this character" npcs

he's a pretty kitty and very sweet altho he does need to learn to assert himself (and starts doing so through the course of the game). he's very attached to his friends. he doesn't have any love interest or w/e for now he's figuring his own stuff out. gaining confidence. classic stuff. easy protagonist recipe. my meow meow. i played pvp just to get him a haircut. the things i do for zt

2. KRALJICA

the new baby. kraljica is not her original name, but she's never going to use her original one again. her surname is Radinasch, which used to be Aradina, before she killed her own queen who may or may not have been also her wife (ofc by hrothgar convention she then changed her surname to represent the loss of her queen) (despite being the killer) (it's a memento :) )

she is a bozjan hrothgar so we're back to ilsabard shenanigans (which remains kind of problematic for a stormblood gamer, but It's Fine). she actually knows ZT's mother, but not in a good way. Radina's group was in local political tension with ZT's mom's group, so there's some history there (notably in that kraljica would recognize ZT as "zahsa's runt" (derogatory) and not be very nice to him about it, but they don't really share a Personal history beyond the Faction Squabbles)

back to the point though, kraljica killed her queen, and most of the other followers of said queen were not very happy about that. killing the queen is like really high up on the list of things hrothgar do not want you to do. so she is branded queenkiller and exiled. some of the other hrothgar choose to follow kraljica out (having faith in her leadership for various reasons), making her their new queen as they venture to eorzea together (and all of their surnames become akraljica to match).

kraljica takes the surge of enmity against her as a natural consequence of what she did, and doesn't correct anybody who identifies her as a queenkiller in her journeys. she basically does not care about her shattered reputation or having to leave her home, because she is on, a secret, Other Scheme.

what they don't know of course is that radina asked her to do it. for scheme reasons. #women

kraljica is acting in accordance with radina's will. not even her own loyal followers know what her plan is, but they can clearly tell she has conviction; even when being hated by her people and ousted from her home, kraljica moves with that same inexhaustible willpower

(maybe she has questions, when she's alone, and wonders how much radina kept from her in the final days. and maybe she misses and mourns her. but all of that is only for her, in private, when no one can see... in front of the others, she's unflinching, and a leader they will follow no matter what...!!!)

she doesn't seem to have the echo and isnt a warrior of light. ZT can do that stuff. she's like busy with her own thing. she's running around collecting suspicious amounts of aether and being suspiciously driven and faithful to her cause. suspiciously

ok fine it's because radina asked her to cut her loose from mortality, venerate that, and bring her back as a primal. because she wants to become a war god strong enough to take revenge on the empire. something that will keep coming back, no matter how many times it's destroyed, as long as her chosen can still call for her....<3 that's so romantic

of course, what returns will not be radina-the-person. it will be an image of her will, shaped by kraljica's mind and the bloodpool of radina's aether. radina is dead for good; what kraljica is summoning is a representation of radina's goals and dreams, fueled by pure belief and a lot of aether. That Which Resembles Wife But Is Not will cast one megaflare for every minute of suffering inflicted upon bozja. (speaking to the empire thru a megaphone) this is your final warning

their summoning is pretty unorthodox and and "partial" (the primal does not manifest a corporeal form at this time, but it is certainly present in its vessel to some extent)--the game already allows a few different quirky summonings, so we're just playing calvinball and making up Another Special Case (this time owing to the specific setup and execution of radina's plan, her and kraljica's synchronicity about the whole thing, kraljica's unique position in her life, and some sprinkles of Rule Of Cool to taste) . imo the game is flexible enough about it that putting in Just One More Weird Summon Strat is not gonna break anything (LMAO) so it's fine <3

all you have to do is write in a side character who goes "but! that's not possible..." while the thing is happening in front of them

anyway suffice to say no one is doing it like radina's weird ass, and she couldn't do it without her wife guy who is willing to do whatever she wants. suffice to also say that kraljica's own aether is noticeably Weird and over-aspected by her beloved primal, and that "radina" (that which resembles wife but is not) Could Be lowkey tempering her right now and nobody would even notice it because her goal and the primal's goal are already one and the same. but that's probably fine. radina would never do that to her <3......

unless of course there are things about her even kraljica never understood. but surely that wouldn't happen

its really hard for other people to get a grip on kraljica because she won't let anybody close to her emotionally and she definitely won't spill the beans on radina's secret scheme. her boys are with her no matter what (#hrothgang) (they also picked up a viera whose city name now includes "akraljica" hahaha). other people are just like um that is a shady lady who is casting spells we dont even know how to classify. scary. also she's got a situationship with a nasty bandit milf (my friend's hrothgal<3) so we better just leave her alone. bad vibes all around

radina was a gunbreaker. kraljica is very good at manipulating aether and a strong fighter too, but i havent rly settled on a canon class for her. because her actual "canon class" is like. "a summoner from a hypothetical Other FF game. not even a specific other FF game, just Very Much Not This One" LMAO

she would just be like ah its um secret ancient arts from my homeland . you wouldnt know her. shes from a different continent. not like how they do it in limsa. not at all. goodbye (walks away mid conversation) and the arcanists could not stop her. like

anyway i'm not used to playing a female char so i keep getting distracted by her breasting boobily around. they dont let ZT jiggle like that so how was i to know... and basically, so-called free thinkers when dalmascan draped top 👇

she almost had a different face marking way back in the benchmark character creation era, but looking at it now it looks so weird without her big X . like who is that

(metian vest so important for the shoulder bulk... not gonna lie)

anyway kraljica would hear about the final aeon from ff10 and be like that's fucking right.

[utilitycaster]

hi! I'm sorry if you answered this already and I missed the post, but what are your general thoughts on the party being split for so long?

Short answer: I think it's great. I think the best way to answer this accurately is to cover some of my past complaints about the campaign, and discuss how this split is addressing the vast majority of them. This is also, I suppose, serves as an argument for why it's worth getting caught up with Campaign 3 for anyone who fell off of regular watching.

I'll begin by saying that I understand the desire to have something akin to Campaign 2 but in Marquet: a group of people deeply tied into the lore and fabric of the setting and yet displaced within it, finding each other. I still would have liked to see that story. I do not fault people for being disappointed in not getting that, particularly given what Marquet means as a setting, and this still is not that campaign. But pretty much all of my other complaints have been addressed by the apogee solstice and the party split and so I'm not here to mourn what I know didn't happen, and instead to talk about how the last ten or so episodes have been banger after banger.

I said this elsewhere recently but my issue wasn't that the campaign was building up to the apogee solstice setpiece; it was that it took about 30 episodes to even reveal that was what the buildup was for, and yet, somehow, 35 episodes to finally be done with Treshi. Which meant in turn that the party was constantly kind of shepherded from place to place. Even the sidequests were mostly part of the buildup - Heartmoor Hamlet is a good time, and achieves quite a lot in only a handful of episodes - but it is, ultimately, mostly there to wipe out Ashton's debt which would be a detriment to getting to the main plot. The modular, party-driven nature of Campaign 2 just wasn't an option, since they could have quite possibly avoided the solstice (akin to how Campaign 2 completely avoided the Augen Trust plot and required a drastic reworking of the Lucien plot). But because it started so early, it was hard to get a sense of what would actually motivate the characters so that they could be guided more naturally by hooks they'd be likely to take, since they were doing fetch quest after fetch quest with a wealthy patron (I love Eshteross with all my heart but that kind of figure early in the story is tough to incorporate; more on that later) and getting lore dumped at by NPCs and never really had to scramble or take weird jobs killing rats in the sewers or even share rooms in an inn with people they didn't already know before the story started.

Which is the second part: the party did not really mix that much. Imogen and Laudna came in codependently joined at the hip, and Orym and Fearne were also quite close. Ashton and FCG had a looser arrangement, and Chetney was the only true free agent. So a lot of the time, the party felt like three groups working together with tenuous bridges rather than a coherent party, and they never quite had either the downtime to cohere, or the massive crisis to force them together. This party has actually seen quite a lot of death, but Bertand's happened too early, and while Laudna's didn't quite reset to the status quo, it also occurred just as the Treshi plot had ended and so the timeline was becoming even more accelerated. The seeds of something were there, but they needed something more to actually take root.

Enter the apogee solstice and the party split. This has fixed basically everything:

The fact that the solstice happened means that now we're in damage control mode. There's a clear motivator for the party, but one that they genuinely care about rather than one that requires the DM being like "and THIS NPC wants THIS thing."

It also forces the party to develop those relationships outside of the friend they started with. The obvious first reason is that the groups are split up along those lines. That is not an accident or a cruel joke; that's fucking necessary, frankly, to get the party to bond. As my meta about Laudna and Orym points out, not having their emotional support prior colleague - even by sending - and frankly, yeah, not even knowing they're alive, for certain, is what will make these characters actually grow and change. As we saw, the same is true for Fearne, Imogen, and FCG.

It notably removes the spotlight from Imogen, which is good, because the cool development happens after the character-focused arc, when they can process, rather than during. She's still Ruidusborn, but what that means is very different from what it meant pre-ritual.

Then there's the practical element of travel. This party probably isn't going to be teleporting nonstop, but they did have comparatively fast travel in the form of a skyship from very early on, and in another three levels Fearne will have transport via plants, and Imogen can take teleport as a cast spell the level after that, and then we'll never get to see much of the world...but if you break teleporting a bit? You send them into the middle of the wilderness? Yeah, they're going to need to have those watch conversations that were far too few and far between early in the campaign.

And allies! This party's doing it backwards. They've lost Eshteross; Keyleth's fate is unknown to them; Ryn is a statue; Beau and Caleb's fates are similar question marks. After so much time of having patrons and friendly wizards telling them what to do? They're alone, and they have to survive by their wits and by leaning on each other.

The fact that we've got guests is good both because we get to see different facets of the main cast's characters through their responses to these new companions, and because we're getting to fill some of the gaps in the party (people with more longstanding relationships to deities; people with 20 INT scores). It also pushes Bells Hells, in some way, closer together, by having to assert that they are part of a group with shared experience. And it's just a delight to have them.

This is also just fun for fans in that we're getting to see some of the most wished for locations - the Mighty Nein's time in Uthodurn was brief and very focused, and everyone's been clamoring for Molaesmyr and Issylra. For all that Vox Machina and the Mighty Nein fought world-wide threats, they were largely contained to a specific region, and I think this is really setting the stage for how big a deal the apogee solstice really is, by flinging the party across the world and showing how everyone is affected.

Anyway: love the party split. I honestly would have been happy with one or two more episodes of the other party and am looking forward to a similar length arc for this party, and honestly, even then, it might take a few episodes for them to reunite, and I think they'll all be better for it.

[limayde]

16. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

What a POLARIZING experience this was. Really high highs, very low lows. Overall I think I enjoyed my time with the game more than I disliked it, but this is absolutely a one and done experience. I don't think I ever want to play it again fghgfghj

The first thing that jumped out to me was the story—it's better than any of the more recent Zelda titles that have released in the last ten years (I'm looking at you TotK). The characters are so fun and expressive, and it even gave us the best version of Link and Zelda's situationship. They are SO cute in this game, that even as a raging lesbian I can appreciate them. It also gave us Byrne—he kicks ass.

I hear a lot of people complain about them but I never had much issue with the touch controls. They were responsive and the enemies are just slow enough to get around the bit of discrepancy you'd have as opposed to having button controls. I think we need more games with silly controls, that's kind of a lost art, and it brings charm to a game.

The pan flute was fun at first, it was just a silly little instrument that you blow into the microphone to use, but then I got to the fire sanctuary. That. That right there. That's the reason I will never play this game again. The fire and sand sanctuary songs are SO finicky, it took me HOURS to complete both. Everywhere else it's fine! The first three sanctuaries? Not a problem. Using it in the overworld? Not a problem. Just. Those last two sanctuaries make my blood BOIL.

Train's fine. I didn't really see much issue with it aside from the stupid one-hit kill demon trains. (Especially that last area, jesus christ why are they FASTER than you?) But oh my god it is impossible to upgrade your train in this game? I got three parts. THREE. I DIDN'T EVEN COMPLETE A WHOLE SET. You don't even unlock the ability to customize your train until you unlock the water realm so I just didn't think you could do it! Also you don't unlock fast travel until way too late. Like it's appreciated but they're so out of the way and come in so late that I basically never got to use it.

That's another thing, this game is so backloaded with sidequests, that I did like three before making it to endgame. Once I realized that you were basically forced to marathon all the sidequests in one go if you wanted to 100% it, I lost interest. It's all bunnies and ferrying people around anyway so who cares, I'd probably just get another pearl necklace for my troubles.

I do like that you can wear the conductor's outfit tho.

Anyway this game is definitely fun and worthwhile if you're a Zelda fan—especially since it comes packaged in with Zelda's most important role in the whole series. Seriously Nintendo, why can't we play as her yet? Why is she always being sidelined as a damsel in distress? Her name is in the fucking title for god's sake.

[memoriavivens]

Thoughts on Sphene

This will probably get rambly, fair warning. I’ll have it cut off since it’ll be long. This isn’t going to be polished writing, more just me getting all my thoughts out.

So I’ve mentioned before how much I love Sphene, and how much I’m bothered by the way people see her. So I figured I should get my view out there, even just in rough form. First of all- Sphene is absolutely a person. Maybe she’s the same as the original, maybe not, but that’s a moot point. I’ve seen a few things used to cast doubt on her humanity, the most common being that she’s of technological nature, or that she lacks a soul. I just don’t get why either of these should necessarily preclude her from personhood. I think it’s quite likely she’s a victim of people now associating all forms of artificial intelligence with generative “AI”, when in fact AI capable of true personhood is a long-running trope in fiction. Basically if you say Sphene isn’t a person you are also saying C-3PO isn’t a person. But what sort? One who loves nothing more than to help others, for starters. It’s her most consistent trait, from all that she does for the people of solution 9 and the outskirts to taking the blast back during the storm surge. And of course she wants to keep the endless around. This of course is where she hits conflict, because she wants (and needs, but more importantly genuinely wants) to preserve the endless forever, but on the other hand, doing so would require hurting so many other people- plus she knows that it’s unsustainable. And yet she still wants to do it, and I don’t blame her for still wanting to do it- failing to do so would be letting all these people you’ve cared for die after all. Letting them die isn’t an option, and not just because of the programming. She has agency in all this, as she makes clear. But she’s not comfortable with it- she backpedals and tries to minimize almost constantly. Asks us if there’s a better way to sustain them. Invites us to become citizens. Subtly, likely subconsciously, asks us to stop her. Tries to make us more comfortable with opposing her through analogies. And in the end she clearly falls into self-hatred over it, depending on your dialogue choices even denying her own humanity. She wants to do this and will do it, but at the same time she really does not want to do this. (Honestly, what could be more human than that?) I find all of this very relatable, myself- I struggle a lot with this sort of thing (on a vastly smaller scale, obviously, that’s just how fiction and real life work), and the ways she reacts to her dilemma and the ways I react to mine are very similar- indecision, self-hatred, frequently changing attitudes, all while none of these help with the problem at all. It’s not bad writing, it’s just a painful part of the human condition. I guess all this is why I like her so much and want good things for her. And I believe if some things went differently she could have had a happy ending- some things during dawntrail itself and not the backstory, I should clarify. The programming is just a metaphor for part of her own psyche, so there’s no need to assign it stock over her mentality. Any number of things could be used to dispose of it if necessary. I think what Sphene probably needs is:

. To know that the Endless were happy in the end, and it isn’t necessary to preserve them forever (She’d probably be more accepting of this when they are already gone)

. To understand that it isn’t too late to change.

. To believe it’s worth changing.

None of these things are easy to convince a person, but there are ways. For instance if I were making Dawntrail into a game where your choices can affect the outcome of things, I’d add a secret ending where she lives that can be accessed by completing every sidequest in Living Memory (Which everybody should do anyway) and then making some dialogue choices at the end to convince her of the three things above. That’s probably a rough version of how I’ll write the resolution in my version of the events as well.

Oh yeah a thought I forgot to include earlier- why she ultimately sides with Preservation. It’s because that’s the easier thing to go through with. The specific way she did it, especially, is just easier to go through with. All she has to do is erase herself, compared to all the work that redemption would be. I think she knows that redemption has a preferable outcome long-term, she’s smart enough to figure that out, but she has no support system and Wuk Lamat and canon WoL have really not shown themselves to be very committed to helping her. So, lacking anyone to help her, she picks the easy way out. Just like so many real people do.

So, that’s a very tough version of my thoughts on Sphene and why I love her so much! If you have anything to add or if you think anything needs clarifying, then by all means ask!

[cosinelanguage]

Some extended author's notes on heavy boots, since it took me so long to complete haha. Consider this an appendix of notes I used as background info in my fic (kind of. I have more unfortunately)

Fic Premise:

The entire premise was kind of like a big play on role swaps as a concept. I really, really adore role swaps, but it's kind of difficult to actually write a role swap for one piece given how inherently tied to character's motivations, backstories, and designs their roles are.

I basically couldn't imagine Robin without having some in-depth curiosity and desire to understand the world, and I'm incapable of taking Zeff out of Sanji's backstory (since that ends up changing a lot of what I like about Sanji). But I still wanted Blackleg Robin!!

so, I had my cake and ate it too: Sanji was still raised by Zeff, and so was Robin. The entire thing became a role-swap-but-not-actually. I'm an indulgent person.

Sanji Timeline:

I had to think through a huge amount of details on what Sanji's entire deal was, most of which did NOT make it into the fic, since his backstory changed the most and it's. sanji. he wouldn't offer this information willingly.

Roughly how this works: Germa is working on a delicate balance of World Domination plans that involves being closely aligned with both the World Government AND Big Mom (secretly). They're using Sanji as stepping stone for Big Mom initially, and when the marriage alliance falls through, they use him as the fall guy as necessary to their plans-- i.e. if they get called out for working with pirates, they say it’s Sanji acting alone. 

So by consequence, even after his marriage falls through, he gets sent to Alabasta to work with Crocodile, and all that comes with it

17: despite aligning with WG, Germa takes Sanji back in order to form an alliance with Big Mom

17-20: Extended courtship with Pudding extended courtship-- she goes to North Blue instead of Sanji going to Whole Cake. Pudding after Germa/gov secrets the whole time.

20: Marriage at 20 (Sanji does find out marriage is a scam. Sorry Sanji.)

20: Ohara, Reiju in moment of guilt saves Robin

22: WG is Not pleased with germa’s secret alliance w Big Mom

22: Pudding unlocks the ability to read Poneglyphs

22: Sanji Gets Divorced, and Pudding steals his happier memories a bit selfishly. (convenient for me, the author, who has not thought the details through

22-24: I Don't Know

24-28: Sanji's used as a scapegoat/spy on Crocodile, since any further connection to pirates would be scrutinized

anyway. the reason sanji still gets married is I think him being divorced adds to his terrible vibe of this 28-year-old line cook kidnapped by teenagers. so I constructed an entire timeline for that.

Random Details:

A couple of random details I couldn't really fit into the fic itself:

Long-term I imagine Robin actually taking up more of the wings of the pirate king role. She fights now! It’s great! Let me have this. Sanji takes a much more clearly support role, emphasizing more his spy/sidequest stuff and adopting Robin’s protectiveness of her crew.

Mr. Ash Wednesday was definitely a stretch as a codename– one, with Crocodile’s ‘women are days and men are numbers’ naming scheme, and two with Vivi already being Wednesday. But Ash Wednesday fits as a direct motif (smoking) AND it fits because Ash Wednesday is a miserable little holiday about fasting and welcoming in the peak Catholic Guilt season of Lent. so! perfect for Sanji here, who is wallowing in a pool of his own misery.

A lot of Sanji's relationships with the rest of the crew change fairly dramatically, and it's the main reason I'd consider revisiting the role swap. Usopp in particular is kind of fascinating-- Sanji is pretty dead set on the fact that he's convinced he's going to die sooner rather than later, so he wants to teach this idiot crew as much as he can. But Usopp probably just looks and sees Sanji as a better sniper and a better fit for the crew. Brutal.

Marionette:

Marionette is the cornerstone to a lot of the relationships and character beats in the fic overall-- to the extend that multiple exact beats of dialog are repeated throughout (Robin's intro with Zeff has he repeating Sanji's last words, Sanji tells Robin some word for word advice on just surviving under Germa, etc). I have a lot of notes on just how much this like, 4k prequel is repeated and paralleled in the actual fic, but the sum of it is basically that everyone (Sanji, Zeff, Reiju) are held down by this one moment for their primary motivation, and Robin both accidentally and on purpose leverages that specific pain.

ORIGINAL premise:

this all started as a thought exercise on how a reverse-order Straw Hats recruitment order would work, and ended with one of the most confusing premises to write a fic summary for.

I have some notes on how the other swaps would go, and only one of them I think I'd consider writing:

Robin & Sanji roleswap: look this is an entire fic!! kind of. The initial premise was a reverse order recruitment, and NOT an entire role swap. But, really, Robin and Sanji are pretty easy to swap, outside of them not having a cook until the Grand Line.

Zoro & Jinbe: this premise IMMEDIATELY fell apart on how difficult this would be to write. Jinbe requires a lot of re-world building to introduce early, and his dynamic on the crew is very much reliant on his experience. (which is fun! just... requires a lot of extrapolation). An age-swapped Zoro also complicates the premise, since there's something antithetical to One Piece about not handing off a dream like Zoro's to the next generation to complete. thanks, zoro.

Nami & Franky: I abandoned order immediately, ok. I just think Franky works well in an early role like Nami's, specifically because it can be much easier to write Franky's shipbuilding as something another pirate would try to blackmail him into their crew for (over Brook's singing, sorry Brook). He seems extremely fun and energetic to write as a younger version of himself, especially with any added sibling angst. Nami on the other hand as a more jaded older version of herself, running a Thief's Guild on Water 7 that ransacks the place every time there's a storm?????? really really good

Usopp & Brook: Early recruit musician is EXTREMELY cute to me, so Brook being in Usopp's role made a lot of sense. Like Jinbe, it requires a lot of extrapolation, more than I'm capable of, to imagine exactly how a younger Brook un-devil-fruited would behave. Usopp, on the other hand, is devastating to me: Usopp joins a pirate crew at the same age as canon, and sticks around a bit longer than he thinks he’s worth. In the end, he’s not part of the crew for long until all still die, listening and riffing off Usopp’s final story as they all go one by one, until he’s left with an empty boat and fake tall tales of a pirate crew he’d never really been a part of.

:) anyway the usopp one is great. sorry usopp.

Writing Thoughts:

haha, this whole thing has kind of been an exercise in figuring out 'hey maybe it's good to finish the full thing before posting.' Overall, I think this fic struggles a lot with pacing-- the earlier chapters are paced like how I'd do a 5+1 (scene-based sketches with only details necessary to paint the picture), but the later ones are paced like how I'd do a case fic (fight scenes, me paying attention to the plot rather than just the character thread of the scene)

imo it turns out a bit disjointed from that, and if I were a more patient person I could solve this in the edit

but I am not :) instead this will just be a nice lesson for future me whenever I decide to write a long fic again (Unlikely)

[glowyjellyfish]

I’m slowly inching my way forward in Rebirth, and I have to say I am actually really delighted with Cait Sith so far. It’s not like I know yet how he works in this canon, but still… lol I see you Reeve. “It feels good to do good”? Hanging his head in shame at the sight of the Avalanche wanted poster? Giving an impromptu lecture on the history of Corel Prison and lamenting that it’s not living up to its potential? I see you Reeve.

Also, Cait Sith is friggin adorable, singing a meow song to guests with his little Scottish voice and having to jump to reach elevator buttons.

Progressed a little further and OMG they showed us Reeve doing his thing. He appears to indeed be doing both genuinely joining Avalanche and spying for Shinra at the same time, if enjoying himself too much and showing too much of himself is anything to go by. Plus, Tseng is clearly aware of what he’s doing and went from him to Rufus to report on Aerith’s position… although it’s not clear yet whether anybody but Tseng knows this, and we DO know the Turks have some mixed feelings about lots of things, so it’ll be interesting to see where this goes. I’m pleased they managed to keep “Cait Sith invites himself to join the party” while also making it more plausible, ie he joined up by being aggressively helpful.

Also, everybody knows that Cait Sith is being controlled by somebody and is something resembling a robot, like without even questioning it. L O L. Of course, they lightly questioned him and he immediately jumped to I AM NOBODY IMPORTANT JUST A LOW LEVEL SHINRA EMPLOYEE WORKING A JOB DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT, so maybe they assumed he was an autonomous robot not unlike Chadley until that moment, who knows. The excess of magic and whimsy in Rebirth has made me realize that these people do indeed live in a world of magic that is sometimes very silly, they’re not gonna question the existence of a sentient magic cat robot person, it’ll only be a shock when they realize one of the Shinra directors was expressing himself by helping them and singing a silly meow song. And also reporting on their movement to Tseng, because if he doesn’t prove his loyalty to Rufus his job could be in danger. So what if he helps them a little too enthusiastically and has an absolute blast doing it?

(Hahahaaaaa my fanfic Reeve is much better at and more concerned with hiding this than canon Reeve, I can’t even tell if he’s actually hiding it from people who aren’t Tseng or not. He’s at least hiding it from his assistant, probably. Oh dear I knew I should have finished my fanfics before Rebirth, even though they aren’t supposed to be fully based on the remake trilogy I am definitely gonna feel obliged to do some rewrites.)

(It does please me to note that there is so far zero reason to see Cait Sith as a separate person from Reeve, very clearly he just basically is Reeve, and we were also shown that he was using his computer to photoshop the wanted posters at a time he also should be actively controlling Cait Sith. Yayyyyy headcanon accurate so far!)

It really does delight me that Reeve is having way too much fun doing this. Of course he is, the man’s horribly repressed.

And Cait Sith is indeed fun to play!

Look, there has been so much else incredibly good and fun and interesting about Rebirth, but Reeve is, still, my favorite, and he’s undoubtedly not as common to talk about as, say, Zack, so I am just gonna commit to being a person who just rambles about Reeve on tumblr periodically because I love him.

I’m just at the desert sidequests section after completing all the Good Saucer/Corel Prison plot—fantastic job with Barret’s character development, by the way—and I am so psyched for the 1000% more Reeve content this game is bestowing upon me. I’m just gonna state for the record real quick that as of right now, I think:

-he controls Cait Sith with his mind, with a magic ability, and Cait Sith is also largely a robot

-he is playing both sides, attempting to mitigate his guilt and the evil things Shinra does by helping Avalanche, while also passing information on them to Tseng (who passes it on to Rufus) probably to prove his loyalty and keep his position

-I haven’t totally decided whether this was all his own idea or if somebody told him to go spy on them, but he is clearly way too into the Join Avalanche part of the plan and is going above and beyond on his own initiative

-because we were directly shown Tseng’s involvement, if the Marlene kidnapping happens, I think it will 100% be something Tseng sets up as insurance. It wouldn’t be Reeve’s idea, not with how sympathetic he is towards Avalanche, and Tseng has some history there and knows where Marlene is and how much she means to them.

Okay, I suspect I started repeating myself at a few points in there so I’m gonna stop. Prepare yourselves for me to just lose my mind and ramble every time Cait Sith and/or Reeve do anything remotely important.

[kneecapandribcageinverter]

Complicated feelings about new COTL update. The one where you get to heal the Bishops.

I'll admit, I had complicated feelings about the Bishops being resurrected in the first place. See, Narinder has this whole questline about him grieving, but now it's kinda been rendered moot? But not really, because now he has to actually CONFRONT his siblings after... well, everything, and there was a lot that was lost and will never be the same even if they ARE back, so it's not like there's nothing to mourn.

Then there's the bishop regeneration quests in the new update, where you heal their maimed bodies, restoring their eyes, ears, throat, skull, whatever. Leshy can see, Heket can speak, Kallamar can hear, and Shamura can think straight again.

Somehow, this feels like it cheapens the experience. Part of the reason it was such a big deal was because it was irreversible. This family did things to each other that couldn't be undone or taken back. But now that it HAS been fixed, it makes the problem seem trivial, which in turn makes the solution seem trivial.

But I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. I don't think it's a bad thing at all, when I think about it some more.

You hear a lot of people talking about how sad they get after losing their favorite followers, and I experienced something similar during my playthrough, but... I noticed something interesting. Once I got the resurrection ritual, I sorta stopped caring when my followers died. Before, I'd think "just you wait, I'm gonna bring you back as soon as I can." but now that I CAN, it doesn't seem important to do anymore. I just love that psychological effect, how godlike power makes mortality seem so trivial and inconsequential.

See, the Lamb is a god. Doing things like this is a godly thing to do, and this casual mindset about it is... divine. This game has gods coming to grips with newfound mortality, sure, but that's not what it's about. It's about the Lamb losing their mortality. Seeing these once profound moments rendered hollow by their own power is the POINT. This is a game where mortal limitations and restrictions are meant to be overcome. Time and time again, the Lamb overreaches what was allotted to them, and time and time again, they find that what seemed so high above them is not only within their reach, but right in front of their face. Like the opposite of Tantalus, the highest boughs bend down to allow them to harvest whatever fruit they crave, and the tide rises to quench their thirst.

Another thing I have a love-hate relationship with is the comparison between the questlines that you've got. You bring the bishops low, sure, that's your job now. But then, you're charged with saving your mortal enemies, offering your own followers lives as payment to do so.

Now, I liked the variable nature of most sidequests. You can be the salvation or doom of... basically anyone. You can help Sozo poison himself to death and then rehabilitate him. You can protect Plimbo's ship from the angry Witnesses. You can reunite Forneus with her kids. You can reignite a lighthouse, preventing people from being lost at sea. On the other hand, you could offer your followers to Midas, or become a cannibalistic slave trader's favorite customer. There is the infamous Fox questline, in which you sacrifice your followers and Ratau.

What I have complicated feelings about is that... we have the option to save our foes, and we have the option to betray our faithful. If we choose to be vindictive to our foes or loyal to our flock, that's not a quest option, that's just non-progression.

What I mean is, we can't choose to protect our flock, or the lands of the old faith, from these other threats, we can only choose to either do business with them at the expense of our allies or other innocents, or simply ignore them. Likewise, we can't hurt the bishops in a way that isn't DIY follower interactions. Sure, we can keep them in a pillory forever, or permakill them in a horrid way, but that feels more like torturing a Minecraft villager than actually taking revenge against the character.

What's more is, to fulfill the "good" sidequests, we have to betray our followers by feeding them to doors, or sacrificing them to resurrect Aym and Baal.

It's like... I'm oversimplifying, but the choices we have are: Being good to our enemies, being bad to our allies, or just choosing not to do those things. (Sure, there are follower quests, but I'm not putting "pick ten flowers for me" on par with "end a life to get me out of hell.") This peeves me off a bit. But I understand this too.

Remember what I said earlier about the Lamb going through an arc about not being mortal anymore? This is another result of that. These quests represent that, even with the "you can't turn it down, you can only decide not to do it yet" thing. See, you might decide not to betray your followers now, but... time will pass. With infinite time, infinite things will happen. You will outlive your own willpower, and eventually cave in even to the least appealing temptation.

The Lamb values saving the bishops for the same reason the player does: Because they're actual characters with significance to the player. To us, the followers are random NPCs, and to the Lamb, they'll eventually wind up feeling the same way. After so much time, their faces blend together, their voices fade to unintelligible babble, etc. But the Bishops were a Big Deal to the Lamb once upon a time. Even if it was because they were enemies, they were IMPORTANT. It's someone that still means something. I figure it's sorta like how AM in I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream keeps a handful of humans alive so that it still has something to do stuff to, and freaks out when they die. It's not about mercy, it's not about forgiveness, it's not about affection, it's about having something around that can make you feel something after all this time.

Complicated feelings, but it's a good game.

[mass-effect-galaxy]

I have completed the playthrough with the House Baenre Retrainer who was sent after Minthara by Minthara's mother.

It was an unusual experience as Baldur's Gate 3 playthroughs go.

For the start, I had a proper background story for a Lolth-Drow. And, given that BG3 is first of all a roleplaying game, putting more thought into your Tav seriously improves your gaming experience.

Playing a classical rouge was a lot of fun in Act 1: selfish, greedy, cunning, ruthless, but not malicious or ambitious. I took her as a faithful follower of Lolth, but not very religious; certainly no fanatic.

Things got a bit more problematic in Acts 2 and 3 because playing the "dark side path" means basically skipping most of the side content. These parts are not even half as polished as Act 1. In Act 3, I had cut myself out of nearly all sidequests that way.

In Act 3, we anyways entertained Minthara's prefernces, such as allying ourselves with Gortash and going after Orin, Yenna be dammed.

I tried to use Minthara in the dialogue with Gortash where we become allies, but agreeing to his proposal made her an "oathbreaker" instantaneously.

Besides Minthara, the only companion I kept around was Shadowheart, but only for her special content. Most of the time, I had two of Withers's mercenaries, modded to be drow: an ice-mage and necromancer (she was actually supposed to be man, but the one thing that I could not change was the voice), and a bard and sharpshooter.

All three proper Menzoberranzan drow with lower-class backgrounds and in exotic outfits.

Playing this game without proper companions is an interesting change. It's certainly not "proper BG3", but also somewhat less stressful and much faster. You should give it a try.

On the downside, I had some issues with the way how BG3 handles XP and the lack of level-scaling. Most XP is awarded in encounters, not on game-progession. As a result of the above problem that a lot of encounters in Act 2, and most of Act 3, are only accessible through the "light side path", I was seriously behind in terms of level in the late game:

I entered Act 3 on level 8 (usual 10) and reached level 12 literally in the last battle.

From a headcanon/roleplaying aspect, I wasn't all too happy with the way a romanced Minthara talked with Jezzara. Even when lying together, the enormous difference in status (Minthara is royalty, Jezzara a thug from the gutters of Menzoberranzan) should be reflected in their way of talking. Even in bed, Jezzara would address Minthara with something like Ilharess, or any other drow equivalent for "my lady".

But that's just headcanon.

Oh yes, and I accidentally made the Emperor the Absolut because I misinterpreted the last dialogue option.

[embyrinitalics]

Don't get me wrong. Tears of the Kingdom is a fantastic game. I'm still having so much fun with it. It delivered on so many fronts. It has my favorite final boss in the series. And the new mechanics really do make BotW feel like a tech demo.

But.

My Big Complaint is: TotK should not have been a sequel to BotW.

(spoilers below the cut!)

I understand why they did it, and think it was inevitable. Getting to reuse the assets and maps saved so much time. And BotW was such a huge success that they couldn't not give it a sequel.

But seriously, what the heck?

TotK's storytelling basically ignored or erased everything that happened in BotW. What happened to the Sheikah tech that was literally everywhere? The Divine Beasts that had been plaguing the four regions for a century? Zelda's incorporeal battle with evil incarnate for 100 years and the inevitable trauma she and Link must have after everything that's happened to them? Nah we don't talk about that. Half the NPCs don't even know who Link is despite having plenty of canonical interactions.

And I'm like, ok, I get it, sure. We are so 100% into this new plot we don't have time to explain away the old stuff and I'll just have to deal with it. All right, sure! BotW had very cool and well crafted lore, I'm sure TotK will too! I can't wait for this airtight new story!

Except 🤨

Who are the Zonai actually? Why did they come to Hyrule and from where? Why do we only meet two of them? If Rauru and Sonia are the first of the Royal Family, is she part of the goddess' bloodline (a direct descendant of SS Zelda)? Did she die childless? If they had a child, was it distinctly half Zonai? SO MANY GANONDORF QUESTIONS I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO START??!?! What's the deal with the secret stones anyway? Who made them? Why do they cause draconification? Is that what happened to Dinraal, Farosh, and Naydra? The Sheikah Shrines were trials left behind by devoted monks who underwent self mummification to train the Hero, but what's the deal with the Zonai ones again? And if they're supposed to be for Link too, when did Rauru have time to build them? And like the Depths?! Make zero sense??!

I could go on and on. As much fun as this game is and as cinematic as a lot of it was, the whole thing is riddled with holes and would've been SO MUCH BETTER if they just made it its own pocket universe like they did with Termina. Trying to have it make sense in the world BotW already established is impossible, and honestly just sort of like. Disrespectfully shoves BotW's dead body off a cliff and hopes no one finds the remains.

So, yeah! Great game! Beefy cutscenes! Fantastic ending! Awesome mechanics! But really really disappointing BotW erasure.

(I also feel like it suffered from trying to follow the same open world formula? Lots of people found the Tears in the wrong order and felt like they spoiled the story for themselves. And the way you were going around doing "search for Zelda" sidequests when you knew where she was but couldn't tell anyone seemed like an oversight. And I wouldn't have minded some more traditional dungeons, like what the Fire and Lightning temples had going on, but just, like. More.)

[felassan]

Some more info on the Mass Effect board game, from co-designer Calvin:

"Hi all, Calvin here, co-designer of the game. I've gathered all the frequently asked questions on social media and bgg and gathered them into some answers for you. Feel free to ask more questions if yours is not answered, and if I can answer it I will. I will be updating this as more information about the game becomes available. Release info - The release date is (hopefully) November depending on the gods of shipping - Price is confirmed, the game will be $50/£40 - The team is currently working on translation deals for 9 or so languages. More details soon. - For info on pre-orders go to https://www.modiphius.net/pages/mass-effect-signup - There are currently no plans for a collector’s edition vs standard edition - It is not crowdfunded, the game is direct to retail - "If you'd like to support the game right now, there's nothing better than going into your local FLGS and asking them if they'll stock the game when it comes out. With the vast amount of great games coming out every week, retailers rely on fans asking about the game. This helps them gauge how much to buy, the more people ask, the more buzz they know there is, the more confident they are to buy enough and the more likely there's one waiting for you on the shelf when you go in :-) That feeds up the chain; the more retailers ask their sales reps at Asmodee, the more Asmodee goes, "Oh wait, let's order more, so we have enough for all the shops". Plot - The game is set on the planet Hagalaz, early during the events of Mass Effect 3 - The players are tasked with investigating a crashed Cerberus research cruiser which could have info that contributes to War Readiness and could help stop the Reapers - The game is designed so people who have never played Mass Effect can still enjoy it. Eric hasn't played the games as much as I did so he got to do what he calls “the meathead test” on all the theming and story. - We worked with Bioware on all the plot and theming. - Yes you can do calibrations in this game Basic game info - Co-operative squad tactics - 1-4 players - Included are six 32mm minis, masc Shep, fem Shep, Liara, Garrus, Tali, and Wrex - Not many other components to keep price and complexity low - 45 minute missions - 3-5 missions per campaign - Branching paragon/renegade choices + sidequests - Enough missions to replay the campaign several times without repeats - Solo play is really fun, in fact I like all the player counts equally, which is something I’m very proud that we were able to achieve in this game - Solo play is basically multi-handing, you control more than one character. - There is no legacy aspect, the game is fully resettable - There will be new original art"

[character limit text break]

"Gameplay info - Low rules complexity, but with lots of tactical depth. We aimed for an audience of Mass Effect fans who might not know anything about board games. Board gamers should still find something to enjoy if they’re into co-op tactics. - A group that just wants to turn their brain off and blast through the game should have an easy time - But a group who wants to get the best endings, complete all the sidequests, get all the level ups will have to min-max pretty heavily - The game has relatively low randomness. Planning, prediction, and preparation are very important to avoid bad outcomes - but there’s still enough randomness to avoid AP as players try to plan out perfect turns. - Important gameplay elements include positioning and combo-ing abilities with other players. - There is a tactical map. - Players will level up their characters by performing in game actions and learn new abilities. - We got all 6 Shepard classes in there. It is one of the things I am very proud of doing. - Re: alpha gamers, Eric and I do not believe it is the designer’s job to solve for jerks at your gaming table. Obviously we have designed the game so that every player has something to contribute and there’s plenty of info so that it’s hard to track. But we also recommend having adult conversations with your table partners. Interviews/Behind The Scenes Beyond Solitaire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-nLGDt97i4 Topics: how we designed the game and implemented the narrative UKGE promo copy https://twitter.com/Modiphius/status/1796844231018811782/" Post last updated August 8th

[source]

New original art 👀

[ladye-zelda]

Y'know, despite the flaws that TotK has (*cough cough* story *cough*) what I appreciated most about this game is all the little details that the developers put in (mainly through the use of side quests).

i think the major difference between TotK and BotW and what TotK arguably did better than BotW is that TotK's side quests are so much better. Unlike BotW's side quests, which you can get done relatively quickly depending how many shrines/items you have in your inventory, TotK makes you work for your sidequests.

Take, for instance, the new side adventures. Penn's quests, the whole thing with the monster control group, etc etc. Basically, go to [this] area in Hyrule and do [this]. May sound simple enough, but they can be super challenging, especially if you unlock these quests early in-game (which is entirely possible). The monster control group adventure you can unlock basically as soon as you get off the Great Sky Island, while Penn's adventure you can unlock as soon as you try to get to Rito Village. In fact, it's sort of hinted at to complete Penn's adventure first before even doing all of the rest of the main quest so that you would have an easier access to Rito Village (which, admittedly, I did not do because I was that impatient lol).

Even some of the smaller adventures were a leg up from BotW. The one that sticks out to me the most were the ones in Gerudo Desert, which I want to geek about for a moment because this game absolutely made me love the desert. In BotW, it was sort of an empty place (which was totally fine; it wasn't a large focus other than the Divine Beast), but TotK just made it 100x cooler. The archeologist wannabe in me fell heads over heels with the desert in this game, with the inclusion of the quicksand and the ruins underneath the game (which I am like: YES JUICY JUICY LORE).

Anyways, back to my point on the quests: there is a quest in Gerudo Town where you have to find out the mystery of the eighth heroine, and I don't want to spoil anything here but if you haven't finished this quest already DO SO because OH MY GOODNESS ADFSJAKFJLDFJLDAKFJD. And when you're done with that, go to the statue itself and find out the area there. This entire quest (and that little side mystery along with it) made me feel like I was in an Indiana Jones movie and I was LIVING for it. If I could replay TotK again without my memory I would want to replay that part again.

Oh, that's another thing: I mentioned that the statue of the eighth heroine was not actually a quest. There are also a lot more hidden secrets to find in this game than in the predecessor, mainly with the inclusion of caves and dungeons (different from the temples). I call these little areas "dungeons" but they're more like the mini dungeons that you go through in Ocarina of Time (like the frozen area in Zora's Domain or the bottom of the well in Kakariko), because that was what they felt like, and I never felt happier.

Also, quick little details I want to add because I realize this is more of an unhinged ramble than a coherent well-put thing, but some other minor details I liked is the deep-dive into the Gerudo language. Learning languages has always made me happy, and now that we got a few more words in Gerudic (pretty sure that that's what the language of the gerudo is called?) we can probably piece together what the full language sounds like; probably relying a lot on s's and v's along with the "a" "e" and "o" vowels with r's rolled in between.

Also also while exploring the one area there is a callback to A Link to the Past dungeons where there is a secret room where you would find three fairies tucked away. I think I found this room in a couple of cave systems so keep a lookout for that :)

[lumsel]

Reviews of movies I watched on Qantas flights this week

Poor Things: I expected this one to be more harrowing, actually. I got that vibe from what I heard about it? It's more like a weird fairytale about sex and sexuality though. I am good friends with @utilitymonstergirl of Replacable Parts though so that may be skewing my baseline for what most people consider a shocking lmao. I like how totally blase it is about its own problematic elements, it never blinks or tries to justify itself in any way, it just goes "lmao check this shit out". Refreshing in a moment that feels marked by overbearing didacticism in media. Not to say this movie doesn't have a very clear Point, mind you, which is basically "stop being weird about sexuality", but it tells that Point with a level of focus and confidence that I find satisfying.

Oppenheimer: There's a few seriously eye-rolly moments in here, like the one where he says the I Am Become Death line while his mistress is mid-insertion, but it's like a single digit number in a three hour movie. Very well paced too, it did not at all feel like three hours. I really like how it uses the language of film to get you understanding why Oppenheimer made the seemingly contradictory decisions he did during his career. When Oppenheimer is building a nuke, you're biting your teeth like "oh man, I hope Oppie builds this nuke in time!" And when he's trying to stop them from building more nukes, you're like "oh jeez, I hope Oppie can stop these nukes getting built!" Despite the expansive and star studded cast, this really does feel like a movie primarily interested in getting you to understand this one dude specifically, and I really respect it for that.

That One DnD Movie: Fun!!! It's a little jank, and the exposition can feel clunky, but it was a fun movie overall. God, though... the second act sucks so much ass. I feel like this happens a lot in movies, where the first and third acts are where the substantive parts of the narrative happen, but the second act feels like the plot is spinning its wheels while we set up the climax. This one is particularly bad where the cast just takes a sidequest in the middle of the movie to grab some inconsequential artefact and nothing that happens in that sequence matters particularly much. Anyway, fun as this movie was, I almost forgot entirely to add it to this list of reviews, which probably

Anatomy of a Fall: Yeah this was good. Very good-movie coded, like the foreign films I always see my mum and dad watching when I'm cleaning up after dinner at their place. I feel I don't even have much to say on this one because it basically just executed everything it was trying to execute efficiently and without any jarring mistakes. You can tell from pretty early on that this is gonna be one of those stories where you never find out the Real Truth of what happened, although I found one of the sides to have a broadly weaker case and I'm not sure if that was intended.

Dream Scenario: Ultimately was disappointed by this one. Thought there was gonna be a multilayered metaphor underlying this one but it turned out to be a pretty shallow piece on social media fame framed around some dude who really wants to cheat on his wife. Let down by the synopsis, I spose. I think the constituent parts work at cross purposes and make the movie undermine itself a little: the kafkaesque surreal horror is harder to feel the depth of when the protagonist is so obviously a shithead, but the unsympathetic protagonist is less compelling when the things that happen to him are an inexplicable nightmare scenario rather than his own decisions taking him down a dark path. There'd be a way to make it work but honestly I don't think this movie was pretentious enough to pull it off. It needed to be willing to get weirder and harder to parse with it rather than keep everything so broad and crowd-pleasing.

TMNT Mutant Mayhem: I liked a lot of things about this movie. The pacing is fantastic, and I found the character writing to actually be quite good. I actually found myself quite liking the density of pop culture references, because yeah, that's how teenagers talk. Makes it feel more real. And the animation. I'm glad more animated movies are incorporating actual fight choreography these days because it fucking whips every time. Unfortunately it really fell apart by the end for me because the pacing gets janked up to hell and it starts cramming in way too many unearned character moments. Something about it got kind of unbearable for me personally, I just stopped watching the movie.

Labyrinth: Technically a rewatch, but last time I saw this one I was like single digit aged. Thoroughly it despite it being structurally a mess. It's basically just Jim Henson's Creature Shop coming up with various Situations to put our protagonist into, threaded together in a very loose framework of a plot. The lead is not that good at acting, the jokes rarely made me laugh out loud, and yet! I was smiling the whole time through. There's an interesting contrast to the DnD movie for me, where that one has a fine first act, an awful second act, and a fine third act with divisions between them so sharp you can hear a clunk when the gears shift, Labyrinth is pretty much 80% second act, with a bit of intro at the start and a quick bit at the end to wrap it up. Makes it feel like a very storybook fairytale type of story, and I love that for it! And, unlike the DnD movie... I don't think I'm likely to forget I watched this one a week from now :P