#dev ‚ inbox.

[rika-mortis]

Do dev and Timmy get close? Does peri get excited or scared to see his big brother again?

Kind of! At least that’s what Timmy would like to think. Personally, I don’t see Dev as the type to be very open with others (Hazel being the exception). I imagine Dev just acting like he always does, not fully understanding why Timmy wants to spend time with him. Maybe one day when Dev grows up, he’ll realize it and wish he had appreciated it more back then.

As for Peri, I think it’s a mix of both. We’ve already seen how nervous he was with his parents before being reunited with them, so I imagine it would play out in similar way with Timmy 🤔 I remember someone from the FOPANW crew mentioned something that Peri is the type who wants to stand out more than his parents. He’s probably aware that Timmy doesn’t remember him. And because of that I can see Peri trying his best to appear classy and sophisticated because he wants to leave a strong first impression on Timmy just like what he did with Dev.

(Though it probably wouldn’t take long for Peri to break down in front of him.)

[cubbihue]

Ya know, Timmy deliberately making it harder for a kis to become a Fairy, so they wouldn't have to deal with that burden

It can make for a interesting story. Especially if Dev ever found out, I think he'd be angry at Timmy and think of him as selfish. And since this is Dev, he might even accuse others like Hazel, Wanda, Cosmos, and of course Peri, to all being against him. To Dev, they don't actually care about him, just his wishes. Even if Timmy isn't an antagonist, to Dev he could be no different from one.

It would make for an interesting story! Although, realistically, Dev wouldn't care much for becoming a fairy. It won't solve his problems of wish granting or the fact that what he actually wants is the attention of his father. Being a fairy ain't fixing that.

It is a nice thought experiment though.

Bitties Series: [Start] > [Previous] > [Next]

[fisheito]

what sort of twisted powerplay is this

[askthefairlynormalparentsau]

iris is literally just a feral kitten

Yeah pretty much lmao- get scruffed, idiot

[moonsun2010]

Man seeing the CEO's reaction to Black Myth not winning GOTY, saying they came to the awards for nothing (they won Player's Choice), that he wrote the acceptance speech 2 years ago, and all that shit about feminists and wanting to assault the female members of the team, make me glad they lost. Despite me playing the game way more than the rest.

Wait what post had the thing about feminists and assaulting female members? If you mean the Weibo post CEO Yocar wrote on 14 Dec 2024, I don't find any mention of the sort there. If you've any citations/links to the Chinese non-translated posts or screenshots that would be good.

If you want to read an actual good translation/paraphrasing of Yocar's post, I recommend this article.

1) "saying they came to the awards for nothing" you mean "今年入围的游戏都很出色，可我真没搞明白这次年度游戏的评选标准是啥，我特么白来了！" which basically states that "the shortlisted works are all outstanding, but I really don't understand what's the selection standards". The last part is like similar to "goddamn waste of my time" but not exactly, like waste of his attendance?? Like "The competition was strong but I didn't understand the rules, so why the heck did I attend for no reason! (exasperated tone towards ownself)".

Additionally, is writing an acceptance speech 2 years ago something negative...? Are creators not allowed to be proud of their work? This is the portion of Yocar's post that the "acceptance speech 2 years ago" came from:

"从昨天到现在，我也从很多玩家的言论中看到了强烈的不满情绪，看到了不甘与不爽——大多用了幽默与解构的方式表达，笑死。

我完全能理解这些不甘，同感这些不爽，因为我知道这些情绪的背后，不是痛苦与恶意，而是自尊与自信。

如此自信却没得到他人的认可，有点脾气，很正常。

我其实……比你们更自信（参考我在知乎的第一个回答），年度游戏登台的演讲词两年前就写好了，居然没用上😭😭😭" meaning:

"From yesterday till today, I've seen a lot of severly dissatisfied reactions from my conversations with (Black Myth Wukong) players, discontent and irritated—most of who expressed themselves in humourous and yet structured ways, which I found hilarious.

I understand entirely the feelings of those who are dissatisfied and frustrated, because I know that these feelings are backed not by harmful or evil intent, but a sense of self-confidence and self-esteem.

If one were to have pride in themselves, only to fail to gain the same recognition from others, it's quite normal to feel slighted.

Actually I'm... even more confident than y'all (see my first answer on 知乎*), so much so that I wrote my Game of the Year acceptance speech 2 years ago, which I ended up not using 😭😭😭"

*知乎 is another forume-sque platform that's kinda like Quora for asking and answering questions.

It's at worst a display of arrogance that in fact, seems to be used in a self-denigrating manner in the post. I don't have the exact same emoji, but surely one doesn't need to speak Chinese to understand what its use there means right? All I see is a pretty normal statement from a game dev empathising with the fanbase's disappointment over not getting GOTY, and soothing those pains by being self-deprecating about this own confidence in his creation.

In fact the rest of that 2nd paragraph (post is split into 7 paragraphs) makes the fact that he's focusing on the fact that he just has pride in his game even clearer:

"在这款游戏的研发过程中，很多同事没有我这么乐观。他们可能因为玩过了太多的中间版本，难免觉得这个游戏还有太多的瑕疵，也不大可能按时上线。

我在公司的一个主要工作，就是不断安慰他们我们已经做得很好了，产品一直在进步。

是的，你不能只在已经赢的时候才自信。

那不是自信，是对结果的复读。

今天输了，明天还可能会输，可那又如何？

影响结果的因子太复杂，所以结果必然是不确定的。我们唯一能确定的是选择自己在做什么——

做具体的事，做困难的事，做相信的事。

在做这些，当然应该自信。" meaning:

"In the process of developing this game, many colleagues weren't as optimistic as me. Maybe they'd replayed the WIPs too many times, such that they'd inevitably think it had too many flaws and wouldn't be finished in time.

In this company I have a very important role: to continuously reassure staff that we've already done a very good job, and that the game is continuously improving.

Indeed, you cannot have self-confidence in yourself only when you win.

That is not confidence, but preparation for/repetition of the end.

You lose today, and you can lose again tomorrow—and so what?

The end is never certain, as after all, the factors involved in determining are too complicated. The only thing we can be certain of is our own actions—to do things with purpose, difficult things, things we believe in/confident actions.

To do these, of course we must believe in ourselves."

The other paragraphs continue in the same encouraging spirit—generalised summary:

3 talks about how Game Science persevered in developing BMW because they trust in their game to deliver a quality story rooted in Chinese culture

4 talks about how Yocar thinks a common proverb few know is from Journey to the West "世上无难事，只怕有心人。/Nothing is impossible to a willing heart" does not mean that overcoming difficulties is simply a matter of mental fortitude, but that he thinks "因为难，才好玩" aka its fun because its difficult but also alluding to a common sentiment in fanbases that form around a love for difficult games... like BMW (and yknow the whole genre of Souls-like and Bullet hells and games that you love because they are so painful).

5 talks about the origin of Game Science's name, 6 about how they're fortunate to even be able to work on games, 7 a lovely, lovely conclusion that I think deserves to be translated in full:

"最后，希望黑神话的这个故事，能够给到某些还在迷茫中的人一点勇气，让更多在还在黑暗中摸索的人看到了一点光亮，然后以平常心继续前行。

希望大家都能继续怀着自信与雄心，保持勇敢、诚实与善良，踏实做好每一件具体的小事，坦然接受不确定的结果，一直走在取经的路上，直到生命的最后一刻。

就像海明威说的那样：这个世界很美好，值得为之战斗。" meaning:

"In conclusion, I hope that the story of BMW (both the game and the story of the game's development?) can give those who are still lost some courage, give more of those still searching in the darkness some light, and progress with a peace of mind.

I hope everyone will continue to embrace confidence and ambition, to be brave, sincere and kind, to properly do everything with purpose, until life reaches its final end.

Just like what Hemingway said: "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for."

It's honestly a very earnest and sweet post?? If you can read Mandarin Chinese its way more poetic and kind of tear-inducing—even more so if you're a creative of any kind, or just someone who's ever put high expectations on themselves to produce good results, only to seemingly ""fail"" by not achieving the unrealistically fantastical ideal you've built in your head.

Anon, I'm glad that you've played the game, but I don't think your interpretation of Yocar's post is fair at all. Creators are allowed to have high expectations about their own work, and to be disappointed when they aren't met. The post he's made is just that—a joking expression of disappointment, yet determination to carry on producing more games he can be proud of, and will bring happiness to others. Nowhere in this is the unhinged bashing of TGA that Yocar is supposedly to have done. If this sort of encouraging statement is considered inflammatory, I... genuinely don't know what to say.

[seeker-ophelia]

Ophelia Rants: Veilguard is Weird

I had another post (Review, Pt 4) composed about how much I love dragons, but the AMA kinda knocked me on my ass.

* * *  

[INTRO]

* * *  

I’m going to share the image I made collected from the results of my survey:

And while everyone only contributed one word for this, it IS possible for Veilguard to be ALL OF THESE THINGS AT ONCE.

Now. We need to take this with a grain of salt and remember that most of these responses came from tumblr, and often ones Social Media Frens are an echo chamber of ones own thoughts.

The words that repeat over and over are all similar; sanitized, shallow, underwhelming, trimmed, incomplete… Fun But Not Dragon Age.

And I could not agree with this more.

Caitie (YT: Ghil Dirthalen BS: Ghil Dirthalen), (Mythal’enaste her and her data-mining efforts) has released so much information from Datamining Veilguard. So much dialogue not used, paths ignored or forgotten, Keep choices abandoned, Lore identified.

Flipping through the Art Book shows how much time and effort and ideas have been put into DA4; all of its iterations. All the creativity, the different worlds, the different possible paths. YEARS of work, abandoned.

Which feels soooo… opposite. I’m not a writer. What’s the word for a complete opposite dichotomy in all things? Contradictory? Inconsistent? Irreconsilable? Antithesis?

How can Dragon Age be Sanitized and Shallow… but so much work be put into it?

* * *

[OPINION]

* * *

After I removed my emotional connection from Dragon Age, IMO, it really does feel like something is missing from this game. Even if one tries to lay down their preconceptions of what the game might have been in their dream world, this game, to me, could not decide what it wanted to be. Narratively, it’s a sequel to Inquisition. Solas’s story matters from Inquisition, the Inquisitor matters from Inquisition… and yet it spends so much time onboarding new players. The story feels simple, the world is straightforward, like its dumbed down for players new to the series.

Inquisition, even though in a gameplay sense it is different from Origins and 2, still feels like its building off of a complex world that the player might not understand. And when I played Inquisition, I hardly understood any of it. That’s part of the joy of Dragon Age. People who read LotR or Malazan or WoT or ASOIAF, don’t expect the author to hold their hand. They’re dumped, unceremoniously, into a world, and they have to figure it out themselves (figure it out through strategically placed tidbits from the author). Dragon Age (O through I), was a masterclass in this, I think. Somehow, no matter how deep you want to dive into the game, whether just playing superficially one-and-done, or playing it over and over to capture as much lore and depth as you can, Origins through Inquisition does that. It gives you just enough crumbs to keep you going, keep you questioning, and to point you enough in the right direction, that when you DID get a lore reveal right, you felt GOOD. Yes, plot-twists and subverting expectations are important, but so is letting your audience figure things out, giving them concrete answers. Veilguard drops you, sure, literally in Minratheous into a Gods Magic Ritual. But then it takes your hand, and skips with you through beautiful landscapes, phenomenal level design, and whirlwind combat, to place you right in front of the information you need. And then gives you a cutscene explaining, just in case you didn’t get it 😉).

We, as fans, need to realize that while the Personality of Veilguard is Toothless, the Lore, The Skeleton, is not.

Yeah, Epler said some things that hurt my feels during the AMA. (I’m ignoring the Solas stuff, because I really do believe Epler is speaking from a personal bias and not from a cannon-perspective. [edit: he just talked bout this on BlueSky]) But do you know why? Because they broke my personal headcannons. They proved MY theory crafting wrong. The real problem with Veilguard is that it came out too late. 10 years is too long to have people care so much about a game and theorize and craft worlds for themselves.

* * *

[LORE]

* * *

Superficially, VG dropped a lot of lore. But Deeply? To the DA Lore-Core? I don’t think they dropped ENOUGH.

[Image Credit: Helena Hansen on ArtStation]

HOW did Soals cleanse the dagger? HOW can Elgy & Ghill control the blight? HOW do they control their archdemons? HOW does the veil work? (How can it be weak with Elgy & Ghilly holding it up but 100%-strong-no-holes-perfectly-good with only Solas providing power for it?) HOW do spirits work? HOW do souls work? WHATS the difference? HOW does a Dragon-thrall-bond work? WHY isn’t Lusacan a Great Dragon? HOW does the rite of tranquility work? WHAT happens to Solavellan in the Fade? Is it different from what happens to a tricked Solas in the fade? WHAT happens now to Hawke/Stroud in the fade? WHAT is an orb? WHAT is a cube? WHATS the difference? WHERE is The Black City? WHAT is the ‘real blight’? (Because according to VG Solas, it’s still in the prison and its still super dangerous and way more dangerous than the blight that’s out in Thedas.) HOW did Solas burn his Vallaslin off? WHAT is the Calling? WHAT is the NEW song in the calling? WHY did ‘Mythal speak the calling’? WHY does lyrium sing? How is lyrium mined? WHY can tranquil work lyrium safely? HOW did Dirth & Falon split? WHY did Dirth & Falon split? WHERE are the rest of the Evanuris? WHERE is the Abyss? WHAT is the Abyss? WHAT do you MEAN there was more than 8 Evanuris?? HOW did you make your lyrium bodies? HOW can Elgar’nan destroy a FEELING?

WHERES MY ELVHEN DICTIONARY.

Obviously not ALL. But SOME of these NEEDED to be answered, or at least strongly alluded to, IN GAME. NOT in an AMA.

“We're leaving that ambiguous on purpose…”

“We haven't been SUPER specific about this…”

“I'm so glad these stories have their hooks in you! We have to leave some threads to tug on for future stories.”

What DID get answered in game?

Some of the Evanuris hats. Archdemons/Old Gods = Evanuris. Solas (w/ Mythal?) tranquil’d the Titans. Solas (accidentally) created the Blight. Solas used a Blood Magic Ritual to create the veil. Solas regrets a lot of things & has mommy issues. Worm-Solas (which, do not get me wrong, a million thank you’s and blessings for werm-Solas… But…) That’s it. That’s IT?

Oh, and there’s a shadow organization that’s been pulling all the strings from behind the scenes but I am NOT getting into how much I hate that idea in this post we don’t have time. Do we? No, we don’t. You know what, fuck it. This is my blog. Once you introduce that idea there is no way anyone NOT the author can know how much sway the puppeteer has over the marionette. ‘Oh it’s just a nUdGe, just a *whisper,* ‘they still have their free will’. Bitch get fucked what does that MEAN. That doesn’t MEAN anything its just a lazy retcon-y way to tie in a new villain to old material. Completely erasing the autonomy of they characters your fanbase has come to love (and love to hate). Do not corporate-speak at me with synergy and circle-back and deliverables. WHAT is a WHISPER? WHAT is a NUDGE? Because unless you lay it all out in an ELI5, NO ONE CAN KNOW- EXCEPT FOR YOU.

Ok obviously I have feelings about that we need to move on.

You can argue Veilguard was about the Evanuris, you can argue that Veilguard was about Solas. You can argue that Veilguard was about Regret and Pride and letting it all go. You can argue that Veilguard was about the ~*Power of Friendship*~ But for me, who has been obsessed with whatever the ever-loving-fuck has been going on in Thedas since 9.30 Dragon, Veilguard is about the Blight.

Corrine from the AMA: What really captures my imagination now that we've resolved some of the mysteries pertaining to the blight and the Elven gods, is exploring the aftermath of this crisis in a deeply destabilized Thedas.

Sorry… What did you answer? We actually know nothing about the Blight except that Solas created it, and with Antonie and Evka claiming the song has changed… what does that mean? Is a Titan consciously controlling the blight now? Is it soothed because Harding Soothed it? Is all the blight from the Kal-Sharok Titan? Are all their orbs/cubes in the Black City? Do the Executors control the blight? What is a calling, then? Will the Wardens never be called to the deep roads again? The Blight is different in a Warden than it is in a darkspawn, or an Archdemon? How? WHY? The wardens are just going to fade from existence because… all the darkspawn are just going to disappear now? Where in game is this stated as truth? Actually, in fact, ZERO questions were answered.

But Wait…

I feel like the news of the AMA COMPLETELY overshadowed the two IGN articles that came out; 1 & 2. Because… holy shit you guys. There was A LOT of lore dropped here.

Unfortunately for Epler & Corrine, and this is a hill I will die on, ALL OF THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANSWERED IN GAME. The fact that it was NOT? Is inexcusable. You cannot drop giant lore reveals like this outside of the game and hope it smooths everything over. The lore dropped in these interviews could have been a DLC, a side quest in game, or at the very least a novel or WoT Vol 3.

* * *

[What IS Dragon Age?]  

* * *

I've used this photo before and I'll use it again I fucking love it so much

I wish Veilguard came out a year later, I would have waited longer, paid more for it, if it was a more a whole, inclusive game.

The problem with dumbing down a pre-existing franchise is that you’re alienating the fans that are carrying you on their shoulders. They carried you through a game-less 10 years, and through Andromeda. And you can bet your ass when they drop you, the new fans you roped in with VG are not going to be picking you up.

Dragon Age feels like it cannot find its identity. That Veilguard, inexplicably, does not feel like Dragon Age.

“But how can you explain what Dragon Age feels like when every Dragon Age that came before it was so different?”

New Protagonists, new companions, new locations, everything is different. On top of more meta things; new gameplay, new combat, new art styles, its all different.

So what makes Dragon Age, Dragon Age?

Well, when I was nervous about the game back in September, I asked Kala, when she got pre-access to the game, if she FELT anything.

“I’d love for you to touch on how the game made you FEEL… Did anything you played in Veilguard make you Feel™?”

She sent me a private message with 1 word: Yes.

We can go into the design decision to have the companions react with each other instead of Rook and how that can be alienating to the PC. We can talk about how shafted the romances were. We can go into how gentrified Minrathous and the Crows were. We can go into how child-locked the lore was. We can discuss the toothless-ness of Veilguard.

But Veilguard still made me Feel.

And, even if that emotion is anger, if Veilguard made you Feel, it did it’s job.

[ratcandy]

Big Huge Irritated Rant About The Latest COTL Update's Story Choices and the Implications

So the lore drop in the new Cult of the Lamb update, Unholy Alliance, pisses me off. The writer's confirmation of what that lore drop means pisses me off more.

Why? Because it's unnecessary recontextualization that was made pretty obviously in favor in one character in particular, and somehow in that process makes that very same character way less interesting. I think it's incredibly detrimental to the story and I will Explain Why in a second.

But before I do, I just want to put this out there: Prior to this update, my opinions on the Bishops and Narinder and that entire plotline were pretty neutral. I'm an NPC enjoyer, I spend my time thinking about that moth with two lines of dialogue. I did not previously have strong opinions on Narinder or Shamura outside of mild dislike for fandom treatment. So I'm not coming from a place of bias here (or at the very least I'm not trying to be). I genuinely, wholeheartedly, 100% believe this writing decision was unnecessary and the Wrong one to make, and I think it severely undercuts the original plotline because this was a retcon and one that sucks pretty bad.

Ok we're on the same page here? Ok awesome. Long rant ahead, and obvs spoilers for the Unholy Alliance update

So first, what the hell am I talking about? What part of the update do I not like? Let's clarify that first.

It's Shamura's dialogue. Like, all of it. For ease of understanding, here is all the dialogue I will be talking about:

"Ah... we gathered here, the four of us, a council of war and I the general. I have not forgot. I did not tell them that chains to bind a God must be forged of Godly matters. What matter of Gods? What matters of Gods? I have not forgot. The betrayal of kin, the breaking of spirits, blood spilled, his and ours. ...the sacrifice of what we had sacrificed so much for... ...shaped into shackles for our own brother. And our wounds always to weep. Such sharp claws..."

--

"He sought to break nature's own laws. Death was his, yet he placed his sacred duty in peril. His experiments... Experiments I encouraged. I am not... blameless. My soul, stained... yet I do not... Ah, The story. Yes the story... He wanted to open the doors between Life and Death, to... to allow their return. Those mere... mortals. Even though he knew their sacrifices, their faith, their fears sustain us. Death must be the end. Otherwise, what use would they have for Gods? They began to flock to him. What he promised, we could not match. He swelled with devotion... while we waned. Would he have let us perish? I could not take... the risk... the hunger... You are lucky there are none left to force such a choice on you. Hail, Lamb. Last God... lonely God... Ah... I feel... unburdened..."

And for fun, before anyone tells me I'm misinterpreting any of this or that it's left up to interpretation or is intentionally vague, Word of God (the writer of CoTL):

And it's this being Word of God that's spurred me into making this post to begin with. Because prior to this, I just seethed about this dialogue's implications in my server and hoped I was wrong. But now it's been confirmed what this means, and I'm . Disgruntled, to say the least!

And since I've started writing this post, there's been another addition made to further clarify parts of this. But I'm going to go over that addition more towards the end, because it also irritates me for separate reasons.

So, let's get this straight.

Prior to this update, the specifics of what happens between Narinder and the Bishops were pretty vague. We were told Narinder was "gluttonous in his ambition," per Shamura's previous dialogue, and that they "introduced him to ideas of change" but "Death cannot flow backward." Heket somewhat elaborates on this by saying he preached "heresy" and "noxious ideals" that would not be tolerated. Heket also notably refers to Narinder as a flat-out "monster." Narinder attacked his siblings and left them each with a big, symbolic wound. Then he was chained by the four of them, with Shamura the one to lead it (in their own words).

There's a lot of talk of betrayal, but before this update, it was unclear if the betrayal was meant to just be Narinder's experimenting with death (which even then was pretty heavily suggested to be resurrections) or the wounds inflicted upon his siblings. There's also a lot of talk of sacrifice, i.e. from Leshy if you kill Heket before him: "After everything we did. After everything we sacrificed. He will not be satiated."

Regardless, the picture this painted was of Narinder being this ambitious, evil, violent God that even his fellow Gods (Kallamar) feared and felt needed controlling. The idea that the wounds could have been in the nail in the coffin to this entire ordeal made sense; as they were obviously planned by Narinder to some extent (otherwise why be so intentional about who got what wound?) and a fair reaction to Being Mutilated would of course be to chain him.

Then of course there's the idea that the wounds were given while he was being chained and in self-defense, which only seems possible if you think Narinder could take on all four of his siblings at once like that and only manage to lose his claws in the ordeal (which was only revealed in this update to be something he's implied to have lost thru the relic). I thought this at first too, but realized it seems pretty impractical for that to have been the case if the wounds were also purposeful in who got what. I mean, sure, they could all be coincidentally symbolically appropriate for each Bishop, but I have doouuubts?

but now we're here, with this update, and all has been revealed.

And what's been revealed exactly?

Narinder's thing he was doing was indeed resurrections (we knew that)

Shamura encouraged him to do it (we also already knew this)

It seems like he did literally nothing else outside of that

His siblings got pissy about this because it made their domains purposeless and got all their followers to flock to him

"Would he let us perish? I could not take the risk" - Implies they literally did not even ask him

Shamura knew that in order to forge chains that could keep Narinder down, it would require a sacrifice of their bonds AND their flesh

They DID NOT tell the other Bishops this

Their wounds were requirements to chain him. They had to get the wounds they bear now in order to chain him. ONLY Shamura knew this. That means they allowed their siblings (and themself) to get attacked knowing full well what would happen. They may have even encouraged it, perhaps provoked Narinder into it, seeing as they knew the wounds were necessary to have him chained. (Or they just knew he would retaliate. Which, like. Yeah. They're condemning him after he went down a path they encouraged and, as far as we can tell, nothing else.)

And for... what?

In this version of the story, Narinder was experimenting with resurrections, and Shamura told him to keep doing that. Then he was successful, mortals turned to him, and his siblings (including Shamura, the one who told him to do it) got mad. That's it. That's their reasoning for chaining him. There's nothing else given. "Would they perish?" We have no idea. Is that how it works? Seems like Shamura doesn't know either. Or at the very least doesn't know if Narinder intended for that at all. Gives the vibe that literally no effort was made to talk to him and figure this out. They don't even really go down the "it puts nature out of balance!" path, which would at least have some merit, maybe. It's literally just "we are no longer sustained. What's the point of Gods in this world?" <- idk babe you had all the other ones slaughtered. So you tell me

And then Shamura just took it into their own hands, leading their siblings to their shared wounds (WITHOUT consulting them) and their inevitable destruction because of........... reasons, I guess. (I mean, if you think about it really hard, they probably also already knew what would happen following all this. With the lamb genocide and Narinder's resurfacing and etc. And they had their siblings wounded anyway. For no god damn reason)

And now why does this make me mad?

Because, honestly, in and of itself, there's not anything necessarily wrong with this added context. It's not contradicting anything in the main game. Shamura knowing what was needed makes sense, after all.

But it's... unnecessary. It screws up the motives and makes them more shallow, less nuanced, more... petty. Making gods petty is cool and all, I love doing that honestly, but in this case it just feels like a waste of potential.

But beyond all that. But most importantly.

This entire recontextualization of events REEKS of being made specifically to absolve Narinder.

I mean, come on. He's made out to be the victim, here. Shamura knew what he would do, knew what he would become, and knew exactly what would happen to their siblings if they sought to chain him (without doing so much as talking to him beforehand), and yet they encouraged it.

All blame is being shifted on Shamura. All Narinder did specifically against his siblings was inflict the wounds, which at this point seems to be hinted as self defense or a retaliation against threat or insult (assuming he was provoked into attacking, somehow). Because the wounds were part of the process.

And almost equally irritating, this seeks to arbitrarily absolve Leshy, Kallamar, and Heket as well, as they had no idea what the plan was and were just strung along. Which is just kinda worse, right? As far as they are aware, Narinder did just randomly attack them for no reason, and this wasn't foreseen, and surely couldn't have been stopped. All because Shamura didn't tell them any of it.

Shamura is being made into the big bad. Shamura is at fault for everything, for all of it. Narinder is a victim of Shamura encouraging him down a path they later condemn him for, their siblings are victims of Shamura and Narinder both (the latter of which could have been resolved at any point prior), and now any possible intrigue about Narinder being this big bad guy who tore apart his siblings due to his own ambition getting the best of him is ERASED.

It's GONE. All in favor of making him more sympathetic.

And sure, about a million different excuses could be made for Shamura, or could be used to headcanon whatever you want about exactly what happened. But with what we're given right now, just from the source, no attempt as made to stop Narinder before it got to this point. It is literally suggested they didn't even talk to him.

"Maybe they were too scared" - For the other three, maybe. Shamura is the eldest and clearly the most respected one, by Narinder as well (he holds some amount of respect for them even STILL. After EVERYTHING). They at any point could have stopped this.

"Narinder could still have been a bad guy outside of the attacks" - Sure, but we're given little to nothing on that front. In the old dialogue, literally all that's mentioned is the resurrection stuff and the wounds. Shamura is the one who said his ambition made a glutton of him, by the way. And hell, this isn't even touching the very real possibility that all of the Bishops (Narinder included!) are unreliable as hell.

"But Kallamar feared him even before his chaining, that suggests he was still a bad guy beforehand" - Sure, it could! But that's about all we get! And hell, in this new update, Kallamar's fears are fucked with, too. He states:

"Once, long ago, Followers would worship at my altar just to glimpse the beauty of my temple… of course, it could not last forever. Perhaps my siblings did not understand this, but I have always known. It did not make me less afraid. Cowardly Kallamar, ha…"

Here, it seems Kallamar's fears have been changed to be more about the decline of his temple and the loss of his followers, which was happening because of Narinder. He refers to Narinder's plans as "foolish" as opposed to... idk, horrifying, or threatening, or whatever. He also fully takes on the 'cowardly' title, giving the impression that his fears were somehow unfounded, which wouldn't make a lick of sense if Narinder indeed sucked ass outside of the wounds.

Not to mention he "didn't want to hear it" when Shamura "revealed the plan," but we know because of Shamura that they didn't mention anything about the wounds, so Kallamar didn't want to hear that they... had to chain Narinder? That's literally all he could've been told about the plan. Why wouldn't he want to chain Narinder if he was scared of him up until that point?? Doesn't make any sense!!! EDIT AFTER I POSTED: On reconsideration this might just be referring the lamb genocide plan, but that's hardly better, because now this update absolves Narinder, Leshy, AND Kallamar by making them blameless in everything (both Leshy and Kallamar expressed not fully understanding the plan for the slaughter or, in this case, not wanting part in it). What's up with THAT. Why is Shamura getting the blame for LITERALLY EVERYTHING.

Anyway, my point is

This was a story decision made to make Narinder sympathetic. It's so blatant. And it's so, so irritating. It gets rid of so many potential cool flaws of Narinder and replaces it with "Actually, Shamura was the bad guy the whole time! Huzzah!"

And honestly, had the entire game come out like this to begin with, released at the start how it is right now, I don't think I'd care this much. But being added now, as an afterthought, after the fandom and devs alike have grown to favor Narinder above all others, it just...

It reeks of favoritism. It smells of revising the story to make Narinder more likeable. It's just erasure.

And for what. Like, I don't want to be That Guy, but I cannot help but notice that one of two nonbinary characters (outside of the Lamb/Goat themselves) is being this heavily demonized in favor of absolving a Man of his crimes. What's, uh. What's up with that.

Oh, and that addition by the writer I mentioned was made while I was writing this.

This was made after Jojo was questioned whether this was a retcon as to who caused the wounds, as this whole thing could also certainly be read as Shamura being the one to directly wound their siblings (which I didn't think was the case, but still).

"I don't know if they thought it would be so severe" - How do I put this in a nice way. This feels like a weaseling out answer. This feels like giving Shamura an out only after being questioned on this writing choice. How could they possibly not know how severe it would be. This spider is Knowledge. This spider has Foresight of some kind. And how do you not know what they thought. You are the Writer. If you want to clarify something like this you gotta say it with your full chest.

Not to mention a good portion of the fandom probably won't even see these tweets, so this context is all missing from the story presented in the game. This is Tacked On Context on top of already Tacked On Context. It's unnecessary retconning all the way down.

Anyway. I realize the fandom at large will not care about this, because (and I mean this in the nicest way I can manage) the Narinder favoritism in this fandom is already impenetrable, but for me personally? This retconning that was so clearly done out of that favoritism?

It ruined Narinder's character for me. More than the fandom possibly could have. I mean, if it's fanon, it can be ignored. But this was canonized. Because Narinder is the dev team's favorite guy.

And I can't stand it.

[sp-ud]

Actually why DO people expect more from hazel than peri when it comes to Dev needing help? I didn’t think about it before but lmao.

Probably a mix of unconscious biases and shipper brain

If anyone else wants to try to elaborate more for anon go ahead, I simply can't rn cuz of a migraine but I don't want to leave anon hanging for longer than I already accidentally have

[cubbihue]

To Peri and Jordan, it might he better at looking into making Dev a Fairy. I mean, he's a neglected kid so desperate for fatherly love that he TEAMED UP with Anti Faries, and nearly mamaged to take over Fairy World completely just for a chance that his father would love him.

There's no telling that a Anti Fairy might try going after him again, and use him again, and have the events repeat. Least as a Fairy Dev could be monitored more. He's arguably a unique case like Timmy is; if not one that can warrant more danger if not careful. (Plus I don't think the memory spell worked on him considering he always wears sunglasses)

Despite your pleas, your ask has gone unanswered.

We can't be spoiling the future to our dear itty bitties! That'd be just so rude!!! No, no we can't have that! Not when the future is already set in stone!! Not when it's unavoidable! Not when the consequences must come to pass and pass they shall!!

Soon, Dev will attempt to take over Fairyworld. He will have his memories wiped. The human world will forget about Fairies. And someone will have to bear responsibility for it.

Bitties Series: [Start] > [Previous] > [Next]

[askthefairlynormalparentsau]

I found this account while scanning this website for something fun to do— you'd be surprised how boring simply scrolling can get. And I must say— you three look FAMILIAR. It's like looking into a broken mirror! This multiverse is quite small after all..

I suppose I'd just like to say, WELCOME to this Hellscape they call Tumblr! I'm Irep! Anti-Fairy, "prince of chaos," Harbinger of Doom! I just couldn't help but notice your fairy is seriously lacking in "coolness." Just thought I'd stop by and make things more exciting!

- @theharbingerofdoomtime

D: Heh- nice BAIT, but fairies aren’t REAL, dummy

P: Dev! Be nice! H-He’s right though, fairies aren’t ACTUALLY real…

D: hang on, where’s my PHONE?!

[demigoddessqueens]

hiii, I hope this ask finds you well!! and I also hope you're doing well too. since you are writing for dev patel, can you write a fic on kid (monkey man) it's okay you don't wanna!! but here the prompt also

"stay. i don't want you to go," person a says with a raspy, sleepy voice while grabbing onto person b's hand.

like let's say the end of the movie, the reader rescues him because ik the end of the movie it ended with him probably 'dying' and dropping to the floor, imagine the reader helps him up and then takes him back to the apartment and she helped him and stuff and he said that and they're like so close and he just whisper soft things to the reader Ahehehehhduxucucdu

Of course!!

Masterlist 11

“Stay. I don’t want you to go.”

You could barely sleep as is, but you could hear him shuffling quietly. Was he foolish enough to set his impossible plan into motion or could you talk him out of it?

You uttered your desperate plea again as you tried to grip tighter around his hand.

Kid looked back at you with his own deep sadness in his eyes.

“Keep safe.”

You agonized over the days he was away.

When Alpha had told you and the community where you all were going, you knew. The knives you had stowed away were going to be extra sharpened by the time you arrived.

Amidst the bloody showdown, you could see Kid’s focus shift to you whenever he could. He felt a surge of pride and protectiveness with you by his side. As much as he wanted to stay by you, he made his way to the elevator. This fight wasn’t over yet.

Everything went dark for Kid and he collapsed to the ground.

Stubborn as you were, Alpha tried calling out to you to stop as you made your way to the elevator. Heart pounding in your ears, you raced to the top where you knew he was. You could barely form a cry of shock when you saw Kid’s collapsed form on the floor, the wound gaping at you with a mocking aura.

When Kid awoke the next time, you were propped by his side with a roll of gauze still in your hand. Rise and fall of your chest as you slept, sweat coating your brow, your face was serene now compared to the earlier hours of your distressed state tending to his wounds.

He curled his hand around yours as you held him, a deep sigh of relief that there was a second chance to the life he fought for.

[npdkondraki]

i feel insane

everyone in this thread is an insane person but i think juke just being like "unfortunately yes" while talking about TAKING 70% OF HER GAMES REVENUE when she DIDNT EVEN WORK ON IT 99% OF THE TIME is like. actually deranged behavior

[yeokii]

NEW THEME🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤 how do u feel being the greatest designer in here

erm tanks ho … ( goated theme makers we both need to kiss 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 )

[viriborne]

Sorry but every time someone brings up the Asmo’s weirdness to his brothers as “just complements haha” it’s like. You know you can just acknowledge that the devs are weird about incest, right….?

[moonchild-in-blue]

I will just leave this here

"Dev Patel, as you can see, is extremely hot."

Please tell me that's the whole article. Because you really don't need anything else hahaha. That's it, that's him.

Me. Found dead on a ditch.

[knifvd]

   ۟. ♡               ៶             i'm  in  a  bit  of  an  odd  mood  ,  so  feel  free  to  give  this  post  a  small  LIKE  ,  and  i'll  go  through  your  inbox  tag  and  send  you  a  meme  or  two  (  even  if  we've  never  interacted  )  .  hoping  this  will  bring  my  mood  up  a  little  more  .  otherwise  ,  i'll  be  lurking  around  on  discord  and  attempting  to  do  replies  .