#i finally did it last night in my playthrough and when i tell you

[soulvalour]

the desire to romance halsin and only halsin is far too strong

[profounddefendorcrusade-blog]

In Defense Of Ceroba

Even though I'm still probably the biggest Starlo apologist you've seen, I wanna talk about Ceroba today. Particularly, my initial and current thoughts on her (but also why she works as a deeply flawed and tragic character).

Anyway, here we go.

Ceroba wasn't a character I liked at first. It wasn't dislike or hatred I felt for her, but rather... not much, if anything. She simply didn't catch my attention like Starlo did, with his larger-than-life personality. Ceroba wasn't like that. She wasn't in the spotlight, she seemed calm and level-headed, sarcastic and easily annoyed with the Five's nonsense, but also kinda just.... there, in contrast to the more 'cartoonish' Starlo.

you can clearly see who the goofy one is

Heck, I was so focused on NOT wanting to get to know and understand Ceroba that I payed little to no attention to her, even in the Steamworks, which was her section as well as Axis'. I completely forgot about the talk option too, so I missed on a lot during my first playthrough. I didn't even laugh at her sarcastic comebacks (that I find funny now, as you can see in my post titled 'Ceroba's sarcasm is growing on me').

And when I found out Ceroba injected Kanako... let's just say she became my least favorite character. I didn't understand why she had done it. It seemed like a poor writing choice not to have Kanako get her paws on the serum and inject herself. Ceroba actively going against her husband's last wish and being the cause of her kid falling down left a bad taste in my mouth.

Only later did I finally put the pieces together.

Ceroba was depressed. Like, really REALLY depressed. So depressed, in fact, that she became blunt with her choice of words when it came to the Starlo situation and unaware of his troubles/the fact he was trying to help her out of the rut. Ceroba was clearly way harsher towards him than she used to be before all the tragedy struck (but said she was sorry)

Starlo describes her as compassionate and hard-working (and they've been friends for a long time, so he must know). Or at least, that was who she was before all the sadness turned her into a shell of her former self.

Now, Chujin... oh, Chujin.

Chujin meant a lot to Ceroba and that is very clear. From her blindly following his legacy even after his death, to accepting to kill Clover (someone she had grown to respect) with tears in her eyes.

If you ask me, it wasn't Ceroba's cold, sarcastic, gloomy heart that destroyed her. Quite the opposite. It was love. More specifically, her love for Chujin.

I would, without an ounce of doubt, call this fox romantic and emotional. Someone who loves hard and deep. Someone who trusted him, her love, so blindly that she never suspected Chujin was up to anything suspicious. And when he was stripped away from her, it hurt so much. She even blamed herself for not noticing. It's sad.

So... why inject Kanako, something Chujin didn't want her to do? Simple. Because of her major character flaw: stubbornness.

See, Ceroba had refused at first. But the line that got her to change her mind was this:

Ceroba, still in emotional distress and not thinking clearly (much like Starlo), trusted her heart and not her head. And her heart was telling her that Chujin, wherever his soul was, would be proud of her for fulfilling his dream. Making his legacy come true. Saving monsterkind was a bonus, but I believe the main, true motivation here was honoring Chujin and what he wanted to accomplish for monsterkind. And so, instead of focusing on remaining a good parent to her only child, Ceroba chose her husband. She chose something greater that he believed in.

Ceroba loves Kanako, don't get me wrong. She remembers how Kanako and Starlo would watch westerns together, how Kanako would play with brick toys when she was younger, she says how her love for her could be enough to shatter the barrier. She'd tuck her in every night. She promised she'd be safe during the extraction. The two hugged tight and said 'I love you.' All signs point towards Kanako receiving a lot of love from her mother. She even made a drawing of the three of them, and this picture on the right says it all:

Chujin, too, loved his daughter, and I believe this love for her was more prominent before the attack (he even gave her the chance to play video games in her room, how cool is that?). He, too, like Ceroba, prioritzed the wrong things. Instead of making sure Kanako was alright, he made Axis chase after the human and didn't stay to comfort her. He was so focused on the prejudice towards humans (he believed Integrity would have 'continued the crusade' and it hadn't just been fear or self-defense that made them attack) that he forgot that the safety of his child and helping Dalv was far more important.

But Chujin... Ceroba can't even look at her own daughter without being reminded of him:

Ceroba talks about Chujin a lot.

Even though Ceroba messed up badly by injecting Kanako, not paying more attention to what Chujin had been doing, manipulating Clover and the Feisty Five, wanting to kill Clover so she'd save Kanako and monsterkind (notice how she is so blinded that, even as she talks about Kanako, it seems like she sees her as a tool for finishing what Chujin wanted, ACCORDING TO CEROBA. In reality, the man just wanted Kanako to be happy and for her to stay out of all this),

and almost killing Starlo and Martlet, she acknowledged her situation and later admitted that she was wrong. The reason Clover hugged her and forgave her easily was because Clover is like that. Completely altruistic. Starlo and Martlet are sweethearts, too. All three have good hearts and lots of empathy and understanding. And, me, personally? Instead of it putting me off...

...I find it admirable.

[white-eagle-roleplay]

FO4 Memories #3

Happy Belated Fallout Friday, guys! Was feeling under the weather yesterday, so my post is delayed to today! Hancock's first affinity conversation with my sole survivor got interrupted by raiders, but his final one was as romanctic as you could get. Imagine this: you enter an abandoned church with Hancock late at night to escape the rain and catch some shuteye. Surrounded by candles, he nervously asks you if you have the time to talk, and gives you the option to romance him... So, being the writer that I am, I had to write a short drabble based off of a real affinity conversation that I had with Hancock during my last playthrough of FO4!

Pairings: Hancock x reader Words: about 1267

Hancock stumbled into the abandoned church after you, eager to get out of the cold, icy rain. By some miracle, it was completely void of raiders and super mutants—there wasn't even a single radroach. It was almost too good to be true, but after carefully scouting the premises, it became clear that the church was indeed empty. Breathing a sigh of relief, you lowered your gear onto a dusty pew while Hancock began lighting some candles on the tables behind you. It wasn’t much, and the roof was leaking in a few places, but it was better than nothing. If you pulled a few of those pews together and spread a sleeping bag under them, you could make a cozy bed… "Hey, uh… When you have a moment, I've got something I need you to hear." You almost dropped your bag in surprise at the sudden closeness of Hancock’s voice. The ghoul mayor had always been surprisingly quiet upon his feet, and tonight was no exception. You stopped what you were doing and glanced over your shoulder. “Of cour—” You froze, surprised at how nervous the ghoul appeared. This was very uncharacteristic of him, especially with his charismatic, flirtatious demeanor. Although now that you thought about it, he had been quieter and more pensive than usual as well… Concerned, you stood up and walked over to him. "Is everything alright? Hancock was quick to reply, his words rasping out before you had finished speaking. "Oh yeah, better than that. This is just… tricky." Hancock averted his gaze and rocked from one foot to the other before finally drawing in a deep breath and turning to face you. "It’s just… being out here with you… It’s made me realize that most of my life I’ve been running out on the good things I got.” His words were cautiously paced and carefully selected, as though he had been rehearsing this conversation in his head for quite some time. “I skipped out on my family, my life in Diamond City." Once the words started tumbling out, Hancock could not stop—so you just let him continue. “Took up with you just to get outta Goodneighbor.” He paused, his face contorting with regret. “Hell, running from myself is what made me into… into a damn ghoul…"

This caught you by surprise, because on the rare occasions that Hancock did talk about his past, he never referred to his ghoulishness so negatively. It made you realize that the mayor of Goodneighbor might be less secure about himself than he let on, and that all that confidence he exuded was just a facade. Your gaze softened, but you did not interrupt. He rarely talked about himself, let alone his past. If you said anything now, you might not get another chance to learn about the ghoul you had developed feelings for. “It’s just…” Hancock’s voice was soft, and his gaze even softer, “Being out here with you, it’s made me realize just how small time I’d been thinking, and that maybe all my running from my life, myself… maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing after all.” The ghoul seemed less nervous than when he initiated the conversation, but something told you that there was still more to come. You had no idea what, but you could tell that what he needed right now was an open ear and support. Finally, you reached out and laid a hand upon Hancock’s arm, your fingers brushing against the crimson velvet of his coat. “You may have run,” you agreed gently, “But you always ran for a reason.” Hancock’s lips spread into a small smile. “Been trying to convince myself of that for a long time,” he said, “but hearing that coming from someone like you… I don’t know if you understand what that means to me.” There was something about the tone of his voice that gave you pause and made your heart beat just a little faster… Thinking back to how nervous he had been at the start of the conversation, a sudden realization began to dawn upon you. Could it be… “So, lemme get to the point,” Hancock continued, “Throwing in with you has been the best decision I’ve ever made. It’s like I found a part of myself I never realized was missing… which happens sometimes when you’re a Ghoul.” He gave a wry smile, a small inside joke between him and himself. “If I hadn’t taken up with you, I’d probably be in a gutter somewhere, getting gnawed on by radroaches. You have been one hell of a friend.” One hell of a friend. Your heart sank at those words, and your chest felt as though a cold fist had just pummeled through it. You swallowed the bitter taste upon your tongue. Could it be that you had misinterpreted him? He did have reputation for being… very affectionate… But then, there were times when you suspected that there may have been something more, especially with the way his voice softened and his gaze deepened… "Have… have you ever thought about us as maybe more than just friends?” As soon as those words left your mouth, you wanted to take them back. What if you had misinterpreted everything, and were just about to ruin— "Heh," Hancock breathed, a sad smile spreading across his ruined lips. "It that obvious?" His voice seemed to crack, and when you looked over at him, his face was tight, as though he was struggling to keep it passive. Before you could say anything, he plunged on, trying to cover himself. "But come on, you don’t want to wake up to this mug every morning. Never wish that on anyone I cared for…" This last part was spoken so quietly that it was barely audible against the increasing storm. "Hancock…" It was then that you realized that he was terrified of rejection, and that he really was far more insecure than he let on. And here you were worried that he only saw you as a friend, when in fact he had been harboring deep emotions for you for who knows how long. Gathering your courage, you reached out and tenderly touched his jaw, tilting his face towards yours. "Hey…" you said softly, "D-don't call yourself that. You're perfect the way you are and… nothing would make me happier than waking up to your handsome face every morning." You felt your cheeks grow warm as you tenderly caressed Hancock's scarred check. "Screw anyone who makes you feel ashamed…”

With a smile, Hancock reached up and covered your hand with his, holding it against his cheek. "Wasn't thinking about the folks doing the shaming," he murmured. He brushed his lips against your fingertips in a delicate kiss, then pulled you into a tight embrace, his face burying into the crook of your neck. You could have sworn that you felt a dampness against your skin… Tentatively, you wrapped your arms around him and gently rubbed his back. “Hancock? You… are you alright?” “Yeah…” Hancock’s voice no longer sounded nervous, but rather relieved. He went silent for a minute, then exhaled slowly. “Heh… You know… moments like this, I know all that karma stuff is bull, because no one like me should be this lucky…" For a long time, he stood there, holding your body firmly against his. Time seemed to slow to a standstill, and the world reduced to nothing but the dust, empty pews, and flickering candles around you. The storm outside had long since ended, or perhaps it was drowned out by the beating of your own heart…

[jaythedagger]

the possible endings / final characters in ‘until dawn’ and what would be my favourite potential interrogation lineups for the movie:

•==================•

jess and ashley - two survivors

jessica being the final girl was my favourite ending until last year where i rewatched a playthrough and realised how scary this possibility would be for both of the girls and the investigators. you have one survivor, severely physically injured and upset who doesn’t have a clear picture on anything that happened that night at all; she can only provide brief details from her own experience, as well as her worry for her boyfriend mike, which is all expected and ordinary. and then the other survivor, who saw elaborate torture chambers and murder and supernatural, carnivorous beasts tearing her friends apart and just before you think she is going crazy and that neither of their stories coincide, she says she heard jessica calling out to her in the mines, and when jessica is asked about this? it’s the only thing she is certain about; she did not call out to ashley that night.

jess - lone survivor, final girl

there is something about a horror / thriller story that finishes with no living person knowing what actually happened. jessica is so exhausted, and checked out, and is going in and out of confusion and worry. you just feel terrible for her. the viewer knows her character is completely different and has had the biggest shift among all of the characters. jess will never recover from this. she doesn’t know what happened to all of her group (including her boyfriend) and likely never will, because she has no idea what happened. another unsolved case plagues the mountain.

sam - lone survivor, final girl

you think everyone is about to be in the ground. bloody. perished. very, very dead. until wendigo hannah saves sam, showing that the sisters’ memories still survive and so do their feelings regarding these people who were once their friends. hannah is thanking her for not participating in the groups antics on the night of their death. she was her best friend! its an emotional and unexpected ending. and sam’s interrogation is incredible. i can picture her way into the future becoming one of those older women with a folktale that spreads around town telling what happened that night and after no one believes her, she goes insane and closes herself off from the world, living in a cabin of her own.

everyone lives (hooray!)

for obvious reasons. it’s badass. it’s beautiful. it’s action-horror movie swag. they make it out of the cabin with mike and sam’s survival tactics, wendigo hannah saves sam, and they all have each other. then we get the scene of wendigo josh that highlights the only person that suffered hannah and beth’s tragic fate was their own sibling who didn’t get the help he needed and in turn, tried to make his whole friend group suffer through a torturous and traumatic night due to the consequences of their actions, however naive and accidental they were.

•==================•

i would love to hear the opinions from anyone who had the time to read this far. who is in your final ‘until dawn’ line-up? ⏳

[blackjackkent]

As I have done for the last two major patch drops, here's a collection of things that stood out for me in the Patch 7 patch notes! :D

There's quite a lot of them - and this isn't even close to the whole list of changes, so definitely check out the full patch notes here if you're interested.

-----

First of all, the things I'm actively excited about:

Introducing 'Evil Endings': Brand new cinematic endings for the truly villainous playthroughs. (Exciting! I've started pondering what my next BG3 liveblog will be - though I might switch to another game for a while first after Rakha is done - and I am starting to lean towards reworking Alexis, my bard, into an evil-run Minthara-mancer. So... intrigued to see more of this in the future!)

Added our very own Mod Manager, which lets you browse, install, and use mods created by the community. (I don't know details about the existing modding process but the new system seems like it'll be pretty intuitive so - hype!)

You can now start Custom Mode games using Honour Mode mechanics when starting a new playthrough. You'll be able to do this via the 'Ruleset' dropdown. (Neat! I may do this as well on my next liveblog playthrough - not the difficulty changes but just forcing me to stick to my choices with one save.)

The kuo-toa that promised to build you an army will now support you in the final battle. Unless they all died in Act I. (Amazing. I'm unironically in love with this addition.)

The help that the Gondians promised for the final battle will now arrive in the form of a friendly Steel Watcher. Apologies from Zanner Toobin for the delay.

Added a dialogue option asking for a kiss in more paths of Wyll's epilogue dialogue.

A bug that had been preventing Wyll’s romance greeting from triggering has now been fixed, so players in Act III who have a stable, loving, and committed relationship with Wyll will now see his romance greeting triggering correctly.

In Act II, Minthara will now react to you having knocked her out in Act I.

Made the romance scene at night with Wyll in Act III unskippable if it triggers to avoid accidentally skipping it and not being able to finish the romance arc.

To improve her chances of survival, Hope now has a new passive called Last Hope that grants her Death Ward for free when she enters combat.

Fixed a bug causing Dark Urge characters to get renamed after using the Magic Mirror. (This threw me for such a loop when I accidentally did it with Rakha.)

When playing as the Dark Urge, if you invite her, Alfira will now actually join your party as a controllable character if there's room for her in your party setup. Temporarily, of course.

Fixed several issues with the portrait that Oskar gives you. Principally, the image on the portrait will now be that of the active character claiming the reward, regardless of their position on the Party Line. (THANK THE GODS. I'm still not over having so many feels about Hector commissioning a portrait of Karlach to have after she was gone, and Oskar cheerfully handing him a painting of Jaheira to look at instead. XD )

Karlach will now tell you her backstory if you reach the point of no return in the Shadow-Cursed Lands even if you didn't confront the paladins of Tyr.

You can now return Mol's eyepatch to her when you find her in the Guildhall.

Fixed the Monastic Robes stretching into a violent-looking point when you wake up on the beach after falling from the nautiloid. (Thank god - this happened all the time with Hector and it drove me crazy. Hopefully this means it's been fixed in other parts of the game too.)

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And then the changes and bug fixes that made me laugh:

If Dror Ragzlin finds himself inside the spider pit [in honor mode], he'll try his best to befriend the spiders residing there with a new spell called Arachnid Compulsion so they can band together to fight the real enemy - you.

Malus Thorm has a new Legendary Action called Grasping Appendage. ( Oh dear. 😬 )

We noticed some of you hiccoughing bubbles, so the action for washing yourself with soap and sponges is now called 'Use' instead of 'Consume'.

You can no longer cheese the Leap of Faith trial at the Gauntlet of Shar by just clicking the final platform and letting your character pathfind their way there. Shar threatened to smite us if we didn't fix this one.

Fixed Minthara's body sometimes turning invisible on the Level Up screen. (We sorta liked the floating-head-and-hands look, but hey.) (Eyyyy, I ran into this in Rakha's run and it made me laugh a lot. XD )

Added a new idle animation for Minsc at camp - Boo may or may not have taught him some tai chi.

Karlach will no longer brush the shaved side of her head.

If you're in holographic form in the epilogue, Wyll won't automatically assume he's talking to Lae'zel.

Companions should now be more sympathetic to Astarion fleeing from the sun.

Fixed several issues (related to resurrecting characters via Withers, restructuring the party at night, and automatic camp night scenes) that would trap you in an eternal slumber, unable to end a Long Rest.

Fixed several occurrences of Wyll still having an exclamation mark above his head when he already told you everything he had to say. 

Minthara does, in fact, now have something to say about Orin after you kill her.

Fixed the fade-to-black after Karlach's scene in Avernus at the end of the game, which would give you a very brief glimpse of Game Developer Land.

Fixed some issues with Long Rest: Loading a save made during a Long Rest could cause a crash and you could sometimes get stuck in a Long Rest forever and ever, amen.

Fixed a blocker related to Orin's dagger, which will now respawn near the altar if you hurled her into a chasm and a cultist picked it up before you did. (Because it's bound to her, it would zip back to her corpse in the chasm, lost forevermore.)

Monks' Clench of the North Wind spell now targets up to 2 characters at Level 9. They just have to clench a little harder.

Priestess Gut will no longer hit herself with her own conditions. Silly gob-gob.

We've suggested to Yurgir that when he's invisible he should take advantage of it and actually try to move around a little so that he's harder to find.

Fixed some technical names showing up for each of Ansur's limbs. Naming them all 'Ansur' was the ansur.

Raphael can no longer steal souls from creatures that narratively don't have souls, such as Undead and Constructs.

Kled doesn't have Dror Ragzlin's Legendary Actions anymore. Dror's not one for sharing.

Fixed how the Chest of the Mundane handles item stacks higher than its maximum. (It should no longer gobble up your enormous coin stack and spit back a measly 21 cups in return.)

Prevented summons and followers like Glut from being able to consume Noblestalk. Yes, your Mage Hand probably ate it. No, we don't know where its mouth is.

When Withers resurrects an avatar, the Dream Guardian will no longer immediately prompt another nearby avatar to loot them for a tadpole. Similarly, dead, dismissed avatars will no longer trigger this same prompt. Some decorum, please.

When multiple characters in the party discover a trap or hidden item, only one will comment on it. We figured you don't need four people telling you to watch out for the same trap at the same time.

You can now swap out party members by speaking to the companion you want to replace even if the one you want to replace them with is Wild-Shaped. What your companion will think of you replacing them with a sheep is another story.

Fixed multiple spots where Perception checks were being made through solid objects.

Elminster should no longer react to crimes that don't affect him. (We distracted him with some Stilton.)

Fixed an issue on multiplayer where Gale would briefly appear to be in his undies for the client if the host has the Donate UI open and Gale is wearing magical robes that he can consume.

Fixed a bug that would let you waltz your way through destructible walls without actually destroying them. (You could attempt to attack the wall and your character would pathfind right through it in search of a comfortable spot from which to take a swing.)

Bald characters with the Wet condition will no longer have darker scalps.

You can no longer loot the underwear of non-recruited companions when you knock them out. (Justice for Minthara's dignity! \o/ )

Fixed a split screen issue where Invisible characters would sometimes not render at all for a second player joining the game. We need them to be invisible, but not that invisible.

Fixed a bug where your party members would very quickly change out of their armour and into their cosy camp clothes when you talked to them after having left the Astral Plane. We don't really blame them for being so desperate to hit the hay.

Fixed an issue where resurrecting a mind-controlled Nightsong would cause enemies to become allied to you.

During the final battle, backup companions being called upon with ally abilities will now appear with some clothes on for the occasion.

You can no longer use the Active Search feature to bypass the booby-trapped display case in Ramazith's Tower and pick up the key inside it. Smarty-pantses.

Improved Lumbar support: Lumbar will now stand still after you paid him to hit him.

Fixed a bug where interacting with the crate full of explosive toys in Rivington could cause you to get stuck in an endless loop of crime dialogues (being interrogated and sent to prison) and/or in combat with temporarily hostile NPCs.

Fixed a bug where dropping or selling certain items looted from the Lower City graveyard could cause NPCs to react as though you'd committed the crime of moving a corpse.

Fixed Cordrane the Recent being able to raise a zombie in Sorcerous Sundries when he shouldn't be able to, like when he's dead or Silenced.

Shadowheart is now more engaged with the flora and fauna at camp. (I don't know what this means but I hope it means she plays with the owlbear and Scratch.)

A camp night scene with Shadowheart will no longer trigger if she's not in the party and, uh, also dead.

Fixed Gale's 'splosion sometimes not showing correctly, meaning you'd get a Game Over without knowing why.

Fixed your player character introducing themselves with the wrong name when talking to Mizora.

Fixed Avatar Lae'zel behaving like a companion at the end of the tutorial and telling you (or telling herself) to hurry.

Kagha will now be imbibing if she's at the tiefling party. (I didn't know Kagha could even COME to the tiefling party. O.O Is this if Halsin's dead? )

Fixed Abdirak's self-flagellation idle animation. (Game dev must be a weird job sometimes. :P )

Ward Magmar and Ward Pistle, the duergar at Grymforge, will now make a snide remark if you're playing a small race.

Shadowheart and Lae'zel will now have new equipment if it was taken during the nautiloid escape and they have travelled sufficiently far to realistically acquire it before getting recruited.

Benryn will no longer follow you to camp or leave with you through a waypoint while you're in the process of escorting him out of the burning building at Waukeen's Rest.

Fixed Korrilla being killable in the goblin camp prison after she kills Priestess Gut. This was causing her to spawn as a corpse later on in Act III.

Fixed a bug where leaving the Shadowfell could resurrect an unrecruited Shadowheart and have her turn up at your camp anyway. She just liked the cut of your jib.

Karlach's death scene no longer ends abruptly when a non-gith player chooses to leave with Lae'zel.

Fixed a bug where, if you promised Cazador to bring Astarion to him and Astarion was in your party, you could go to Astarion at camp and tell him to replace himself in your party.

Zanner Toobin will now trigger the self-destruct sequence correctly instead of suddenly forgetting he was supposed to be in a panic because of the Steel Watcher Titan.

Told Devella to be more patient and wait until the end of the dialogue before she moves on to Basilisk Gate after being saved from Dolor.

Jogged Nine-Fingers' foggy memory - she will now recognise you when you bring Jaheira to her after she asked you to.

Shadowheart no longer sometimes still thinks that Viconia is alive after having killed her. Poor thing.

Wulbren will no longer comment on Toobin's daughter being dead if Toobin is not present.

Gave Sticky Dondo more lines to yell to sell his wares in the Guildhall. (Thank fuck tbh.)

Fixed player characters and the Narrator talking over each other when interacting with Minsc's relics in his hidden chamber. (MINSC HAS A HIDDEN CHAMBER? I have some hunting to do with Rakha lmao.)

You can no longer open the barricaded doors at the Crimson Draughts apothecary from the inside. We forgot barricades are supposed to work both ways.

Yoinked Sceleritas Fel's hat back from Helsik's desk.

You should no longer potentially see the great empty void of Game Developer Land after starting the epilogue.

Added more lines for Jaheira and Minsc to exclaim during the battle with the Stone Lord.

Fixed a bug where it was possible to get stuck in a dialogue with the Emperor about killing Gortash if you clicked on Gortash's corpse with Karlach (which starts a dialogue, after which she leaves the party and goes to camp) while, with another character, you also clicked on Gortash's body and sent his gauntlet to Karlach via the context menu right before her dialogue ended and she left the party. Yep. You can read it again if you want.

If you fail a pickpocket attempt at High Hall, your allies will no longer become hostile towards you. We reminded them that the fate of the world lies in the balance and that you play a pretty big part in it, thief or not.

Fixed Gortash's title potentially reverting back to 'Archduke Nominee' when reloading a savegame after the ceremony.

Wyll will no longer talk about hunting down Mizora when she's, like, right there.

The 'Embrace Your Potential' quest will now close if you choose to squelch the Astral-Touched Tadpole beneath your toes like a sentient little grape.

Jaheira's journal could at times say she had something to talk to you about, but then she wouldn't discuss it. She's a bit less tight-lipped now, so you know what to do in the city.

Someone pulled the ol' switcheroo on the Eldritch Knight and Battle Master subclass icons. We've switchereed them back.

Fixed a bug where examining a character and then examining an item would merge both character and item into a monstrous model in a single Examine window. The character would also be T-posing and naked.

Removed the turrets from the ground floor of Wyrm's Crossing since they weren't supposed to be there in the first place and never worked.

Fixed an unreachable fruit porridge in Wyrm's Rock. Makes you wonder how it got there in the first place.

Moved an unreachable book ('On the Greater Healing Potion') at Last Light. (Unironically this has driven me crazy on every playthrough.)

If Minthara's camp trousers get blood on them, the spatters will now be spread across them more tastefully rather than concentrated between the legs. (Holy shit.)

Kerz, the half-orc hireling, was wearing clothes that didn't fit properly. We found a tailor and everything's looking spiffy now.

Fixed some particularly intense and alarming-looking smoke coming out of the chimney at the Rivington General.

Gave a skirt to the chicken lady who mentions a skirt.

Companions in Wild Shape at camp will no longer perform their idle animations as though they are still humanoid.

Companions in Wild Shape at camp will no longer perform their idle animations as though they are still humanoid.

Fixed the animation for the Crawling Claw's footsteps. (Fingersteps?)

Fixed Brynna's clothes clipping through her arm and revealing her armpit. She informed us she was not, in fact, begging for a tickle.

Fixed the Graceful Cloth and Mighty Cloth looking like crop tops on male halflings.

The magicians outside of Sorcerous Sundries were yelling and casting spells so loudly that it was hard to hear your companions over them if you spoke to them nearby. We've toned this down and cleaned up the mix.

Added death vocals ('uurghghhh's) for dragonborn and half-orc NPCs.

Fixed the name of a decorative pot in the Colony, which was lying about being a cookpot.

Tweaked the spikes on the artefact in the dialogue where it passes from Shadowheart over to you so it doesn't look like it's impaling you.

Fixed your hand clipping into your face while smearing poo on it.

Told Wyll he doesn't need to hold his sword threateningly close to the chest of small races during his recruitment dialogue.

Fixed Mizora's body popping when she comes to pay Wyll a visit at camp. Save the popping and locking for the club.

Fixed Volo's hand clipping into your head while he performs his highly professional and sanitary surgical intervention.

Fixed the Dream Guardian's leg getting all jittery when they kneel down to let you stab them. The facade of stoicism breaks a little when you can see their legs turn to jelly.

Fixed a bug where biting off Crusher's toe and then defeating him in a fist fight would result in a cinematic where the toe was still present. An embarrassing inconsistency in an otherwise realistic chain of events. (I noticed this on Rakha's run and was judging you so hard, Larian. XD )

Fixed Shadowheart sometimes turning her head concerningly far over her shoulder during her recruitment dialogue at the Emerald Grove.

Fixed minor pops when playing as Avatar Shadowheart if the artefact explodes and kills Lae'zel. (This can happen???)

Fixed your character snapping their body backwards and wibbly-wobbling around as though trying to pass beneath a cursed limbo stick in the cutscene where Kar'niss approaches you in the Shadow-Cursed Lands.

Fixed the chalice that you hold when talking to Jaheira at Last Light vibrating suspiciously after you set it down on the table.

Fixed a Reconstituted Duellist's line getting cut off prematurely. He really, really wanted you to hear him finish saying 'come to my inner chambers'.

Dark Urge characters who have not cured themselves of Bhaal's influence or who have embraced Bhaal at the end of the game will no longer appear in Karlach's final scene as though they didn't just stalk off on a mad hunt for blood.

During Gortash's inauguration, Ravengard's head, sword, and legs will no longer leave his body suspended in the air behind him when he walks down the steps. (😱 )

Fixed a cinematic bug where the submersible would approach the Iron Throne and, the moment it arrived, would nope out and appear to reverse back to the surface.

[crimswnred]

thoughts on Volume VI

when I picked 'sass Daphne' I thought we were just gonna throw some shade and move on not get in a whole ass argument in the middle of the recoupling ceremony 😭

Daphne is so corny girrrrl wdgaf

this is the first time I'm so loyal to my og partner ever since Bobby yes I'm sleeping with Rafa in the daybeds no I don't wanna know what's up with Travis

hmmmm, the daybeds chat? so Rafael likes dirty talk HUH???? and you can bet my MC asked him to pull her hair 🧘🏻‍♀️🧘🏻‍♀️

they finally stopped using the word crescendo we are getting somewhere 👏👏👏

"where have you gone last night" LIKE ISN'T IT OBVIOUS I LITERALLY CAME IN WITH RAFA

Summer and Uma are my fav girlies like I'm sorry if you don't have Summer in your playthrough

she called Joyo, Joyo Bear. JOYO BEAR.

anyways, none of these couples are making it omg they are always fighting over some shit

btw I love the parallel shit happening in the game. looooooove that Uma and Alex don't really trust each other and that Joyo is super jealous over Summer

like, it's fun that things are happening without us being directly involved and we SEE them happening

btw we are #TeamUma and #TeamSummer we support their rights and wrongs these are my besties

and like, Alex was SOOOOO about to kiss Estelle in that video bffr

again, Bonnie slut shaming Bryson :(

and no Bon-Bon you're not as hot as Uma, I'm so sorry but you're not

DAPHNE GETTING REJECTED BY LITERALLY EVERY MAN IN THIS ISLAND I'M CRYINGGG

I can't remember if I did flirt with Travis or not but I'm sure I never said I was interested on him either way it doesn't matter because Rafael is obsessed with MC and like, it's mutual. so wtv.

Rafael saying to the boys he really has the feels for MC guys I'm in love

date with Evan? omg I didn't expect that

it was a short but sweet date. maybe because I shut him down as soon as I was able to 😭 he's hot and lovely but I'm too deep in Rafael's route to pick someone else

anywayssss, we fuck on the couch. in the middle of the leaving room. in the open? like—aint there cameras? didn't the producers see us? WHERE'S OUR SHAME.

is Daphne really trying to make me jealous bc she got along better with EVAN? girl... idgaf and also he hates your guts now so that ain't a flex

everyone basically saying Daphne is a bully and making her feel embarrassed at her own behaviour like yessss

Vicky keeps serving btw

you can't tell me Rafael wasn't gonna ask us to be exclusive like that CHAT??? it was the perfect time to ask us omg and I would've said FUCK YES.

hmmmmm flowers? where did they get flowers?

MC is what Daphne thinks she is

three gorgeous man wanting her

I'm sharing my bed with Rafael every day I don't CARE 💅💅

[siriuslysatorusimping]

Hey kiko!

First off, i saw the stardew valley stream right before going to office (twas my mom's birthday the day you streamed and an ungodly hour where I'm at) and i was in such a good mood🥹🤌🏽💖 gojo is adorable, I cannot.

Second, I was recently diagnosed with high functioning autism and adhd (not a surprise, figured i was ✨ neurospicy✨ since i figured what it meant) and I was wondering... Gojo is neurospicy for sure, it's canon. But the way you write him, it's even more so. So out of curiosity, how would Goinko react to finding out their kids might be neurodivergent? And would that lead to satoru getting his own diagnosis?

HELLO!! HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO YOUR MOM!!

Thank you for your message and question!!! 😊

Gojo in Stardew is so fucking cute that it makes me wanna die. My Kiko playthrough is already in year 2 and they’re living their best life (though, I did discover SVE Lance, recently, and all I’m sayin is that if Satoru didn’t already have my heart, Lance would be the first contender that’s actually piqued my interest).

I FUCKING GAVE YOU A HELLA LONG RANT SO THE REST IS BELOW THE CUT

WELCOME TO THE NEUROSPICY (I love this and I’m stealing it) COMMUNITY. We don’t have t-shirts yet because we got distracted before we could finalize the design and then all of our inspiration left and now we just cringe in self-hatred whenever we think about another project that’s half-finished… 🙃

I will die on the hill that canon Gojo is one of the most autistic coded characters I’ve seen in my entire life. There’s literally no valid argument against him being a member of our wonderful neurospicy community.

As I’ve mentioned before, I am also very fucking autistic and adhd. I wasn’t diagnosed with adhd until a few years ago, and I didn’t find out about my autism until last year 🫠🫠 the journey to that discovery was a wild one… To give context for how extreme my adhd is, I’ve gotten distracted mid sentence for this reply a total of three times already and went on my own tangents of making random notes and literally forgetting about this for ten minutes while I started googling things and then I looked down at my phone and realized I’d completely forgotten that I was TYPING THIS REPLY 😭

ANYWAY. YOU ASKED A GOINKO QUESTION AND I WOULD LOVE TO ANSWER IT.

How would Goinko react to finding out their kids might be neurodivergent? And would that lead to Satoru getting his diagnosis?

I LOVE THIS QUESTION. I LOVE IT. WITH MY WHOLE HEART.

I’m assuming we’re talking about Physical Paradox Goinko because you sent this not long after I posted begging for questions about them and their kids!

For those who don’t know, neurodivergence (adhd, autism, ocd, etc.) tends to be hereditary, which essentially means that neurodivergent parents have a high chance of having neurodivergent kids.

I’ve specifically written Physical Paradox Gojo with the idea in mind that he’s got a variety of neurodivergencies (Rai’s fun facts about brains have helped a ton and I always love hearing them! Rai, this is me telling you I wanna know more fun facts when you have the time). I’ve talked before about how he’s absolutely got adhd, whether hyperactive or not remains to be seen in the story, but I’ve been nailing a few things down lately so I’m excited to explore that more…

BUT THATS NOT THE POINT OF THIS REPLY. FUCKING FOCUS, KIKO.

I’m gonna answer these backwards because Gojo will get his diagnosis before they have kids. Because Rinko is studying cognitive and behavioral psychology, as of Summer Nights, she’s already noticed a few ticks and signs that Gojo has something. But she’s avoided saying anything for multiple reasons. (she’s still only a student, she doesn’t want to overstep in case he already knows and doesn’t want to talk about it, and she doesn’t want to offend him if he doesn’t know and doesn’t receive that kind of information well.) She literally had the thought in Summer Nights that it wasn’t like she could give him a diagnosis.

At some point in their relationship, she’s going to realize that he has no fucking clue and she’s going to say something. I haven’t decided if she does this before or after they start dating, but my main point is that by the time they’re talking kids, they’re gonna know they’ll have some neurospicy in them.

As for how they’ll react? They’ll love them no matter what and do everything they can to support them. They’ll struggle and have their bad days but they’ll figure things out and do their best to be there for them.

I imagine Eiji will be a lot like Satoru. I see him being loud and excitable as a young child and becoming more reserved and closed off as he gets older, which is how Satoru was.

I don’t know if I’ll explicitly include it anywhere in the series, but Satoru was loud and outgoing and friendly as a kid. As he got older, he struggled to connect with people because they couldn’t keep up with how chaotic he could be or they showed no interest in what he was passionate about. We’re sprinkling some rejection sensitivity that’s manifested as “fuck you, I don’t care about your shit, either then.” He keeps things surface level with most people because it’s not worth the time and energy just to be rejected or misunderstood. Obviously he’s different with Rinko, but that’s mainly because she’s shown that she can keep up with his ranting and there’s a part of his brain that desperately wants her to know he isn’t a shitty person and he doesn’t realize it’s because he’s pretty much already in love with her 😂😂😂 but really, Rinko can keep up with him and she meets his sarcasm with her own instead of brushing him off.

IM FORCING MYSELF TO STOP HERE OR ILL GO ON FOREVER. DID I ACTUALLY ANSWER YOUR QUESTION?? I HOPE I DID 😭😭

I hope you have a wonderful day or night!! 💕💕

[animentality]

I've wanted to do this for a while, but was held back by shyness for a while. (By a while, I mean I haven't even experienced Patch 6 yet. I *believe* this entire experience was in 5.)

I played Dark Urge as my first complete run of Baldur's Gate III, and it was beautiful in a way I don't feel is captured in the normal Tav playthrough, but I only intend to partially unpack that to keep things on topic for Durgetash.

From the very beginning, who you are and what you've lost *burns* as a question in your head. You meet the violation with rage and the promise of bloody consequences, but — it fades. You have people to care for, with varying degrees of suddenness, who understand you and the circumstances that may have shaped you.

And violence and potential death meets them at every turn. I, not the Durge, grew murderously protective of everyone in my party. Astarion. Karlach. Shadowheart.

I killed Alfira and never regretted it, save for wondering if the party would reject me for the barbarity of it all. The butler was delighted, and Astarion wore the reward for my first slip of control for the rest of the game.

If you can't tell, I was already thoroughly invested in feeling this story so much I purposely blurred the lines between myself and the Durge I had for the sake of acting as they would, fighting like I felt best suited them (they were a Storm Sorcery Sorcerer).

By Last Light, I wasn't fond of this unknown observer and their wants. I had no interest in killing Shadowheart, or the town of unknown innocents to "make up" for serving her in what I get in hindsight looked like —to Fel, Orin, and Bhaal alike — another unacceptable fit of perverse sentimentality.

Isabel still died, because I had taken on the fight not yet quite strong enough to save her. Dammon died, as well, and the party and I had to move on. Fel visited that night, and bestowed the form of the Slayer upon me. I was Murder Incarnate, he joyfully proclaimed, and I killed him in the hopes of removing him from my sight. From the camp.

There were letters in rooms I fumbled through in Moonrise, and Gortash started becoming relevant, both in those signatures and through Karlach's sharing of her history.

The vague negativity I felt towards this largely faceless, seemingly largely political threat shattered when infiltrating his palace on the day of the ascension to Archduke of Baldur's Gate turned into an occasion my Durge was *invited to*.

How was I? Did I remember? Would I like to rejoin forces? I can't imagine now how many questions were going through his head, seeing me alive and on my feet after all the time that had passed.

And where Ketheric had acted with rage when I inevitably betrayed him at the top and bottom of Moonrise Towers, or Orin had seethed that my Durge had dared to return and threaten every bit of goodwill she had painstakingly clawed together from the Bhaalists, Enver simply shrugged it off, offering me the first of two chances to ultimately just get their stones and return to rule together with him.

For Karlach's sake, I considered it impossible. I wasn't whoever had orchestrated the plan to enslave the brain.

Somewhere along the way during this campaign, I had seen your posts, but didn't really delve into them or read them too thoroughly since I was trying to not spoil myself by accident. Was that bit of fondness in the throne room that had stayed his hand it? I wasn't going to judge, by any means, because I've certainly shipped things ferociously for much less meaningful gestures, but I didn't understand why it would prompt the intensity with which you fawned over it.

And then I reached the underwater prison. I got lost in the sewers and somehow found the submarine, and the destination was where I had seen Wyll's father rumored to be kept. I had already made the pact with Mizora on his behalf, and didn't really expect to find more than his corpse in the prison after the bombs went off.

But more importantly — I finally understood, in the conversation with Gortash where he demanded I turn back, and looked incredibly unsurprised when I didn't. Somehow, despite my Durge tearing one of his most secure advantages from between his fingers and forcing him to dash it against the ground rather than risking it falling intact into their hands... he seemed *amused. Delighted.*

And so I set to proving myself, somehow wanting to find myself worthy of his approval of my strength, while also wanting to spite Mizora.

I got everybody out, and by happenstance, only Karlach died. His foil, I discovered in hindsight, since she is ready to leap into the House of Hope itself for my Durge the same way they did for Enver once upon a time.

Most of the remaining relevant crumbs dry out here, as Enver didn't even comment on the prison specifically regardless of the outcome for me.

But between "I always liked you better" and the warmth with which he says anything to you, the delight he shamelessly expresses when you simply are being the you that he knows, that is viciously carved into your bones so deeply it will always return no matter how you heal after being broken?

If you look at it as a story of breaking cycles, what Durgetash was should be objectively regarded as the hardest thing to lose in becoming a better person.

It's the intoxication of being known when you are amongst those that know nothing but the use you can offer them. The twisted fun that makes you question, again and again, whether you really *need* to be better than you were. The painful sorrow, of looking on someone you've grown past, and knowing you can't fit yourself in the spaces belonging to who you were then, even with how you still long for that aching, bloody warmth that their harmful presence would make you feel that you'll never forget.

I found myself happy I had had my Durge embrace the title of Murder Incarnate after the process of beating Orin and rejecting Bhaal.

All this to celebrate being able to play the game again after a long move, and that I'm looking forward to Patch 6, where I can hopefully be moved like that again. Made worse? Who knows.

What a delightful journey culminating into the descent into madness that is...Durgetash.

I'm glad you have seen this light...this dark....

You also got me with the line, "If you look at it as a story of breaking cycles, what Durgetash was should be objectively regarded as the hardest thing to lose in becoming a better person."

:D stab stab stab stab stab

[seth-burroughs]

i agree about his cartoon villainy, but it’s implied that the part about him taking bribes was made up. when martina mentions it, he says, “huh…?” and seems genuinely confused. then, when yomi says that must be why he was so desperate to clean up the nail man killings, seth says, “i only did this because you ordered me to.” he still plays at being a cartoon villain. he’s just not that good at it.

I don't think so!

Alright, since I've finally been presented an opportunity to do so, let me pull out the Seth crypts;

While Seth not knowing anything about anybody at any time wouldn't be a completely unfounded statement -- we never do get concrete proof that he was in fact taking money from the church after all, and Halara themself said that "If director Yomi said so, it would be considered the truth even if it isn't". Buuut, there's far more evidence pointing to the contrary, actually.

First, going from the very beginning, let's take a look at what happened PRIOR to Seth's intervention at Yakou's doorstep -- mainly, Jiei Colan. This section's the shortest, I believe.

I. Jiei Colan's terrible, terrible day (As Seth once said: I didn't become the head of the investigations team by being a good person. You can tell your son he won't be having a christmas this year)

Jiei Colan was called the day (or night?) before his arrest to the Clocktower -- he got an urgent request to fix it, as the clock allegedly wasn't keeping time. We don't know who sent the request. He stayed the night at the Clocktower.

As mentioned earlier, who sent the request is a mystery, but it is pretty odd in just how convenient it is for everyone, and by that I mean the Nail Man and the peacekeepers. I believe it was pretty much apparent to most people that this was an attempt at framing Jiei; coincidences generally don't tend to exist in most of Kodaka's universes.

There's two most likely suspects for the urgent call directed to Jiei, if we're going along with the theory it was a plot: the Nail Man, the Worshipper/Copycat Nail Man, or the peacekeepers.

(Kei (aka, the boy), if I'm remembering correctly, said that his father left last night. The body Yuma investigated is as far as we know, pretty recent. I felt like I should put it out there, but I forgor the reason. whoopsie silly me heheh!!!)

Worshipper knows a lot about how the NM operates; usually his plan to "catch" him involves him following a person with their name written in the woods. Could he have tried to use the peacekeepers to remove a random poor guy so that the true NM continues to operate? Not impossible, but, I don't know. That doesn't sound... very likely to me.

The NM, aka the Priest, could potentially have a good reason to frame somebody, BUT isn't his whole thing that he kills people who Kanai Ward's citizens feel have somehow wronged them, you know, enacting justice and shit and all that. He intends to help people in that way. I don't think he'd throw an innocent man under the bus -- I watched the scene where he's informed it was the watchmaker that was arrested, and I still can't tell whether he was legitimately shocked to that information but attempting to keep his cool, or just pretending (which implies he did hear of the plan; that doesn't mean he necessarily approved).

And lastly, peacekeepers, the most likely candidate; they arrived very quickly at the scene, and have a personal interest in closing the NM case as quickly as possible by any means, and is just... come on, it's the peacekeepers, it's always the damn peacekeepers I swear. What supports this more than the claim Worshipper or the NM himself sent the request, is the fact that the peacekeeper's report on Jiei said that his occupation was unknown (he was a watchmaker. this isn't some classified information.), very likely to frame him even more easily. Shinigami herself points it out just how suspicious that is. And it's, as far as I'm aware by my own rc playthrough, what the game was pointing us towards.

If it's the peacekeepers, then that means at least one of them knew a murder was going to happen at the Clocktower. That would require [some guy] to know of the NM's plans -- aka, [that guy] was somehow affiliated with the church. Which would have been pretty easy, if they were, say, regularly taking bribes from it.

now, moving on to the flower scene...

II. Seth's first and second trip to the submarine (YAKOU GET YOUR FUCKING GOONS ASSEMBLED HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT)

Seth and his peacekeeper squad approached (that is very polite wording) Yakou by his sub and inquired him about his detective agency's involvement in the NM case. He sounds pretty nervous about them sticking their nose into the case (and potentially finding something out), and even sets a time limit for Yakou to get his goons in there by that time OR ELSE. The time limit could be there not only just to scare Yakou into cooperating, but also because he needs those detectives taken into custody ASAP, as, as mentioned earlier, every second they walk around deducing shit, they could stumble upon something he does not want them to know.

Seth comes back sometime before the time limit runs out, probably to sit there with his bouquet and watch as Yakou's pacing in circles next to him using up all of his big boy strength to not drop on the ground and start scream crying in despair. Meanie. Yuma shows up, and tells Seth he was the one investigating the NM killings. Immediately, like, RIGHT AWAY, Seth says this:

Seth: Oh? I see... So... you're the one who interfered with our work at the clocktower. Well... I will honor your courage for confessing and turn a blind eye to that incident. You must drop this case. If you do... we will leave without pursuing any further action. That'd be the ideal solution for all of us... What do you say?

Seth didn't waste a second to offer the NDA complete exemption from consequences if they stop right now and shut up about the case forever. That is... very odd behavior from a man who just three hours ago threatened to kill Yakou (and, I believe, the other detectives by extension) for interfering earlier. It's almost as if something about that was sending him into an internal panic. I wonder what.

I think the fact that he was so quick to just... let everybody go upon meeting the guy who was investigating the killings if they just could please stop right now i'm begging you is what almost completely eradicates the possibility of Seth not knowing anything about the identity of the NM. That is not normal peacekeeper behavior, actually. He wanted to shut Yuma up as fast as possible by any means possible because if he did not stay silent, he could have uncovered something very, very incovenient and likely downright very dangerous for Seth.

Yuma, of course, doesn't want old man Jiei to go to a happy farm far away, and tells Seth he won't stop now. Seth now very quickly orders his guys to take Yakou away, deal's off. Then Yuma pulls out the "actually I investigated all the previous killings too did you know all (debatable) the victims died of strangulation", and Seth is visibly shitting himself right now and orders Yuma to ALSO get arrested good lord bowlcut makoto knows too much. Whatever. Then Halara happens. Then SHINIGAMI happens. And just a moment later...

III. Wake up babe the Nail Man just dropped (DEAD)

Priest & hot topic Darkiplier keel over and fucking die. Shinigami pilots the Priest's corpse like a mecha to make him confess; the scene is as follows -

"Priest": Ahem, sorry about that. You see, I'm actually the Nail Man.

Seth: Wh-What?

"Priest": [continues to explain; not that important to my point. she ends with telling them to check the church for evidence, then Shinigami leaves]

Seth: The priest... mumbled something, but I couldn't quite hear him. Anyway... (...)

When the Priest confesses, Seth is the only person in the group to respond, with his nervous sweating sprite, much less, which wouldn't mean much alone -- it's perfectly possible he was just shocked, is all. But considering EVERYTHING ELSE so far pointing towards him working with the Nail Man... it's looking very bad for you, mr. Seth.

Then Seth claims he couldn't hear him; which, bullshit, you literally responded. He clearly didn't want the priest's role as the NM to be known, and was about to leave without doing anything about it. Just before he can take the detectives to the headquarters, guess who shows up to save our asses last minute?

IV. Martina's testimony who I believe above all (ignore that fake ginger cunt behind her)

It's Martina, look at her! she shows up riding a fucking motorbike through the air like the coolest motherfucker in Kanai Ward right before Halara. Along with her passenger princess bf Yomi I guess. Well, she's the one that actually says Seth had taken bribes from the church. The convo is as follows:

Martina: We have discovered you've been receiving sizeable kickbacks from facilitating donations meant for the church.

Seth: Huh...?

Martina: We now know why you were so desperate to clean up all the Nail Man killings. After all, it would be troublesome to lose access to all that money if the priest was arrested as the Nail Man

Seth: W-Wait, please. Director Yomi, I did this under your orders... [...] I-I only did this because you ordered me to...

I don't think Seth's confusion here meant he didn't know what the hell was going on right then; but rather, because his boss just turned on him after (allegedly) giving him the thumbs up to take that bag.

In conclusion! Seth indeed, took that bag, and I am ruling him guilty guilty GUILTY and SENTENCING HIM TO... actually, I have no idea. Uh, sorry, I guess he can stay on home arrest until I think of something...

I hope that was coherent :3 croissant emoji🥐

[tinyjordan]

so I actually finally finished my first playthrough of bg3 last night (except it was actually this morning because I beat the final boss at like 3 am) and I just wanted to share my experience. obviously there will be spoilers

so yes. it did take me like 2 months to finish the game, a lot longer than the average player. this was mostly because I was just really busy with school and shit and I've been playing on my parents tv, so I obviously didn't get too much time to myself to binge the game. but honestly, when I did get time to play through the game, I was honestly so overjoyed to just explore the world and do quests with my silly little guys.

imo my favorite act in the game is the first act, which from what I read, many people agree with me on this sentiment. that doesn't mean that I think that the other two acts weren't great, but I just think that act 1 had something special going on there. i loved how huge the first act was and just how much I could do in this act. i thought I finished this act having completed every quest (except those in the mountain pass because I didn't know that I could just go through both paths, which I don't know how I came to that conclusion in hindsight) but when reading and watching videos about bg3, I learned that there was a ton of stuff that I missed. I can't wait for my second playthrough (which will probably be my durge run) to experience more that I missed.

i don't know where to put this point in this essay thing, but the party after defeating the goblin camp. love it! this is where fanfictions are born. although you don't really get much when romancing gale in this party except the fact that he proclaims that he likes your stank in the most socially awkward but well meaning way. i thought this was funny.

oh yeah! also Lae'zel tried to have sex with me. we didn't, but I thought I might as well share that.

speaking of Lae'zel: the most underrated character in the game. i don't care. she is extremely wholesome despite our first introduction to her. in my playthrough, she was the one that got kidnapped by orin in act three. when I rescued her from orin, she was extremely sweet and thankful about it. she said something about the githyanki language not having a word for "thank you", and she tells the player the closest thing to it in her language. but even then she thought that wasn't a good enough way to express gratitude, so she said "thank you, sincerely." she's not my favorite companion, but my heart did swell in this moment

speaking of favorite companions-

astarion

ASTARION

yes I know that everyone reading this probably heard this a million times, but Astarion is such an amazing and well written character. this man is blorbo himself. i want to be his best friend. during my playthrough, my tav and Astarion had a sort of sibling like relationship: being on near opposite sides of the character archetype spectrum and disagreeing on a lot of things, but also being super protective over each other (we dislike Araj in this house). his whole story arc made me want to cry several times. i wish this game had a hug option for every companion so that I could hug everyone, ESPECIALLY Astarion. omg. OMG. when we defeated Cazador and Astarion stabbed him repeatedly, i cheered. i got him to not ascend and I cheered. like Karlach (who i also love and got me the closest to actually crying), i was so fucking proud of Astarion. i could talk about him all day but I think I would just stop there and resort to reblogging post about him for my own sanity.

when thinking of my opinion on Shadowheart, I remember that I didn't like her at all at first. it didn't help that she was racist against the githyanki. but after act 2 and pretty much always having her in my party as the main healer, she REALLY grew on me as a character. imo, I think she has one of the best character arcs and she really meshes well with the other companions. she's not a comic relief character at all, but every joke and sarcastic comment she makes is always a banger. she's my Tav's official best friend. also her act three glow up. that is all

oh also during Shadowheart's quest in act three, I met Viconia DeVir (who i killed) and I laughed my ass off because I ended up naming my Tav Viconia who when playing as her, she was like the EXACT opposite of the evil cult leader. there was definitely a "there can only be one" moment when killing her

I also feel that Wyll is pretty underrated character, which is disappointing since he is actually super interesting as a character. I mean he made a deal with a devil. like. c'mon. now I did sometimes get annoyed with his whole being a hero schtick, but also he's like the most sane character companion imo. i felt bad about him sulking alone at the after goblin killing party and I was tempted to ask him to dance to maybe cheer him up, but I also knew that this would probably lead to a romance with him, which I didn't really want. so I just let him be. i remember the impossible choice we had to make in act three (save Wyll's dad and sacrifice his freedom, or break the contract Wyll made with Mizora and let his dad die). This was actually a really difficult decision to make because like. it's either your dad or your freedom. it's literally an impossible choice to make. i decided to have Wyll be free of his contract with Mizora because I had hope that we could maybe find a loophole to this whole deal. WHICH THERE WAS. I had to undo a 5 whole hours of progress because of a bug with Duke Ravengard not spawning in the iron throne if you progress too much in the lower city before watching Gortash's coronation (which is entirely my fault for being awful at directions and not understanding very obvious instructions), BUT I DID IT. I saved Wyll's dad and had him free from Mizora's servitude! his friendship with Karlach is also extremely sweet. I love just how nice Wyll is. I think he's neat.

KARLACH! My favorite female companion! I was so excited when I was finally able to give her a hug. she's just so sweet and fun and as i said before she got me the closest to crying while playing the game. she almost made me cry not once, not twice, but THREE whole times. first time was of course when she was finally able to touch people. second was when we killed Gortash and she had a crisis about dying soon. third was when I thought she was actually going to die before Wyll offered that she come with him back avernus to kill all the devils (bless Wyll). she's also the number one funniest character in the game which juxtaposes the fact that she almost made ms cry the most amount of times.

speaking of crying, this game made me want to cry three separate times in one day. i made the mistake of playing through Shadowheart's and Astarion's quest on the same day then proceeding to kill Gortash, which you already know what happens after that.

After playing through the game, I agree that camp dad(dy) is the official term to describe Halsin. I'm not attracted to him in any since, so to me he is just dad, but I do agree with this sentiment. also goddamn he tall

Jaheira is the fun aunt of the group and I love her for that. she's a queen.

Minsc is himbo. I also realized that he always has something to say about everything we do, and I didn't realize that until when I talked to him one time and he was speaking of something we did like three quests ago and I had to keep talking to him until he was finally caught up with the current events. it was super hilarious

Also I love Boo! when Minsc introduced me to this space hamster I immediately feel in love with his tiny wittle paw awnd hwis wittle whiskews- also Boo had so much personality and I love him for that.

now. it is time to be down bad. Gale. my beloved. if you have seen the amount of posts and art that I reblog about him, you could probably tell that I am absolutely down bad for this man. I don't know when it started, but holy shit. this man got me kicking my legs and squealing like a little school girl. every romance scene with him got me down bad. he says just the sweetest things and I am on the floor dead from a heart attack. he proposed to me at the end of the game. i was happy :)

other points about Gale: he is super funny. every joke with him is hilarious. Mystra is a bitch. he gives dedicated history professor vibes. his camp outfit looks so comfy. he hates sneaking because his knees hate sneaking. he is best friends with his tressym named Tara, who he summoned NOT because of tressyms being known for being a great familiar, but because he wanted a friend. pleasure domes lol

i guess this is all to say that I love every companion in bg3

i believe I got the best ending (in terms of good or bad endings) in the game, and my hot take is that I actually love the ending of the game! i don't know what other people were talking about when they said it wasn't satisfying. the only critique I can give about the ending is that if you don't romance either Shadowheart or Astarion, you don't really know what happens to them after the events of the game other than they probably have a happy ending. other than that, great ending!

i will say that I do agree with most other people when they say that act 3 is maybe the weakest act in the game. not that it isn't a bad act. i just think it's unnecessary difficult even in explorer difficulty, which I did had to set it to because balanced wasn't cutting it for my smooth brain. i also had difficulty with trying to figure out what to do or where to go for a huge chunk of the act. and if it wasn't for a few helpful guides, I might have accidentally skipped a huge chunk of the quests and gotten a worse ending for a lot of my companions. also yeah. act 3 is extremely buggy. not unplayable buggy, but it did cause a lot of problems with my playthrough including me having to redo 5 hours of progress because of a bug

also fighting the githyanki at any point in the game starting from the end of act 2 is an absolute nightmare. how are a group of githyanki monks a more difficult fight than the literal god of death?

speaking of death, i love the dead three. i think they are amazing antagonists. my favorite with being Thorm. he is just so intimidating and he gave an amazing first impression. it helps that he is voiced by J.K. Simmons.

OH AND RAPHAEL! he is so theatre kid evil and that is amazing! best fight theme in the game. i saved the song on my Spotify before I even got to his fight because I heard it for the first time when I was kind of watching my brother play and I fell in love with the song.

i wish there was more to do in act 2, but in terms of story, it is extremely strong and the act is extremely spooky, which I love. i got scarred for life in the house of healing. though I think the biggest strength with act 2 is Shadowheart. she stole the show in act 2.

also Gale's act 2 romance scene hehe <3

Scratch best boy

Owl bear cub so adorable

oh! also when exploring the szarr palace, I found an owl bear plush and I immediately wanted it to be real. i immediately stole it because it is the best thing ever

i love this game so much! there is so much more I want to speak about, but then this would turn into a novel if I mentioned everything. I might make a post about my Tav later on, but that's for later. i already made a google doc about her profile, but there is so much more that I want to discuss about her outside that doc, so...maybe I can share the doc whenever and maybe let people send asks about the character and I can discuss more in detail stuff that wasn't mentioned

I'm probably gonna take a short break from playing bg3 since I still just want to think about the finale and I spent maybe 80 hours of gameplay on this one run (i say this one run because I have been playing a bit with my brother and friend)

afterwards I want to do a redeemed dark urge run. i might romance Astarion not because I see him in a romantic light, but because I really ship him with the durge thanks to all of the art I have seen

tldr; bg3 is amazing

[z0urcherri]

Z0ur's 2023 Recap

Here goes with a personal first. To start, 2023 for me was transformative. I felt more confident, more focused, and doing the things i love has felt even easier. Less emphasis on working hard was the key. I'm very proud of this change. I'm also proud of my accomplishments. In no specific order, i've given my blog a structured queue, i've started up a Neocities, and have finally picked up projects that have sat dormant for years. Alzier is seeing character modeling and soundtrack work being done, and Burrowed Alive has a main cast and a plot synopsis ready. I'm sorry i promised a preview and then never got around to it, so i'll simply release it when the time's right. With all that out of the way, here's other cool things i did: In music This year (especially in comparison with 2022) i got serious about sharing my favorite tunes, some obscure and some more well-known. In particular were some ear-catching artist discoveries: The Twilights, Coral City, Russ Freeman. I dusted off acts like The Return, Janis Ian, Paolo Conte and Jimmy Wayne in hopes that listeners could make their own discoveries. Plenty of tunes were subject to hours and hours of replays-Nocturne, Juicy, and City Magic, for example, bring an irresistible feel-good vibe to any occasion. I also played the hell out of Charmless Man, In E, Concrete Blonde's Little Wing, Time Goes On and much much more. Seriously, it's an enormous list. Check out #hand-picked music for everything! In film Finding time to watch a movie can be a challenge, especially when you're busy. That challenge doubles when you're also planning around movie night with loved ones. It doesn't always work out. However, movies were watched, from classics to a select few new releases. Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, despite being released in 2022, took 'til this year to get around to and is easily among my top 5 flicks. Facing off with a dull and uninspired Five Nights movie, Willy's Wonderland was put to the test, which it passed with flying colors. And in the tradition of watching horror around Halloweentime, i chose the Final Destination series, somewhat to combat my own phobia of death. I'd seen the first one, but i have yet to finish the 2nd. I also got started on Venom and Transformers. Lastly, i gave Raggedy Ann & Andy a watch, and while i didn't hate it i ultimately have a couple bones to pick with it. I'll do a full review later. In streaming Less time spent dealing with technical issues is always a plus. It's allowed me to bring a new segment, live drawing, into the mix. #z0ur artz is where you can find not only finished pieces, but also a 3-minute timelapse of the drawing process! I'm also happy with the new chatbox, and plan to experiment with different graphics in the future. In Syphon Filter, i've just defeated the first boss, Anton Girduex. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy. I fear for the next boss fight already. In Tarzan, my biggest problems are falling out of a tree and missing out on collectibles. Corruptions have been steadily improving, and the results are no longer simply "pixel puke" and crashes. I've been diving into lots of corruption tutorials, so expect to see it pay off in the coming year. We'll also be starting some new playthroughs! In closing And, of course, i've met some incredible creators like @lucianinsanity, @razialart, @lace-arts, and more this year! Please, do check them out. I ultimately learn from and find inspiration in everything in the #hand-picked art tag. New fandoms include Amazing Digital Circus, Toontown Corporate Clash, Welcome Home, Emesis Blue, and others i can't think of right now. And that's about it! Be seeing you. - Malcolm

[dualityvn]

thank you nightmare for the delicious lore crumb i will now drive myself crazy over it for everyone's enjoyment

alright so, "the game isnt supposed to exist. you're supposed to forget it" right off the bat i have a pretty good idea of what i think the first part means, which ill get to, but ill be frank i have No clue what the second part is supposed to mean. maybe ill think of it as i work the first part out, maybe not, but going into this i am Clueless.

diving right into the first part then, as soon as i read it i was reminded of magic man, and how he interceded on our behalf to stop Keith from seeing an ask that would have upset him. when we questioned Keith and Tenebris about magic man later, we learned that he had approached and spoken to Keith the day we first meet him, after we had left the flower shop, and told him that we (the MC) would be someone who could love him. (i wanted to find the exact post so i could quote it but i cant find it so if im mis-rembering something let me know)

so, if we assume that magic man is in fact, magic, and somehow pulled some strings to get this "fated meeting" between the boys and the MC to happen, then i think that pretty solidly solves the question of why the game isn't supposed to exist.

because its not supposed to. we were never supposed to meet Keith and Tenebris, and they were never supposed to get attached to us, but it Has been created and they Did. but something that's not supposed to exist has to be created, which explains the existence of magic man.

what i still dont get is magic mans motives tho. if he is the one that made it possible for the game to exist, and for the boys and the MC to meet each other and fall in love, Why? why would he do that? what does he get out of it? what made him look at Keith and Tenebris and say "ill handle it"

is it because hes been in a similar situation? because he knows what its like to be deemed "unlovable" by those around him? we know from the one picture we have of him that he has some scarring on his face, what happened to him to cause that? does it have something to do with why he seemed to go out of his way to help both us and the boys?

magic man is such a fascinating character in this world primarily because we know nothing about him. we know that he is aware of us, and that he is aware of the power our words have on Keith and Tenebris. we know he gave advice to Keith that he wont tell us about, and that Tenebris doesn't know all the details either. and that's like,, it.

to be fair, i could be completely wrong here, all of this is counting on magic man being magic, and i honestly have no other leads if that's not the case.

i also still have no idea what "you're supposed to forget it." is supposed to mean. it could be related to a couple of things, like how in the game once you finish a playthrough, that's it for that particular version of the boys. they're done and move on, forever mourning the connection to you that they once had but will never have again. if you start a new playthrough, you are given a completely new set of them, who are exactly the same, but yet are not the same ones as before. (which, side note, is so cruel and heartbreaking to think about)

anyways, thank you nightmare once again for sharing with me i have been thinking about this nonstop since last night when i saw it and it has been eating my brain alive

Sorry for the wait, Cacti, I finally dug this out of my ask pile.

But you're right about the fact that "he" is involved. However, none of the motives you listed are right :P And unfortunately, you won't find out until a future game. But your efforts are appreciated!

[auncyen]

Oboro's Letter

I'm typing this up for my own reference (I've seen some of the content referred to but not the actual text) but also CAN I JUST SAY I'M SO MAD. I ACTUALLY DID FIND THIS IN MY FIRST PLAYTHROUGH. BUT THE GAME WOULDN'T LET ME PICK IT UP FOR SOME REASON. I TRIED SO MANY TIMES AND EVENTUALLY I THOUGHT IT WAS AN ANIMATION FOR INCENSE OR SOMETHING THAT JUST STUPIDLY LOOKED LIKE AN ITEM. WHY DIDN'T YOU LET ME PICK THIS UP, GAME THERE'S SO MUCH FOR OBORO HERE T_T

anyway the text is under the cut

My name is Oboro. I was born in U, a nation bled dry by its interminable war with Ku. Empty stomachs, spreading pestilence, and nights spent curled up against the chill were facts of life. Although the adults around me blamed my birth for my miserable lot, even in my tender years I knew the truth: Ku was to blame. That wretched nation who preyed upon the weak, bringing strife and death in its wake.

While the better part of my life was spent in suffering, my sister brought some small measure of joy to my existence. We were not bound by blood; I plucked her from the city streets and raised her as my own family. Now, some might think shouldering such a burden is folly, especially when I scarcely knew from where my next meal would come. However, I could tell that this child had a fire within her. Yes, when she spied the dagger I held in my hands, her cries ceased, and I knew. It was at that very moment when I decided we would make it through this life together. Oh, how naive I was then.

After four years of relative peace, Ku's forces fell upon the town we called home. If the tyrants were victorious, we would be killed or captured, forced to spend our lives in servitude. I resolved to kill King Jigo of Ku myself, that we might be spared such a fate. After donning the armor of a dead Ku soldier, I asked my sister to slash my body, and made my way to Jigo under the guise of being a wounded ally. While I slipped through Ku's ranks, my attempt on Jigo's life failed and I was captured. As his soldiers pinned me down, my mind grasped for a clever escape. It was then that Jigo asked, "Will you serve Ku by my side?"

An unexpected offer, to say the least, but one I did not hesitate to take. I turned my back on our home and joined hands with my sworn enemy. All so that my sister and I could live.

However, still we found no comfort. Ku's bloody conquest poured over one border after another, and the fires of war spread unabated. As the desert was stained a deep crimson, my heart became black as pitch. I recall on one particularly red day noticing a corpse turned toward me, its gaze piercing through lifeless eyes. I tried to look away, only to be met with a field of dead bodies upon the sand, each one leering at me intently.

Perhaps it was merely the work of a troubled imagination, but that is hardly the point. The act of living became something I could not comprehend. We steal, only to be stolen from, and then we die. This cycle repeats itself time and time again until at the end we find...what? I pondered the answer to this question and eventually reached my answer.

Life has no meaning, and living is a fool's errand. I was mistaken to look toward the dawn, for tomorrow is but a farce. A world so twisted ill deserves to see a new day. So, I will ensure that it never comes.

Such was the thought in the forefront of my mind as I wore the mask of dutiful subject. Day after day I played my role, until a man came to me bearing a grimoire and claiming it would pique my interest. The text within was said to stir the hearts of all who read it, but I was unmoved as I turned the final page, for I had come to realize the truths it laid bare on my own.

How many years has it been since then? At last, my plan is in motion, and a great battle looms on the horizon. This world will meet its end, and the light of dawn will be replaced with a choking darkness. For life has no meaning, and tomorrow is but a farce. Wouldn't you agree? No longer will we be forced to kill or be killed. No longer will we be forced to greet a dawn that only brings more suffering. The end is nigh.

[oraclememehacker]

Game and Date Night

“Come on, come on…!” Futaba and Ren were during an exciting co-op playthrough of Pocky and Rocky on the super famicom. This game had been the bane of their existence ever since she had found it for relatively cheap. She had heard good things about it, and every time they played, they would get far it before the game really started to kick their ass. This time, however, they were on the top of their game. Enemies were going down like they were nothing, and soon they were at the 5th stage, the forbidden castle.

There were lots of cages strewn about, lots of enemies and barrels to destroy. At this point they were both down to their last lives but had full health and such. Neither of them was really saying much to each other, other than watching out for enemies and to avoid obstacles. Their full attention was on the game that was in front of them. And they were determined to beat it. Unfortunately, right before the boss, they died, and it was game over. What a frustrating way to end things, since Futaba had looked up that the next thing was the final boss.

A frustrated groan escaped Futaba as she laid down the controller and turned to Ren, who shared her frustrations by letting out a sigh, and was clearly gripping the controller a little more tightly than he perhaps should have been. “Don’t worry Ren, we’ll get it next time. At this rate I think we’ve seen most of the game. We would’ve won too if we hadn’t gotten sloppy during the 4th stage boss.” There wasn’t much that could be done now, and they were too deflated to want to retry.

She reached over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek to cheer him up. “Wehehehe, I think we did pretty well tonight don’t you say?” She grabbed one of her half full energy drinks and downed the rest of it. “Yeah, we did Futaba. Still just upset that we didn’t beat it tonight. Damn, I thought for sure we had it.” As he looked around, he realized they should probably clean up a bit. There were energy drink cans, soda cans and various bags of chips and stuff assorted around them. “…We should probably clean up a bit.”

That was when she realized just how messy they were. “Oh. Yeah, we probably should.” Futaba admitted with a sheepish chuckle as she watched Ren make his way downstairs to grab a trash bag. Then the two would get to work cleaning things up, putting everything in the bag to take out to the garbage later. As they were, Futaba couldn’t help but notice a slight upset look on Ren’s face. It was just a momentary thing that she would’ve missed normally, but Ren meant a lot to her. She loved him, so she was paying attention more to how he was feeling.

“Hey um, Ren? Is everything alright?” Futaba asked, putting the last of the trash into bags. He meant a lot to her after all and seeing him upset didn’t make her feel good at all. Maybe she was overthinking it but still. “Huh? U-Uh, of course I’m fine Futaba. Why do you ask.” He seemed confused, as everything was fine, at least, he thought so anyways. “I just saw that look on your face. It was like you turned from a smiley face emoticon to a frowny face one. Wanted to make sure you’re alright, is all!”

Oh. Normally he didn’t allow that to be seen, but Futaba was asking about it now, and he knew she wasn’t just going to Alet it be. “Just some thoughts, is all. It’s not a big deal really.” Hopefully that would be good enough for her. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. “You don’t have to lie to me Ren. We’re in a relationship. Just because I have trouble picking up on social cues doesn’t mean you can lie to my face like that! Please, you can tell me if something’s upsetting you.”

He sweat dropped hard at that. But she was right, he didn’t have any good reason to lie to her. It was just a reflexive thing from the days of his parents always bugging him, and then when he would tell them what was going on, just telling him to suck it up, or that he was overreacting, or that he was being a drama queen. Plus, with him being seen as a delinquent and a troublemaker, he really learned to keep his head low and to lie to avoid any issues.

“Okay okay, sorry Futaba. I’m not intentionally trying to hide things I swear. I just didn’t think it was a big deal, that was all.” There was an intense aura coming off Futaba still that just made him close his eyes. “It’s just, and it’s not really something I’ve told anyone but, I’m still dealing with the aftereffects of that interrogation.” Hearing that made the intensity fade away quickly, having a more concerned look. “What sort of effects are we talking about? Like a permanent status effect?”

That elicited a small chuckle from Ren. “Something like that. I’ve been dealing with migraines since then. I’m thankful to not deal with any today but they’ve been prevalent. Plus, there’s this spot in my chest that’s always been hurting. I think it’s from where they kicked me. There’s a large chunk of my memory that’s lost from then as well. Just a lot to deal with is all.” Immediately he was hugged softly, avoiding the spot the best she could.

“I’m so sorry Ren…we all knew that it was going to be risky. We just never expected them to drug you.” Hearing what he was dealing with deeply upset her, making her feel responsible for what he had gone through she was instrumental in saving him with the app activator. He returned the hug, giving her a few head pats of appreciation. “I didn’t expect it either, to be fair, heh. But don’t blame yourself. You saved me after all. If you hadn’t made that app activator, I’d be…I don’t want to think about it.”

Plus, there was a few visions that he was having where he saw himself laying on the table in a pool of blood. It must have been from his cognitive self. That was terrifying to say the least, but he wasn’t ready to confront that sort of thing just yet. So, for the time being he would keep that in his back pocket and just continue to give Futaba some head pats as she was sniffling into him, clearly still upset, and blaming herself for him being so hurt constantly.

“Just remember Futaba, I went along with the plan. We all did. We knew the risk.” He lifted her head up by moving his hand down to her chin, making her look at him. He then would lean down and softly kiss her lips, enjoying the softness of them as he held the kiss for a bit. He loved this adorkable nerd so much. She made his life worth living despite everything that he went through, and he wanted to make sure she knew of that.

There was bit of delay on Futaba’s end as she had been taken by surprise by this, but she returned the kiss in kind and the two were in a nice little embrace as they kissed for a bit, before he pulled his lips away. “So don’t blame yourself anymore, alright?” Futaba was incapable of saying anything and merely just nodded. He then wiped the tears that were in the corners of her eyes and gave her a few more headpats.

Then he realized: they had never taken the trash out. “Oh yeah, before we cuddle, I’ll take the trash out.” Pulling himself away from her, he took the trash down and quickly disposed of it in the dumpster in the alley way before heading back to his room. Futaba was in a much better mood now that she had been persuaded not to take his problems as her fault. He merely motioned for her to follow him to the bed and she would happily do so, after taking her glasses and headphones off.

The two would lay down on his milk carton bed and wrap their arms around each other, Futaba situated where she could nuzzle into his chest. Ren could feel his heartbeat just a little bit faster, because whenever they cuddled and enjoyed time with each other in this manner, it made a swelling of emotions come up to the back of his throat. He could only imagine how she must have felt in this situation, since she was a massive cuddler.

Futaba just found herself being comfortable and love stricken. To her, Ren was the most important person in her life. He was her key item, and she wasn’t going to lose him no matter what. That’s how she felt, and she nuzzled into his chest some more, thoroughly enjoying herself. “Mmm…you’re soft tonight, Ren. And smell good as well, surprisingly. Oh right, you went to the hot springs before this, you told me that.”

He thought maybe the intense gaming session would make him stink a little bit, but that didn’t seem to be the case. She patted her head some more, whilst rubbing her back, fingers swirling around in a soft circle to make her feel more relaxed. His chest softly rose and fell with each breath, and there was a healthy silence, the only sounds being from the two of them talking to each other, and the outdoor noises making their way in through the small opening in the window.

She would move her hands up and down the curvature of his spine, making sure he was nice and relaxed as well. The two were happy and in love, and there wasn’t much more that needed to be said. “Um…Ren? Thanks for everything…I-I love you…more than anything. You’re my key item. I never want to lose you.” As corny as it was, he really appreciated hearing that. “I love you too Futaba. Don’t worry, I’m not planning on going anywhere…well, until my probation is over.”

Oh right, that was the fly in the ointment. She didn’t want him to go, but his parents were probably going to want him back once that was over with, which was coming closer and closer every day. “Don’t worry though Futaba. I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’m going to see if I can’t strike a deal with my parents to stay here, because frankly I don’t really have anything to go home to. My parents don’t really care about me, and cared even less when I was charged with a crime.”

Hopefully that was the case, because him not being here was going to devastate her. “I hope so…I don’t want you gone. Not yet.” Futaba kept rubbing his back, sounding a little upset and frustrated at that. “I’ll fight with all my might. Just like fighting a major boss in an rpg.” Now he was talking her language. For now, the two would just continue to cuddle up against each other, but he would find that Futaba ended up falling asleep. Woops. Well, she wasn’t going anywhere tonight.

And neither was he. It was a great Game and Date night, and he managed to get some stuff off his chest that had been bothering him since the Interrogation room incident. Though, he still had more stuff to deal with. That was going to be a whole can of worms, something that he was probably going to need a therapist for. He gave her a few more headpats before just falling asleep alongside her. Sojiro was going to have a lot of questions in the morning, and same with Morgana. Oh well…

[shadowshrike]

If anyone's been wondering where I've been, the answer is playing Baldur's Gate 3. Vague spoilers ahead for those interested in how my playthroughs went:

I just finished my second run. The first was a 'normal' run, as I would likely play at a table, with a Druid Tav being as good and moral as possible and doing no romances. My second was a power-hungry/manipulative Bard Tav where I ascended Astarion, kept Shadowheart with Shar, made Lae'zel leader of her people and indebted to me, and became the new dark lord's consort who gets anything I ask for and has Halsin as a nomadic FWB that I encouraged at every turn to hate the evils of civilization (since we'd be making ourselves rulers of it to 'punish the wicked' in a shadow tyrant sort of way).

Honestly, having done both, I enjoyed the evil path more. I played evil as not muderhobo or horny, but instead as telling people what they wanted or needed to hear to make them love me and forgive me anything. It took surprisingly little save scumming. I eventually got their approval high enough that I could do whatever I wanted in end game and they would still adore me. Heck, after I ascended Astarion with Halsin in the party, Halsin approached me the next possible night to be part of our thing. I was surprised that the majority of the choices felt evil but not 'bad', and that by the end it seemed like a satisfying, true to character ending for everyone because I had mostly not interfered with their will except where necessary for my own power (e.g. making choices for Wyll to make sure he'll be out of my way when I conquer Baldur's Gate one day, and removing the aasimar/harpers from play while still uncursing the shadow lands with Thaniel and saving the druids so the wilds are friendly to me).

To my surprise, even though I always play good characters as a default, I particularly enjoyed both Shadowheart and Astarion so much more after their evil choices. In Astarion's case in particular, I was nervous going in that I wouldn't be able to do it, but after I met the first Gur I was able to piece together a hc for who he was before he was turned (basically a racist, self-serving noble who's always looking for power and a way out of consequences for his actions) that made him both easier to manipulate and the whole thing of encouraging him to embrace power so satisfying. It put the few heart-to-hearts I got in a different light, since even the more sincere lines came across as him trying new ways to manipulate me when he briefly thought I was a bleeding heart...which I turned right back on him until we were openly scheming together to solve his problems. A match made in liar's heaven. Add in the timing of Ascension in my game, it really felt like a 'good for him, bad for the world' ending in my playthrough, which is exactly what I was going for.

Meanwhile the blind 'good' playthrough was only satisfying as far as being allowed to do good. I didn't really expect any of that good to be lasting - heck it barely lasts between acts - and the fact that any companions who changed did it only for me (note: Shadowheart left in this run) left a sour taste in my mouth because I expect them to revert or get even worse as soon as I'm out of the picture. It also felt more sad in tone since I had done as much as I could and still lost so much (I failed to find the House of Hope, so it was particularly bad) while the evil ending had me smiling the whole way through since I sacrificed pretty much nothing/no one I didn't want to and it felt like it could lead directly into a super fun evil campaign of reshaping Baldur's Gate and the surrounding wilds afterwards.

In conclusion, very very fun game that I will likely keep playing with friends, though I may gently help them find a few of the critical encounters to make sure they get the ending they'd be happiest with. I honestly have almost no narrative complaints other than the final choice before the end, which is not just unpleasant (sign me up for "You can't get everything you want without sacrifice" stories any day) but also nonsensical given the character motivations we know. Otherwise, my advice to gamers, especially if they want to do a playthrough where they try to shove aside the player-sexual implementation, sex scenes, and characters-bend-to-player-morality systems in game so it feels more like playing at a table with other "real" people, is to ignore all of social media and just have fun. There are no bad choices, just ones that some people (loudly) find more personally satisfying than others, especially when they assume the game is being played as a romance sim. Your experience in game and therefore your characters and goals will not completely match anyone else's.

Finally, if anyone wants a little character analysis from my non-murderhobo/non-sex-focused evil playthrough (since those seem to be rare atm), please comment or send me an ask. I'm happy to talk about it more!

[elvenbeard]

Not me absolutely bingeing through the last 40 hours of Cyberpunk 2077 over the last 3 days, nope. I was actually shaking before starting the final questline, because there were so many FEARS about what might happen at the end (probably as much as V was shaking himself :’D)

All I knew was, there are several endings, some are better, some are worse, but zero specifics. In some regards, what I imagined, was a lot worse, in others it was exactly what I imagined, in other bits it was a lot worse than I expected but in a bittersweet kind of way?

I’m not 100% happy with the ending I got, but mainly due to a lack of hyper-specific dialogue choices I would have wished for during the ideal ending in my head XD But for my V I think it was the best outcome and also fitted him and his choices. So yay! My heart was a little bit cracked, but not ripped out in the way other games have done it with their endings (*side-eyes Mass Effect 3*), because I feel like my choices did matter overall.

MASSIVE Spoilers under the cut, so if you haven’t completed the game yourself, do not read!!!

I got the Sun ending! V lives, somewhat, yay xD

One of my biggest fears and worst case scenarios I was imagining was in relation to Jackie actually. I had the outcome that Arasaka took his body after the Coup (will do that differently next time though, now that I know of the alternatives... yes I read up so much stuff on the wiki tonight after finishing, finally xDD). So when Takemura tells you this, Arasaka took his body, probably put him through Soulkiller, etc. my immediate thought was “holy shit, please don’t let him show up in some evil twisted way during the ending just to have me suffer” (but also, that would have been so good XD). Didn’t happen though, thankfully xD

I was on quite good terms with Johnny actually, which I did not expect to be at all, see also my previous rants on the topic XD Letting him take the wheel scared me probably just as much as V, and his “just talking to Rogue about Adam Smasher” night of escapades didn’t really help ease that anxiety xD I’m not sure if I had high enough friendship for the secret ending, but I will reload my save to try (but will not attempt that ending til my next playthrough, bc admittedly, my V isn’t built for a suicide mission xD)

What made me the saddest about the Sun ending really is that V isn’t really that present or happy (for obvious reasons, of, you know, STILL impeding death), and that his relationship is suffering under it. But I like to imagine, given the slight open-endedness of that ending (ha), if someone can pull that final mission off, it’s V, and that Mr B. will be able to help him, and he’ll get some well deserved rest and happily ever after. Already wrote a whole fic in my head lying up wide awake in bed for three hours XD What I probably loved the most about the Sun ending is V’s penthouse XD It’s weird, I know, but I often started or ended my gaming sessions in his flat looking out of the window. So everytime I booted up the game I look out and see that nice lush garden and cool architecture across the street and think “man, whoever lives there has made it, wonder if I can go there myself at some point later”. Yes, I can!! It made me cry out loud once I figured out where that penthouse was xD Also, what kind of made the ending for me a lot, in terms of, “what fits my character best” was the ride in the AV to the Afterlife mirroring my corpo V’s ride in the AV to Lizzie’s in the very beginning super well (I have zero clues about the Streetkid and Nomad prologues - no spoilers in the comments please! - but maybe there’s a scene like that in those, too). But yes, the circle of life and all, you know *strums guitar*.

I didn’t expect Johnny to grow on me as much as he did during that last stretch of the game, and him having to go for V to get a final chance at living did make me really sad. I still don’t think I’d be able to go down the alternative route where he is the one to walk out of the tower. Waaay too attached to V by now, sorry Johnny xD But you’ll never be forgotten, and I mean in a way legends never die. And maybe it’s not the last Night City ever saw or heard of him.

What else... the other main story characters! I think what annoyed me a little bit was that sliiiight railroading into Panam’s romance, when you’re just wanting to be nice. I enjoy her as a character a lot, because she’s loud and unapologetic, but also has a really sweet and soft side about her. I like the Aldecaldos very much, too. But when I notice I’m being railroaded it’s a hard pass for me, sorry xD

Then Judy... Judy is love, Judy is life. Her final quest was one of my favourites, and the one apart from the ending the quest that made me cry the most, probably. I love that she stays in contact with a befriended V even after leaving the city. The little updates, how happy she is now that she left the city behind, are really really lovely. Also, I love her texting style XD *types one line then hits send, rinse and repeat* - because I tend to do that too. Also, from the moment she mentions she goes diving I wished she’d take V along at some point - so when she calls about it I again screamed irl about it XD Oh, Judy... I have a female V in my head for you, but no idea when I’ll get to play her XD

I would have wished for something similar with River, him keeping in touch a bit more, because I loved his (messed up) storyline a lot, and I would have loved a few more interactions afterwards! I think I need to space it out more next time to have more of him xD

Then Kerry, another heavy case of “is love, is life” omg. His questline was the perfect mix of feels and fun like *chef’s kiss*. Same with River kind of, I wish there had been even more quests with him, but since you only meet him very late in the game it still felt like you had a chance to get to know him better with not too much else going on simultaneously. And him being more involved in the main story than River, too! For his final quest, the beginning of the boat tour was one of the best scenes in the game for me, like oof... Got me really really emotional actually. And then... CARNAGE!! I loved it, love Kerry, 100000/10.

Then Takemura... man, you know, it’s a crime he’s not a romance option, but in hindsight, knowing his possible fates now, I think that might have actually killed me. I’m tempted to go down the Arasaka ending route just once for the sole reason to get more Takemura time really. Fuck everyone else on that path with a corkscrew XD But yes, A+++ character design with him, complex, layered, relatable (esp. for my Corpo V), foodie, but also absolutely blind when it comes to his loyalties and honor. All with good reasons, but aaahhh... let me fix him!! Let me change him!! XDD  Also he had the best first appearance of any of the main story characters imo! Epic badass.

But yes... what a fucking blast that was. Can’t wait for a replay with some slightly better choices here and there, trying the other lifepath quests, trying some different endings maybe, and skilling my V better XD There’s so many options to skill them, it’s insane, but knowing my fighting style (or not fighting - stealth ftw!)  much better now and what the max level roughly is I think I can make more informed choices. Really looking forward to a replay - also with a lot less anxiety now, and a little bit of faith in complex, bittersweet endings finally restored XD