#i gotta remember how tO PLAY MY NPCS | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

danwhobrowses · 3 months

Text

So I Finally Finished a Playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3

It's been months of playing over my holidays and the weekends, but I've finally completed my first playthrough of what was deemed Game of the Year for 2023.

As someone whose only D&D experiences come from the two movies (the bad one that traumatized me as a kid by killing Snails and the good one that deserves more love) and Critical Role, I didn't know much of what I was getting into, only my coworkers saying 'buy it, it's a masterpiece' unanimously when I inquired about it. Having no idea how to play or the lore, I was very much entering blind.

Continued down the Keep Reading

So, I'm sure we gotta get through the first set of questions so let's get to them.

What was your Tav? It took a long time to realise that 'Tav' meant your player character among fanpages, I can't tell you why it's Tav still, but I only pieced it together from Durge naming too. My Tav is Dec, short for December because that's when I started playing and I couldn't waste too much time on stream thinking up a clever name. He was a High Elf Guild Artisan, for Class I started as a Beast Master Ranger, ironic that Ranger is deemed one of the lesser classes among the community, I was adamant to not use archery at the start but by the end of it I was a Crossbow Expert. I went 9/3 with Rogue to get Assassin, but then respec'd my Ranger into a Gloomstalker, since I never really summoned the bear (probably should've learned from Sam's constant dissing of Trinket eh?) plus when I remembered Dread Ambusher it gave me 3 attacks on the first turn. He has combustible blood thanks to Araj and some tadpole powers after consuming them after the creche incident made him more open to trusting the Dream Visitor; Charm - which failed 90% of the time - Psionic Backlash, Favourable Beginnings and Luck of the Far Realms used mainly, I had Stage Fright and Force Tunnel but didn't use it, same for Cull the Weak. Likes to talk things through, especially with Persuasion/Charisma buffing invisible hats. Has the Duellist's Perogative Sword and the Swire's Sledboard Shield for Melee, and the AC bonus, plus the Armor of Agility giving him an evasive 24 AC with Advantage thanks to 20 DEX and the Cloak of Displacement.

You can't see his scar and tattoo too well from here but I had to show off his Black Furnace and Red dye on his armour it looks too good. Here's a better look of his face:

For his tattoo and scarring I like to think he got the tattoo after the burn, in some ways distracting it from the scarring.

Did you Save Scum? Don't Lie to Me! Yes and I'm not sorry about it. If you wanna invite me to a D&D table I'll follow the rules and how the dice lands but there's a lot more wiggle room there than in a game where there's finite dialogue options. I was also not going to sit there and let my companions turn against me just because the game fancied throwing continual Nat 1s or low rolls at me, nor would I let Omeluum die in the Iron Throne, or end up leaving the Mirror of Loss empty handed. I bought the game so if I wanna carve this experience this way I shall carve it this way, I get some people see the Morally Good path as boring for this kind of gaming but I like to be good, it feels good, and I want good things to happen for my allies, even if it means having to undo most of their religious indoctrination. But, it did take a while for me to start save scumming, really it was freeing Halsin that started it but it didn't become regular until Auntie Ethel. I only really did it for dialogue/lore expansion (or when there were two dialogue options I was between which I hoped would be interpreted how I expect it to) and for necessary buff rolls like the Mirror of Loss, but sometimes I did it to keep some key NPCs alive like Jaheira, who died at Moonrise the first time.

Who did you usually team up with? Kinda a harem squad since I had Lae'zel, Shadowheart and Karlach. I was very combat-oriented; Lae'zel adding support to Karlach's melee or Dec's ranged combat while Shadowheart made up for most of the magic with heals, summons and like 100 scrolls in her bag (Dec horded about 100 different arrows and poisons too, sometimes pays off). I respec'd her to Light Domain after the Nightsong stuff to fit her character and hair change - though I must admit I preferred the black hair - and gave her my Adamantine Splint Armour for defences plus the ring and Balduran's Helm for +5 healing each turn. Lae'zel was a Battle Master, clad in the Helldusk set, though I didn't use much of her Superiority dice moves; the enemies often made saves against it even with 18 strength (20 after the mirror of loss, and higher at endgame thanks to an Elixir of Cloud Giant Strength), I relied more on her brute force, plus reaction skills like Executioner and Sentinel, plus the Silver Sword of the Astral Plane. Karlach was a 9/3 Bear Heart Barbarian and Champion Fighter, I did respec her for the Feats but the Bone armour, Balduran's Greatsword and Brutal Jump also helped at times, plus the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength and the Amulet of Greater Health made her a high damage, near-200 Health-on-Rage machine (over 200 thanks to the +30 extra health at the final battle). I tended not to swap around a lot, I couldn't abandon my healer, loved Karlach's personality and I had sentiment for Lae'zel being the first person I encountered, she has the sad eyes too, but I did do some rare switching for personal quests. Initially I started with Astarion, but that's because of a misunderstanding of who Karlach was - more on that later - and it turned out that I wasn't doing much for stealth, I brought him for Cazador though, much like I brought Wyll for Ansur and Gale for the Book of Karsus. Later in Act 3 I played around with dyes and equipped everyone, out of fear that I may be sprung unprepared like with Orin - Halsin only had a torch - by all campmates joining the fight, it didn't happen but everyone at least looks stylish.

I go between whether I like Wyll's colours though, on one hand he looks like a Templar and the white would stand out in Avernus, other times he looks like a cosplayer XD Minsc and Jaheira needed no dyes the colours already suited well, but I do love the colours I chose for Astarion, Halsin and Karlach.

Who did you fuck? (romance) Probably would've been asked sooner but sadly Dec became an unintended bachelor, at least outside of the headcanon. He did share a night of passion with Lae'zel after freeing the Emerald Grove but it wasn't something he wanted to pursue further, our dynamic was more befitting of two soldiers, or at least a dynamic where we think we're the General and the other the Advisor. Had Shadowheart took 'later' for her drink offer as 'I want to see all the dialogues other characters have first' rather than a refusal there might have been a romance there, instead I feel we fell into a more sibling bond, she can be a bit too sassy at times in passing dialogue - I had hoped to see more development with her and Lae'zel eventually being friends. Wyll did his best to throw sad puppy eyes at me when I refused to dance with him but it just made things more awkward, Gale meanwhile probably was gonna make moves when teaching me the Weave but he was very hung up on Mystra for me to entertain it, I sat with him when he felt the mortal coil though. Astarion I think made a passing suggestion but nothing of substance, Halsin left it late after he got kidnapped by Orin - I didn't realise he had to physically join the party to be a part of the group until Act 3 - coming onto me right before I confronted the Brain which was quickly turned down. I believe Minsc and Jaheira are unable to be romanced atm, and I did not fuck the Emperor; it weirded me out that he just was there shirtless chilling next to my unconscious dream state. We killed Minthara, didn't know you could recruit or romance her in a Morally Good path. Which left Karlach, fuck did I want to romance Karlach, not for lack of trying either; but because when I met Wyll he was talking about killing her I immediately assumed 'oh Karlach must be that woman on the cover with him' (aka 'the bitch who could've been cool if she wasn't such a bitch' Mizora, who I also wouldn't have romanced given the option) and stuck a pin in it, I was also unaware that most Act 1 romance stuff would come to a head at the end of the Emerald Grove quest which I prioritized so I only encountered Karlach after I saved Halsin and the Grove, meaning I couldn't reach Dammon until Act 2. By then Karlach seemed to be locked out of romance, perhaps for another misunderstanding on my part too since I did upgrade her engine twice at Lost Light very swiftly, but it still was a knife to the heart after all that and the date at the circus that she called us 'just mates' to Fytz. All this and then they give us a better kissing patch ¬_¬

Yes so sad, anyway what about ~Astarion~? Astarion is popular, and I know why he's popular, and the scene of him killing Cazador was very well done...but Astarion for me though was just fine; I mean you guys see Karlach right? Part of the reason she stays my group was that I can't bear to part from her. A lot of the times my Morally Good options didn't align with Astarion's brand of pessimistic chaos, so he spent a lot of time in camp as I mispronounced his name until I heard it be properly said, which probably hampered his story a bit more, but we had a close enough friendship that he heeded my advice with the Ascension and the spawn, wish he reacted to me getting a painting of him since he can't see his reflection though, felt like something could've been done there. Jaheira was a fun personality too, angry old lady who says it like it is, kinda wish we had more to her quest, seeing her home and her interacting with her wards/children was interesting, Minsc was charming too in his simple way, would've been cool if he had more of a presence as well, like we could hear about Minsc and the Stone Lord in separate lights earlier in the game to build up to him. On that topic, I was surprised to find that there wasn't a companion for each role, I suppose there were constraints but Aylin and Zevlor both worked as Paladins, Alfira a Bard (though I don't think anyone would dare put her in the line of fire), I suppose there's little need for a Sorcerer when you had a Wizard or a Monk when you had a Fighter and Barbarian but it was strange, you get 2 Druids and your Ranger is built more like a Fighter or Barbarian (the latter I added to Minsc). I'd later learn that there was cut content for a halfling companion who was a werewolf, but I can see why that one was cut, with Chetney and all, but yeah not any halflings, Barcus could've been a companion even without the Artificer class, or a Dragonborn.

So how did your story go? Being the Morally Good Guy I was I went through most of the best options I could, but I also tried to avoid combat earlier on when I was struggling to work with it. I was friendly with the Goblin Camp for starters, since they thought I was with the Absolute and Dec is willing to put shit on his face to avoid conflict, it all went tits up after freeing Halsin and having to kill everyone but it may've had some benefit to how I could walk freely through Moonrise. Ironically it was the same with the Githyanki, friendly up until they wanted me to hand over the prism, though the Creche was a lost cause anyway, they're lucky I didn't ransack the place, could've gotten a lot of xp and loot there. I let Viconia live, so she can dwell on that burn Shadowheart gave her but oftentimes I was not so merciful, do wish I didn't kill that one Sharran with the letter of hating being there though, why'd you fight me girl? Same with the Bhaalist with the parents at Elfsong, and the goblin children, I was using nonlethal but arrows don't count as I'd soon learn. Allies were mostly good-to-neutral creatures like the Tieflings (though I wish I saved more, nobody told me about the harpies and I thought convincing Rolan to stay would mean the Grove not the Shadow Cursed Lands - also why send refugees who struggle with goblins through the SHADOW CURSED LANDS?) and 90% of the Ironhand Gnomes because fuck Wulbren - I didn't like Barcus too much at first, thought him rude, but when Wulbren didn't even show gratitude for his attempts I softened to him. Kindness made me quite the enemy to others however; the infernal naturally did not appreciate my deeds of pact breaking but saving the Duke anyway and pilfering the House of Hope, but to be fair Raphael (and his clear portrait of himself I clocked onto immediately when he was in his human guise to know he was untrustworthy) never repaid me in-game for 'killing' Yurgir, and Mizora would've squirmed a lot more in her Ilithid pod had it been a table interaction - though, the latter two were more than willing to help me with the Absolute, 'cept Raphael because he's dead - but in my defence I loved outwitting and being a sassy little shit to demons. Slaying the Chosen was a given, as a very Pro-Karlach guy I was never letting Gortash live, got the Father/Grandfather-Daughter set with Bhaal too. Killing the former Balduran was disappointing; as much as he was on my side he always felt like he had his own ulterior motives, he also had a superiority complex to him with his constant urging of being half-Ilithid; thinks it's not important that he's Balduran either, dismissing Ansur's legend until confronted by Ansur's spirit. Stealing the Orphic Hammer was an insurance policy at first, I could understand Voss' disdain for us using Githyanki Jesus in a box like a forcefield, but it's a shame that the guy who was all about trust decided not to trust me in releasing Orpheus; we could've stopped the brain together! Omeluum would've heard me out. I mean Orpheus was a bit salty but he at least was willing to negotiate and not immediately side back with the brain like a petty bitch. I'd say the gods have mixed feelings with me; friendly with Selune and Lathander at least, and whatever Withers is - though the guy roasted me about my love life. The rest either neutral or anti; Shar and Vlaakith (if you can call her a god) definitely hate me, because they're sore losers, think Myrkul and Bhaal likely hate me, Bane however seemed to respect game not sure how I feel about that. I don't quite like Mystra, think she's a bit extreme with her treatment of Gale, but I understand her role, valid god but shitty person. On the other hand I probably have Cyric's favour for helping the Strange Ox, which might be bad...but Milil was happy to be recognized.

In the end, most of the allies got to live somewhat happily; Gale got the orb out of him and became a professor, Lae'zel - having dealt the final blow to the brain - leads the charge against Vlaakith after Orpheus became a Mind Flayer and was mercy killed, Shadowheart has her family (Shar would've always been with her regardless of her choice), a bunch of pets and can maybe reminisce with Nocturne again one day, Jaheira and Minsc - once he survives Zhentharim execution, didn't realise I needed to have him talk to Nine Fingers - also can rest with her wards and probably share drinks with Nine Fingers until the next fight, Astarion sadly has no cure for vampirism but he is owning it and killing the right people (I like to think he'll get to see the sun again, maybe Omeluum and the Mycolids help), plus Halsin has a bunch of kids in Moonrise to look after, plus Thaniel, Oliver and a new Owlbear who I'd rather had left with Dammon given the option. Isobel and Aylin can settle down, Rolan runs the Sundries, Hope is free, Alfira and Lakrissa got their bard's school, Florrick and Ravengard resume leadership to rebuild, Dammon has his forge, Scratch found a new home in this Mindy (but I remain best master), Mol I'm sure will be running the Guildhall in a few years, Thrumbo has a shelter for his brothers, Mayrina will raise her son without the threat of a hag, Vanra won't become a hag (but does need therapy), and Arabella will probably be the next Withers after reading some more rocks. Yenna didn't seem to have an ending so I'll assume that she found a loving home too, maybe with Halsin or as one of Jaheira's wards, or maybe Gale wants a Sous Chef since she did bring her own carving knife if you didn't know. I wish Alfira got invited to the epilogue, god of song is fine but not the familiar face and it would've been cool for them to meet, nice to get a letter at least, and we'll have to visit Art's grave sometime. Surprised we got no word about Mizora, I didn't get a letter from Geraldus even though he survived, Naaber apparently had more in him after wanting to be a dog, sad not to get anything from Rolan, Devella (I know Valeria mentioned her but c'mon), the Gondians, Mol, Omeluum, or Aylin and Isobel from the epilogue, did we really need the ramblings of Ettvard? Plus the papers must've glitched they said Stelmane's killer was still at large? Post-credits scene felt a bit weak mind you, but guessing Withers is that old God of Death Jerghal? Least he's not a surprise villain to fight. As for me, well, I was never one to give up on people and neither is Dec, and thus Dec and Karlach brave Avernus to seek a fix for her infernal engine, punch a few demons and whatnot, Wyll is there too as the Blade of Avernus, a role he embraced twice after barely contributing to killing Ansur but that's more proximity. We'll chill in the House of Hope especially after her letter, but soon enough we'll all return to Faerun on a more permanent basis.

So you enjoyed it? Yes, very much. I did of course make a lot of mistakes though; kept forgetting about Dread Ambusher for one, my earlier failures at romance still stung, I think the game wasn't as welcoming to those unfamiliar to it. The dice did not like me many times, I once got a Nat 1 in a 2 DC with +2 bonus, I also have had several instances of back-to-back Nat 1s, even had 6 in two different streams. Combat was an adjustment period, I missed a lot of the time which was frustrating, or the enemy would make saving throws on my gambits, Karlach even got pushed into the abyss at the Temple of Bhaal, I was livid. I think I probably would've experienced more if the game established better that you can long rest as much as you like without turning into a Mind Flayer, because much of Act 1 was me reluctant to Long Rest because they say you can change 'within 2-3 days', as a result that affected some romance options too, nobody to spend the night with if there's no night, as well as other in-camp interactions - Astarion never tried to bite me for instance, and I'm sure Raphael would've arrived to reward me for killing Yurgir had we not dealt with a backlog of interactions. I remained quite the hesitant player too, I ignored Gale stuck in a portal for a while fearing some magical backlash was gonna vaporize me, oftentimes I expected worse than what actually happened. Graphically there were a few characters whose cheeks were being pulled to the far left side of the map which was weird, and some battles would have enemies who would just do nothing for their turns, and some areas didn't render quick enough to not be noticed, but it was small stuff in comparison, I didn't do much for camp clothes or dyes until late on but probably for the better since style should be for the final act. I also keep seeing stuff that I somehow missed in my playthrough; like there's an angry squirrel near the grove? A frog in Ethel's house? A bird who wanted help with the giant eagles? What? Where?

What was the most difficult part? Act 3 had a lot of tough shit going down, though one of my most memorable struggles was against Auntie Ethel in Act 1. Already deep in her domain at lv4 it was a rough run to start with, continually hit by Hold Person by her projections, only when I learned they were one-hits did it become a little easier, but without Extra Attack it was still difficult. After that combat was here and there, sometimes it was just the environment like being jammed in a pipe when fighting Minsc; Lorroakan was annoying, Grym I had to be tactical with the hammer, the Assassin at the Facemaker was quite difficult too because he'd Haste himself and hide. The Death Shepherds in the Mountain Pass were surprisingly difficult without the Blood of Lathander, much easier with its Sunbeam. The companion quest final battles of Cazador, Ansur and Viconia were each difficult in their own way; the former was most annoying because my party would be downed but the thrown healing potions weren't working (plus those downed members were the ones with Radiant damage and holy water), wasn't even Bone Chilled like with Viconia, Ansur was difficult because of his burst attack. Raphael hits fucking hard, but once I realised that Hope kept dying because she was getting backlash from dealing Radiant Damage it was just attrition and lots of potion throwing. Combat-wise I think the toughest battle was Cazador due to the glitch of thrown potions not healing, otherwise the toughest boss was Ansur. Overall the most difficult experience I found was the timed operations of the Iron Throne.

Will you play again? Most likely, which is something I don't tend to say so Larian did do their job well. Though I might wait a bit to play other games first and give Larian time to add more content and finer polishing, I think I'd have a better time with it the second time around, would definitely try to resolve previous wrongs or missed opportunities, though I doubt I'd look forward to everything there; killing the Goblin Camp was still difficult work, same with the Steel Watch and all the turn limit stuff, I'll at least wait until I have Extra Attack before dealing with Ethel in Act 1 and take more Long Rests, maybe rotate the party a bit more and try out some other classes - but you will pry Speak with Animals out of my cold dead hands! Learning later about there being a bunch of cut content would entice me to play a third time if they reach a stage where all the intended content has been added in, but there's not exactly a time frame for that or a clear show of intent so far, so we'll see in that one, for all that is cut it seems like the end product is the tip of the iceberg. Enjoyed the play, played for a long time, would play again: money well spent.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #larian studios #karlach #shadowheart #lae'zel #astarion #jaheira #minsc and boo #minsc #halsin #wyll ravengard #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #bg3 tav #bg3 withers #it wouldn't have killed larian to give us more dice skins too just sayin'#but I loved that they added little messages in the credits

26 notes · View notes

tyrantisterror · 10 days

Note

top ten favorite Elves? (specific characters, a given setting’s take on the species, or even some variants from folklore like Huldra and Nuckelavee.) I know you’re more a fan of Orcs and Goblins, than of Elves, but I’m still curious to know.

Um... hmm... yeah elves really aren't one of the fantasy creatures that gets my imagination going for the most part, so this is going to be pretty half-assed.

youtube

Gotta give credit to Galadriel first and foremost, specifically as played by Cate Blanchett, if only because she awoke something in me as a teenager - something that had been seeded throughout my childhood, and which I didn't recognize fully until several years later when Cate Blanchett stepped into a very different fantasy role.

Dungeon Meshi has very quickly grown to one of my favorite fantasy things so I HAVE to give a shoutout to my girl Marcille, who's just a great fantasy character PERIOD, but also is a thorough exploration of how elves can be very interesting as a creature concept.

Not a complete exploration, though, because one of the other great things about Dungeon Meshi is that it keeps finding new wrinkles to put in its world-building. I distinctly remember when I got to the introduction of The Canaries in the manga because I immediately thought, "Holy shit those are the coolest fucking elves I've ever seen." And they are indeed super cool, with a great deal of variety between them in terms of skillsets, personalities, moral compasses, and exactly how they showcase what elves and their society are like. Each Canary brings a better understanding of Dungeon Meshi's world and take on elves specifically to you, the reader, and they also double as a pretty great team of quirky minor antagonists.

I have only vague memories of seeing Record of Lodoss War when I was younger, so I don't really remember much about Deedlit's personality, but she has the best fashion of any elf, and I love those ears.

That's ten, right? I'll be charitable and give some honorable mentions since this is a pretty undercooked answer:

Does Midna count? Her imp form feels more goblin, but her true form feels like a spin on dark elves to counter the hylians' "Elves in all but name" status.

There are other elf characters from fiction I like - Shadowheart and Astarion from Baldur's Gate 3, Fenris and Merril and Seras from the Dragon Age franchise, a good number of the NPCs in the Rune Factory Franchise, Legolas, etc., but for all of them the fact that they're elves is pretty much incidental to me. I like them as characters, while the fact that they're elves feels more or less surface level - you could swap "elf" with "Italian" and their stories would play out the same.

Finally, shoutout to Fantasy High subverting expectations of elves with Gilear, and then dunking on those same cliche expectations with lethal accuracy later on:

youtube

12 notes · View notes

scarletnargacuga · 6 days

Text

THE AMAZING DIGITAL RACEWAY CHAPTER TWO

Racing AU

After the excitement of the track wears off, Pomni's situation sinks in. She's trapped. The others try to make her feel welcome and introduce her to Kaufmo. What could go wrong?

WARNING: angst, abstraction, some violence

Ch1

The racers all filed into the garage as the NPC audience cheered their last. Caine joined them inside and snapped his fingers. All their karts teleported inside to their respective part of the open floor plan garage. There was a spiraling metal stair case to a second floor loft that lined the outer wall. Every upstairs door lead out to overlook the garage. To the far right was a lounge with comfortable looking couches and chairs and recreational activities; such as pool and table tennis.

Pomni wiped the last of the confetti off her shoulder as she looked around. "Is this...all there is?"

"Of course not!" Caine chimed in before anyone else could answer. "In between races you have full use of the practice track! Take a look!" He opened the blinds and the outside looked different. The start line was the same but the stands where empty. The track no longer led underground but instead continued to curve around the garage and looped back to the start in a perfect oval. "And inside, you can play mini games with your new friends!" Pomni stared at the others with uncertainty. "Also!" Caine pulled Pomni by the hand to an empty kart area of the garage. "You can customize your kart! Everything from the engine and tires to the body and paint! The only limit is your imagination!"

"And the game's source engine." Jax added. "I've already tested that. He won't let you add more that five accessories to the kart or you end up clipping into the void."

"The...void?" Pomni paled.

"Now, Jax. We needn't bring THAT up. It's nothing to concern yourself with, my dear. There are many safety features in place to prevent that from happening. I can assure you, as host, I've never lost anyone in the void. I know all your positions at all times thanks to my wacky watch!" Caine proudly showed the small purple TV on his wrist. Six blips appeared on screen.

Caine tapped his watch. "Huh...Welp, I gotta get going! The tracks don't generate themselves! I've got to prepare for tomorrow's race! Speak to one of our Bubble assistants if you have any more questions!" Then with a pop, he was gone.

Pomni took a step back and rubbed her arms as she looked at everyone still staring at her. "Look, uh... The race was fun, but...how do I...leave?"

The others looked down or away from her. None of them wanting to be the one to tell her.

Jax groaned incredulously. "You can't. None of us can."

"Jax!" Ragatha scolded. "Why do have to be so tactless!?"

"Because there is no tact when it comes to telling someone they're stuck in digital purgatory for all of eternity, Ragatha!" He got nose to nose with her and they glared at each other.

"Please, don't fight." Gangle whimpered.

"Seriously. Will you two get a grip?" Zooble rolled their eyes and looked at Pomni. "He's right though. Welcome to your new home." Zooble then went to the pinball machine in the lounge.

"What? Why can't we leave? I don't understand. Isn't this just a game?" Pomni felt he face again for the headset she barely remembered she had on before appearing here.

"It was supposed to be just a game..." A quiet voice came from the lounge. Kinger had turned the couch cushions and pillows into a fort and was securely inside it. "People were never meant to be stuck here. Something went wrong."

Pomni got closer to the fort. "What went wrong?"

Kinger popped his head out. "What went where?"

"You'll have to excuse him." Ragatha sighed. "He's been here the longest."

"That's why he's crazy!" Laughed Jax. "That's all our fates, Pomni. Giving into the madness or being broken by it."

Ragatha grabbed a pillow and chucked it at Jax. "Go be a nuisance somewhere else!"

"My impenetrable fortress!" Cried Kinger as the missing pillow left a hole in his carefully made fort.

"Fine. I've got better things to do anyway. Like eat. Hey, Bubble chef!" Jax walked off to a table set for dining and a Bubble appeared to assist him.

Gangle got the pillow Ragatha threw and fixed Kinger's fort.

"Thank you." Kinger sighed with relief and disappeared inside.

Ragatha put a gentle hand on Pomni's shoulder. "Look...being here isn't so bad. Caine keeps us busy and we have each other." She glared at Jax. "For better or worse. There's one person you haven't met yet, he wasn't at the race today. Would you like to come with me to check on him?"

Pomni had been out of it as she really processed her situation. No way to leave. Stuck in digital purgatory. Forever. She could never go back to the life she had. Everything and everyone she had known didn't matter anymore. She vomited.

Ragatha jumped back to keep from stepping in it, but kept her hand on Pomni. She gently steered Pomni to the stairs. "Come on, Kaufmo will cheer you up. He's very good at it. Clean up!" She called out and a Bubble appeared.

"I'm on it!" The Bubble proceeded to lick up the mess. Gangle was nearly sick herself witnessing it.

Ragatha and Pomni went upstairs and walked along the long loft towards Kaufmo's room.

"Ragatha...I'm confused. Why participate in the races at all? Why not search for a way out? Are we really sure we can't leave?" Pomni said quietly.

"You aren't the first person to search for the exit, many have tried. None have succeeded." They walked past door after door. Many blank but a few had faces. Unknown faces with red Xs painted over them. "We all looked for a way out at some point or another, but we've come to accept our place here because ...well, constantly pursuing an unobtainable goal will drive you to mind breaking insanity. And when you've reached that point...there's no return."

"[@#$& !¥π∆]" Pomni muttered, the cartoonish sound effects not phasing her this time.

"...I know." Ragatha frowned and knocked on the door to Kaufmo's room. No answer. "Kaufmo? Hey, you in there? We got a new racer today! Wanna meet her?" No answer. "Huh, maybe he's not in his room?"

BOOM!

Something large and heavy hit the wall in front of them. It shook the building and got the attentions of those still downstairs.

BOOM!!

The wall around Kaufmo's door started to crack. The door itself buckling from impact.

BOOM!!!

The door flew off the wall, Ragatha and Pomni dove out of the way, missing it by inches. The door hit the railing and fell end over end to the ground floor with a loud crash. The girls looked up at the emerging creature from the broken doorframe. A beast of indeterminate dimensions snarled as it's many eyes look wildly around in their sockets.

"What is that!?"

"Remember that whole 'point of no return'? This is it! Run, Pomni!" Ragatha took off down her section of the railing. Pomni turned on her heel and ran the opposite direction. The beast tried swiping at them both, causing it to flop on the railing in front of it, crushing it. The beast roared and randomly chose to go after Pomni. Those on the ground could only watch as Pomni circle the building trying to get to the stairs.

"What happening!?" Gangle screamed, hiding behind Zooble.

Zooble looked up in horror as they connected the dots. "Kaufmo...no."

Jax sat under the dinner table with the stack of pancakes he ordered. He sighed and took a bite. "Here we go again."

Pomni made it to the stairs before Ragatha and slid down the railing. She fumbled the landing but kept running to the door that lead outside. The beast caught Ragatha at the stairs and smashed her against the wall. The janked nature of the beast made Ragatha glitch. She screamed as she was thrown around again and again, eventually being tossed over the side and landing hard on the garage floor.

The beast jumped with the intent to crush Ragatha, but Gangle's ribbon grabbed her leg and pulled her free of the impact zone. The beast came down hard and broke the floor, textures started glitching in and out.

"In here! Quick!" Kinger opened his fortress and beckoned Zooble, Ragatha and Gangle inside. They hunkered down and held each other and they heard the beast get up from its fall. It roared and started smashing at an outside wall.

"Pomni is still out there!" Ragatha was barely understandable through her glitched speech pattern. "We have to help her!"

"No! Stay out of sight. Safe." Kinger stuttered out. The bashing and crashing of the abstracted Kaufmo brought back too many memories of this happening before. He curled himself in the fetal position and stared at nothing.

Zooble pulled off one of their eyes and used it to discreetly peak outside. The beast was trying to break though the wall where the entrance door was. It must have seen Pomni run out. They looked around and saw Jax still under the dining table, just finishing his pancakes. Zooble's eye rolled and moved back inside. "He's right. Caine's never gone for too long. We have to wait this out. ...like last time."

"And the time before that and the time before that and the time before that-" Kinger repeated.

Gangle held Zooble's hand. Despite her best brave face, she was shaking. "It's Kaufmo, isn't it?"

Zooble nodded.

Gangle started to cry. "I didn't think it'd be him next. He was always so...so..."

"Happy? Yeah, hate to break it to you, but if someone is happy all the time...they're not." Zooble put their eye back and held Ragatha's glitching hand. It made their own arm glitch but they bared the pain to be of some comfort to Ragatha.

BOOM!!

The building shook as the beast made it outside. It saw Pomni making a break for the stands and charged. Pomni ran as fast as her new little legs could go. She could see an entryway inside the stands, maybe she could hide there. Over her shoulder, she could see the beast gaining. Not looking ahead, she ran into the door and fell on her ass.

She scrambled for the door handle and the beast was nearly upon her and WHAM! She made it though the frame before the beast struck. She got to her feet and ran in any direction away from the door. She saw some stairs with a sign that read "Announcer Booth" and she bolted up them. The higher she went the more the textures around her started to de-load.

"For [✓√@&#] sake, how tall is this tower??" She huffed. She took a moment to catch her breath when she finally made it to the top and took a look around. She wasn't in any kind of tower, in fact, it looked like she wasn't anywhere at all. Blank gridded walls and ceilings went as far as the eye could see. Unused textures and assets sparsely dotted the landscape. Peices of half built track hovered unsupported. Obstacles still in the process of being designed.

"Pomni? What are you doing here??"

Pomni screamed at the top of her lungs and swung around to see Caine hovering just feet from where she stood. Tie loose, cane, top hat, and coat missing, he looked as though he'd been very busy and she interrupted him.

"I realize you're new around here, so you didn't know, but I don't like people seeing my unfinished work. It's...well, a bit embarrassing." He cleared his non-existent throat. "You'll get a front row view of my latest creation tomorrow, I promise! I'll just send you back now."

"WAIT!"

Caine paused mid-snap.

"There's a thing outside! It attacked us!"

"Attacked? No enemies should be in bounds this late in the day."

"No, No! It was the guy! The UHHH-" Pomni struggled to remember the name in panic.

Caine gave her a look. "The 'guy'? Really now, if you just wanted an excuse to stay up here, you could have just said so. I do have a few mostly completed projects I suppose I could show you-"

"NO! THE GUY! THE CLOWN! THE- THE- KAUFMO! That's his name! Kaufmo turned into some beast and is breaking everything! He hurt Ragatha!"

"Kaufmo abstracted!? Why didn't you say so!" He grabbed Pomni's hand and teleported with her to the starting line. There they saw the beast still bashing its head(?) against the door to the stands. He snapped his fingers and the monster started to levitate.

"Into the cellar you go." A pit opened as Caine lowered the beast down.

Pomni was floating with Caine and the Pit opening made her grab his arm tightly. She wasn't the biggest fan of heights. She watched the beast that was Kaufmo fall down into the darkness, his roar sounding like a pitiful wail as the pit closed.

"Well...that's that." Caine's usual boisterous voice came out somber as he looked down where the pit had been.

"How many times has this happened?" Pomni asked, her voice raspy from screaming.

"Too many times." Caine left it at that as he snapped his fingers again and the damage to the builds repaired. He teleported inside with Pomni to check his charges.

"Caine! About [@#$&!] time!" Zooble grunted as they fought to keep their own composer, helping Ragatha out of the pillow fort.

"Oop-" Caine snapped his fingers and they were normal again. He then floated down to let Pomni touch solid ground again. "Sorry about that, everyone. I was looking for Kaufmo initially, his signature wasn't coming up on my wacky watch, but then I...you know, got distracted. So much work and only so much me to handle it all." He laughed nervously. "Speaking of which, I really need to get back to it. Big race tomorrow! Rest up, my little superstars!" He poofed away.

A heavy silence fell over everyone. They looked at each other, shaken over when just happened. The building was completely repaired, even Kaufmo's room. No signs that someone abstracted. Like it never happened...or mattered.

Jax stretched as he stood up from the floor. "Uuuuugh! Finally. I was tired of sitting under there."

Ragatha saw red. She stormed over to Jax and smacked him hard enough to echoe through the garage. "What the [@#$!] is wrong with you!? Kaufmo just- he- how can you take this so lightly!?" Tears burned her eyes.

Jax rubbed his face but otherwise didn't flinch from Ragatha. "How can you take this so seriously? It's not like it's the first time it's happened. And it won't be the last." He looked down at her with pity. "I'm going to bed, unless anyone ELSE wants to smack the [@#$&] out of me?" No one looked at him so he pocketed his hands and went upstairs.

Ragatha broke down into sobs. Gangle tried to comfort her. Zooble couldn't handle any more and left to their room. Kinger was politely putting all of the pillows back to her original places. Pomni went to him.

"Hey, uh...Kinger, right?"

"AH! Oh, hello, didn't see you there." He yeeted the pillow he was holding when he got startled so he clasped his hands in front of him.

"You've been here the longest. The... Kaufmo thing-"

"Abstraction." Kinger said flatly.

"Uh, yeah...how many times has it happened?"

"So many times. So many friends. So many-"

"Give me a number. Please." Pomni tried to disguise her frustration with a smile.

"Eight people started the race. Then there were seven. Then six. Then seven. Then six. Then four. Then five. Then eight. Then seven. Then six. Then five. Then six. Then five. Then six. Then seven. Then six." Kinger started to shake in place, his eyes bloodshot.

Pomni took a step back. "Yeesh, maybe you are just crazy." She looked to Ragatha and Gangle having a cry over Kaufmo. She felt awkward possibly interrupting so she went upstairs.

She followed the doors. So many Xs. So many "abstractions". Was this really their fate? To play some game forever or risk falling apart? Her mind raced as she finally saw a door with her face on it. It's big, pleading eyes staring back at her.

"I'm getting out of here. Death would be a kinder fate than this." She took one last glance at the X'd doors and went inside her room.

~~~

Ch3

#the amazing digital circus #tadc #tadc caine #tadc gangle #tadc jax #tadc pomni #tadc zooble #tadc ragatha #tadc kinger #tadc fanfiction #tadc showtime #slow burn #gangle x zooble #angst #The amazing digital Raceway

19 notes · View notes

sleketon666 · 13 days

Text

This post gave me a lot of opportunities to think more of Marie and so I wrote down some of the questions and Marie's reactions! This was a lot of fun and I hope I'll continue working on other points as well. Or perhaps they'll just give me some ideas for art.

So, anyway. Let's go.

Combat/Movement

1. Clicking on them once (non-combat)

Greetings.

I'd prefer a more gloomy place.

I'd rather be sleeping now.

Never thought I'd get this far...

Are we there yet?

What new shall the day bring?

I wonder...

Can't keep your eyes of me, huh?

2. Spam clicking on them too many times

She just goes sans mode and starts telling terrible necromamcy-related jokes.

How are skeletons so calm? I guess nothing can get under their skin.

Do you know why necromancers make such good friends? We're simply great at raising people's spirits.

You know, I once met a girl, a necromancer as well. She was such a heart stealer.

Why do people hate on necromancers? Can't a girl raise a family in peace?

humming Die, die, we all pass away, but don't wear a frown, 'cause it's really okay-

3. Directing them to attack/move in combat

Attack Another one bites the dust / Say your final prayer / Your pretty corpse will serve me well

Moving Let's shake these old bones / Step by step / Let's dance

4. Hiding/sneaking/hidden movement

Gotta add some new skeletons to my closet.

Quiet as a mouse.

Ready or not.

On my tiptoes.

5. Taking a short rest

Nothing a good nap can't fix.

Phew, I almost feel alive now.

6. Low health/asking for healing

Some help would be greatly appreciated now...!

I'm feeling unwell...

Please, I need some healing!

No, not yet!

7. Attacked by a party member

I don't have a bone to pick with you, so would you cease that?

Having fun?

Hilarious.

8. Companion/romance death reactions

Companion No! I'll save you, whatever it takes!

Romance Even death won't do us part!

9. Going to buff/heal a companion/romance

Companion buff (low/neutral/high app.) Make it worth it/Need some help? /You've got this!

Companion heal (low/neutral/high app.) Hang in there/Stay strong!/I got you.

Romance buff Come on, hon, show them what you've got!

Romance heal I'm here for you, love

10. Sending them to talk to an NPC

Let's have a chat.

I'd rather just eavesdrop, but alright...

Could be interesting.

11. Sending them to talk to their romanced partner

How's my beloved doing?

Looks like my day is about to get brighter.

Interacting with Items

12. Encountering a locked chest/door

I need a key for that.

Seems locked.

We could look for a key. Or a more fun way out, perhaps.

13. Picking a lock

Finding a key would be less troublesome.

Alright, alright, let's try it the other way.

Please, let it be books. Or money.

14. Looking at a globe

I remember father has one of those back at home. Told me I loved playing with it as a kid...

15. Looking at an astrolabe

Isn't it amazing, how there's always more to learn of many other worlds beyond ours? Yet the latter still fascinates me everyday.

16. Looking at a telescope

I can't say I know much about constellations... But it can't stop me from admiring the stars, can it?

17. Looking in a mirror

Drop dead gorgeous, as always.

How long have my lipstick been smudged? And why did nobody tell me? Outrageous.

18. Looking at a nonmagical lamp

No djinni? Good. They tend to be far too loud and obnoxious for my tastes.

19. Noticing a trap

Look out! Don't wanna lose a limb.

Careful. Guests aren't welcome here.

20. Can’t fit into a small hole

Nope, I won't even try.

I wish I was as tiny as a little mouse, but alas.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 tav #baldur's gate 3 tav #tav marie

7 notes · View notes

theguywithaoriginalname · 10 months

Text

Terraria has got to be the most funniest and chaotic game i have played (also spolier warning ig!!!), you start the game, make a character, create a world and then you're just plopped in there. No tutorial, nothing. You see some dude with brown (i think) hair and just press right-click, see a dialogue option labelled 'help' and think "oh! this gotta be how to go to the tutorial!" and NOPE! Think again fucker 'cause you better chop some wood and build a house because the night is dangerous (OoOoOoOh very spooky). So, you look up "Terraria Beginner Guide" (or something along the lines of that) and y'know you just get going, build houses, explore the underground, maybe built a hellevator, and you even built an arena (im so proud)! Then suddenly the text "You feel an evil Presence watching you" pops up and you know that you better get to your arena 'cause its very spooky big eyeball time (hooray).

So after you beat the very big Eye of Cthulu you get some loot, fast forward to The Wall of Flesh. This is it. The final challenge in Pre-Hardmode. The Gate to see if you have what it takes to go to Hardmode. And now, it begins. After you throw the doll of the person who pranked you out of a Tutorial into the lava below, you hear a roar, before a wall made out of flesh with two huge Eyeballs and a gaping wide Mouth comes at you. It was a great battle, with you seemingly being at equal with the giant fleshy wall. You threw everything you got at it: Bullets, Fire, Ice, even that Imp you found on the street. Ater a long Battle with many Hardships, you won. But only now....

The Fun really begins.

Oh, you thought that you could go out at night? Think again fucker, mf-ing Werewolves. You thought that Molten Armor/ Meteorite Armor was gonna protect you? Dont make me laugh. "Atleast I have my NPCs?" Wrong! You feel vibrations from deep below. Hardmode is the game's most challenging part imo, because not only is everything new, but also beefier, stronger, and more annoying to deal with. Oh, there's also a new Biome where, you guessed it! Everything kills you! It isnt as bad if you're more experienced and prepared alot of stuff, but unfortunately, most newer Players dont do that, and I've even seen some leave permanently because dying constantly wasnt fun anymore. But we dont quit, do we? No. Because our Mamas didnt raise us to be quitters! Uhh motivational quote, yadda yadda yadda etc. So. you actually persist, get better gear, and even kill a mechanical boss! So you get better weapons and gear, kill another Mechanical Boss and the last one is now dead. So you get clorophyte (No i will not look up how it's spelt and i really couldnt care less), get better-er gear and fight Plantera. This pink plant bitch is probably one of the best bosses in the game, and i am sad that it has some of the worst loot in the game imo. anyways, you unlock the temple, kill golem (Man Re-logic really need to buff this dude) get better-er-er gear and fight the lunatic cultist. Kill him, get the only drop (Man Re-logic really need to buff this dude's loot) and fight the celestial pillars. cool, you can now make weapons from SpAaAaAaaAAaace. Each of which correspond to a class (Solar=Melee, Vortex=Ranged,Nebula=Mage,Stardust=Summoner). but suddenly, the screen gets darker and more wonky, the music is gone and then,

The Moon Lord has Awoken!

Out of bloody nowhere, the final boss is here. The Final Challenge. The Wall between you and the End. After having improved so much and died so much, like, WOW those are alot of deaths, you are at the final blockade. And after a battle you will remember forever, you come out on top, victorious. You are at the top of the 2d Mountain. You have beaten everything. You have beaten

Terraria.

#holy fucking shit #this took so long #its like 4am #i dont even know if there was a tutorial or not #terraria #oh thank god it's over #just wait till you find out about calamity

39 notes · View notes

snapscube · 2 years

Note

I played FFXIV a while ago but had a hard time getting into it at the time, and I'd like to give it another go but don't really feel attached to my previous character and want to start fresh. Do you have any advice on getting really immersed in the game? I feel like you mentioned going through something similar before it really clicked for you so just wanted to ask! Hope you're having a good day :)

ABSOLUTE MOST IMPORTANT TIP: Take your time. Settle into the world. Create a character that you really like, and remember: it’s a role-playing game! Certain aspects and mechanics of the game you gotta do a little extra mental legwork to fully appreciate from an immersion standpoint. So roleplay! Take in the sights! Talk to NPCs if that’s your jam! But above all, pay attention to the story and the in-game tips. You don’t have to 100% understand everything right away. I sure as hell didn’t. But you’re only going to get out of the game what you’re able to put into it. It’s gonna be a long journey, so pace yourself and don’t try to rush through to The Good Parts. It took me like 2 years, no exaggeration, to get to Shadowbringers. It doesn’t ACTUALLY take that long to do the MSQ if you’re fast tracking it, or hell even just prioritizing it haha. I know of plenty of people who completely caught up with the story in a matter of a couple months or so. But that’s the beauty of it. I took my damn time getting there. I took MULTIPLE breaks, some for months at a time, and only ever came back when I was ready and the game seemed like something that would hit. And I still got an incredible experience out of it that remains my favorite game and one of my favorite stories ever. So, yknow, I would say in the early hours of the game you might find yourself a little bored or lost. Those are the moments where you want to make sure you’re playing enough that you find a HOOK for you to latch onto. Experiment with different content. Pick up as many blue quest icons as you can, the ones that unlock features & content, and see if you come across something fun. In my experience, it only really takes one or two mechanics or jobs that you find enjoyable to push you into sinking some serious time into the game. And once you’re giving the game your time, you’re likely going to realize that the game in turn really RESPECTS that time, and tries to make the most of it. A lot of features feed into each other, and if you’re enjoying something like, say, crafting really early on, that’s gonna snowball into a million other things you can do later down the road. Once you hit the point where you’ve found a rhythm and you’ve discovered what’s fun about the game to you, it’s all about the journey from there. So relax, give it your attention, and take it at whatever pace you find comfortable and enjoyable.

Here are also a few stray ideas you can take with you:

- I am one of the many who will insist that the game’s writing gets MONUMENTALLY better from Heavensward (The first expansion, included in the free trial of the game) onward. And when I tell you that the change in writing quality and the approach to appealing dialogue and pacing is nearly INSTANT, I really mean it. I would say, if you want to really understand why the story is revered as much as it is, you need to at least push through to Heavensward and see if the improvements to pacing and dialogue appeal to you. If they do, I assure you that (in my opinion) it only gets better and better from there. I can not actually express how good Shadowbringers and Endwalker’s stories are. It’s the kind of thing you NEED to experience to understand.

- There is a wonderful list I’ve linked here that will actually help you track what kinds of content you can unlock in-game based on whatever level your character and MSQ progress are at. It’s extremely thorough and if you need help finding stuff to do, this is a great resource.

- In a similar vein, the official FFXIV YouTube account has a really cute and genuinely well made/helpful starter guide series you can watch if you want some starter tips directly from the team

- Do not worry about the subscription cost for a while. I assure you, if you need to, you can get literally hundreds upon hundreds of hours of content out of the free trial. It took me over a year to get to the point of the game where the free trial gets locked off in terms of MSQ and character level, and even then I hadn’t even done like half of the available content.

My fingers hurt cause i’ve been typing this on my phone so I’m going to stop talking now :) Let me know if you have any more specific questions though and I’d be happy to answer and/or give my take on stuff! I love love love talking about this game.

#ffxiv

184 notes · View notes

commanderquinn · 9 months

Text

meta: sam coe - post-campaign analysis

allllrighty i am officially post-campaign so time for first thoughts. since im still collecting my feelings/opinions on the main quest i dont want to go super into that. i wanna wait and consolidate into a deep dive on that one. BUT i am a fic writer with a fixation on socioeconomics, intergenerational trauma, and more specifically the phenomenon of atheists clinging to their religious parents morals because they haven't taken the time to evaluate their biases and the reasons they still hold them

translation: the silver spoon space cowboy is an interesting concept. poory executed in the case of starfield, sadly, but great framework for fandom to chop the head off of and bring to their own individual comfort interpretations.

this meta will include spoilers for the following:

-sam's questline and the npcs involved

-his romance

-cora, the safety storyline around her, and how she's the best part of the space game

-why bethesda was fucking stupid to turn the cowboys into cops when they have the perfect opportunity for not that. i went in hoping for retired/reformed army rangers fed up with war looking to defend their home from fascism given the "han solo simulator" marketing, but all i got was this lousy ass rendition of the texas rangers, which i for SURE did not want

-i WONT be going into detail about the main plot for this post, just fyi. i wanna save that, and sam's relation to it, for its own essay. id still recommend not reading meta's until you finish the game tho

-i miss obsidian's writing. this game made me want to play outer worlds for the 100th time. that will probably come up a lot

this is probably gonna sound more than a bit scattered and off the fucking plot for the first section, but bare with me, im making a point eventually i promise. gotta make sure we're all on the same page first.

now that ive done a majority of his content, it's clear what the intent was for sam and i applaud it. i like it when good hearts in bad systems spot the fundamental flaws and decide to abandon it entirely, or work to change it. i hate perfect characters. i hate characters that have no growth to find. sam is a great character for showing the awesome power of a perspective change. but damn. what a waste when you're talking about a format where a writer is constricted to:

-an exact conversation trigger (bethesda games have always relied on interrupt & player approach, and i didnt notice any variation on game engine front but i wont know until they release the ck so)

-word limit on all responses (yes, you can make long dialogues in engine. but those words still have to be f u n d e d from a dev standpoint. words are not free in video games. capitalism sucks for art.)

-multiple conversation branches that ALL have to circle back to the original topic (they have to follow a set pattern of establishing a subject, then the players possible responses to that subject, the npcs responses to those responses, AND provide a seamless, one dialogue tie-in path to the next branch. it sounds super easy until you're the shmuck writing it, and then it doesnt feel so easy anymore)

-get approximately two personal quests with, what was it, 12 motion scripted scenes? (im watching other peoples pts now so ill try to remember to count, but it was. hmm. lack luster imo. im not saying quantity is vital. im a bioware fanatic, i know the power of quality when its actually delivered. i didnt have any moment like that for sams quests and it was kind of crushing. ill get into it.)

-appeal to a wide enough audience to obtain profit by holding back eXtReMe ViEwS (id like to point out that there is, at this exact moment in time, an active pr campaign (and a few scattered gaming content creators) surrounding starfield talking about how pronouns are politics and should be left out of gaming. over a setting flag in a save file. you literally dont even have to press a button about it. like, you pick your characters body. masc bodys are auto assigned m pronouns. fem bodies are auto assigned f pronouns. you literally dont even have to SEE the button, and it never gets brought up. the only purpose it serves is so the game knows what voice lines to fire. that. is. it.)

im not going to humor the "thats dumb, bethesda makes political games" contribution to the argument.

i get straight people think they're being super helpful and witty on that one, but i think the world would collectively benefit from allies taking just a few extra seconds before standing on that soapbox to maybe consider that calling existence "politics" might be, gee idk, insulting. maybe more than a lil dehumanizing. maybe super easily solved by just NOT giving into their parents obsession with playing devils advocate. i think if maybe allies could shut the fuck up for a minute or two at a time and go look for voices of authority within the communities they're defending instead of trying to talk over them, that'd probably work out better. might help cut out the completely useless middle man their parents taught them to be when they drilled home "you have to respect everyone's opinion"

no the fuck you do not, actually. i, as someone on this earth attempting to be a compassionate person, owe people a chance at understanding. i do not, under any circumstance, owe someone any kind of respect WHATSOEVER if they cannot respect me as a human being. full stop. i dont owe it to them, i dont owe it to their religion, i dont owe it to the government they try to establish. i do not owe respect to people attempting to oppress me. i never have and i never will.

but remember. there is context to be found in the passing of time. yes, you need to tell grandma to stop being racist. no, you do not need to banish grandma to the nursing home if there's still a chance that she's willing to sit and listen. a chance that she'll empathize with social perspectives that the racist society she was raised in never allowed her to have. breathe and give grandma the chance. then send her to the home if she's still racist.

(yes that was an analogy for how i imagine a perspective conversation with jacob would go. i do not have high hopes of that man finding self awareness given. well. who he is as a person.)

now. if you've played through sam's content, you already know why im bringing all of that up, but lets put together a list of all the things that Make Sam Coe Who He Is before we wrap it all up in a pretty bow that hopefully reads a lot less scattered than this "yo society got some trauma actually" lead up ive dumped on you

quick interrupt just for me: i love that im back on tumblr where i dont really have to give all that much of a fuck about making sense. any audience i could find here is equally unhinged so mostly i just have to format it in a way that makes your brain not hurt. sorry if you dont have adhd <3

1: lets talk about cora's hair.

im going to make the race observation because its bothering me from a dev standpoint AND the gamer crowd is already starting to make cuck memes which sucks to see.

i get that this doesnt matter in a colonialism scifi future where a service like enhance exists and we're talking about two rangers that apparently went under cover regularly, but it matters in the context of how sam was handled in a 2020 era commercial, creative environment. im just going to MENTION that cora coe's biological mother (that jab was me not liking her as a person, not me giving a shit that she's white) is paler than pale, and sam does NOT look like some of his earlier promo images. bethesda as a company also has a very long history of making characters arguably tan to avoid this shit.

9/16 edit: was asked for source, heres the exact image im referencing, which is still his set image on the starfield wiki to date:

(im going to preemptively warn any white artists building the urge to argue over this: you DO NOT want to die on a hill about lighting for this one, fucking trust me. thats not what this conversation is, and if you dont understand that as a White Artist, you need to sit this one out until you understand the full weight of the conversation and the profound effect of media treating skin color like a rare diversity accessory. bethesda has a very very long history of this. their last major story title, fallout 4, (76 was a money grab made in the other studio and i barely want to call it a game) had a whopping total of two black characters in its main cast, and both of them acted in subservient roles so please. please please please just. stop trying to defend bethesda on this one. its dehumanizing, cowardly, and malicious in this day and age. i promise im not trying to bite anyones head off here, im just Old And Tired when it comes to suburbanites in fandom.)

i think having solomon be canonically black would have been a really important aspect. i think it would have given the opportunity to show white people why its fucked up that they get SO EXCITED to save war mementos (or in the case of starfield a nasa memento) and will go on and on about how vital it is to save that piece of history, but when you bring up memorializing the importance of race as it pertains to human history and cultural history/pride, they suddenly start getting Very Uncomfortable and throw out phrases like "what does it matter we're all human" while standing next to the gun their grandfather smuggled home from the war

there is no brightness slider on pc and i havent gone reshade tweaking so everything is still washed out on my end (dont worry, as an rtx user, imma be makin a rant post on that) b u t. cora coe has a pale as fuck mother and a vaguely tan father with blue eyes and straight hair, meanwhile my precious angel has a darker complexion and curls that look like they're closing in on the 3c range so like. im getting vibes that sammy boy mighta been whitewashed during game dev, and thats about as far into THAT topic as im gonna bother to venture for this post.

2: his dad

were we supposed to have more daddy issues content??? istg it feels like there was the initial map talk and then nothing. im not saying that i cant pull blood from a stone and give you an entire essay on that glimpse of family trauma just from a few lines of dialogue, but still. feels like thats maybe something that should have gotten more detail.

"no forgiveness between me and my old man. it's uh... coe tradition."

oh boy. oh boy oh boy oh boy. what a line to start his personal quest

before we go ANY FURTHER im gonna drop a reference to one of my favorite aaron sorkin scenes of all time. its from the movie he did about the chicago seven, and i think it fits VERY well when having a conversation about how sam is shaped by his father

unfortunately the exact scene i want to show isnt clipped anywhere easy i could find, so here's an article that talks about that scene specifically if you want more context but dont want to watch the whole movie. what we're really focused on is this:

which is a scene where a fictional account of bobby seale, the leader of the black panther party at the time of the chicago 7 trial, said that above quote to a fictional account of tom hayden while they were having a conversation about how the stakes of this trial are life and death for him as a black man, but little more than a family dispute and a dark spot on their records for the (all white) chicago 7.

its a GREAT continuation of sorkin’s fascination around father son conflicts (he covered it a time or two during his writing days as west wings original creator, which is a great political show id strongly rec) and it really really works when used in comparison to those rebellion days sam had that he still flagellates over

sam was a privileged kid without a foundation of emotional support or a safe environment to vent to. he didnt have the words needed to communicate what he was feeling and thinking and experiencing. he didnt have the means to express himself in a way that wasn't immediately criticized by the people in his life. it doesnt take a degree in psych to figure out that sam first ran for the stars to run from his father. and it sounds like that was tradition

from the MOMENT YOU MEET HIM, jacob is full stop "my way or the highway" until you hit him with the good ol bethesda persuasion and his disposition pulls a 180 to hand you the next plot device

sam: "you know why im here."

jacob: "oh? and what's that? you come to your senses? realize where you ought to be for once?"

w o w

i wonder why sam never felt safe in his own home. i wonder why he doesnt feel safe leaving cora there. i wonder why that miserable fucking attitude and guilt has sam convinced that jacob will be the worst possible thing for his curious daughter's self esteem.

yes, grandparents sip a different kind of koolaid when it comes to their grandkids. no, that is not enough to protect that child from that much intergenerational trauma. sam's made a bad choice keeping cora in space, but he's made an EXCELLENT choice keeping her away from jacob.

forget "showing respect" to his son's choices, jacob won't give them the time of day. he brushes off constellation and wont go meet them for himself, he insists that cora being "in her family home" is the only priority (isnt THAT telling) and, as if that wasnt enough to prove he's incapable of empathy, the fact that he outright, direct fucking quote during that first scene with him, says to sam's face

"the only mistake im seeing here is you"

fuck anyone who walked away from that scene of a parent saying that to their own kid and had the response of "i dont understand why sam wont let jacob take care of cora." fuck you, genuinely from the bottom of my heart, if that was your reaction.

i looked for opportunities to get sam to talk about what the rest of those "30 plus years of experience with the man" really looked like after that. the fact that it was used as a plot device without any (from what I COULD FIND in my first pt, if i find any ill edit this) kind of dialogue discussion about that trauma around his father's behavior/mentality and the terrible influence it had is such a waste. chances are!!!!!! id fucking agree with him!!!!!!!!!! SO TELL THEM TO ME BETHESDA!!!!!! give me the chance to storm back into that house with the full story and let that geriatric fuck know why he will not be allowed back into my daughters life (yeah we're gonna be calling cora our daughter on this one bc, again, she's the best thing in the game) until he can learn to be a safe emotional environment for her

and THEN, at the end of the romance, the wrinkly mf drops a "hey can you go over sam's head and make the parenting decisions now" 20 minutes before your vows get exchanged in his living room (WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT THAT MESS OF A WEDDING LMAO ITS A LOT but im probably gonna save it for another sam post where i talk more in depth about why packing a complicated romance in that tightly just Dont Work). like wow. wowowowwow. if that doesnt perfectly sum up how he views the dusty's (shhh i really hope that name catches on pls i keep seeing ppl use captain instead its heartbreaking) role in the family now, and confirm how he's always viewed his own son, idk what does

3: lillian "i can abandon my kid and demand she be taken care of in the same breath" hart

i was originally going to go into hella detail on his relationship with his ex but honestly i think im just gonna leave a few paragraphs and not touch on her again bc its bad for my blood pressure.

okay, here's the deal. im biased in the sense that i had a mother with attachment issues and lets just say that his ex is worth about as much to me as a pile of dogshit. it'd be one thing if she had that moment of "oh. sam and cora bond really well and i dont fit" and decided to look at that and evaluate if she wanted to continue trying to be a parent.

but she didnt have a moment of reflection. she didnt talk to a therapist. she didnt have a discussion with sam. she went back to work and decided "oh well, my kid doesnt like me" and then left her daughter with an open wound and no shot at closure. which is just. wow. that's active abandonment. she WALKED OUT of cora's life because she couldn't stomach the idea that she didnt immediately win over her daughter without any effort to connect to her.

then she has the nerve to yell at sam for not doing the best for cora. like bitch, you cant even consistently answer the phone??? what are you on??? she's REPEATEDLY broken cora's heart with false promises, and clearly made no effort to truly atone for that given just HOW angry sam is ALL the times he brings it up.

and she does it all for what????? a beat cop reputation and some shiny medals????? like shut the fuck up with that righteous indignation piglet, you're killing smugglers under someone's made up authority to protect COMMERSE, not creating galactic peace. the idea that THAT SHIT is worth more to her than her own daughter having a mother who's around for all her life milestones is inFURIATING and id fucking deck her if i could.

the fact that there's zero chance to call her out other than one single "thats a pretty awful thing to say" option is a real cop out from bethesda. they realized they put a woman in a position where she could be really, truly yelled at for something like child care, and chickened out on following through with it so they wouldnt take any heat.

thats gross and should piss you the fuck off, by the way. that sure the fuck isnt what equality looks like by any measure. you don't empower women by acting like they're infallible creatures you cant call out for being flawed. and you sure as shit dont empower the next generation of women by forgiving their abusers.

4: cora's safety

which brings us to the big sticky: sam is a disaster and i DONT think that keeping cora on a combat-active spaceship is right. i think she'd be much better off living in constellation hq (aside from the main plot obvsly) with a constant open comm to her dad and the ability to bring her to outposts and secured sights.

the problem with the biomother's abandonment isnt the distance. its the lack of attempt to connect. its the lack of forming a bond. its the fact that she had zero desire to understand her child once she figured out her child didnt "love her the most" when thats literally not a thing. the problem was never the physical space, and it wouldnt have to be in sam's case, either.

he's a dad that's there for cora day in and day out, he just never got the chance to grow out of the panic stage of a parent worried the first fever is going to kill the baby. he didn't have his dad because he had to get out to protect himself, he doesnt have a mom because of how long she's been dead, and lillian checked the fuck out at an early stage apparently. so sam was left to be the nervous wreck trying to keep history from repeating itself. the man's flying blind in the face of all the combined generational trauma of himself, his father, and his ex, all while trying not to fuck up shaping a human life.

you're damn fucking right he keeps cora glued to his side, i legitimately do not think his own ptsd would allow him to do otherwise without someone like the dusty to come and and go "hey dude, maybe its time we read some emotional intelligence and trauma books so we can start getting cora into a stable environment for literally the first time in her life? also im going to teach her gun safety for my own sanity because you keep letting her walk all over you and its scaring the fuck out of me thinking my daughter is going to try to raid a pirate ship at 15 because no one taught you proper boundaries."

5: his morals

its been 30+ years and his father wont let go of arguing and micromanaging long enough to try to understand his son. lillian is a workaholic who believes her only inherit value is what she can provide to an organization that views living, breathing human beings as occasionally expendable while screaming about its pursuit of freedom and equality.

sam coe is a man who got told what he was supposed to be his entire life, tripped into drugs and crime in an angry, sheltered act of rebellion, and walked away from it all with a very skewed, very flawed interpretation of morality as a result.

lillian and his father are the clear moral compasses in his life. like yeah, sure, he'll talk about how cora is his driving force until he's blue in the face. and he's not lying!!! he's not even technically wrong. she is his active motivation day in and day out. but she is not his Morality. she hasn't developed enough as a person to be able to be that kind of beacon. she's a kid rushing herself through childhood because she thinks that will make her better and no one in her life recognizes it enough to stop it. she shouldnt have to be the moral guide for someone who's supposed to be guiding her

sam cant let go of the ranger envy. he couldnt stomach being around it, but he cant look at that discomfort long enough to identify why. he can walk into a bank and plain as day go "ah, don't you hate the smell of capitalism," but he can't bring himself to blink the stars out of his eyes long enough to ask why the rangers are so willing to put smugglers to death without trial. sam has enough awareness to identify the system is flawed, but he doesnt have the guts to really stare that down

he'll make cracks about walter having too much money and influence, but he wont actually mention how he and his wife are the root cause of an extraordinary amount of pain and suffering and perfectly avoidable manslaughter as a result of their business. i get that constellation runs as a dont as dont tell organization, but if sam's going to give me shit about nabbing a paper weight from a guy's desk, i think we should talk about how he doesnt display anger for walter's business practices.

sam coe, at his heart, is a dreamer who doesn't want to look too close at things. he was taught that some things just Are, and looking for too many answers will find you trouble. he's got the spirit of an explorer dampened by a lifetime spent under cops.

you can hear it in his voice whenever he talks about how proud he is of cora for being a goddamn prodigy. you can hear the wonder and the excitement there. you can hear the curious kid in him that probably got pushed out of the way while he was trying to shape himself into a Proper Coe

i think sam coe is a dreamer who was forcibly taught to fear learning as a child, and thats the real tragedy of him.

so let's start to tie our bow here.

sam is a man who, in a way that only a privillaged kid can, stumbled into neon's life of drugs and smuggling and self harm through destructive behavior with both eyes firmly shut.

he didn't fall into drugs after a lifetime of being submersed in the culture of it. he didnt take them because he grew up surrounded by people that just knew that's all life was ever going to hold. he didnt get into smuggling because he was starving. he didnt take on his first "criminal act" because there was a life and death battle going on somewhere in his life.

this man was drowning in guilt and shame centered around not "being a proper coe" by the time he was free of his father's control, by all accounts. you can hear how much self hatred he has over the memory of that time in his life. look, im not going to say that age and recovery doesnt come with regret, but he talks about it like degeneracy and something to be guilted about rather than just... living life. like so what you did some drugs?? so what you did a capitalism no no?????

corporations arent people. you shouldnt steal from them because itll put YOU at risk, but under no circumstance should anyone hold onto any guilt for stealing from them. money is fake and capitalism murders people every hour of the day. fuck the system, its fucking rigged, look out for you and yours while capitalism is stealing your natural resources and making private homesteading prosecutable (translation: in our actual, real life here, the government can throw you in jail for building a house without a permit. go look up at the sky and think about the moral journey humanity had to take to get us to that point, and then come talk to me about how i shouldnt encourage people to steal from corporations)

anyways back to the video game, as far as the "what if he was unknowingly smuggling something like organs or weapons" argument, there's no desire for me to defend it, tbh. i dont view crime as a personality brand the way cops do. someone being convicted of a crime doesnt make me see them as lesser, it makes me see them as a person who did a bad thing. i do bad shit all the time. we all do. we're human. sometimes there's an excuse for the behavior, and sometimes there isnt. that's not the end of the world. you own up to your actions, you apologize, and you put in the effort to make amends that fit the situation. end of story. the obvious exception to that being when someone you have victimized tells you to fuck off because they dont want your further involvement.

yes. yes there are people in the world that are genuine monsters that spend their time and energy looking for ways to do the cruelest shit imaginable to their fellow human beings. but those are fucking outliers, so no, im not going to let a conversation about morality be derailed by a fraction of a percent of the population

but people (like the rangers) who aren't ready to look at the whole picture of context, who would rather hyper focus on the unbending rule of the land, don't see that. they see a "type" of person once a crime has been committed rather than "a person who found themselves in this scenario"

sam was raised by cops. he fundamentally does not understand how biased his own view is. he'll sometimes make a vague mention of crime being a necessity, but you can hear how many strings are attached there just from the way he talks about it. he truly views crime as a black and white subject with exceptionally few slivers of grey to be found. you can hear the "law and order is what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom" in his voice whenever he talks about how the rangers are "good people" he just "didnt fit anymore" and it's heartbreaking

he'd be so much better off if he would take a moment to reevaluate his priorities and look a lot closer at that guilt he carries and why he carries it. i think it would even help him better connect with cora in the long run. it would for sure give him a better handle on why letting his daughter take on college courses this early in her life isnt something to brag about. its a bad sign that she's pushing herself to Be Something in the exact same way he used to. he just doesn't recognize it because her way is "healthy" by society's fucked up view of child prodigies

tl;dr

i don't need to fix sam coe. he's stubborn, traumatized, and sheltered, not broken.

give that man good enough head and i'm absolutely sure he could be talked into reading some -clutches pearls- marxist literature

#starfield #sam coe #cora coe #meta #lillian hart negative #jacob coe negative #fuck hart and fuck jacob they're both cops without empathy and they can get fucking bent thanks for coming to my ted talk

27 notes · View notes

hermanunworthy · 8 months

Text

!DNDADS S2 EP44 SPOILERS!

aTONYment??? what does pepperoni tony have to so w this. oh my god are they gonna visit him in heaven or something. wtf is happening. guess i gotta listen and find out (im scared)

- BETH PLAYING AS NPC BETH MAY

- "ron... what ARE we?" WTF IS HAPPENINGGG

- ROGUE TAYLOR??????

- MORE GOOFY FREDDIE NUMBERS IM EXCITED

- NO NO DONT SAY THE LINCOLN FACT AS LINCOLN THATS GONNA MAKE ME SAD

- WILL IS SO SILLY i love that man

- i like the energy at the start of this one its fun

- wait is anthony doing a regular dad fact

- ANTHONY. 😭

- FREDDIE DEATH SOUND MY BELOVED

- DID LINCOLN JUST CALL HIS GRANDPA ZADDY. NEVER AGAIN

- "i had more fun in the other place" GREASE CAR FLASHBACKS.

- OMG EARLY HERMIE APPEARANCE (i choked on my food)

- "no! we cant! my scene partner!" they are so besties (worsties)

- "MY FUTURE LIFE PARTNER" HOLY FUCK HOLY FUCK HOLY FUCK OAKWORTHY CRUMBS. OH M GOD . FUTURE LIFE PARTNER.

- MEATBALL SCARY

- TERRY JR SOON. GUYS

- oh wow beth hasnt cast unseen servant since. goth

- ANTHONYS BABY VOICE

- so lincoln is looking for the eleanor shellstrop okay (this whole heaven/hell stuff has just constantly been reminding me of tgp)

- "he looks up at them asianly" has the same energy as the "cries in spanish" meme

- FREDDIES LITTLE SONG HAS ME SCREAMINGGGG

- ARE TJEY ACTUALLY GONNA FIND TONY. OH MY GOD

- WOW ALL U GUYS THAT WERE JUST TELLING ME HOW U MISS PEPPERONI TONY. HOW ARE YALL FEELING

- SCARY HAS A CHANCE TO APOLOGIZE.

- 4:30 MILE IS ACTUALLY INSANE. MATT.

- HOW DID WILL FORGET THAT SOCCER IS LINKS WHOLE THING

- GOD LINK CALLING NORMAL OUTTT

- HERMIE. FUCK OFFFFF

- SPARROW OFFERING NORMAL A HUG????

- FUUUUUCK. NORMAL

- help i would like to interrupt for just a sec to say that in the middle of the episode just now i got hired at spirit halloween. dndads reference GAKDJD

- TONY WAS WAITING FOR MARGARITA WAAAAA

- SCARY SOUNDS SO NERVOUS NOBODY HMU

- IM GONNA CRY. I CANT DO THIS

- PLZZZZ LET THEM SEE MARGARITA AGAIN PLZZZ

- SCARY WHY WOULD U ASK IF IT HURT :[[

- WHAT IS THE VIBE OF THIS SCENE. HELP

- NOOOO I NEED SCARY AND MARGARITA TO INTERACT AGAIN. THEY ARE GFS

- SCARY CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT....

- THEY ARE BEING SO AWFUL TO NORMAL. QUIT IT

- SCARYS TALKING ABOUT TERRY. END ME

- "he never knew me when i was someone to be proud of" OOOUGHGHHH

- IF THAT FUCKING SWORD GOT INTO HERMIES HANDS. THEY WOULD BE UNSTOPPABLE

- NORMAL. BURIES MY HEAD IN THE FUCKING DIRT

- ooo normal dragging the sword would make cool fanart

- i honestly love salty normal but it also makes me really sad

- SCARY DIDNT INCLUDE HERMIE AMONG HER SPOUSES????

- TY WILL FOR REMEMBERING NICKY

- TAYLOR DEFENDING HIS DAD AWWW

- WTF IS THIS FIGHT???? HELLO??

- IS NORMAL FINALLY SNAPPING. IS THIS HAPPENING

- "I AM JEALOUS I DONT HAVE ANY COOL DYNAMICS W ANYBODY!!!" FUUUUUUCKK

- i cant do this i feel sick im SICK

- "why are they arguing i thought they liked each other" WHAT IF I BURST INTO TEARS RN.

- THE NORMAL ANGST IN THIS EPISODE IS TOOOO MUCH FOR ME

- NORMAL PUT THE MASCOT COSTUME BACK ON. FUCK. FUCK

- "ME AND MY THREE BEST FRIENDS AND MY FUTURE BOYFRIEND" GUYS. GUYS I CANNOT DO THIS

- THESE KIDS ARE SOOOO TRAUMATIZED WHAT THE HELLLL

- OH RON WAS IN SCARYS POCKET

- TERRY IS IN THE "PLANES OF MISERY"????

- "maybe he saw what u could be" BETH.....

- LINKS TRYING TO TALK TO NORMAL AGAIN PLZ END MY SUFFERING

- TERRY AND GLENN ARE FUCKING FIGHTING EACH OTHER????? WHATTTT

- OH NEXT EPISODE IS GONNA BE WIIIIIILD DUUUDE

#dndads #dndads spoilers #dndads s2 spoilers #siren says

16 notes · View notes

ghosts-and-glory · 4 months

Note

Hello I'm the survey anon, I'm here to ask you some questións about cotl. First: how did you get into the game? Second: What's your favorite part of the game? And Third: If you could add or remove anything? What would it be? Thank you for your time, tumblr user Ghosts-and-Glory. (I'm not an official account or anything, just a curious guy.)

I ramble under the cut

1) I think I saw advertising for it a few years back just before it came out. I watched a few people play it (RT Game and Secret Sleepover Society) but it didn’t look like my thing. At one point I just remembered it existed and wish-listed it on steam and bought it on a whim when it went on sale in December. I have not been the same since (affectionate)

2) Tie between the music, visual style and story elements. My hot take is cotl has my favourite video game soundtrack, it’s one of the few I have on my playlist next to other music. The colour direction makes me cry tears of joy. I will never ever get over the indigo/purple and like red/magenta colour scheme of the majority of the game. The subtle and lively animation, little tiny visuals like Kallamar being the only bishop with a leviathan’s cross on his design to go along with his ocean theming. The story feels so lovingly crafted and in depth just the way it gives you little bread crumbs. Like l loose my mind digging through dialogue and tablets like a madman.

Honourable mention to the crusades and the boss fights. The only other rouge like I’ve ever played is Noita and that game kicks my ass, like at least I can progress through cotl without getting shot by goblins with shotguns. But on my first play throughout I absolutely lost my shit at the way each bishop’s boss fight takes the main elements from the area and ramps it up. The bosses reflect on that area’s enemies and it’s so well designed.

3) I really really wish the game was better optimized. I have a weak computer and I gotta turn the graphics waaayyyy down and unplug my Cintiq to play. It crashes on me if I have too many followers, too many crops, it crashed when I finished the post game, I’ve been soft locked by trying to talk to a follower, something being in their way and they can’t path find to me. Also just small things like I have SIX OUTHOUSES AND THE FUCKERS STILL SHIT IN THE CHURCH. And when my heart demon guy drops extra HEARTS OUT OF BOUNDS. I also wish there was a bit more with some of the minor npcs. Like give Plimbo as much character as Sozo you cowards. It’s also vaguely disturbing how none of Ratau’s friends react when you sacrifice him. And I wanna pet all my followers.

#my post #I don’t wanna hit the main tag with this #another edition of Malachi rambles about sweet nothings #ask

16 notes · View notes

fyeahnix · 9 months

Text

okay I gotta talk about Cyberpunk 2077

I really really wanted to play this game on launch back in 2020 but it was just...not ready so I avoided it. I also know the game was criticized for some things and a bunch of people made thinkpieces about how you shouldn't play it and all that. and like...sure have your opinions about it, that's fine. I was disappointed at the launch, but content wise I wanted to play the game for myself. so I waited until it went on sale for 50% off this year and bought it on GOG (which, if you're interested, that sale happens at least like twice per month).

before I went on vacation to Europe at the end of June, I finally started it. and I was....kinda in shock????

(keep in mind this is pre-2.0 patch so some of this might be out of date when that comes out)

(major story spoilers below)

first off the character creation is......not amazing? like there's plenty of nice preset options but it's limiting. V's gender being tied to their voice is FUCKING AWFUL, and I do not agree with that direction in the slightest. tbh I think that might be the absolute worst part of the game, where it would have been much easier to just...give you an option for pronouns?? like why was that not the direction wtf. and also having your voice and body type be a prerequisite to romance options too?? I just....UGH there's work to be done here.

past that tho, I love how much personality V has and I love the acting. I went with female V with a Street Kid background. it was really nice seeing how she came back from Atlanta to start back up in Night City and how her relationship with Jackie quickly blossomed. and man these two together were so great. imagine getting close to killing someone and getting arrested and then being like "bruh that cop was a fucking asshole and I'm hungry, let's go get some food bruh" and then I saw The Montage.

man....man oh man that fucking Street Kid montage of V doing jobs with Jackie? with the music in the background? I ended up watching that like 2-3 times (because the game crashed) but i genuinely did like it a lot and it really set me up with for the overall vibe of Night City. I dunno maybe I'm easily entertained but it was...just so cool?? I think it really lends itself to the animation and acting in the game overall. while most basic NPCs are nothing special to talk about, the ones who are, who clearly have some mocap going on with their facial expressions, are a fucking treat to watch regarding body language and subtle facial changes.

I somehow avoided all spoilers of the game for nearly three years (also do not have experience in this IP) so I had no idea who Johnny Silverhand was and his significance to V. I wasn't a huge fan of him in the beginning but I quickly grew to like this asshole, especially as the game progresses and you learn more about him and his ideals and his very flawed perception of the world. I really really wanted there to be a solution where he and V live happily in the end, but ofc this genre does not allow happiness lol. It was very cool to hear his input during some jobs even if I thought they were ridiculous sometimes or he was jumping the gun a bit, and it was nice to get to know him better. I eventually came to see him as a bit of an older brother figure for my V. not perfect and offered "sage" advice when he felt warranted. obviously he has some self interest in keeping V alive because that means he stays alive, but it was very sweet to see him change over time to wanting to genuinely help V out.

by the end, I chose the route to storm Arasaka with Rogue because....why the fuck not, it's not my definitive playthrough. Aaaand I got The Sun ending. Rogue died. and I hated that. but more than that I wasn't happy with my V and her situation, but I'll get back to that in a bit. that brings me to the romance option.

again, I somehow avoided all spoilers for this game and while I vaguely remembered seeing Judy in one of the initial trailers from like...3+ years ago, I couldn't fully remember her role in the story or even what she looked like. all I can say is.....fucking love at first sight.

ok so like...I'm a bit of a simp for nerdy girls. and techy girls. and alt girls. and artsy girls. so to have her be nerdy and techy and alt and artsy and also have hobbies outside of that? man....the second I went to her apartment and learned more about her hobbies and interests, I was fucking smitten. it was super nice to be able to see regular people shit out of a romance option in a major game. and on top of that. her drive and interest in standing up to injustices is admirable. I love her, seriously. she's such a great character.

the romance. man.....I wish I had more words for it, but the way it progresses through the questline, the little hints you get about her own interest in you (Johnny mentioning the way she looks at you and you liking it), the way her texting towards you starts to change over time. I feel like it was paced extremely well within the confines of the game. and then....Pyramid Song happened.

at first, I approached this as any other romance in any other RPG. "oh yay, I can fuck the romance option yaaayyy" but nah. this quest fucking....ruined me in the best way possible. it was beautifully done. the acting, the emotional impact of the lake dive, V and Judy's minds melding into one, learning about Judy's past and hearing her memories... even writing this paragraph now I am near tears because that romance was so fucking well done. like yeah the eventual sex scene was great, but everything leading up to that was absolutely fantastic. to have seen this in a game, especially as a lesbian interacting with a character who ALSO is a lesbian, was just.....ugh it meant so much and I know there's no way a straight man wrote this lmfao.

I also love how after the relationship starts, Judy continuously texts you for A WHILE afterwards. She tells you random things, brings up her thoughts, and eventually tells you how much you mean to her. It is unbelievably cute and I couldn't stop smiling when I read every new text. I really hope they expand this in the update. And if not....well...I may consider doing this myself in a mod or something lmfao.

I also went through Panam's questline and tho it sucks that I couldn't romance her, I did develop a headcanon for V's interactions with her that I made a post about previously. like idk after seeing and meeting her in her quest, she was not at all who I thought she'd be. I was expecting some like....extremely femme prissy woman like...idk Loba from Apex Legends or something who couldn't break a nail or she'd fuss about it (remember I avoided all spoilers of this game lol). but NAH, def not her. she's more like "hey V, how many tons of dynamite do we need to wake up an entire Wraiths camp?" and you know what? I fucking love that shit.

which brings me back to the ending. I had a headcanon for my V that basically goes like this:

V is a Street Kid merc from Night City who comes back from Atlanta to restart her life. She meets Jackie and they quickly become best friends. All the shit about Arasaka happens and Jackie dies. V starts to have second questions about whether or not reaching the top of Night City and becoming the best merc is really what she wants. She's seen death plenty but Jackie's death has haunted her and now she herself dying. In the midst of doing jobs to survive and figuring out how to fix her situation with the Relic, she meets Panam and quickly becomes friends with her. She was a little interested at first but Panam was not. V respected that and did not persist, but they did become very close friends. V eventually meets Judy as well, and while they started off a little rocky, she ends up liking her and eventually they start a relationship. But having that conversation with Judy at the lake about Judy wanting to leave Night City really gets V thinking. But she carries on. Blah blah blah, story stuff, she becomes close to Johnny as well, but eventually I had it in my head that V really loves Judy as a partner and really loves Panam as her best friend so why not live out the rest of her life traveling with the Aldecaldos? She can leave her merc life in Night City and start fresh with her newfound family, best friend, and life partner.

And what do you fucking know, this is actually possible as an ending lmfao. I only just read the endings right after finishing my playthrough and this will be my ultimate goal the next time I play this V in my....prob 3 or 4 playthrough by then.

anyway, enough story. time for gameplay.

so I usually do stealth builds in these types of games. I chose to go with a stealthy throwing knife build (very fun!) after deciding pistols and bladed weapons that aren't knives weren't really for me this time around. I haven't played a ton of stealth-based games, but generally what I've noticed is that they tend to give you routes/pathways to follow if you pay enough attention. like NPCs will have predefined walking routes, the environment will have certain openings/paths available to navigate and either avoid or kill incapacitate these enemies quickly and quietly. I don't feel like I got that sense in this game here? I dunno if it was poor stealth design, but I do think it was this:

this game really REALLY wants you to utilize a cyberdeck, it feels like. interacting with the environment, whether it's creating distractions or blinding enemies or whatever, seems to be the goal with really working with stealth. I can't say that I hate it, esp since that's a part of the game world, but sometimes doing stealth feels more difficult than it should be because of this perceived expectation to...create your own routes and pathways so to speak. the last like...10-15 hours of my playthrough, I ditched the cyberdeck and went with a sandevistan but had invisibillity cloaking to make up for the lack of a deck. still fun but it did feel like I was using cloaking as a crutch to get out of LOS when spotted lol.

I have no opinions on guns and gunplay in this game as I haven't use them yet, but I'm sure I'll have thoughts for 2.0.

text messages were really cool lol. I know they are bascially just predefined messages but I still liked that and I loved how you can talk to characters on holo instead of visiting them in person. idk I'm a sucker for stuff like this.

the perk system is not great, I oftentimes felt confused on what perks to even get because a lot of them were underwhelming and felt more like Fallout 3's "numbers go up" options. the overhaul 2.0 patch will apparently give us more options to play with in terms of changing gameplay so I am hoping the changes will be reminiscent of going from Fallout 3 -> New Vegas in perk style.

Cyberware is great and this is where I feel the game really opens up in playstyle compared to the perks. I'm happy to see this is being extended and armor will be tied to cyberware instead of clothing in 2.0.

vehicles are cool. I like the variety in them but I feel like there could be more. additionally there's so many of them available for free that it almost makes no sense to buy them unless you're just doing completionist stuff. the handling is fucking awful and I hope that improves in the patch.

Night City is absolutely fucking gorgeous in a dirty and grungy kinda way. I've lived in a major city for most of my life and it def gave me that....really raw inner-city feel with people walking fucking everywhere, cars that nearly won't stop til they hit you, stores and shit everywhere, gang members hanging out on the corner or in front of stores, police stopping someone for questioning, etc. I just love it. a lot of it is window dressing. you can't go into like 99.99% of the stores and whatnot in the game. that might bother some folks, and that's understandable, but I'm completely fine that it's all for show. It helps the atmosphere.

I suppose I could talk about how well this game presents the genre as a whole but...I can't. I don't have the background history and knowledge of the IP itself or the genre to really talk about it in detail. If this game comes across as "baby's first cyberpunk experience" or doesn't go too hard in the punk direction then....fine, I guess? Whatever? I still enjoyed it lol. I would like to experience more cyberpunk as my experience so far has been limited to Shadowrun Returns and Dragonfall, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", and Blade Runner. But yeah I'm not an expert here so I mainly just wanted to talk about the gameplay and presentation.

anyway I think that's about all to talk about really. this was more just...stream of consciousness and rambling than anything lol. I had a really awesome time with the game and thought, despite the shitty launch and character creation thing about gender, that it's def worth checking out. can't wait for the DLC and 2.0 update because I will likely eventually talk about stuff that may or may not have changed. this is gonna be the game I focus on heavily for the next few months until I get sick of it. then I might start exploring with mods.

#Cyberpunk #Cyberpunk 2077 #Johnny Silverhand #V #Cyberpunk V #Panam Palmer #Judy Alvarez

14 notes · View notes