#i have over 200 hours on my first playthrough

[nylarac]

hi play pokemon infinite fusion <3

[jklpopcorn]

crying and sobbing i was supposed to draw doodles of my ocs but instead all there is is Siffrin

they're so shaped i have to draw them

also

100% :)

[akihikosanada]

maxed all affinities, requests and social links, defeated margaret (don't ask how many times that took.), and got the true ending of persona 4 including that sexy timeskip where you meet all the besties again 💆‍♀️ loooove that for me

[devotedlystrangewizard]

if i ever shut up about how horrible & yet amazing it was to have conquest as my first fire emblem game it means i have been brainwashed

[kommunisti]

when i got bg3 i played like a 100 hours within the two first weeks and at that point it surpassed every other game in my library in game time except the top 3 and i was like hmm, it will get past skyrim (140h) but dunno if it can become my most played game. fastforward to today

[ganondoodle]

some ramblings about the overworld and reusing of the map in totk

i was one of the people that didnt mind revisiting the same map bc i loved the world and would gladly rexplore it all again, i was confident theyd change it up so it felt fresh again .. but it really wasnt, but even if it wasnt i was fine with it bc i was sure theyd HAD to use the build up from botw, with the shiekah and yiga alone theres so much you could do, and a captivating story or characters are more important than any map change to me-

and then, most changes on the surface were artificially stuck onto the world, like some small boulders the size of a large boulder stuck onto a wall, weirdly fusing with it (but thats not relevant and doesnt have a reason either) which really doesnt change anything much, some caves and holes in the ground but nothing really substantial at all, the most changed was death mountain and the gerudo city (while the regions themselves didnt really change either .. no in any interesting way at least to the extend i saw in my what 200+ hours)

im no game dev expert but do know a little and changing up a model and breaking stuff off really isnt THAT much to do so i really dont understand why they dotted the world with useless rocks and little caves that are all extremely similar instead, but then change stuff that is WEIRD to change and would have been easier to leave as it was- like the shrine of life being scraped of the walls, or smoothing over the places were shiekah towers were in botw like they never existed in the first place, and then sometimes adding something for no reason (like apparetly theres a new useless tiny ruin on the akkala fortress??? why?? how?? and i heard someone say they changed how the big hole in one of the peaks of the big mountains looked, like the icy blue texture was removed?? i dont know if i went there in my playthrough but i dont doubt it lol) and instead of the holes of the big shiekah tech pillars being left its just .. filled up with dirt, just like the bit of the calamity ganon arena being jsut rock now and the pit being fileld with just dirt as well-

and theres MORE changes that are arguably MORE time consuming to do but are both unnecessary to do and also WEIRD, erase everything shiekah and say it all vanished into thin air while theres clearly guardian parts in the new, shittier, towers and one decayed left at the hateno institue, the ancient furnace isnt just GONE its filled with rocks that had no way to get there naturally

but then the rest of the world is pretty much the same, with very little changes and if its plopped onto it without actualyl meaning anything, even inconvenience you too, like the path to hateno being blocked by a fortress of monsters so you cant get there via horse, and even if you clear them out, with or without the quest, they just come back with the bloodmoon, i thoguht if i do it with the quest theyd be gone for good and clear the path again, but NO you participating in the fight means nothing but another checkmark bc they will redo it over and over and it will be blocked again anyway (but then the "pirates" which are also a monster fortress .... dont come back ... waht) or the blockage of the bridge at the twin mountains too, you cant actually change anything, the one in the gerudo valley is also just another weird blockage, do you want to force me to build stuff? no thanks ill just walk then and be annoyed about it bc thats way easier

(sidenote, satori being reduced to someone pointing at caves that doesnt even tell you if you did them already or not is so disrespectful, i loved satori bc it wasnt some player helper but a strange and beautiful being, it jsut lived there and you had to be careful to even catch a glimps of it, the atmosphere around it being creepy and otherworldly you dont know what its really capable of, like you are staring at a godly being you cannot talk to but it accepts you when you are there and leaves as soon as you let go of it.... and nows its just a cave pointer...)

so, especially if you played botw, it all very much feels like a retread but with little sprinkles and weird changes (or outright annoying ones like the shrine of life being licked of the walls) here and there and othertimes just plain annoying inconveniences, and then the main points of your quest are .... in the same spot as in botw as well, its at rito village, death mountain, gerudo town, zoras village ... its repetition is entirely unnecessary, you had interesting locations all over the map, put a temple into or under akkala fortress my god that things i BUILD for that, anything in akkala really, put another one high into the mountains, in or UNDER hateno?? the krog forest or the deku tree being one?? kakariko??? no ?? it jsut had to affect each species exactly where they are .. again, and even the temples are there so its not even a thing made there affects the town nearest but still far away enough to be different or the terrain literally leveled the ground and they are gonna have to look to settle elsewhere (the closest is gerudo town but like ... is it), its not just repetetive but also makes the regions feel WAY more disconnected and self contained, none of them care about each other or do anything but defend against the thing that conveniently affects them directly at the same place again and the activities are largely the same too, find shrine find krog

ok then we got the sky, .. which is largely empty with just some repeating minibosses or some get crystal to there thing, its empty and barren of life, not a single NPC ever goes up into the sky aside from two dungeons companions, despite them already using the sonau tech ballooons and what not and having literal bird people there AND being literally obsessed with anything sonau, rarely theres a construct there, a robot with little to tell and not really doing anything, the ruins dont tell a story either, its just .. there

then theres the underground and omg its just as big as the overworld map! and then the .. terrain and look of it is almost always the same (only in the gerudo region is it a little more sandy) with the same kind of sonau thingies being the same everywhere that dont even LOOK ancient, it bothers me so much, are you telling me this building has been here for well over 10 THOUSAND YEARS?? and then the lightroots ... are in the same spot as the shrines .. so its not even a discovery really bc you know where shrine or root is now .. and then every more important place is literally beneath surface important places (even under taburasa .. the town you newly built in botw) which again .. isnt really a discovery then, and then the map itself is just the surface map but inverted, which to some may be a neat thing but, to me ... so its the surface AGAIN but more boring bc it doesnt have any regional differences too and then they have the gall to put the old amiibo stuff there (the labyrinths??? you go throguh all that and its just the renamed same armor from botws DLC??? how dare you), or some crystal things for your battery that are just another currency that has to be exchanged twice to specific people to be most useful- and the big weird magician statues ?? man idk if i should help this one, the giant mech like statue is giving me the creeps, and how the hell is it talking through the statues of thE GODDESS??? HUH´? and then it turns out its just a guys that sells you largely useless stuff for yet another currency you can only use at few specific spots

even the enemies are the same aside from mini- and gigamas, it even repeats the enemies from the surface

the best part of the underground/surface are the yiga, and even they are made kinda boring, in the underground its little outposts that give you some crystal currency and blueprints for autobuild i bet you arent ever gonna use, the most valuable thing is their little diaries and on the bigger spots koga (he is surperior to every single other character, sorry gan) but even kogas questline is like .. removed from everything else, its its own contained thing ocne again ... the arenas that are kinda fun to do but ultimately

you have a barely changed map from botw, a largely empty sky with some rather boring shrines or minibosses that get used over and over and no story to tell really, and then the entire map of the surface again with important points and shrine points being repeated as well

and then you get option over option to skip any traversal of all that too, with ultrahand and the towers and the ceiling jump and fast travel its a repetetive map twice and one largely empty with out skipping from point a to point b

i know how difficult game dev is, but in all those years with a giant team and money this is it? and not even the story has anything to go for? how do you take the addictive exploration of botw and turn it boring

anyway, yet another ramble taking me the entire evenign to write, again, this is not meant as blind hatred but an expression of my feelings and thoughts about it and for this one why it felt so weird and boring to explore ... the thing i like so much about botw ..

[taapje]

Second Playthrough Update: One Year Later

I’m not a completionist, so I’m never going to 100% this game. Too many Koroks. I really don’t want to do that eyeballs-in-the-depths mission. But I have endeavored to get all of the Bubbelgems and caves on this go, because that seems both fun and realistic.

I spent hundreds of hours in my first save file, and over 200 in this one. And this endeavor is showing me, clearer than ever, that there are still nooks and crevices I’ve missed. There are so many secrets that remain.

And I’m so grateful, because it always gives me some new reason to come back.

It’s been such a year. I don’t visit Hyrule every day any longer, but the days I do bring so much beauty and joy. The art people keep making in this game’s wake continues to blow me away.

So thank you to everyone in the fandom for this inspiration and happiness, and thank you Nintendo for the Master Works book and Limited Edition Soundtrack that I will cherish like a family heirloom.

[chateaulonlon]

Ocarina of Time's story lasts 2-3 years

((By 2-3 years, I am excluding the 7 year coma. Plus the coma, the game lasts 9-10 years.))

A theory I've sat on for about a decade is that when Link collects the spiritual stones, it takes him an entire year, perhaps less, 6 months at the least. Retrieving the medallions takes 1 to 2 years. This means that the game, from Link's perspective, lasts 2-3 years.

Time in Hyrule, from our eyes, is strange. Each day cycle is a real-life 2 minutes and 30 seconds, and each night cycle is 1 minute and 20 seconds. By the time Link leaves the forest, the number of days it takes to venture across Hyrule might just take a year. Time in this game is extremely relevant, and personally, I think the day/night cycle is accurate in terms of Hyrule's scale. I am also including areas where time stops. Although not really relevant, Ocarina of time takes between 11-14 hours to complete if you know what you're doing. For others, it might take 20-70 hours.

Gaebora Kaepora does mention at Hyrule Castle that time "stops" in some regions of the game, such as the market or Lon Lon Ranch. I have always assumed that time stops to allow players to linger around shops or keep things from randomly changing every couple of minutes (i.e., if time continued in the ranch, Malon would bounce from the field to her house constantly). This is a game mechanic. I don't think time literally stops at the farm because then, the horses wouldn't move, and Malon couldn't speak. 

The same goes for Twilight Princess. However, time in TP is further stretched, albeit unevenly. It takes around 17 real-life minutes for an entire 24-hour cycle, give or take. Places like Kakariko or Ordon do not change in time, likely because they're the players' "resting stops," if that makes sense. The overworld in Ocarina of Time is much smaller in scale than in TP. It makes sense that proportionally, time moves at different speeds. Kakariko is pretty close to the castle in OoT, but it's much farther in TP (which is the same field, btw). Discussing more of OoT and TP's map differences is a waste of time in this post because there are many inconsistencies despite the games taking place only a century apart. 

My theory only works if Link isn't a speed runner. I am going under the impression that the game is played as Nintendo intended. I am also working with the assumption that the player 100%'s the game and isn't a total noob.

From YouTube playthroughs to my own, it would take Link around 105 GAME days, at the least, from waking up in bed until the point he opens the door of time. 

This makes more sense in the story. Ganondorf's climb to power was calculated and pre-determined. He attempted to gain the King's trust over months or perhaps a year to determine his next steps. Ganondorf slowly corrupted each region and race of Hyrule and the Hylians were saved for last. When Link and Zelda meet for the first time, it's also likely the King of Hyrule and Ganondorf's first meeting. 

It would've taken up to a year if we think about Link sleeping, eating, indulging in free time, etc. These story gaps are primarily filled in the mangas, but it's up to you to decide. People do sleep in Hyrule, and Link is not excluded. Link also defecates, but we thankfully don't see this on-screen. We can only assume it happens. In a way, you can think of Ocarina of Time as an interpretation of a story. In movies, we don't see people eating or peeing regularly. We get time-skips and jump-cuts, and viewers assume the gaps. 

Considering it takes Link well over 100 days from the start to the temple of time, it's safe to presume we can double or triple that number based on things he would do off-screen. Sleeping is the biggest factor in this.

As an adult, Link's main quest is retrieving the medallions, which takes considerably longer. According to brief calculations, it would've taken Link around 200 game days to get the medallions, do quests, defeat bosses, etc. If we triple or double that number (400-600), it could've taken Link 1-2 years (estimation) to do all of this. 

It took Ganondorf 7 years to prep for Link's return and gain full reign over Hyrule. In that time, he built an empire and gained followers. But these 7 years are only the beginning for the King of Thieves - in his words, he's ready to take over more than Hyrule, also the entire world. Ganondorf's work in Hyrule is practically complete, with the exception of ridding Link and Zelda from the equation. It only took Link 1-2 years to take this 7-year reign down.

[marythegizka]

Mass Effect Trilogy Tag

Was tagged by @illusivesoul

Thank you! 😊

Tagging (if you feel like it, of course): @mxanigel, @lady-carys, @wolfmilk-and-polenta

Answers under the cut! (Quite a bit of rambling there, I'm afraid...)

I have been a fan since:

Favourite game of the series?:

MShep or FShep?:

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?:

Biotics or Tech:

Paragon or Renegade:

Favourite Class:

Favourite Companion:

Least favourite Companion:

My squad selection:

Favourite In-game romance:

Other pairings I like:

Favourite NPC:

Favourite Antagonist:

Favourite Mission:

Favourite Loyalty Mission:

Favourite DLC:

Control, Synthesis or Destroy:

Favourite Weapon:

Favourite Place:

A quote I like:

I have been a fan since: 2021. I had been meaning to try the first game since 2017. I played for one evening, then life happened and I forgot about it. Fast forward to the 2021, when having less work and no longer having a commute made me go 'well, why not use this time to mitigate my existential dread and deaden my emotions with... oh. Okay. Nevermind that'. And then I sank... I don't know, a little under 200 hours into it? Yeah.

Favourite game of the series?: ME2. I think I like the stakes and storytelling of ME3 better (also, I think it was the first game to ever make me cry? Several times?), but ME2 is very character-focused and I just live for that.

MShep or FShep?: Well, I usually play as female characters (the one recent exception I can think of being a M!Cousland because that was the only way marry Anora. I have no regrets.) so I'm not really in a position to compare.

Earthborn, Colonist or Spacer?: Earthborn on my Paragon playthrough, colonist on the Renegon one. (I also started a spacer one but did not finish it).

Biotics or Tech: Both, but for different reasons. I like the visuals of biotics (yes, I really am that shallow), and having an enemy NPC floating helplessly in the air while you take aim is really, really convenient. That said, the 'overload' ability is extremely helpful, and I really like Tali's little drone, so tech is pretty cool too. I just usually make sure I have both in the squad (except for specific missions like the moon base in ME1).

Paragon or Renegade: Hmm, so... I'm going to say Renegon, because Renegade is very entertaining at times, and absolutely awful at other times (particularly in ME3). But my first Shepard was a bleeding heart Paragon. She was just so nice.

Favourite Class: Anything that lets me experience the story without dying too many times (and I play on casual so that's really all of them). That said, I find myself rather partial to the Vanguard's charge ability. It's not necessarily the *most* useful, but it's just too satisfying not to use.

Favourite Companion: Hmm. Well, I love EDI's dry humour and the fact that she becomes more human over time, so I'll just go with EDI...But honestly, it is a tough choice, especially when old grump Javik is right there, and Tali melts my heart, and Liara's arc is so good, and Wrex is too funny but also pretty tragic, and... see what I mean?

Least favourite Companion: Jacob. The thing with Jacob is, I don't even dislike him, I just think his writing is... how do I put it? Not bad, per se, but it doesn't quite pull me me in. He's pretty much the only companion who remained 'a coworker' on all my playthroughs. Other were either 'best pals' (Tali, Garrus, Wrex), great romances (Liara, Garrus, Thane), or downright antagonistic at times but in a way that felt natural and brought something to the story (Miranda and Jack come to mind).

My squad selection: I don't have a fixed one.

Favourite In-game romance: Garrus

Other pairings I like: Miranda/Jack, Javik/Liara, Tali/Garrus, Nyreen/Aria

Favourite NPC: Matriarch Aethyta

Favourite Antagonist: Saren

Favourite Mission: Virmire

Favourite Loyalty Mission: Tali/'Treason'

Favourite DLC: I haven't played them all (I haven't bought the Legendary Edition so they were separate purchases. This means I have never recruited Kasumi or played Lair of the Shadow Broker, any knowledge I have of them comes from the fandom + a couple of videos), but I really enjoyed the Omega DLC.

Control, Synthesis or Destroy: Oh man... I mean... I feel like Control comes with fewer moral downsides in the short term? Organics remain organics, so no consent issues there, and the Geth and EDI get to survive... the only real downside is that Shepard is gone. But in the long term? Who's to say they're not the new big bad? It's the one I went with on my 'Renegade' playthrough and her monologue was pretty chilling. Also, there's a degree of sadness in her being 'still there but gone'. What does the grieving process look like for Liara (or whoever else was romanced)? For Shepard themself? Isn't it lonely up there? I don't know, there are just so many questions. That said I went with 'Destroy' (and high EMS) on my first run because I looked up a wiki as I played and I wanted Shepard to survive. Let her and Garrus adopt baby Krogans.

Favourite Weapon: Ermm. I'm not good with names (or details in general for that matter 😂) but that big Prothean rifle you find in ME2? Yeah. That one.

Favourite Place: Ilium. Again, I am shallow. Though I initially mistyped that as Ilos (again, I am bad with names) and you know what? I love Ilos too, but more for the feels than its aesthetic. Also Liara's reactions. And the music when you get to Vigil.

A quote I like: "You did good, child. You did good. I'm proud of you." Man, the delivery got me right in the feels.

[nightthinker-08]

lil DOS2 rant?

Le sighhhhhh Finally finished DOS2 again, and I do adore this game a lot and has easily become my favorite. I love the combat of the game and the implementation of magical and physical armor really makes you think on your builds and strategies. And I know some might disagree cuz not a lot like turn based combat apparently? The story is so rich from start to finish, absolutely no parts of it bored me. The dialogues are fun and witty, catching me off gaurd and making me laugh way more than I thought it would. And the characters are so well written, you fall in love with almost all of them, especially the origin characters and the people you sail with in Lady Vengeance. But for all that praise, whenever I think of the romance in the game I can't help but feel its more than a little lacking. I love the characters to death I, wouldn't've have played the game twice already and have over 200+ hours on it if I didn't- but interactions with them are so few and far between. You don't even have one quiet moment with them. Well... I mean you do get one moment alone with them, but to call it a quiet one would be so... hilariously untrue for a number of reasons Anyway me being me took the little romance I can get in stride on my first play through, thinking "oh if I progress their quest they give me important dialogue!" So I focused a lot on the one person I wanted to romance (it was Sebille) and absolutely eating up any romantic dialogue that pops up (most of them catching me off gaurd cuz again we didn't talk much through out our journey and suddenly she's cozying up on me-). Only to have missed a lot in my first playthrough (not really a big complaint cuz I like you can do a lot of different things to get to the same point), and accidentally not progress one of my companions stories and have a small betrayal at the end. But then by the end of it all, while the ending I got was mostly happy, the ending I had with my chosen partner was absolutely bittersweet. While yes- I did make a lot of mistakes in my first game cuz I had no idea what the hell I was doing :D So it could absolutely be chalked up to me just missing a lot of key things to ensure a better ending with us. Hence why I played it twice in a row, and believe me I missed A LOT especially in forth joy, the first chapter. I tried my best to be as thorough as I can. Exploring every inch of them map, talking to almost every NPC I come in contact with, finishing every quest in my log book, talking more instead of fighting to get more dialogue. And while I can safely say I was absolutely more thorough this time round, I'm pretty sure I still missed a few things. Its a long ass game- there are a lot you need to keep track of, and I can be very forgetful. But I think I completed well enough to know this is the general scope of what an average player—or maybe not even averege, but a slightly more avid player—would get. So what did I get after all that? Well... Roughly the same ending with only minor differences... Was the entire game more different the 2nd time round cuz I knew what I was doing and found a lot of new and cool things through out that gave it more charm? 100%! Without a doubt! Did the companion I got together with get a happier ending? Also yes. But am I still a bit disappointed at romance and how that side plot ended? Sadly yes. Spoilers below for people who haven't played or haven't gotten to the end game.

So somewhere in the late game there's a choice to have Sebille rooted into the mother tree, I dont want to have to overly explain it but it basically bounding her to elven duties for the rest of her days and also she turns in a a tree once she dies :'Dc. Now I was an idiot and actually rooted her even when I had 2nd thought on it cuz I thought that was just her duty. And bit me in the ass at the end and was mostly what made the ending so bittersweet for me. She wasnt free yet we still loved each other so we had to part ways. Of course she said she'd always love me and never forget me before sharing a sweet kiss but it was still sad... Me being the simp I am I made a completely new game just to ensure she gets a happy ending (preferably together with my character) and she did and it was nice but... It made the whole end game conversation with her a lot shorter, it wasn't explicitly stated we'd stay together but in the epilogue nothing about our romance was mentioned. She was just happy traveling and living her best life and don't get me wrong- like Go girl! Live your best life! No need to get tied down! But I just wish the bond you form not just with your romance partner but with all your companions didn't feel like such a forgettable chapter of their life. There could have at least been a mention where at least one, or preferably all, of your party members would gather to together to meet up every now and again in the new world. Maybe its just makes me sad cuz I thought of my party as being a found family towards each other, so to see them be so ready to leave each other, split off and never talk to each other ever again really pained me. The origin characters are one, if not, my top reason I want to keep coming back to this game and replaying it but every time I just keep thinking of how it all ended, my heart sinks.

Minor complaints up ahead.

Poly? Where poly? No poly?? Give me the ability to romance both Sebille and Lohse you cowards!! so like at the end of my 2nd play through I made a save where one onf them I chose to be the new devine, made ifan sad and was generally a more sad ending- but also made me spilt with Sebille again cuz she was like "can a god mingle with us mortals?" and Im like oh shit so this is the wrong choice. So I reload my save and spread the source to everyone. and this time round it was happy again but she was still like " what happens with us is up to you" Like girl what you mean? We're on even playing field neither of us have responsibilities we're both free, what am I missing here? BUT ALSO SHE DOSENT KISS ME IN THIS ENDING?????? maybe I messed up the dialogue?? She says she wants me and love me but doesnt lean down for a kiss like my save before that or in my first game play either so I was left so confused-

another Sebille centered minor problem, after you kill her master her story kinda just ends there- Like there's nothing for her in Arx at all. And before you say it yes, we meet with Saheila when we get there, she's talking about elves wanting to rise up to start that war. And she just dismisses it and chalks it up to Saheila being insane(which you know true) but that's it? you don't want to figure out why your kin who's been through almost the same things we've been through suddenly underwent an over night change?? you aren't going to talk to the hostile elven people in arx?? People's opinion of you after killing the mother tree/ being prime scion doesn't get touched on here??? It just another one of my little disappointments in her story. She was very prominent at the start but nothing in Arx, which despite being the last chapter is still a long one. So to just have her there with nothing important to progress with her or our romance it just left me a lil bumed :/

[rottenbrainstuff]

BG3 playthrough - Parting thoughts

Massive spoilers:

I’ve now had some time for the ending to percolate through the grey matter, gotten over feeling sad that my first playthrough is over. I’ve started playing with my second tav, a tiefling paladin, and you know what, I’m already noticing little tweaks they’ve made to the dialogues. Like, nothing significant, but little polishes here and there. For instance: I always remember when I first met Asharak (the fight practice teacher) and he said to the kids, look who’s here! I thought he was talking about ME, look, it’s the hero who just showed up at our gate and fought off the goblins! Oh man I thought that was so cute. I was a bit disappointed when I finally realized he meant WYLL, not ME. They adjusted the dialogue so now it’s much more clear that Asharak is introducing Wyll to the kids. Little things like that. I can’t wait to see all the things that got finessed.

Man. It took me seven months to finish my first playthrough. I dunno how everyone finished the game so quickly, my final recorded time was like 200 hours. (granted this did involve several hours of backtracking to fix various mistakes) Initially I assumed I would never play BG3, because I don’t have a PC or a non-nintendo console or anything. It was fun to watch everyone talk about the game even when I had no ability to play it. I think I mentioned this a million times already, but this game was released for mac coincidentally the exact same weekend I got a terminal cancer diagnosis for my cat that I’d had for 13 years. (she’s still doing ok btw) It was so amazing to have something to distract myself with and cheer myself up with after getting that shitty news. I binged it for about four days straight, barely sleeping at all. It was the first big, brand new, non-nintendo game that I’d played in… like… decades, seriously. I was so blown away by the quality of everything. Came here for the funny mean vampire, stayed here for the… absolutely everything else.

I am really glad that I kept a character journal as I played - like, along with the notes I was keeping about game mechanics (because online guides are super shit), I would also write down little thoughts and observations from the perspective of my tav. I always have this record of my playthrough now, and I think it’s really helped me to preserve my thoughts and reactions.

Neil Newbon came to my city’s comic expo last weekend and I was absolutely broadsided by what a smart, nice, and humble guy he is. Isn’t it just such an AMAZING feeling to be a fan of something, then get to know the people who made that thing and find out they’re nice people? I… I don’t know what’s wrong with my brain, but I’m a bit glad I finished my first playthrough before the expo, because I feel… embarrassed somehow?... to be thirsting so much after characters now that I’ve chatted with the guy in real life and he’s talked to my kids? Isn’t that weird? Why is my brain doing that? It’s not like he cares. Very much no. Neil has an amazing sense of humour about it all. Weird brain stuff. Weird. What can I say.

Anyways, I was thinking about a summary of my favourite moments:

1) Cambian fight on the nautiloid. So like I said, I hadn’t played any big, new non-nintendo games in a while. (I mean Nintendo makes good games! But like. A game like Animal Crossing… isn’t… quite the same, you know?) I was wandering around the ship feeling quite blown away by how fancy games have gotten. I was marvelling at the graphics, the gameplay, the tension of the whole situation, and then I get to this fight and that absolute fucking BANGER of a song that is Twisted Force starts playing, that was when I really realized like shit, this game is going to be an EXPERIENCE.

2) Alfira’s dark urge death. I was exposed to a ton of spoilers for this game before I ever touched it so I knew a lot of the main story beats, thoroughly. With Alfira, I did know that the dark urge kills a bard, but for some bizarre reason, the only clips I had seen were of that dragonborn alternative that you get if you cheat and Alfira is unavailable. So I was already at the grove, exploring around, and I absolutely fell in love with the tiefling NPCs, and THEN I discovered it’s actually HER who dies. I was DEVASTATED. I was so attached to the tieflings - both myself as a player, and my tav as well - this was the first settlement of people he found, post-brain-scramble, the first people who were being kind to him, and they needed help so bad, and he wanted so bad to protect them… and here is this awful thing that he does that I can’t avoid. AUGH.

3) The siege on the Emerald Grove. It continues to mystify me that this path is actually a bit hidden in the game, and if you aren’t paying attention you will be herded into just killing the three goblin leaders to resolve things, which is such a massively less interesting path. (perhaps they’ve made the option more obvious with patches? I will see) I loved the tension of the morning before the attack: everyone’s fear really bolstered my desire to win the fight with zero casualties. I loved how, due to my familiarity with the NPCs, I instantly realized that Mattis wasn’t with the other kids and searched all over the place, legit worried, until I found him up by the gate still trying to make a buck, lol. I loved how when they mentioned people had ran off in the night, I knew exactly who wasn’t there and who it had to be. It really made me realize how much I’d got to know the NPCs. Zevlor gets two amazing cutscene speeches, and the fight itself was so freaking fun. I mean it certainly wasn’t the hardest fight in the game at all, but I think it remains one of my favourites, due to all the different moving parts and the planning it involved. It was so goddamned fun getting to use the explosives I had saved up, and I never really had the chance to rig up a battlefield the same way again.

4) Lenore’s tower, and the whole underdark in general. I found it all so lonely, and Lenore’s tower really got to me. I think I shed some tears. I loved the area with the giant sussur tree, I thought it was so beautiful, I took so many screenshots of it. I know if you’re a dark urge your upbringing is… unconventional, but I still imagine that my drow durge has spent a lot of time in the underdark and generally considers it home-ish, so it was neat to see it and think about how this is his home turf.

5) Moonrise and especially the mind flayer colony underneath. This was really where things just started to get interesting for a durge, you start to get the first reveals of your backstory. For a resisting urge, it’s extremely unsettling. Meeting Kressa Bonedaughter was especially horrible. I hadn’t really spoiled a lot of the details of the durge plot, so most of this was a surprise to me. JK Simmons did a great job as Ketheric - I remember being so incredibly curious how he was going to sound, but it worked so well, and as I have noted previously, they spend ridiculous care rendering his sad old man eyes.

6) Gortash’s coronation. Again as a dark urge, this is an important plot beat, I think the last big backstory reveal? Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, not only do you have these horrible murderous urges, not only do you have this nasty little butler man trying to force you to kill people, not only did something horrible happen to you that wiped clean all your memories and turned you into a necromancer’s cute little pet for a while, NOT ONLY ARE YOU A GODDAMNED BHAALSPAWN and the leader of the goddamned Bhaal cult, NOT ONLY ALL OF THIS, NO, that wasn’t enough, oh no: now you learn you were also one of the original architects of the Absolute plot, removed only when Orin saw an opportunity to displace you. Dammmmn. Your companions all react to this information appropriately, so in other words, negatively. Karlach’s reaction is particularly strong, understandably, and hurt my heart. To balance that out a bit, you have Astarion’s reaction, which was… to thank you. If you hadn’t put this plot into motion, he wouldn’t have been abducted by the mindflayers, and wouldn’t have been rescued from Cazador’s control and given the means to resist his commands. 200 years of praying to every god, but it was you that saved him. I had honestly never even considered that, so that was… surprising! Really, really surprising.

7) Comparing spawn and ascendant Astarion - I didn’t play much with ascended Astarion, just spent a little time progressing through the next batch of cut scenes, just so I could see. I was really impressed to see the difference in the two characters, the difference in the writing, the difference in the performance. I enjoyed the visceral negative reaction I had to AA almost immediately, when we had our first camp chat post-ascension, and he SHOUTED at me when I was responding to him with… not even an angry or rude response, but just, a less-than-enthusiastic response. It was like ice water down my back, instantly taking me back to dealing with my abusive ex. I know everyone has a different and highly personal reaction to AA and I think that’s great, and I enjoyed how viscerally negative my reaction was. It’s fun when a thing makes you feel stuff! And I loved spawn Astarion, and how honest and vulnerable he is in his third act romance, thinking about his whole character arc and growth through the game.

8) Rescuing Minsc. It’s a bit of a long daunting set of steps to get Minsc, and I didn’t find it very fun tbh, but I did it anyways because I have to complete everything. I was fully expecting him to sit around camp and never be used, like Halsin and Jaheira are for me unfortunately, (sorry guys) but I was really unprepared for how funny he was going to be. I don’t really like ranger class (also sorry) so when I found out he can still summon Boo even if you respec him, I made him a barbarian, and kept him on my team as much as I could. He is now my second favourite companion to have with me after only Astarion. He has SUCH funny dialogue. I like that you can attempt to start a romance with him and he’s not having any of it. He even gets the opportunity to say a very touching speech as you gather your allies, if you let him.

9) Durge vs Orin fight. The actual fight itself was kind of pitiful, which I thought was sad for her, but it was a startling moment in the lead-up when she briefly changed into me and I actually heard my own tav speaking, like, more than just a little reaction line here and there, I got to actually see my tav speaking. I don’t know. I don’t know why that was such a neat thing to me but it was. Since this playthrough took so long, I really got attached to my tav, I guess.

10) Gather your allies. Ah, the big summary that I needed of all the people I’ve helped and made friends with, all saying something nice about me, haha. Not gonna lie, I reloaded and watched this a couple of times cause it made me so happy.

I’m so glad Larian made an epilogue, with so many sweet little details in it. I’m so happy I had a chance to play this. I don’t have a huge amount of current mutuals who are also fans, and my IRL peeps for some reason are absolutely refusing to finish this game, so please if you want to fangirl (fanperson?) about anything just start talking to me, I’m kind of starving over here!

[hyumjim]

I completely agree that the bg3 character storylines are VASTLY more interesting than the main overarching plot. Astarion + Karlach are some of the best written characters I have seen in games. That being said, even their storylines have their imperfections (like, what oomf was talking about, how they released the game with Karlach’s romance kinda half-finished?). The other most interesting character, in my opinion, is The Dark Urge… whom the player is specifically advised to avoid playing as in their first playthrough, meaning you’re supposed to play through this REALLY LONG GAME once before you even get a chance to meet this character. I wish they’d incorporated Durge in a way that didn’t make this an issue, because I think the game is so much more fun with them in it, and I feel like I missed out for many hours of my initial playthrough(s).

Additionally a gameplay gripe: you reach max level WAY too early in act 3, even when playing on tactician. I feel this could have been remedied fairly easy just by making some changes to the experience point system. As it is, there is literally an unceremonious end to leveling progression when you’ve got potentially 100 hours of game content left, and it feels stale pretty quickly, especially for a game that wants to be replayable…

Even now, months after release and countless patches later, there are still quests that are bugged to the point of making no sense. This is just one example, trust me there are more like it, but the one that leaps to mind is the act 3 painting quest, where a big to-do is made about having a custom painting done of your character, and when it’s done you have to drop it on the floor to actually look at it (lol) and then it is just a copy of the in-game portrait of literally a random party member. In my case, I had each member of my party go to get their own portrait, and I received 4 copies of Gale. This is really weirdly clumsy and immersion-breaking, and particularly sucks when you have a huge opportunity because you’ve got a character (Astarion) who hasn’t been able to see himself for 200 years and remarks upon that several times in the game… there’s not one but TWO opportunities for him to see himself, through this painting quest and also the statue you can purchase. And neither of them prompts any sort of reaction from him, The Guy Who Would Like To See Himself. That may seem like a minor fan gripe, but it is weird, immersion-breaking, and… just strange that apparently no one thought of it? imo. Just another thing that adds to the feeling of unfinishedness that pervades this game, especially the third act. It’s a game I’ve gotten hundreds of hours out of, but it has a frustrating lack of polish that it’s strange to see glossed over again and again, and it’s strange to see it awarded with GOTY, I have to admit.

[pikuselu]

Hi Piku. I see you found asks. But do you know somewhere I can find great doodles that go to a wonderful cause. Preferably this week. Where oh where can I find something like that.

I'm so glad you asked, anon!!!! allow me to present....

THE PIKAUD DOODLE-THON!!!

STARTING TONIGHT, every night 1/9-1/13 (it says 1/14 but i was wrong ssshhhh) at 7pm EST, I'll be accepting paid art requests, and the more you donate, the more time I'll spend on your request! $1 per 1 minute of art, up to 60 mins per request (you can tip more than $60 but i will ONLY spend an hour on each request. Alternatively, feel free to make multiple requests if you want to get more art for more support!)

ALL funds gained from these streams will be going towards paying for a plane ticket to have my girlfriend @audvideo visit me next month, along with any other expenses during the trip. Anything extra will be going towards future visits as well.

WE ALSO HAVE FUN INCENTIVES!

Every $20 towards the goal, chat writes a tweet for me and aud (alternating each time)

$50 - we both drink pilk for the first time

$100 - piku defiles a wendy's frosty

$150 - pilk gets upgraded to PILK AND COOKIES

$200 - aud plays fortnite w/ piku

$300 - piku plays dbd w/ aud

$500 - pud minizine (piku draws over selfies we take together with our vtuber sonas)

$750 - aud edits a pikaud clips highlight reel

$1000 - piku plays yiik (FULL STREAMED PLAYTHROUGH)

This is going to be a very long week of streams for me and it would mean a lot to both of us for anyone to come by and hang out, even if you're unable to donate!

We start TONIGHT @ 7pm EST

[lindira]

I’ve been having a lot of fun with many of the harder fights/conflicts in BG3, which is such a refreshing departure from the extreme frustration I’ve felt in other games during a boss fight. The Iron Throne quest was probably the most thrilling encounter I’ve had in a game in a long time, maybe ever. Trying to wrangle all those prisoners and moving pieces within a 6-turn ultimatum was so exciting! Speed potions, boots of speed, and my monk’s frankly ridiculous amount of movement were the only things that got everybody back to the submersible in time. (Also realizing that there were levers to open the doors, so Astarion didn’t have to lockpick every single jail cell, haha.) SO EPIC.

And then I just finished the fight with Raphael at the House of Hope. The number of ways the fight could’ve fucked me over was really intimidating! It felt like a puzzle - figuring out what attacks would actually make things harder for me and what would be most effective. Hope was actually a huge help in the fight (unlike SOME secondary companions). She banished 3 combatants and granted us the equivalent of a long rest in the middle of combat. Sanctuary is also a really underrated spell. I’ve been casting it on Shadowheart so she’s just an almost invincible dedicated healer (and in this fight, Hope too), and it’s made it so much easier to keep everybody up on their feet and fighting.

I’m just loving this game. I’ve put about 200 hours into it altogether, I haven’t finished my first playthrough yet, and it’s still so exciting.

[theuniquelee]

Hello to you new week with a new schedule and ohohoho, what's this? Is that a promo for my Streamathon Celebration this Friday (March 10 2023)? Why I think it is

But seriously, I'll be having a streamathon this Friday to celebrate my Affiliate Anniversary for the first time. It's something I always happy and a bit proud of but never really got to celebrate over the years.

There's a ton of milestones and rewards and incentives for supporting because I want to do all these things anyway, might as justify them in some way.

Because it's a lot I've stuck everything under the read more so give it a look thru

Follow me on Twitch and make sure to come say hi as I lose my sanity being on stream for 12+ hrs

Uncapped* Affiliate Anniversary Streamathon

To avoid blowing up my new laptop I'll be streaming Daily, pausing and unpausing the timer at start/end of stream. Daily streams will be around 12-14 hrs, allowing myself and my laptop time to rest

My Discord will be open to public as long as the timer's up

Ways to increase the timer New Follower - 10 secs Raids with 5 or more ppl - 1 min

Bits 1 mins per 100 bits

Subs Tier 1 - 90 secs Tier 2 - 3 mins -180 Tier 3 - 10 mins - 600

Ko-fi Donations 1 min per $1

Throne Collections 1$ per time* Vtubing - 10mins stream upgrades - 5mins Quality of Life- 5 Mins

Every dollar gifted on throne for an item in these collections Example: Fully funding a $60 gift in the Vtubing collection = 600 mins or 10 hours added to stream Example 2: Fully funding a $60 gift in Stream Upgrades = 300 minutes or 5 hours added to stream

Some of these will be added manually because there's nothing that works with Throne or Ko-fi yet. I'll be adding that time at every half hour mark

Not a time extension nor a milestone I'll make a Treat Themed YCH design for up to five fully funded gifts from the Treat Collection Meaning if two gifts get funded I'll make two designs. But if a third gift is partially funded I won't make a third design

Individual Incentives Top Gifters (of each Star Tier) 1st VIP* + 3 months of sticker club (commission*) + Custom Discord Role + custom entrance command + Free Art/ Writing 2nd 2 months of sticker club (commission) + Custom Discord Role 3rd Custom Discord Role

*VIP is until the next Streamathon

You can trade sticker club in for a commission valued at the same price (Roughly $50 - it's a lot my prices are pretty cheap)

Categories by Star Ranking. The rank system is made to show what's the most helpful/ beneficial to me right now. All support is appreciated but this ranking shows what's more useful

Rainbow Star - Throne Gifts - Milestones: $10 - 200 $10 - Quizzes $25 - Future Pokemon Nuzlocke stream $50 - Model gets a straight hair toggle(s) $75 - Model gets a weird outfit (chat picks) $100 - Lore Revealed $125 - 2nd Model Mascot with Debut $150 - ASMR - Soft Talking Story Reading $175 - 3rd model Chibi with Debut $200 - 4th Model "Human" Lee with Debut

Gold Star - Ko-fi Donations / Memberships - Milestones: $1 - $200 $1 Chat picks my Twitter PFP for the month $10 - Chat makes a new channel Point redeem $25 - Future Solo Horror Game Stream $50 - Modded Stardew Series $100 - Lee makes Why MCU Spider-man is the worst,AKA The police-ification of Peter Parker video $125 - Lee makes a drama report video $150 - restart genshin on asia servers (completely from scratch) $175 - weird outfit for the model (chat picks) $200 - Custom Stream Avatars

Silver Star - Twitch Subs - Milestones:1 sub - 100 subs 1 - For 5 Pokemon Unite matches - Chat picks my pokemon 10 - Restart Genshin - Get caught up to current content 25 - Permanent Genshin streams the rest of the year 50 - Chat picks our next emotes/ animated emotes 100 - Model no longer Secret - Working on it publicly

Bronze Star - Twitch Bits / Cheers - Milestones: 100 bits - 10,000 bits 100 - chat writes a tweet 1000 - Chat picks my twitch banner for 2 weeks 2500 - Baby Photos of Me + Family 5000 - Restart Hades Playthrough 10,000 - Farm Sim Fridays - Lee Plays Farming Sims every Friday Forever

Stretch Goals Throne Funded Switch + Funded Capture Care - 8-12 hr long Switch stream + Weekly Switch Game Streams Voice Mod License funded - 5 Channel Point Redeems Added involving voices Mobile Gaming Controller + Accessory - I'll play a rage game until I rage quit or beat it Iphone Funded - Using free models ASAP (chat will pick models + ?? (Secret Reward) Stream Deck- ???? (Secret Rewards)

Ko-fi 25 New Ko-fi members - monthly digital downloads come back 50 new Ko-fi members - Quarterly APP icon/ deco packs + monthly emote + digital sticker pack

Subs Over 100 (Secret Rewards)

Bit over 10,000 (Secret Rewards)

This was a lot so thank you for reading this far down! I appreciate it a lot and cant wait to see you Friday on Twitch

[bones-sprouts]

also like sam and max in general is so difficult to recommend to people bc like every single piece of sam and max media is a bad starter for their own special reasons . like

the comics - one of the better ones but you either have to spend a fuckton of money to get a physical copy of them or download like 200 pages to your device from the internet archive which is a difficult sell. 3/10

hit the road - objectively one of the best games but it is the opposite of newcomer friendly. newcomer VIOLENT even. the whole game gives off the vibe that you are intruding on sam and max hanging out and while its really good it is still a hard sell. 5/10

the cartoon - as i said probably the easiest way into the series so long as you get into the absurdist humor because it is ramped up to 11. however the first episode is terrible horrible 90s fetishy garbage and i would not subject my worst enemy to it so it must be skipped. 7/10

the telltale games - the farther you go into them the better they get and the 3rd game is one of my favorite video games ever its amazing. unfortunately that means that the beginning is the worst it gets and the first 3 episodes are very slow and dont have much stakes. however they arent bad enough that i can in good conscience tell someone to skip over them and theyre still really funny. HOWEVER its like 3-9 hours of content until you get to the meat of the game. 6/10

poker night games - i had not thought of this until right now as i am writing this but its kind of perfect honestly. like theyre with a bunch of recognizable characters from other games (tf2, borderlands, portal, fucking ash williams evil dead is there for some reason, etc) and they have some really good dialogue. 8/10 good job guys

this time its virtual - in theory this is the perfect in for new people but in practice fuck no fuck no fuck no. its in vr which not many people have access to and watching playthroughs is boring as hell because most of the game is just obstacle course simulator. also its glitchy as fuck and not worth the price if you do buy it. also probably the least funny sam and max content and the only time i have ever found max annoying when he's meant to be funny. 2/10