#so fucking evil to keep her in their hell

[youregoingtoeathimwithmyface]

smoking bong in the rain…..word around town is the property management company of the apartment i was signing for is the devil hiself so i decided not to go thru with it

[gods-favorite-autistic]

Track list for Fig and the Cig Figs independently published Junior Year album (officially named “Infaethable”)

Teenage Rebellion

Night Yorb (a heavy metal banger)

Summer Scaries

Devils Nectar

Time Quangle (a love song about Ayda)

Multiclass (Gorgug sings on this!)

The Ballad Of Lucy Frostblade (Kristen was the one who convinced Fig to write this)

So Late, So Tactical

Do You Have A Fucking Warrant

Cassandra (Can You Hear Me)

Hall Of Mirrors

President Applebees (written entirely in the night after Kristen gets elected by a drunk Fig with extremely drunk notes by Kristen)

Raging For Love (inspired by Gorgug, of course)

The Elven Oracle (Has A Day Job) (So Stop Bothering Her)

Maximum Legend

Fury Of The Ball

Cursed

Infaethable

The Bad Kids

[ominous-horse-noises]

main takeaway from certain fan reactions to the finale is this:

the final scene with ankarna was so meaningful to the bad kids' arcs and how they made peace with being wronged by people they loved, and if all you can focus on is that the rat grinders didn't get much screentime, then you don't love dimension20 and you don't love this world: you want to be playing your own hs themed dnd campaign and you're mad the oc versions of the rat grinders you made up in your head acted ooc. these are not your characters and this is not their story.

[nymphiess]

"Ada is so much more complex than Claire" this "Claire is a passive character she doesn't even do anything" that both Ada fans and Claire fans need to team up and realise that Capcom did them both dirty as hell and join hands. And maybe kiss.

[nebulousfishgills]

As much as I love playing embrace Dark Urge runs (discussion in therapy pending), there's something so narratively satisfying about how a Resist Durge playthrough can go once you get to the Bhaal Temple. Your character steps into the ring with Orin, it's intended to be a duel, but odds are you're getting eviscerated pretty quickly. You then switch to one of your other characters in your party and throw an attack, effectively breaking the duel and setting the whole temple upon you.

(Adding a cut because this ended up being longer than I thought)

But, I think it's a very satisfying way to play. Your party members have grown fond of your Durge, seeing them as a friend, a family member, even a lover. They've watched you and your pain over your Urge and what it makes you do or want to do. Maybe you've slipped up once or twice, but you've been trying so hard to be the hero they know you can be, that Faerûn needs. So, when it comes time to finally face your demons and you're getting so horribly hurt in the process, they can't help but rush to your defense. It'll put all of them in danger, but it doesn't matter because they want and need to help you, their ally and companion.

Bonus points if you select your character's romanced companion as the savior/duel interruptor to make it extra delicious. They've fallen in love with you, stayed with you when your Urge craved their blood the most, maybe by this point in the game you've helped put their demons down as well. They see you in pain, a final valiant effort to overcome your Urge against the power of Orin, a whole cult, a god of murder himself. They want to protect you, save you as you saved them.

I'm also fond of the extra beauty of Astarion being your Resist Durge romance since it puts the two of you in very similar situations. Fighting against the will of your masters, finally defeating your demons with your newfound companions' help and being offered the greatest power you could ever fathom... only to deny it, ignore power in favor of your party and your love.

This isn't even mentioning just how goddamn good the Withers resurrecting you cutscene is. This skeleton in your camp with unknown and unfathomable power (also apparently supposed to be Jergal himself if I've done my research properly?) is able to bring you back to life, free of your Urge. The line along the lines of "Bhaal could only destroy what of you that he knew, but because you've grown past your Urge and become your own person, he couldn't destroy that new growth" is just so weirdly powerful narratively. Tav may be a default character for you to create upon making a new save file, but Durge is the canon protagonist and I think that entire scene shows it the best. It's a beautiful secondary climax of the narrative (primary being battling the Netherbrain of course).

And, perhaps it's just an oversight on Larian's part or something that'd be a bit difficult to work into the cutscenes mechanically, but I think that it could only get more impactful if your companions could comfort each other during these moments. Everyone and their mother wishes you could hug Astarion after he kills Cazador, but also imagine your romanced companion cradling your body after Bhaal kills you. It seems just a little odd that they all (meaning your party) kinda just stand around staring at your corpse, especially with how close y'all have gotten.

Idk, I have a lot of thoughts about this section of the game in this particular type of playthrough and some of them are hard to articulate into words. It's just such a damn good narrative peak and can really make you feel things.

I've completed I think two resist Durge runs and just hit this point on my third and it really stuck out to me this time (then again my new antidepressants are kinda fucking with me so that might be playing a role). I left it as my last mission before dealing with the Netherbrain and I think it helped build the anticipation of that moment. Everyone else has been helped by you, and now it's your turn to come into your own. I really felt so connected to my character walking into the temple, feeling like everything has been building to this, that regardless of what happens our suffering will finally end. And you have your party there to help you in your time of greatest need as you've done for them.

There's a reason this game was Game of the Year, the narrative is just so powerful and the replay-ability is just insane. I've beaten this game ten times, heading for my eleventh and it truly just never gets old and never fails to make me feel so many things so strongly.

[im-smart-i-swear]

webby would have LOVED mystery flesh pit national park

[constantvariations]

Listening to the V7 director commentary for the first time and I almost dropped my jaw when I heard Luna call the racist drunkards the "faces of Mantle" like??

You want these two assholes to represent all of Mantle yet expect the audience to give a shit when it's threatened? Fuck em and fuck Mantle!

[monty-glasses-roxy]

Sewerhell Sunday again

Uhhhh post-Ruin/Mimic encounter, Cassie becomes friends with all of Mimic's previous guards very quickly. This is especially the case in situations where they helped guide her and Roxy into defeating Mimic.

The other three guards were the original Roxy, Mangle and the first Foxy. The last time these three dealt with Mimic, it tore Mangle and Foxy's friendship apart. Foxy genuinely hates both of them for what happened and they hate him in return but they all agree that Cassie is more important.

Cassie doesn't blame any of them for what happened before or what happened to her. She's the most sympathetic human they've ever met. Roxy's original (now mostly known as Rockabella or Bella/Rocky for short) in particular was brought to tears within minutes of their first meeting, that's how good she is to them. She understands they struggle to get along and makes a point to hang out with all three of them.

In the setup where the manager fucks the security up and Sewerhell breaks loose, the three older guards end up with an interesting bond with Roxy too. These are the only three animatronics in existence that know the full extent of what she's had to deal with for years and unsurprisingly, that's something she's needed for a very long time. Mangle adopted her as a little sister almost immediately, Bella was a bit slower, offering support but also not really knowing what to do, and while Roxy knows that this Foxy hates her by association, she also has a sneaking suspicion he's taking a slow and gradual shine to her. He's threatened to kill her. She's completely unphased. He's never once even so much as poked her, never mind hurt her.

Honestly, he's got beef with a lot of Sewerhell guys, there's a lot of people telling both Roxy and Cassie to be careful around him. He doesn't really know what to do with these two. He wouldn't hurt Cassie, but he could hurt Roxy. He could! He swears he could! It would take nothing to beat the shit out of her! He could do it!

He's also a fucking liar! Who woulda thought?

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

it's paradoxical but i love in a video game where you do not feel the least bit good about what you're doing. i mean there are times where you're like "god these characters are so stupid please just give me the dialogue options to avoid this" and that's not fun, and i guess ymmv on what you consider falling into those categories, but i mean like. when you know the fate you're walking is inevitable you cannot put down the sword you have no choice but to continue walking even though you desperately want to stop. it's always a good narrative and imo games portray it better than any other

[apollo-zero-one]

Man I can't believe I had the chance to go to a performing arts school up through middle school and I fuckin quit after 6 months just because I got bullied. BRO YOUR HOMEWORK WAS POETRY!! YOU HAD TO PRACTICE DANCING TO COTTON EYE JOE AS YOUR BIG UNIT TEST. GYM CLASS HAD A CIRCUS UNIT!! YOU HAD A WHOLE DAILY CLASS ON IMPROV!!! YOU FOOL!! YOU ABSOLUTE IMBICILE!! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN A YOUTUBER!!! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN ONE OF THOSE TWEENAGERS GETTING LOADED BY MAKING SHITTY YOUTUBE SHORTS IN 2008-14!! But noooOoooOOOoo little miss Noellie (who WANTED TO GO!! who worked SO HARD and sent in an application essay and did an INTERVIEW to get in!!) couldn't handle disruptive classmates or little scuffles and petty grudges and general Attitude of the other students and cried to mommy to put her back in public school. I am EATING MY HAIR over what Could Have Been. I COULD BE SOMEONE'S ANNOYING YOUTUBER!! I could be a DISGRACED DISNEY CHANNEL STAR!! I could be an America's Got Talent winner! A mild to moderately successful comedian! I could be making short films!! But no no no precious thin skinned baby me heard a few new cus words and watched a teacher get heckled and begged to give up The Dream in favor of?? Quiet math tests?? I am such a fucking quitter I quit everything the second it gets too hard I always take the out as soon as it's offered what's my fucking damage.....

[smol-tired-binch-blog]

Hmm. I’m having yakuza!Makoto thoughts

[navree]

The rise of rhaegon shippers has making me really thinking. Will the dance still happens even if Aegon and rhaenyra married eachother, (going by the age gap between them in the book which less than it's in the show)

I know you said going by the book age gap but I'm gonna be operating on show logic for most of this tbf just because it's the one I'm more well versed in right now

If they'd been married in Targaryen tradition, probably not in the way that we saw. The Dance is basically Aegon and Rhaenyra going "I wanna be the monarch!" back and forth for a couple years while everybody and their mother violently dies in the process or ends up with trauma, and that wouldn't be the case if they were married because they wouldn't be rivals, they'd be part of the same family in a much different way, including that they'd presumably have trueborn Targaryen children to be next in the line of succession.

The Dance is caused by two main factors. One: Alicent and her family's firm belief that Aegon and his siblings and his children would be at risk of actual and literal death if Rhaenyra took the throne, reinforced first by the brothel incident and then by what happened at Driftmark. Two: the fact that putting Rhaenyra on the throne means that a very obvious bastard would become the heir apparent to the Iron Throne, and the fact that this would mean all out war not just because of how insultingly Westeros would view that, but how it could seriously screw with inheritance laws with everyone else in the kingdoms (if Jace became king ahead of his trueborn brother Aegon, then that'd cause problems for any lord who'd had a bastard before he had a trueborn inheritor). Both of these factors are somewhat negated by a world in which Aegon and Rhaenyra get married. There'd be no reason for Alicent to be so afraid for her kids, Aegon especially considering that Rhaenyra's now firmly tied to that half of the family via marriage. And there'd be no concerns about a bastard on the throne because both Rhaenyra and Aegon are shown to have no problem physically having kids, and they both have compatible sexualities (the show appears to have decided on a mishmash of Laenor not just being gay but also maybe having some kind of fertility problem, considering that they made that comment about him and Rhaenyra trying to conceive for a while before we got more Strong kids). So the Dance as an immediate succession crisis between two nearly completely separate parties, fueled by these specific issues, wouldn't exist, because Rhaenyra and Aegon would be much more intertwined and the issues aren't gonna be issues.

But I don't think that'd mean there was no issues. There's still the fact that Westerosi inheritance law does prioritize a son over a daughter, and with Viserys refusing to fix that, there's always gonna be some legal tension over who gets to claim the throne that's gonna come up the second Aegon is born, or any male child was born to Viserys no matter who he married. Like, how much power does Aegon have if he stays consort, or should he have any? Should he even be the one seen as consort or should it be Rhaenyra seen as consort and Aegon made a king? How this gets approached and who wants what and who backs which horse in that fight definitely has the potential to get ugly. There's also Aegon's myriad of issues that are just gonna cause difficulties in any personal relationship he has no matter what, as well as whether or not Rhaenyra still has an affair with Harwin and whether Aegon would be as on board with that as Laenor was. I don't think it would break into out and out war, just because of how much more connected Rhaenyra and Aegon are and also having kids thrown into the mix, and that they'd have to stay married because the only way a marriage can be annulled according to Westerosi customs is if it's unconsummated (or at least cannot be proven to have been consummated). I think it'd manifest more in some really ugly arguments especially between Aegon and Rhaenyra themselves (they're both petulant and volatile and blood of the dragon and can be vicious when angry), at least when Viserys is alive.

If there were any smart people at all, they might end up in something like a power sharing agreement, either in the vein of Aegon and his sisters, where he very clearly let them take charge in the making of laws and the administration of the kingdoms, though they weren't queens regnant by name themselves, or even approaching something like the Catholic Monarchs, where both Rhaenyra and Aegon are recognized as political monarchs and co-rulers in their own rights together, where they're both in charge, and of course the crown passes on to their eldest son. Whether or not that would work is up for debate, given their personalities and their different allies and who they'd seat on the Small Council, for instance, but it would at least negate even the concept of a civil war or any dynastic problems.

(also this would make alicent rhaenyra's ex girlfriend, stepmother, and mother-in-law in one go this family is so fucking messed up)

[captaindeinony]

Not a fan of how people are treating Geeta

[thirddagger]

And like Imogen is so central to the story of Bell's Hells so far? I saw a post a while ago saying how C1 and C2 had arcs and how C3 instead is shaping up to be larger more involved acts and less neatly about one plot or another, which I agree with, but Imogen is still way more involved than the rest of BH?

Yes Fearne is Ruidusborn too and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if everyone else was, but it feels un-DnD-like to have one character be a Chosen One level of power and centrality to the plot. She's Exaltant, we just met her dad, her mom is in the moon cult, her power only grows and gets more batshit, she lowkey considers joining said cult, she Is the main character ??

What does it Mean .? Will C3 continue after the Apogee Soltice or will it just end there, and if it keeps going, what will happen to the group dynamic afterwards?

[trans-li-ling]

I think we should give Zora a gun and whatever happens to the Shadow Decree happens

[poptartmochi]

oh i finally realized why the agathos are 💢💢💢 towards vergil 🤏🏻🕶️😳