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felixbobeelix · 7 months ago

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In Defense of The Emperor (or, Ansur Is Not A Victim)

GIF credit: @mittthrawnuruodo

The Emperor is, in my opinion, one of the most underappreciated and misunderstood characters in Baldur's Gate 3, and I have spent a lot of time thinking about reasons why that may be. I honestly think it's tragic because The Emperor is such a compellingly-written character, and I think a lot of that gets lost under the landslide of abject hatred people feel for it.

I have a lot of thoughts about this, so buckle up buttercups! Lots (and lots, and LOTS) more under the cut!

I was playing BG3 again the other day, working my way through Emp's reveal, its initial withholding of the details about its escape and the nature of its relationship with Stelmane, and all the Ansur stuff, and I got fired up about this again.

There are a few really common reasons I see for why people hate The Emperor. One is its manipulative behavior, lies by omission, and the fact that if you pressure it enough, its attitude toward Tav will change. Another is the fact that if you choose to free Orpheus it will willingly return to the Netherbrain. Then there's its enthrallment of Stelmane and the implication that it led to her illness and death. And, of course, there's the idea that The Emperor betrayed its longtime friend and implied former lover, Ansur.

I also think there's a secret fifth option that maybe happens unconsciously. The vast majority of people spent a lot of time crafting their Dream Guardians into gorgeous feasts for the eyes, which is something the devs intentionally encouraged players to do. So when the game hit them with the twist and their beautiful Dream Guardian was replaced by an (ostensibly) unappealing Illithid, their sense of betrayal was amplified; they were predisposed to greater anger and hatred for The Emperor than they may have felt if it had retained the pleasant visage of their Dream Guardian.

Emp's Manipulation:

I find the argument about Emp's lying and manipulative behavior a little strange, when, for example, so many people are willing to overlook Astarion's abject manipulation of their Tavs. Personally, I think the reasons here are twofold. One, Astarion enjoys the privilege of being conventionally attractive and Emp does not, plain and simple. Two, sticking it out through Astarion's lying and manipulation will eventually lead to satisfying gain: an endgame relationship with him. There's no such satisfying outcome with Emp, so players are less inclined to put up with behaviors they endure for Astarion's sake. It's actually arguably easier to get Emp to admit to its manipulation of Tav than it is to get Astarion to do the same thing, and yet Astarion is more readily forgiven.

There may also be some degree of people being skeeved out by Emp's mind reading and its apparent ability to enthrall. But even this is a little odd, since Tav and their companions are all telepathically joined and that doesn't scare the player. The Emperor also never actually makes an attempt to enthrall Tav even when they're being combative and resistant. My only conclusion is that player distaste in this context is a product of the negative narratives about Illithids throughout the game. Which, for the record, are narratives I think we're meant to challenge as players.

(As an interesting side note, those narratives seem to be easily overriden when an Illithid is seen as helpful, as in the case of Omeluum. Despite clear evidence that it has not entirely denounced Illithid culture, and despite its membership in a morally questionable organization, players have a largely positive opinion of Omeluum simply because it tries to help them. They seem to forget that it was experimenting on Tav, and its miscalculation could have seriously compromised them.)

I think it's also worth pointing out that an Illthid in hiding is going to find particular challenge in simply surviving and remaining undetected, and even moreso in avoiding being attacked and killed, especially if it does not have the benefit of allies. Even Omeluum (who has the benefit of allies in the Society of Brilliance) has to disguise itself when it moves about the city. If you visit Omeluum and Blurg in Baldur's Gate you can listen in to their conversation, and Omeluum admits it sometimes takes the form of Blurg when it goes around.

I staunchly maintain, for one thing, that Emp is a true neutral character. It will resort to nearly any means necessary to assure its survival and freedom - though, again, it does stop short of robbing Tav of their autonomy, which I think is significant. And really, all things considered, Emp's methods are some of the least insidious when compared with the behaviors of other notable characters in the game. Even its insistence that Orpheus must be kept imprisoned is driven more by fear and a lack of real alternatives than any kind of malice. And alignments aside, when you consider the attitudes people have about Illithids, it's suddenly not surprising that Emp resorts to things like lying to protect itself and convince others to ally with it.

This concept was something I had to explore in depth when I worked with a DM friend who helped me construct a playable Illithid character, and I was challenged to run with a party of adventurers without them discovering my true race. It is NOT EASY. Almost immediately, despite my best intentions, I realized I would likely need to resort to some questionable methods to maintain my character's secrecy. The Emperor is the same. I'll touch on this more when I get into Emp's dynamic with Stelmane.

Player Influence:

Maybe the most frustrating observation I've made is that The Emperor is one of the only characters players will typecast based on the worst potential dialogue outcomes. Tav's relationship with pretty much all of the characters can be either improved or totally soured by the dialogue options they select. In most cases players are able to make the distinction that their choices are what influence the attitudes of the characters they're interacting with. But in the case of The Emperor, players will refuse to believe that any positive interactions with it are genuine because there are dialogue paths that lead to negative outcomes. I have to wonder why this standard does not apply to companion characters who break up with Tav, treat Tav questionably, or leave the party altogether when the player selects negative dialogue options.

Because of the potential for the Emperor's attitude to sour and for it to turn away from the player, it is written off as an entirely disingenuous character. However, Emp repeatedly demonstrates a capacity for veracity and emotionality, and I believe that when you foster a positive relationship with it the feelings it shares are genuine, just like with any other character. I'm guessing it doesn't help that Emp can be very matter-of-fact and pragmatic even during positive interactions, where the companion characters are often downright poetic in their regard for Tav and willing to make sacrifices for Tav when their approval is high.

I can see how this would give the sense that Emp's feelings are lesser, because it brackets those feelings with discussions about things like whether Tav is embracing tadpole abilities. But 1) Emp stands to lose its freedom again if the conflict with the Elder Brain goes awry and is, I think very understandably, preoccupied with what it believes are the necessary steps to ensure victory, and it seems anxious to affirm that Tav is as dedicated to the best outcome as it is. And 2) if this kind of pragmatism is the barometer by which people are measuring their trust of a character's feelings about them, I'm honestly a little afraid to know how they feel about their interactions with very pragmatic people IRL. 👀

Some people just are less prone to emotional expressiveness, or will ease their discomfort around emotional expression by diverting conversation to more practical matters. That doesn't mean the feelings they express are not genuine. We see over and over that Tav has a way of awakening strong, unexpected feelings in the people they meet throughout the course of the game. There's every possibility that this is what happens with Emp, and that it is taken aback by its feelings and is steering the conversation back to the matter of the conflict with the Brain as a way of avoiding being caught up and losing the plot.

I think that because the game does such a good job of playing up the idea that Illithids are soulless and inherently manipulative and evil, players are overly willing to accept it as fact. However, the game does also give us opportunities to question that narrative, and I think we'd do well to seize those opportunities. Even in raw DnD Illithid lore has shifted toward the idea that Illithids are more than the vicious monsters they started as. I think it's far more compelling and creative to consider that Emp is being genuine when you pursue positive interactions with it.

Relationship with Stelmane:

This begs the question, then, of whether the Emperor is truly upset about Stelmane's death. It certainly seems to be, but when you begin to suspect that it was enthralling her and forcing her to do its bidding you begin to doubt that it really cared about her.

Honestly? I'm not sure whether it did or not. Perhaps what it's truly upset about is the realization that it no longer has the option to return to its previous life as a major player in the Knights of the Shield. Maybe aside from the enthrallment, it actually did respect and even like Stelmane. Perhaps they had a rapport at some point prior to her enthrallment, and it is nostalgic about that. I think its feelings in that moment are real, it's simply unclear as to what those feelings are about.

In any case, I am openly and unabashedly here to disabuse anyone of the notion that Stelmane was a good person. A lot of what we hear about her we hear from Wyll, who (like pretty much every other character) is an unreliable narrator. The truth is unfortunately not as nice as Wyll would like to believe. With as little information about her as we have, this seems a bold claim for me to make, but I make it confidently, and here is why: her membership in the Knights of the Shield precludes her from being a good person.

The Knights of the Shield is an organization dealing in political manipulation, information brokering, and financial gain for its members. At the very least, Belynne Stelmane was concerned with underhanded political maneuvering and the accumulation of wealth, and at worst she was a willing servant of Gargauth, the god of betrayal and political corruption. It's unclear what level of seniority she held in the organization, though Emp's decision to have her as its avatar implies that she held significant influence. Either way, at no point was it possible for her to be involved with the Knights of the Shield and still be a good person.

And, yes, the same can be said of The Emperor. To be clear, I am not claiming that Emp is a "good" aligned character. However, its motivations are inherently different to Stelmane's and the other members of the Knights of the Shield. Rather than being strictly financially or politically motivated, Emp's involvement with the Knights was most likely born as much out of necessity as any desire for power. The Knights were a viable cover, a way for it to remain hidden and still secure a life of relative freedom for itself. To be sure, it could have attempted to ally itself with another organization, such as the Society of Brilliance. However, the Society is comparatively smaller, less powerful, and less profitable. Emp also does not appear to have any interest in the sorts of experimentation and data collection as members of the Society of Brilliance.

Based on Emp's characterization, it is not suited to a life of exploration and travel. It does not have the same innate arcane ability as Omeluum, who is able to exist and still maintain its autonomy in regions (such as the Underdark) where the influence of an Elder Brain is relatively strong. It's more likely that The Emperor's ability to maintain its autonomy is linked to its proximity, or lack thereof, to an Elder Brain. Likely, it chose to secure a life for itself in a single location far enough away from the reach of an Elder Brain that it could escape enthrallment, and allied itself with the Knights of the Shield because they were the most proximally convenient and had the best capacity for security.

At any rate, I think it's entirely reasonable to assume that if Stelmane had not been enthralled, she would have ripped the rug out from under The Emperor the moment she stood to gain from doing so. Emp stood its best chance of success by enthralling her, and while that is certainly a morally questionable thing for it to do, be assured that it was not taking advantage of some wholesome paragon of goodness. Likely as not, if the roles had been reversed, Stelmane would have subjected Emp to a similarly morally questionable form of subjugation until the moment came for her to discard it entirely.

As an aside, the game works pretty hard to give the impression that Stelmane’s enthrallment led to her illness and eventual passing, but it's also entirely possible that she truly did simply have a stroke. Or, perhaps more compellingly, her condition had nothing at all to do with The Emperor and was potentially infernal in origin, given the way that she allegedly stared unwaveringly at Wyll the last time he saw her, which was shortly before he was targeted by Mizora. She was already well into her illness at that point, and didn't seem cognizant of anyone else at the time, but Wyll was of particular interest to her. Maybe it's nothing, or maybe the game intentionally misled players into believing The Emperor was responsible for Stelmane's decline, when it was never Emp's fault in the first place.

The Emperor's "Betrayal" of Ansur:

Here is where my opinion diverges most significantly from the opinions of other players. Put plainly, The Emperor did not betray Ansur. That is an idea that is given by Ansur, and by the following passage, which can be found during the challenges in the Wyrmway:

The note preceding the author's writing gives the distinct impression that the author is - yes - an unreliable narrator. They are not only giving a secondhand account of the events, but they are dramatizing that account.

Then, after defeating Ansur, the player finds the following letter on Ansur's body:

We also have additional story from The Emperor itself about the events that led to Ansur's death.

The reality is that Ansur, motivated by his love for Balduran, saved The Emperor from its enthrallment by the Elder Brain in the hopes of restoring the Balduran he knew and loved. Despite being asked over and over to stop, despite The Emperor's insistence that it was content with its new form, Ansur doggedly searched for a way to return The Emperor to its previous form as Balduran. Rather than accept that Balduran's new form was permanent, rather than accepting him as The Emperor, rather than being happy enough that his loved one was no longer a slave and that the memories of their time together were still intact, Ansur was not satisfied. He could not look past Emp's Illithidness, he could not let go of the narrative that Illithids are monsters. His refusal to adjust his paradigm, his unwillingness to accept The Emperor as a valid friend or ally or lover, was a failing on Ansur's part, and it was incredibly selfish.

Emp's letter to Ansur is incredibly heartfelt, and focuses entirely on Ansur and his happiness. Emp clearly still values Ansur and wants him to be contented. Even as Emp draws its boundaries, it keeps the focus on Ansur's well-being. It is a really good letter, and nothing about it implies that Emp held any ill will toward Ansur. It simply wanted Ansur to give up the pursuit of reclaiming Balduran as he was. But Ansur was unwilling to do that. So unwilling, in fact, that he felt it would be better to kill The Emperor rather than accept its new form.

Therein is the true betrayal: attempting to kill your friend while they're sleeping because you can't make them fit your ideal of them is, put simply, super fucked up.

The idea that it's a betrayal for The Emperor to have killed Ansur in self-defense, but Ansur attempting to murder Emp in its sleep is somehow not a monumental betrayal, is absolutely wild to me. Ansur was the one who betrayed The Emperor, and his rage is as misguided as the hate players have for Emp. I think players are blinded by the heroic narrative around Ansur, and the narrative that Illithids - and, by proxy, The Emperor - can't be trusted undermines the explanation that The Emperor gives. Players want to believe Ansur despite the evidence that his feelings of betrayal are unfounded, because they're naturally more inclined to trust a heroic figure than an Illithid. Again, I think this was a place in the game where players were challenged to question accepted narratives.

Of course, it's entirely possible that Ansur's attempt to kill The Emperor was driven by something entirely separate from the story we're offered in the game. Maybe Ansur took issue with The Emperor's movements with the Knights of the Shield; though that would beg the question of why he would be so determined to eliminate Emp and not any of the other members. Or, maybe Emp killed Ansur unprompted in a bout of pure Illithid malice, which would be a betrayal indeed - though that seems highly unlikely after reading its letter to Ansur. Ultimately, however, without any indication otherwise, we have to take the story we're given at face value. As far as we know, Ansur was motivated to kill The Emperor as part of his cognitive dissonance around its change from Balduran to The Emperor, and that selfish, misguided act constitutes a betrayal of Emp by Ansur, not the other way around.

The Emperor's Return to the Netherbrain:

I saved this for last, because it's actually very simple. When you choose to free Orpheus, The Emperor declares its intention to return to the Brain, and true to its word it does exactly that, and fights against you during the final battle. Why, after fighting so hard to avoid the Brain, would Emp so willingly return to it?

Put simply, because it has no choice. Or, it has no choice in the context of the game as-is. What reason does Emp have to believe that Orpheus, an avid enemy of Illithids, having been subjugated by this Illithid, would be willing to extend his protection to it?

Emp knows that the moment Orpheus is free to give or take his psionic protection, he will refuse to protect it. The jig is up. The game is over. In its pragmatic way, The Emperor concedes defeat. Its anger is palpable, you have forfeit its hard-won freedom. But the cards are on the table, and it knows that without Orpheus' protection it is going to be enthralled whether it wants to be or not. So it goes willingly. At least it can make one more choice before it loses its autonomy.

Final Thoughts:

There is so much more to say about The Emperor and its feelings and motivations. Again, in no way is it a good-aligned character, and even with the best outcomes it's still clear that Emp is at least somewhat driven by a desire for greatness, whatever form that greatness takes. That was true even when it was Balduran. But I do think it's worth remembering that when you foster a positive connection with it and side with it for the endgame, it regards your parting with some sentimentality, and then just...leaves. It's all fairly benign. The player's choices go a long way in influencing how malicious The Emperor is, and I think that's important to remember.

I could go on for hours about this, it is absolutely one of my hills to die on, but I think this is enough for now lol. I just wish The Emperor were respected more as a complex, compelling character. I wish it were at least afforded the same defiant love some of the villains are given. I genuinely hate to see Emp flattened and written off when it's such an amazing character!

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 emperor #bg3 tav #bg3 astarion #bg3 omeluum

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felassan · 6 months ago

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Do we know which archdemons belonged to which evanuris besides the two in veilguard?

And do we know if killing the archdemons is what killed the gods in their prisons...?

hello! ◕‿◕ (rest of post under cut due to length and spoilers)

Bellara and Neve speculate in-game on the topic of the first question in this codex entry:

Codex Entry: Elven Gods and Tevinter Gods

"Elven Gods and Tevinter Gods A note in Bellara's handwriting: Nine elven gods, seven Tevinter gods. Lines up, because Mythal was murdered before Arlathan's destruction and Fen'Harel is... Fen'Harel. We're pretty sure about: - Elgar'nan (day, night, the sun, tyranny, lordship, fatherhood, vengeance—he just wants all the words, doesn't he?) = Lusacan, Dragon of Night - Ghilan'nain (halla, navigation, monsters) = Razikale, Dragon of Mystery - Sylaise (fire, the hearth, home) = Toth, Dragon of Fire - June (craft, invention) = Urthemiel, Dragon of Beauty We're still arguing about: - Dirthamen (secrets) = Dumat, Dragon of Silence (secrets, silence... makes sense?) - Falon'Din (death) = Zazikel, Dragon of Chaos (Death causes chaos? Chaos causes death?) - Andruil (the hunt) = Andoral, Dragon of Slaves ("Andruil" and "Andoral" sound alike?) Added in Neve's handwriting: If it helps, Dumat liked toads. Did Dirthamen?"

On the Archdemons and the rest of the Evanuris, the devs said this in the recent Reddit AMA:

Q: “Can we get confirmation on what happened to the other Evanuris? Will we get any more lore? Shame we didn’t hear a whole lot about them besides essentially being behind the previous Blights.” John Epler: “We haven’t been SUPER specific about this, but at best the other Evanuris are a shadow of their former selves, and at worst they’re dead. The death of their Archdemons, particularly when they were still trapped in the Fade, caused enough magical feedback that it broke their minds and bodies. A couple may have survived as shells, but they aren’t in the same state as Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan.” --- John: “[...] The story of the Evanuris is done - the gods are dead (or imprisoned)”

[compilation post]

and this in an interview with IGN:

"Can you tell us about the fate of the other elven gods like Sylaise and June? Are these gods now mortal in the Fade after the defeat of their Archdemons, or were they weakened enough to die in their prison? Epler: Yeah, I mean, so we haven’t been super explicit about what happens when the gods die. In my mind, they’re either dead or they’re the closest thing to it. When a Warden kills an Archdemon, in Origins and DA2 and DAI, before the Gods are out in the world, there is part of that elven god’s spirit that is bound to that dragon. It finds the nearest source of Blight. Now, if it’s a darkspawn, a darkspawn has a direct connection to the Blight. There’s enough energy there for it to rebuild a body, rebuild itself as an Archdemon. When it goes into a Warden, that connection is very different and what ends up happening is essentially the fragment of the God spirit and the fragment of the Warden annihilate each other. So nothing to go back to the god. So if they’re there, they’re a shadow of their former self. But obviously when Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain come out, there’s not that distance. There’s not that need to use the Blight as essentially an in-between medium and they can just regain that fragment of their soul. They’re now mortal, but they’re just as powerful as they were before. Busche: And this is part of a theme within The Veilguard. We’re tackling some pretty big subject matter, some of the largest outstanding mysteries within Dragon Age lore. So we want to tie up some of those loose ends, give really satisfying answers, but we also want to leave the door open just a little bit. So questions like that, what happens to the rest of the gods? Those are themes that we want to be able to explore, but also be able to advance the franchise."

[source]

#dragon age: the veilguard #dragon age the veilguard spoilers #<- this is my spoiler tag!#dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #video games #mjs mailbag #themumblingmouse #solas #long post #longpost #dragon age 5

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bentennyon · 12 days ago

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Spoilers for Mouthwashing ig

So, I finally sat down and experienced Mouthwashing. I remember seeing it teased after I saw How Fish Is Made, but I kinda forgot it existed until now, and wow, it was good. It hit hard. The details, the characters, the way the story unfolds it’s all so nicely done. I felt for nearly all the characters. Anya, Swansea, Daisuke, even Curly…and then there's him.

It honestly blows my mind how the devs managed to craft one of the most hated characters in gaming with Jimmy. Like, most villains from series I'm accustomed with, they want power or domination, but Jimbo? He’s real. He’s the kind of guy who actually exists in the world, and that’s what makes it hit different. The whole game feels like a calling out of people like him.

The emotional weight of it all was a lot, in the best way. And it’s kinda crazy seeing how some fans flatten Curly into a one-dimensional character and that he's purely innocent and good, while yes he had good intentions he royally fucked up. He’s the most human of the entire cast, and that’s the sad part. It's obvious Curly wasn’t a bad guy, but he still played a part in everything while he was trying to keep the peace. He couldn’t bring himself to see his best friend as a villain. He enabled Jimmy, yes, but not out of malice, out of denial and a desire for everything to just work. Jimmy’s the cause, but Curly’s inaction gave it space to grow. He tried to stay neutral and ended up tangled in the consequences.

I love how grey Curly is as a character. The guy that looks the least human and yet feels the most human. He messed up hard, but he’s not a monster. He wanted to do right by everyone and failed horribly in a way that felt real. I always imagined Curly as the kind of person Jimmy thinks he is. The difference is that Curly pretty much owns his failure. Jimmy reframes his deliberate choices as “mistakes” to keep wearing the good guy mask. The stuff he can’t reframe like what he did to Anya he straight-up erases from his mind. One of the best things is what's hidden in the dialogue, Jimmy says “the captain’s responsible for what happens on the ship”…then claims the captain title after the crash, so he can feel like a hero. But when shit really falls apart? He passes the title and the blame back to Curly.

Another detail people sleep on: While Curly is partly responsible for everything, he was trying to protect Anya. He didn’t want her to face Jimmy directly. He wanted to keep the victim and criminal apart, even if it meant delaying justice. There was nowhere to hold Jimmy, the crew was skeleton crew with barely any resources or protocol, and Jimmy, as co-pilot, had too much access and too much control. Curly was stalling trying to hold things together long enough to reach the planet, to do something real. But even then, if Jimmy got reported? Nothing might’ve changed. The company didn’t care. Everyone was disposable. Was Curly complicit? Absolutely. He was just stuck, naive to a fault, and trying to survive the impossible.

Also, Anya was going through it, like imagine having to coexist with your rapist for months, and the person who is supposed to help you is all buddy buddy with him, I know if we were all in Curly's position (pre crash) we would have dropped Jimmy as friend 100% but you got to remember the situation everyone was in

I also love stories with layers and subtext, Like how only Anya can see the dead pixel representing Jimmy and what he did while Curly can't see it at all or is actively choosing to look away, or before Curly evaluates Jimmy, he walks through this trippy scene of warning signs, or Swansea hacking at the sun on the screen, unknowingly foreshadowing Daisuke’s fate, calling him a “ray of sunshine.” Or the unspoken but very obvious SA of Anya with the spiked drink.

It’s such a dark, gut-punch story, but it’s beautifully crafted. And I like to think there’s a version of this universe where the ones who deserved better got a better ending because damn, this was at least of I interpreted things lol

Also can we talk about how dope Anya is? She kept a dude alive with what was basically first aid

What do you all think, I like to hear other opinions

#hey #mouthwashing #anya mouthwashing #captain curly #curly mouthwashing #swansea mouthwashing #daisuke mouthwashing #how fish is made #thoughts #lol

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addiekinstudios · 3 months ago

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Going to be doing some PICO-8 development in a little bit come check it out... I kind of need your help on this part of the survival crafting game I have been working on.

twitch_live

#game development #gamedev #indie games #indiedev #game dev stream #game dev streaming #streaming now #pico-8 #pico-8 game dev #retrogames #survival crafting #survival crafting game dev

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boatslut · 1 month ago

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we all love minecraft but if you want to actually cut ties with it (even if just during the boycott)

i totally suggest Vintage Story. I've been playing it off and on for a lil while now and i like it a lot. its like minecraft, to a degree, as a Blocks Crafty Survival Game, but its more focused on wilderness survival and 'realistic' progression from stone age to modernization. it CAN be a lot more difficult if youre more experienced to a casual type of MC experience, as it is definitely survival heavy. i wouldnt let that deter you tho!!

cool stuff it does, that im aware of from playing atm:

EXTREMELY modding friendly apparently. i heard that the devs used to be modders so theyve intentionally designed the game to be more modding friendly. theres a lot of cute mods, including some really nice realism mods that add irl flora, fauna and fungi based on native biomes

the crafting of certain stuff is more hands on. toolmaking requires knapping by chipping away stone or smithing (i havent done it yet but im p sure its also hands on work), and making pottery is hand built by placing and removing voxels

theres some lore on why the world is empty of civilization, though ive only scratched the surface. it seems cool from what ive seen of it so far

domestication via breeding instead of just 'feed animal the right food'. theres a mod that adds genetics to your crossbreeding but i think its both still early n dev and also i. have only read abt it. it looks cool tho!!

Cookinge...

the wilderness generation is extremely pretty imo. watching plants sway is very nice

the 'temporal distortion' stuff (that i think is lore related) looks VERY COOL imo. silent hill otherworld + reality glitching shit. its neat.

i feel like the challenging-ness makes progression more satisfying but your mileage might vary.

if youre familiar w/ MC's 'Chisel' mod, i am pretty sure in later progression its built in. neat!

there is a creative mode! and a LOT of neat clutter and building materials.

imo going full caveman mode and throwing spears at animals is kinda thrilling. unga bunga

I Think Its Just Neat

idk why i decided to shill this game all the sudden but i do think its worth looking into if ppl wanna try getting into an alternative! its just ~23 USD / 20 EUROS, so its not crazy expensive either. Plus if you wanna play w/ friends, there's a discounted 'family pack' that gives you 4 game keys!

there's also a mod that lets you play as kobolds instead of the default humanoids. look at my 'bold grannie

#vintage story

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sezez · 4 months ago

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Okay, so PPT Chp. 4 will certainly get mixed reactions. But for me, it was great and I genuinely love how much more lore we got and I already have some theories to craft. But before that, I'll just write my thoughts to the characters.

Spoilers ahead and this might be a long post.

Nightmare Critters & Pianosaurus:

First of all, so sorry for all of those Pianosaurus fans cause was he played dirty! I honestly thought we were going to have a mini-boss fight with this guy and I do like his concept. But instead he was killed in like 8 seconds, and also he changed up Doey's introduction.

In the trailer, Doey fell from the ceiling but in game he ate the dino and make him seem more menacing compare to the trailer. I guess that's one complaint I have, because it would have made him seem more trustworthy if he hadn't showed us how powerful and dangerous he could be. For whatever reason it was, I guess the devs just decided to change his introduction last minute.

As for the Nightmare Critters... Eh, the devs just said they're going to be a very, very minor characters. Also I kind of find it funny in that one scene where Sawyer gave us a chance to kill a critter, a critter we literally don't give two sh!ts about. Would have been more emotional or make us hesitant if it were someone like a toy from Safe Heaven, begging the Protagonist to not kill them or maybe Kissy Missy(?).

Kissy Missy & Yarnaby:

I was so happy that Kissy lived and she was so cute throughout the chapter, I love her and I swear to god if she ends up sacrificing herself to protect us from Huggy Wuggy, I will cry a waterfall.

But I am still curious as to WHAT happened to her, I did saw Sheeprampage's video where she could have been expose to some fire and possibly did so by letting some of the Red Smoke out then lit it up.

I really pray she'll be alright in the next chapter.

On to Yarnaby, he turned out just as I expected; a pet to the Doctor. I know people are disappointed that he didn't do as much as Catnap but must I remind you that in the ARG, Yarnaby is a failure by design. He lost the intellect he had when he was a child (he's name was Quinn btw) and just became loyal to Sawyer and Sawyer alone.

Protagonist:

Now, right off the bat, I really like how we can see the Grabpack is shaking slightly. Just come to show just how traumatize this ex-employee is. Also, I am still wondering and praying if we'll EVER get an answer on who the Protag is. Like, can the characters just say our name instead of "You!", "I know you.", "I've never seen you before..", etc.

But what Sawyer asked, why did the Protagonist really come back? He does have a point on the letter (which I am questioning on how tf does he know about that), it can't be the only reason. Maybe it was because they lost a loved one, or perhaps they have some unfinished business?

I sure hope we get our answers soon...

And I am still wondering on how this employee, (he was straight up confirm by Harley and said by Miss Delight he's human) managed to survive a large-as$ fall?! Kissy's arm didn't reached 'em til after he got punched in the face by a pointy rock!

Harley Sawyer:

I know for a fact people are disappointed he didn't do much in this chapter, but I am satisfied. Sure, he could have had his robots scattered almost everywhere but he likes to play with his food rather than muling it down and making a mess. He leaves that job to his pets.

Also he literally is just a ghost in the machine, he can't do anything physical unless he uses those robots. I was a bit disturb the fact that his organs were kept in machines and I was confuse as to why he didn't even seem angry when we destroyed his lungs. I thought he'd get mad and try to prevent us from doing it to the rest of what's left of himself, yet he rants and rants on... Suspicious.

I also loved how he seemed so surprise to become a experiment himself, like sure all the other higher-ups did so, but he made too much of a mess. Which is ironic because he seems strict with things being clean, if the notes from the ARG saids so.

And I am interested with what the Prototype and Harley discussed during a VHS tape; "Tape and Time". 1006 is getting impatient with the doctor because he doesn't have time, but just what is it they mean? The Prototype was planning something big, I saw someone said it could be the Hour of Joy. How not only it was the toys fighting back, but for Harley to get his revenge to those that made him an ai. Proving to them it was a mistake to let him control everything and anything.

But I don't really see that being the case, I don't know why though.. just a gut feeling it isn't.

Doey the Doughman:

It seems like I was half wrong on him being a secret villain, I was quite surprised that he consists of three kids with their own personality. But I find that it makes sense, like this is a Bigger Body that is just a sentient clay and only having one soul control the big weight would be trouble some.

But overall, I do like his character a lot and I love the dynamic between him and Poppy. Yeah, she is right about blowing the factory up since there's no way in heck the toys can walk freely outside. They'll just go through the experiments all over again, but Doey still puts the moral dilemma infront. Just to show how much he cares for the non-hostile toys.

I honestly don't have much to say, he's just going to be the new Dogday to the fandom. A good character that dies, wether or not it actually affect the story.

EXP. 1006; The Prototype:

Now, this thing is really making me excited to see what the hell he looks like. The shadow of his spidery legs is creepy, but I'm wondering how the hell is he going through the small halls if those are his legs. Because this guy is gonna be as big as the Blob from FNAF.

And I, along with all the other people who saw it coming, weren't surprised to hear he's Ollie. I mean, the moment he spoke to the Protagonist and the tape we find at the end of Chapter 3 should have already alarmed us.

Also, I am not one of those people who think Elliot was turned into this guy. Elliot was still around when the BBI was on full swing, the math ain't gonna math if you try to do the calculation.

Poppy:

Okay, so... I will say I am NOT one of those people who will go "Oh, I knew it! Poppy's evil! She backstabbed us again!"

No. Stop, shut up.

She is simply a coward, and fresh reminder; she's a child, missing her father (Elliot) and is very much traumatized.

Did anyone you even watch the tape of her? And even though Sawyer is right about her knowing the Hour of Joy was to arrive, she didn't know about the true intention of it. She thought she and the other toys can escape, be free and live a life, but 1006 brings a point that is painfully true.

Even if they had escape, they would just go through the experiments all over again.

And I am so glad it's canon, because these toys cannot just go out there without scaring people or luring mad scientists on how they were made. They wouldn't be free, they would just lead themselves to another cage.

But as to Poppy herself, I love the tape of her and Ollie talking. Really makes the scene of him revealing to be the Prototype all the more heartbreaking for her, he was there when she cried, felt empty and was her only friend while Playtime Co. was in operation. But now that he's gone, she has no one. Kissy might come back for her, but the doll may distant herself away from others. To keep herself safe, to hide and stop bringing pain to those around.

I really hope we get to know more about her in the next chapter, especially with what the "tragic accident" is that led to her becoming a doll.

#poppy playtime #poppy playtime chapter 4 #poppy playtime theory #poppy playtime yarnaby #poppy playtime prototype #poppy playtime 1006 #harley sawyer #poppy playtine doey #poppy playtime kissy missy #poppy playtime poppy #poppy playtime protagonist

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insomnova · 5 months ago

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the way im sitting here thinking about how i wouldve rewritten veilguard in a way that's feasible wrt worldstates + actually shipping the game out in a realistic timeframe.... i'm fully sympathetic to the game devs because the thought of having to integrate three entire games of branching choices is a daunting prospect even from a narrative standpoint, nevermind figuring out how to express it in a game. there's no way i can think of where the end result would've been satisfactory to everyone, so i can understand from a purely practical standpoint why they did what they did for veilguard.

that being said:

i seriously disapprove of the way that everything done pre-veilguard was wiped off the face of thedas. like, sure, keeping track of minutia that has no bearing on the story beyond the moment itself is kind of stupid. like why would my rook care if the HoF reclaimed king cailan's armor. that makes no sense. but including the extremely pertinent world history defining events wouldn't have been too big a stretch, and honestly should have stayed in the game. it gives the world depth. it gives the world life. for example establishing whether the HoF survived via dark ritual vs. went down in a blaze of glory during the 5th blight, ritual be damned, seems kind of pertinent, especially in a game dealing with the consequences of the blight. i didn't expect or even want a cameo of the HoF, but perhaps a single nod via codex entry (or throwaway voice line from morrigan) to the game that kickstarted the ENTIRE franchise isn't outside the scope of expectations when crafting a sequel to it.

honestly i think the way they handled the hawke vs. corypheus situation in inquisition was the perfect solution to it. there was a significant portion of those who played da2 that didn't bother with the dlc prior to playing inquisition and were baffled when that connection was established in game. the 'default' state of inquisition was that hawke fought corypheus. why didn't they just do that for veilguard?

like yes, having a 'default' worldstate would've rankled feathers, but it's a significant improvement over not having one at ALL.

"but cindy," you might say, "we did have worldstates. we got to pick the inquisitor's appearance, what they did with the inquisition, who they romanced, and their intentions wrt resolving the solas situation!"

yes, that's true. and the only impact those choices had was a few lines of dialogue here and there. flavor text. pretty pathetic to reduce a 70+ hour game to just a few lines, but at least it was something. which is why i don't understand why they didn't do the same for dao and da2. it's stupid to expect a cameo from both the HoF or hawke and honestly if that happened i'd be pissed because it would be stealing the spotlight from rook in favor of shoehorning in nostalgia bait, but letters? codex entries? lines of dialogue? all fully doable. if they wanted to take down the keep, at least reinstate the 'default' worldstate where the dalish warden died in dao. we KNOW it exists. why not just reuse it?

ESPECIALLY since the main antagonist in veilguard is solas. he has so much guilt tied to the blight, the elves, and the veil. there's such a rich opportunity for story telling there and i genuinely cannot believe they didn't attempt to bring it up even once.

OR the conflict between the mages and the templars, a massive mainstay from all three previous games... just done away with? not even a footnote? there are some people who don't even know what a circle is, through no fault of their own! the game doesn't take the time to establish crucial pieces of world lore! and for what? do first-time players even know what a divine is? andraste? arlathan and tevinter and the bloody history therein?

they don't need to rehash EVERYTHING, but why on earth does the fourth entry in a video game series feel so disconnected from the previous three? if that was going to be the case, why not just set it even further in the future, after solas has already won and the veil is torn down and history matters only in that nobody remembers it anymore?

a post-apocalyptic version of thedas where the worldstates prior to solas tearing down the veil doesn't matter because that thedas doesn't exist anymore. that would've satisfied me. it would've been a bitter satisfaction, but i would've understood it. who cares who rules orlais if orlais no longer exists?

genuinely i don't understand why they made dragon age veilguard the way they did. it's like they tried to do a remake before the original version was even out. who was this game even made for? first-timers, obviously, as the game itself is enjoyable from a purely fantasy game perspective, but as the latest installment in a series that started in 2009? really? where did all that history go?

it's funny, because at the end of veilguard the only choice that really has any staying power is the one about solas. i can't think about any other decision made that would have any tangible effect on any sequels. on the world, i mean. characters are another story.

anyways, long story short: i hope they're a little more respectful to long-time fans in the next one. if there is a next one. i hope there is, but i won't hold my breath.

#personal #dragon age #long post #i want to be clear that i still enjoy playing the game #it's just bittersweet knowing what it could have been vs. what we got #i feel like i can see the shape of potential haunting my rook's every footstep in veilguard #sighs. well at least we have hair physics lmao

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theswordwizard · 2 years ago

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ai art: both sides

I think a lot of non-artists are also just really and truly not understanding the big picture. I personally could not care less about that cat image, it was fun, whatever, but you are only producing those kinds of images in the sense that an art director "produces" whatever art they are in charge of. They are telling another artist what to do, even guiding them, but they are not considered the artist themselves. Artists who are creating their own art, who are trying to survive off of their work (many of whom have some form of disability, as art is easy to do while sitting down, etc), who are already in the middle of fighting to not just be tossed aside for a product which doesn't even produce the results it claims, are reacting negatively because they are seeing that in parallel with tabling spaces taken up with people presenting generated art as their own illustration, and game devs/producers using it as a way to explicitly avoid paying people for work, while using something that was trained on their work.

"Why do people react so strongly to things possibly being AI art?" If you want to keep it out of the courts, then public opinion matters all the more. It's about a party line that is easily communicable. Most artists are going to be strongly anti-AI because that's the best way to protect themselves than trying to "open a discussion" about it. It's like nurse scabs. We can argue back and forth all day about the intricacies of scabbing for important jobs, but at the end of the day the party line will generally be "scabbing is bad," "we don't like scabs," "scabbing harms workers."

People are trying to compare people getting mad about it to people getting mad about Duchamp's fountain, which just lets me know about their level of art education, and the level of which they like to talk out their ass.

Duchamp's fountain isn't a major point in art history because of the object itself, its because of the STATEMENT. It is because of the placement of the object IN THE GALLERY. It is the equivalent of a political pamphlet, but summed up in a single object that incites discussion around his political statement. It isn't about the object it is about the CONCEPT. We can literally call anything we want "art" if we dedicate ourselves to reframing it and treating it as such, it's just that most non-artists don't even care. They want the label of being an artist without even putting in an effort to. It's like if I wanted to be called a photographer and I wanted people to treat me as such, and so I just made a portfolio of pictures I took off of Pinterest or even a stock photo site, because I've decided that it's the photos I would WANT to take, and thus I can just act like they have anything to do with me.

There have been arguments over much more "similar" things for a long time too. Since the 90s Richard Prince has been taking people's instagram photos, making slight tweaks to avoid copyright, and then printing them large scale and selling them for tens of thousands of dollars. Technically legal, kinda shitty, as he does it without even contacting the (plenty of times, women) original posters. And that's just with selfies people have taken! But I don't see people mentioning that because a lot of people don't like him, and most people arguing to legitimize AI art to be uncontested don't actually care that much about contemporary art. They have zero real interest in being an artist and talking about art to that degree, to have those discussions in a way that isn't validating themselves. Duchamp's fountain in a gallery incites discussion because galleries are places of art discussion. If someone brought a crate of mechanically woven baskets (that they bought from amazon) to a craft fair, people are going to be rightly pissed off. It's about context.

It's also, in my opinion, a similar discussion to the one that was big on twitter not too long ago, where people argued that artists weren't obligated to be able to draw non-white and/or disabled people. Which, sure, but you probably aren't that good of an artist if you don't know how to. And someone going through a portfolio of exclusively white people might go "huh, only white people. interesting." (I even want to include a gotcha here! If an artist has a portfolio of white people, and they have a section talking about their focus being painting their family tree in like, northern Ireland, it's gonna be a totally different story. why, you ask? because there is an underlying concept other than "wow this artist really only likes white people." this is part of the reading comprehension test that will follow.)

And you know what, I'm going to be honest - and this is likely a result of me not being a photographer - but I'm not even really talking all that much about AI photo edits, outside of the large scale implications of what it means that anyone can create a highly realistic image of anything they want (including political figures, female celebrities, you see my pattern here) with zero effort, on a mass scale we've never seen previously. I think they should only be used with stock, and I even think that photographers who upload their works should get additional payments from it. I actually had used a generator back in 2019 for a project, well before this even became a discussion, and it was even featured in a gallery show for a bit! The overall theme was "fake news," so it was a conceptual piece with fake landscape photography that I made with some beta tool. The point was the tool in combination with the tool's result, not how pretty the fake pictures were. I also want to say it was trained a lot more ethically than a lot of the generators that are so popular today.

And this isn't to say that you have to have a gallery or be so fully integrated in a physical art scene or whatever to be able to make conceptual art or talk about it - honestly I think zines that could actually combine whatever your concept is with having room to talk about it, and they're easy to create both physically and digitally and share. maybe just don't have it be around "look at all these pretty pictures that I made with AI." similar to how people at the art book fair aren't going to be impressed with me being like "look at all these pretty pictures I found on Unsplash."

Sure, AI art is "real art," but it's not illustration or photography or whatever, it's conceptual art. Which means it's main goal is to incite thought and discussion about it. Like the D&D book's release that suddenly turned to being about the AI art they used. So if you want to be an artist using primarily AI, go ahead, no one can stop you, but the topic is culturally significant with the current fight between the entertainment unions to protect their livelihoods, so the discussion will be heated.

#ai art #honestly unimpressed with how transparent a lot of the arguments ive seen here are

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everhavenworld · 9 months ago

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What is Everhaven (codenamed Project Dragon)?

Everhaven was a sandbox survival crafting multiplayer RPG game that was being developed by Phoenix Labs. It had fantasy characters and quests inspired by Minecraft and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. We first hear about Everhaven through the former development team of the game, including the character artist @nicholaskole on his Twitter/X where he explains what the game was about and how far along it was in development.

The game had been in development since 2021, 3 years. It was to be announced in June 2024 and released later in Early Access in September. The player would've started with 5 playable races: Humans, mountain-dwelling Fauns, plantlike Valekins, draconic Wyvarrs, and the feline Purrans.

Players would also collect creatures and have them as pets or ride them as mounts. Many regions were planned, and a starter region was to be used for launch, the Inner Lands - "a cosy pastoral paradise of rolling fields, lush forests, and alpine slopes". Like Minecraft, players would be able to build houses and customize their land, and grow crops and gardens.

Fully voiced NPCs would've given the world of Everhaven life, expanding the lore surrounding the 5 playable species and a story for players to follow. Enemies would also fill the regions of Everhaven as you explore the land, embark on quests and gather materials.

Each NPC was designed with unique art, gameplay traits, quests, and quirks. They each had a profession, a culture, a backstory. Some had friends and rivals and possible love interests. Aside from their personal quests, they had no linear story. Instead, by playing the game, players would discover their own developing narratives. Narrative designer Bethany Higa stated that the world of Everhaven would be procedurally generated each time, and everyone's experience with the characters would be different. When you met them, and how, and where in your journey, would all be unique. Phoenix Labs wanted to give players the freedom to choose how to build their own story using the NPCs.

The story of the characters would've been told through cinematics driven by the aesthetics and motifs of their cultures.

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According to Nicholas Kole, Phoenix Labs was entering the final 3 months stretch with Everhaven: the character customization was working, music soundtrack and character voiceover was mostly done and still being recorded, cinematics were close to completion. After the Early Access period, Phoenix Labs would've went on with a full plan from there.

The game received excellent feedback and mock reviews, as it was preparing for its upcoming release.

Unfortunately...

A blockchain company named Forte quietly bought Phoenix Labs in 2023 and later decided to cancel all projects that were in development, including Project Unicorn and Everhaven. The team members assigned to the projects were also laid off. This decision was done to focus fully on the other existing games at Phoenix Labs, Dauntless and Fae Farm. There were internal attempts made to save Everhaven but they were unsuccessful.

Phoenix Labs wasn't the first company Forte had purchased. They had also bought Rumble Entertainment, the developer of the mobile game Towers and Titans, and decided to shut down the studio this year in July 2024 in, what a former Rumble dev member calls it, "a ruthless pursuit of profit". This reveals that Forte buys game studios and would casually shut them down if they choose. A gaming news article with anonymous former employees later revealed that Forte would close down studios they acquired and cancel their game projects if they can’t find ways to implement their blockchain tech into the games.

On July 12, 2024, the embargo for Everhaven was lifted, allowing the former team members to post their contributions of the project on social media and on their personal portfolios.

After seeing the content made for Everhaven, a movement was formed by fans; this campaign was called #BringBackProjectDragon, at the hopes of getting Forte's attention and convince them to revive Everhaven and at least sell the game to another publisher. Word spread, and a few cozy game influencers covered Everhaven and its cancellation.

A petition was even created that has reached over 9,000 signatures as a way to show Forte that there is a fanbase that cares for Everhaven.

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To try and get Forte's attention, please spread the word about Everhaven to your friends and on social media (Twitter/X, Facebook, here on Tumblr, Bluesky, etc.), sign the petition, send Forte passive messages about wanting Everhaven back!

For Everhaven fans, there is a Facebook Fan Group, a Bluesky fan account, one for Twitter/X, a subreddit, and a discord server.

#BringBackProjectDragon!

#project dragon #everhaven #cancelled games #cozy games #Youtube #bring back project dragon

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