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j-l-kepler · 1 month

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I Turned My BG3 Tavs into Fake Origin Characters

CUZ NOBODY'S STOPPED ME YET

So here I was, scrolling through the BG3 tag when I come across a fantastic BG3 Template made by the extraordinary @dvgsart! Couldn't mcfreakin' help myself, I tell you.

So I took my 5 active non-Durge playthroughs (3 of which are 2-Tav saves) and slapped them in! Had a blast doing this, I tell you. All the beautiful Tavs I keep seeing just make me wanna gush about my own silly Tavs. Life's too short to not have fun.

[Putting the ART and everything below the cut because this is gonna be loooooong and y'all should get to opt out]

Yeah okay maybe I've written Companion Guides for 6/7 of these guys. I've had a lot of time at work lately, okay.

I call these guys the Stacked Seven because all of them have massive badonkadonks and I'm in desperate need of a new hobby. I can't help the fact drawing tits is very fun and I am horrendously bisexual.

ANYWAY lil bit of preamble you can skip -- I based their stats and weapons on what they'd be as Companions or Origin runs, not what their actual in-game stats are. Romantic Partners / Besties / Weapons are who and what they'd probably default to if they were just in ya party. I also put them in their Companion fits, not their in-game fits. AIGHT LET'S KICK IT OFF, IN ORDER

Eckhart Markolac

The Infernal Twins

Ayyy it's my guy, you might've seen my guy before! We're starting off in familiar territory. Also he's the only twunk here. RIP.

Eckhart is one roguish half of the whole known as the infamous Markolac Twins. He and his sister Emerleigh have spent years of their lives dedicated to paying off a debt they owe to the Undercellar through smuggling, cons and other life-threatening crimes. Now that the Nautiloid has picked them up and dumped them a long ways away from the Gate, he's faced with the consequences of his actions and the kind of freedom he never expected to grasp in his lifetime.

Eckhart shares a companion quest with Emerleigh - get these tadpoles outta their skulls and get back to Baldur's Gate! But will he return to face his debtor, go on the run for the rest of his life, or forsake a future he doesn't think he's good enough for?

For those who haven't met my angst machine of a rogue, Eckhart is a sarcastic, witty and vaguely sleazy guy who's basically your classic rogue. He comes complete with a detached attitude, lower (but not too low) moral standards, and a heart of gold under layers and layers of self sabotage and emotional dysfunction. He's just bad at hiding it.

Eck and Em would be recruited at the exact same time, and their tadpoles would make it so they cannot live for very long without the other. How? Why? Because I don't wanna write a whole freaking branch where one of the twins dies and the other just has to deal with that. Game branch logic is HARD TO WRITE, DAMN YOU.

Emerleigh Markolac

The Infernal Twins

Heyyy girl, it's Em, it's my girl!

Emerleigh is one bardic half of the whole known as the infamous Markolac Twins. She and her brother Eckhart have spent years of their lives dedicated to paying off a debt they owe to the Undercellar through smuggling, cons and other life-threatening crimes. Now that the Nautiloid has picked them up and dumped them a long ways away from the Gate, she's more determined than ever to hold onto this newfound freedom... more terrified of returning than she ever thought she could be.

Emerleigh shares a companion quest with Eckhart - get these tadpoles outta their skulls and get back to Baldur's Gate! But will she return to face her debtor, go on the run for the rest of her life, or deny herself the future she so desperately wants for her and her brother?

If you haven't met Em, she's your classic dramatic bard who speaks in poetry, prose and academia! She's friendly, mischievous, and has so so so many things she hasn't given herself the space to contend with emotionally. She's a pretty lady used to having a perfect mask demanded of her, craving a chance to speak bluntly and openly instead of wrapping herself up in layers upon layers of what other people want from her.

I've already written plenty about Em and Eck. The twins' stories are very interconnected, with the quest playing out the same beats from the perspective of whichever twin the player is playing/romancing/keeping in their party.

Canary Highfall

Child of Light

My other major 2-Tav playthrough I have yet to mention, and the first modded class I've played!

Canary's life has been dedicated to the pursuit of truth -- consequences be damned. Reuniting with her possessive estranged father has caused a lot of roadblocks for her, but her divine heritage won't stop her from her latest fascination: Mind Flayers. Specifically, the strange tadpole specimen she intercepted in her father's study. Her pursuits, assisted by her bodyguard and trusted friend Leryk, have resulted in the two of them playing host to those very same tadpoles! The questions are piling up, with one weighing heaviest on her mind: why did her father of all people have this specimen to begin with? And what does that mean for her and Leryk?

Canary's quest is separate from Leryk, as the first part of her companion quest is finding him. If the player completes the grove or tries to move to the next region without him while keeping Canary in the party or at camp, he'll just show up at their camp. They're a package deal from Act 2 onwards, so the player can either dismiss them both or keep them both. She's not going anywhere without her closest friend!

Canary is a feverously academic person with a focus on abnormal biology. Her noble position and all the restrictions that come with it are a recent development in her life, and one she only engages with for the resources it affords her when possible. She's extremely distrustful of authority and how nobility has a chokehold on academia, so finding out her estranged father is a hyper-paranoid aasimar descended from Lathander himself doesn't exactly help her faith in higher powers -- be they the divine or the political. She's a bit of a smartass and gets wrapped up in what she's doing so completely that she often doesn't consider the consequences. Despite her outward confidence, it's very easy to get her to start rambling or turn her into an absolute mess. Though she hates when Leryk treats her like a princess, she trusts him with her life and would do just about anything for him.

With Canary, I liked the idea of a Companion with a specific interest in Mind Flayers and a personal stake in the conspiracy much like Wyll does. She wouldn't be able to tell the player anything Halsin can't already say in much more detail since she hasn't made a lot of headway in her tadpole-specific research, though.

Leryk Coppperlot

Knight of the Dawn

He's the only one of my active saves that has a skin tone other than "human". Good job, Keps.

Leryk's life hasn't been very long so far, but very little of it has been uneventful until recently. Saved from his life as a ruthless mercenary at the age of 19, he's devoted himself to the Son of Lathander. When his savior's recently-discovered estranged daughter was placed in his care, Leryk then devoted his life to her. Duty blossomed into friendship, but Leryk's blind faith in Canary's father persists despite what Canary has to say about it. Now that they've both been tadpoled and whisked far away from the safety of the Gate, Leryk is determined to get Canary home no matter the cost. But can he face the horrific truth Canary is on the cusp of uncovering...? And what about the truths she's been hiding from him?

Leryk has that frantic "rookie soldier" energy. He's extremely combat-experienced, but he's terrible at wrangling in Canary since he's very easy to sway through enthusiasm alone. He's blindly devoted to Canary and even moreso to her father, but otherwise can be quite shrewd and cautious of others. Misjudging one's character used to mean death for him, and he learned that when his old mentor tried to turn him in for a bounty on his head. Leryk, despite this, has learned a lot from the kindness afforded to him and does his best to repay it. "Caution, but not discourtesy" is his motto.

Leryk's quest is separate from Canary, as the first part of his companion quest is finding her. If the player completes the grove or tries to move to the next region without her, she'll just show up at their camp. Since they're a package deal Act 2 onwards, the player can either dismiss them both or keep them both. Canary's his best friend and he is literally her bodyguard, after all.

I love devoted bodyguards. I love him so much. I like the idea of some Companions knowing each other or having pre-existing relationships. You know he's having a panic attack and is going to find her just chilling in the Goblin Camp like it's no big deal.

Briar Lockren

The Weary Ranger

okay so Briar was actually a fan companion BEFORE she was a Tav. I recently restarted her run in a 2-Tav where the other Tav is actually Default Dark Urge because this girl's perception proficiency is worthless if she hasn't slept enough. And she never sleeps enough.

After three years of wandering the Sword Coast, Briar has settled in Cloak Wood in hopes of outrunning her terrible luck. Her past involvement with one of Cyric's cults has left her branded with supernatural-levels of misfortune and nightmares plaguing her every time she falls asleep. She's basically a walking-talking tempest. Having fallen in and out of the Feywild and caused towns to burn without her say, Briar thought being picked up by the Nautiloid was simply another instance of her shit luck. So imagine her surprise when she got the first nightmare-free rest in three years. Free from the eyes of the one who cursed her, Briar's luck has suddenly changed.

Briar is a somewhat ditsy individual prone to taking inopportune naps just about anywhere. Originally from Luskan, Briar's time wandering and falling into ridiculously terrible situations has made her a pretty difficult person to rattle. She's kind and gentle despite all she's suffered, but blames herself for wandering around the way she does and causing trouble (settling down with her luck is impossible). Her passivity is what led to her situation, however, as the one who cursed her was her childhood friend-turned cult leader-turned Chosen of Cyric-turned ex-boyfriend. It's messy. Briar's very used to messy life situations.

Briar's probably my most developed Tav in terms of a Companion story since she was originally written to be one. I also will acknowledge her being half-drow but not LOOKING half-drow is partly due to my own personal cowardice, but it's also the result of her complicated heritage. Lotta drow in Luskan. The fact she doesn't look like her full-drow father should tip you off as to why he might not have especially liked his child, therefore neglecting her and giving her very few chances to adopt the cult's teachings for herself. Kinda hard to teach a child to become a religious narcissist when you keep telling her she's just inherently inferior.

Scarlet

The Scarlet Scourge

My longest-lived Tav... heeeey girl, hiiii~ I'm probably gonna play her in a campaign one of these days. Siiigh.

The Scarlet Scourge strikes fear into the hearts of the greedy aristocrats that call Baldur's Gate home. A street urchin whose life was ruined time and time again by those who have far too much money, Scarlet's dedicated her life to taking from those who won't miss it and giving to those who need it. But Scarlet's been stopping the plans of the corrupt for a long time, and it all began with some dangerous blueprints. Blueprints she quite literally carries within her soul. Now that she's crashed far beyond the anonymity the Gates afford her, the one she stole the plans from has a chance to find her all over again.

Scarlet is a highly confident and highly competent master thief. She takes great pride in her ingenuity and artificing skill, and won't let you forget it. She's fiercely independent and keeps people at a distance, even hiding her real name from those she gets close to. However, like every Robin Hood figure, she revels in her legend and genuinely adores the people she does it for. Scarlet may act arrogant, but she has the skill to back up her confidence and risks her life for altruism. Get her in front of a gadget, however, and her brain goes a mile a minute. (She's going to be fucking pissed when she sees how cool the Steel Defenders are and the awful ways they're being utilized)

Who doesn't love a Phantom Thief? I think she and Wyll would absolutely be besties if they didn't already know each other before the events of the game - they both love the people of Baldur's Gate, have super hero names, and are archetypes of a class they don't belong to (Wyll is a Paladin in a Warlock's body while Scarlet is a Rogue in an Artificer's body).

Rohku Eddervyn

The Oathbroken

My OTHER longest-lived Tav, and the oldest character of my active Tavs. He's the oldest of them as well in terms of character age.

Rohku has been given many titles over the years, but none of which he's found suit him. After awakening to his Oath in the wake of a Sharran attack during his time as an Acolyte, Rohku was once known as The Sun of the Seventh Dawn for reasons he'll spare you for now. But years of tracking down and slaughtering Dark Justiciars began to take their toll. When grief and rage gave way to emptiness, he understood the pull of Shar. Unable to hunt down those he now saw as victims, his Oath shattered. But his devotion remains. Now, as he searches for new meaning under the Moonmaiden's gaze, he tracks down an artifact said to have fallen into Sharran hands...

Rohku is a mature and quiet man, jaded by the world around him. He's tired of battles between good and evil, and now lives for what is kind -- in any form that takes. He's patient with people and thinks very little of what others think of him. His wisdom and experiences make him an excellent leader, and an even better listener. He often chooses to resolve conflict through his words rather than his blade, but his deadpan demeanor makes that difficult. But he can handle that when it's his own ass on the line. But Zweihanders aren't shields.

Rohku was the first masculine character I played in BG3 and I fell in love. He's so tired and sweet. He's kind of Halsin-esque in that he was thrust into leadership without his say and acts as a calming presence for those he makes camp with. And big. He's a big boy.

Hee hee hee self call-out time! Yes I have noticed 3 of them have black hair, 3 of them are tieflings, 5 have a different hair color streaked in there (with 2 of them specifically graying at a young age), and only 1 of them is above the age of 30. Because I Am A Coward. Pobody's Nerfect.

Hope you kinda enjoyed my little Tav sound-off! If you have questions about them or wanna see more of them or, heck, even draw or write about them yourself, go craaaazy! I don't know how much of these ideas are, like, solidified. IDK I'm still playing around with them.

God I put too much work into these. I can't believe I do fan fiction now. Wild.

#bg3 #art #bg3 tav #bg3 art #bg3 fanfiction #bg3 fan companion #bg3 eckhart #bg3 emerleigh #bg3 canary #bg3 briar #bg3 leryk #bg3 rohku #bg3 scarlet #bg3 tavs #hee hee hee i had so much fun

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ferallester · 5 months

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okay so I didn’t have the motivation to do Appreciation Week at first, but seeing @yonpote do it all in one day has inspired me so let’s do it! (but with screenshots and stuff bc Yeah LMAO)

for @dpgdaily’s Dan and Phil Appreciation Week!

post is under a break so that it doesn’t just break tumblr

Day 1 - Favourite Dan and/or Phil quote:

the entire opening from the pinof 7 bloopers is hilarious but by far one of my favourite quotes (one that has continually haunted me since 2016, when I watched it for the first time) is:

D: Stand still!

P: Stencil!

D: … I’m gonna hit you. [laughs] Shut up!

I quote this weirdly often in my fics. In fact, I’m pretty sure two of my recent published fics use it as a reference. I didn’t realise until now that I was partially misquoting it XD

I also can’t not mention, from Basically I’m Gay (the entire part from when Dan starts talking about Phil is linked, quote starts about twenty seconds later):

D: We are real best friends, companions through life, like actual soulmates […]

maybe he was trying to be ironic, but there’s something intensely poetic about his body language when he describes them as actual soulmates

I’m obsessed with it, but in like the way people don’t shut up about Pride and Prejudice, maybe, idk I’m just bisexual and hoping that I get half as lucky as the boys have

there are many more moments tbh I could say LMAO

Day 2 - Favourite Dan and Phil Series:

OUGHHHHH THIS ONE IS ACTUALLY REALLY DIFFICULT—

what is now called Season 1 of the Sims 4 and the Undertale playthrough are VERY close contenders, but I think my favourite series is actually the DITLs! (there’s no playlist for this one rip)

you can easily split them into two or three sections (depending on if you count any of The Making Of videos for TABINOF, the calendars, or the prep for II as DITLs), and each section has something wonderful to enjoy!

the ‘local’ DITLs (Manchester and London) are incredibly domestic, with the boys just going about a semi-typical day, and the Festive DITL honestly just turns that up to a hundred, I love the domestic ones so much

the ‘holiday’ ones too (Japan and Australia) are also super fun, because we get to see the boys doing silly touristy things like holding koalas or hanging around one of the busiest intersections in Tokyo (I also keep hearing conspiracies about the Australian one LMAO)

the ‘making of’ videos are their own unique source of slice-of-life entertainment, because They’re Getting Important Stuff Done but they’re making it entertaining for us too

my favourites are the original DITL and Festive DITL <3

Day 3 - Favourite Dan and/or Phil Outfit:

used @phanoutfitsblog’s screenshots for most of these, with the exception of Dan’s initial look in the baking video (also I’d be lying if I said that Sister Daniel wasn’t high up on this list hhhh)

can Phil stop being pretty for FIVE MINUTES JEEZ— it’s actually incredibly difficult to pin down favourite outfits for him bc he just. Keeps. On. WINNING.

his red shirt in the red carpet roasting video is probably the most iconic so far but it could really have been literally any other outfit he’s worn in the last several years

and Dan’s no slouch, either! this man is gorgeous and he ROCKS it! he wore this particular shirt (?) to an interview (or at least it was framed like one) and he looks INCREDIBLE in it but I can’t remember where I found the other screenshot so I won’t post it lmao

his initial appearance in the Halloween baking video before he changes into Sister Daniel is also equally pretty bc of the makeup and honestly? gimme your gender Howell

other honourable mentions include a recent magazine shoot that I’ve forgotten the name of (some phan I am LMAO, shame on me for only remembering the pink), and his dystopia motorcycle twink shirt from the red carpet video

Day 4 - Favourite Joint Content

oooh, difficult question, that’s like choosing a favourite child! still, the answer to this one is a lot simpler than Day 5 below, because it’s the original PINOF, as well as the photobooth challenge!

while PINOF wasn’t my initial introduction to the boys (that goes to the Sims 4), it’s one of the earliest things I watched of them, and almost certainly what got me to stick with them! (along with the Sims 4… LMAO)

Dan says he was being ironic when he said ‘this is the most fun I’ve ever had, and maybe it’s the tism kicking in, but he doesn’t sound sarcastic or ironic when he says that

it’s pretty clear from the get go that they’re two boys (boys in love, even) making a silly video, having absolutely zero idea that it’s going to change the world <3

the pb challenge, meanwhile, is just incredibly funny, I remember almost hurting myself from laughing so hard the first time I watched it XD it hasn’t aged perfectly, but that’s most things from ten years ago

the honourable mentions list is VERY long so I won’t put all of them here LMAO, but the Get Down video is one of them XD

Day 5- Favourite DanAndPhilGames video

oooh, another difficult question, here, because more often than not, the answer is yes! I could say the Halloween baking video one day, and the Katamari video the next, and one of the Sims 4 building videos because I’m a sucker for renovations (also, the GAY WEDDING and the RETURN in general!), and honestly there’s so many videos I’ve forgotten over the years (LOVE NIKKI!) but I think I’m gonna say the finale of Undertale!

it makes me cry every time I rewatch the series, and it’s such a beautiful story, and yeah I’m a mess just thinking about it, because the fact that they chose to be pacifists from the get go is one of the genuinely sweetest things I can think of

Day 6 - Favourite Solo Video(s)

oh no I don’t actually know how to fully answer for Dan, but at a guess… yeah who am I kidding, it’s BIG and We’re All Doomed! :D (yes I know WAD! isn’t a video (yet, hopefully) but it overrides literally everything else bc I loved that night so much)

BIG, as a queer person, is just honestly so incredibly important to me, because being able to listen to other queer people — very successful ones, too — and how they’ve struggled in ways I’ve been fortunate to have never suffered, and how they overcame it all, and are still dealing with it to this day? yeah I’m still so proud of Dan for it all, he deserves the life he’s made for himself <3

WAD is in a similar vein to this, but with the addition of me being able to actually MEET Dan and then watch him on STAGE as he did his comedy show! I made him laugh with a joke about Australian summer being hell, and that’s probably one of the best things that has ever happened to me <3

honourable mention goes to his Keep On Movin’ video, bc that’s just damn impressive

Phil, meanwhile… I have so many videos to choose from, and while Coming Out To You carries the same importance as BIG, if not more since I watch it more (I love them equally, but COTY is only eight minutes long okay), I am actually struggling to choose a favourite outside of it!

mostly because all my favourite Phil videos… are joint content videos!

that being said, his fourth ACNH video is incredibly sweet, and I think I might go rewatch the series!

also his house review videos (the apartment one and the expensive house one) are pretty iconic

AND the sleepless night series— can you see why I’m struggling? :’D

Day 7 - What do Dan and Phil mean to you?

(oh god I am so sorry for this monster)

I don’t remember 2016 being a particularly rough year for me, despite the many star-studded losses (rip Anton Yelchin especially), and maybe it would’ve been that way even if I hadn’t found Dan and Phil, but finding them at what could be considered their initial peak of fame was probably one of the best things that could have happened to me, because I was just a year into my experiences with internet fandom, and what better way to do that than get yeeted into the chaotic world of two British dorks on the net that everyone and their cat shipped?

I may have missed out on the radio shows, sure, and I missed out on pretty much every YouNow and Rize show and whatnot because I’m a goose, but I came into the fandom just in time to see TATINOF live, even though I couldn’t get a meet and greet ;w; one day I’ll catch Phil

I distinctly remember being at the Gold Coast Eisteddfod, which was an hour south of Brisbane, on the same night as TATINOF, and absolutely booking it back with my mum to Brisbane, stressing the entire way even as we got McDonalds and I got changed out of what was either my school uniform or my performance uniform (I can’t remember) into something more normal for a night at QPAC

and yet, once I was there, I had probably one of the best nights of my life, because TATINOF, in my opinion, is the best thing the boys have ever done on stages (II and WAD! are very close tho don’t get me wrong)

someone helped me draw cat whiskers on my face, I remember chatting happily to other phannies around me (what about, I have long forgotten), and I remember how loud it was, and how much I didn’t mind that, for the first time in my life

I bought more merch at II and WAD!, because I was either given more money or I actually had money to spend since I got my job by WAD!, but, even when disappointed by the fact that I couldn’t afford much, I have cherished my TATINOF lanyard since that fateful night in August 2015, because it symbolises just how much I love the two gay dorks who are now two of my biggest queer role models

the fact that they chose us over fame and fortune in the entertainment industry? I’m so grateful for that, because it means, even though we gave them utter hell (I wasn’t quite one of them, but I probably did a few minor demon things as a teen LMAO), they cared, and still care, about us, the audience

this is getting SO long and waffly, oh my GOD, this is why my current fic is eleven k long already, uhhhh tl;dr they’re weird and queer (affectionate), I’m weird and queer, and I am so glad I found them, because having them in my life is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me, down to graduating from high school and university and having their videos to watch <3

okay that’s enough sappiness this took me like three or four hours love y’all <3

thanks @dpgdaily for hosting!!!!

#the feral speaketh #dan and phil #phan #dnpaw #this took. an eternity of screenshotting and captioning XD #happy dnpaw!!!!

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herearedragons · 5 months

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3, 5, 6, 13, 23 from the video game asks! :)

Thanks for the ask!

video game questions

3. 1-3 games you’ve played in the past 12 months that you really enjoyed

the first Pillars of Eternity game (as evident by how much I've been posting about it) is still great and I 100% recommend it, it is darker fantasy than Dragon Age and there are a couple of Yikes Moments close to the beginning, but you WILL love at least one of your party members and the writing is pretty great. also a lot of its soundtrack was used in season 2 of Critical Role, and there is significant vibe/theme overlap, so if you enjoyed that season you'll probably like something about POE1 (also there are a lot of voices from the cr cast in the game itself. Matt Mercer notoriously voices two(2) of your best friends party members)

Dragon Age: Origins! The OG. The reason I'm even on this website. I had a pretty major reset when I realized that I accidentally locked myself out of Zevran's romance and now I have to do the Sacred Ashes quest again, but once I get through it things will get fun again. I've had a lot of fun writing Kyana meta based on this playthrough earlier this year, and I'm sure I'll have more things to say when I GET OUT OF THAT TEMPLE

I started playing The Sims 4 between writing sessions during NaNo. I made an off-brand Evelyn and another household based on two very old OCs, and I was really invested in them for a while (to the point of considering making fanart of the second household). I stopped playing at some point, but I think that, like Stardew Valley, this is going to be a fun thing to come back to every once in a while.

(the first answer was already very long so I'm putting the rest under the cut)

5. Game(s) coming out that you’re looking forward to

I played the demo for GLITCHED: The RPG a couple of years ago and it's been on my Steam wishlist even since. I don't actually know what's going on with the game (I think it was announced that it would come out in 2023 and then it didn't?), but I really hope that it will come out eventually because the demo is A Lot of my favorite things packed into one game. Like, honestly, even if the game won't be out for a while, I think that the demo itself is a really fun experience.

also, despite everything surrounding Dreadwolf, I'm definitely looking forward to it! though somewhat concerned about actually running the game because I Do Not Think my laptop will be able to handle it.

6. A series you’ve enjoyed since your early days of gaming and still enjoy to this day whether it still has games coming out or is one you return to

.........I mean, this is very much a Dragon Age blog. DA:O was one of my first RPGs (Skyrim was the other) and Here We Are all those years later

13. Quick, name the first song from a game that comes to mind

I haven't actually played it yet, but Challenging A Queen from Stray Gods. I'm definitely going to play it, though, because this is another game that looks like it was made personally For Me. and this song absolutely rules (my favorite version is the first one they played in this video)

23. A “Wow” moment of awe

...technically I didn't play this one either, but I watched a full playthrough of Wandersong on youtube, and the final song sequence I can't really talk about without spoiling everything was. very. Emotional(TM)

also for a more somber kind of awe, I really like the ambience in Emprise du Lion in DA:I and the White March DLC's entire deal in Pillars of Eternity. in both cases the environment made me just kind of pause for a second and take it all in (actually, adding to the song thing, the Abydon's Shell soundtrack from The White March is haunting)

#herearedragons speaks

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mmorpg-escapism · 1 month

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I have just enough energy in me tonight for my favorite solo duty. This one's a doozy, and the final thing that stands between us and Endwalker! ...which I'll start tomorrow. There are also some Thoughts on the expansion as a whole at the end under the cut.

For those of you who have been keeping an eye on this journey, thank you ❤ It's not over yet and is most definitely going to loop back to stuff I did before starting here: there will eventually be another run through ARR to current sometime after the graphics update hits every expansion, so likely late next year. I've got a hrothgal waiting in the wings for that one... and do plan to do this to Dawntrail on my main with appropriate spoilers tagged as well as the usual one. We shall see how that goes.

Now, into the duty!

Alphinaud's character growth is so very visible to us after Arenvald's pep talk. The kid is a natural-born leader, and despite his mistakes he has enough confidence to really use his gifts... after a little push from his friends and family.

And now, we fight! The Scions take the field in full force - first as a group, and then splitting up across the field to take charge of several enemies. Our first stop is us clearing the field of a LOT of tempered Imperials... then splitting up to find and deal with Lunar Primals wherever we can while G'raha holds the fort.

And now, the real fun: We get to cosplay as a few of the Scions! Starting with Alisaie! RDM is my favorite caster, and this simplified take on it is very much faithful to my experience with it itself. Lots of little enemies, one big one, and a very fun slice-n-dice playground.

Development: "Random" magical glyphs that are pointed at the heart of a massive "aetheric confluence" - which is just a fancy way of describing a spot where several aetheric currents meet - and Y'shtola's guess is that they're there to enable some seriously nasty disasters should one of the Grape-flavored Primals reach and destroy one. Cool, the stakes have risen.

Split #2 has us afield as Urianger's Astro, facing Lunar Odin - which I did NOT do in my original playthrough nor this one, so I had no idea what to expect. I'm not an Astro player, but after some experience with one of my static members being... particularly annoyed with it, this wasn't quite so bad. Odin down!

Split #3 is back to G'raha and Alisaie, but now we're playing as G'raha who is some combo of BLM and WHM, facing off with Lunar Ravana. Big stabby sword bug. Woo. He's just as cool as the original fight, if a little toned down for story and "2-man" reasons. Big stabby stuff, and even an excuse to use G'raha's Break spell! Bugman down!

Now, back to the WoL with Estinien and Alphinaud facing down the monster that crippled Arenvald: Grape Ifrit. This one's personal. And boy howdy wthat one was the most intense of the three. Fire everywhere, a big LB3-like thing out of Estinien, the works. But it's the last of the primals, and we're all still alive.

I love this duty so very much. Not only because we get to spend some time as our Scion friends. Not only because we get to fight primals in a more one-on-one style that helps me imagine how to write it when I get there. It's also because there are stakes going in - stop the crazy person with lots of power who's trying to end the world - that become more specific during the fight, and then when the evil plan is thwarted, they don't just gloss over the aftermath.

We get to see our friends being VERY human. Alisaie is exhausted and berating herself for not doing enough. Alphinaud cannot stand losing anyone, and we have to watch him fight that when his healing isn't enough to save the man in front of him. We see the Grand Company of Eorzea at work - city-state leaders and beastmen tribes alike working together to cure the tempered. We cannot save everyone, an Amalj'aa warrior reminds the Scions, but those we have saved would not have been if not for you.

"So please, hold your heads high." The entire bustling field stopped and listened. Every single country we have visited, from the Alliance to Doma, is represented here. Standing behind the Scions, who gave everything they had to win the day, despite the cost. The moon breaks through the clouds above, and one last time we hear the Shadowbringers main theme break through as everyone gathered stares up at it, and the credits roll.

================================================

As I sit and process this entire expansion one more time, it's clear... Shadowbringers fundamentally alters your brain chemistry. That's from one of the posts going around the week I wrapped this up, and it is extremely accurate. We started all the way back in ARR as an adventurer with a gift, but little else, and got used. We slowly turned into something else on our way into Heavensward ("What are you?" - Thordan VII after we beat him) and used the power we had to liberate two entire countries from the Garlean empire alongside our friends, then watched them get snatched away from us for some unknown reason.

And then we went to where they were and found ourselves embroiled in a world that flipped the script on everything we knew. Light was bad, Dark was good, and everything we thought we knew was wrong. Discoveries with ripple effects that will be felt through Endwalker and beyond were made, and two entire worlds were changed as a result.

I'm not that good at analyzing story, or at least I didn't think I was when I started. All I knew is that this expansion was The Best that FFXIV had to offer, and I wanted to find ways to articulate why I thought that. I think I've succeeded, at least a little. I'm very excited for Endwalker and Dawntrail and beyond. Maybe I'll even get some creative spark going and write more of ARW for your enjoyment and my own - I want to do more than think about my blorbo :)

One more Arenvald Appreciation post tomorrow, most likely, and then into Endwalker!

#ffxiv escapism: endwalker #ffxiv escapism: shadowbringers #so long Shadowbringers!

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roraimae · 4 months

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I cannot decide so I again make a poll.

SO. I have a few Baldur's Gate 3 playthroughs going right now and I am pondering if I want to switch the love interests of two of my Tavs and the indecision is stopping me from continuing either playthrough. To the specifics.

I have a Paille, shadow monk githyanki who was raised in a créche in the Shadowfell but didn't meet the githyanki's standards and was almost killed in training by their peers. They escaped with their life and spent years wandering the Shadowfell which messed up their memory somewhat - didn't erase it per se but it's spotty and vague in places.

They were intended to romance Shadowheart, the first face they see that likes them despite (in their mind) / because (in Shadowheart's mind) they're kind of bad at being a githyanki and due to some shenanigans with the mutual connection to shadow. Paille is a bit unclear on a lot of Faerûn things and is originally pretty earnest about not being bothered by Shadowheart's goddess until more and more things about Shadowheart's upbringing sound familiar, by which point they'd have progressed a little beyond still trying to be a poor imitation of a githyanki. Their relationship with Lae'zel was to be complicated because they'd start out TERRIFIED of her and wouldn't challenge her on her views while also trying to act more properly githyanki in her presence, to other companion's annoyance. I have a semi-detailed idea of how their relationship progresses towards something significantly better after the créche. Like Paille starts hiding that they're discarded, Lae'zel clocks it at some point but justifies that Paille is more useful alive. Maybe they have a full-blown confrontation at the créche where Paille, significantly more disillusioned than Lae'zel and having spent the entire time at the créche on High Alert has a slightly hysterical go at Lae'zel. I don't have this planned in detail but maybe Lae'zel still has her little "what good is this heart of stone" moment, catching Paille off-guard. And they go from there, Lae'zel later seeking out Paille admitting she knew etc....

The other character I have is Anee, a vengeance paladin dark urge who convinced herself the urge is a curse placed upon her. She's stern and pragmatic but occasionally very violent because she is willing to give into the urge when she thinks it's deserved. She'll have to figure out the urge is not, in fact, a curse placed upon her and her deeds were her own and she'll have to learn that giving into it isn't what she wants actually, even for punishment. Basically I want her to grow softer and remorseful while owning up to her actions. She was supposed to romance Lae'zel.

But I've pondered. Because Paille's relationship with Lae'zel is interesting as hell but that did kind of put me off actually romancing her because the way the romance progresses might feel weird for them. But it'd be neat. But ah.

And Anee also makes and interesting pairing with Shadowheart, even beyond Shadowheart being and interesting partner to a Dark Urge in general. I paired her with Lae'zel over a few similarities but I wonder if they might be too similar for the pairing to be fun.

So, if anyone read this far;

#bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #lae'zel #shadowheart #tav #dark urge #nocturnal rambles #might delete this later it seems odd to like type up such a long text about my own characters #but eh #this is a good a way as any to try and get over my indecision #i have many thoughts about paille can you tell?#I love them #I love anee too but I have less to ponder until I actually continue a dark urge playthrough lmao

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pentition · 1 year

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Besides Pen, who are your favourites? Don't have be to romance wise btw.

HMM... You'll be lucky if I don't just list everyone, lmfao.

Yan is always going to be a personal favorite. Same with Unsuur, tbh. Unsuur's love for rocks rivals mine but he also has a personality that hits my sense of humor almost perfectly.

I'm really soft on Heidi. My original playthrough it was her character my builder ended up accidentally befriending first, mostly just due to the commission board. But she was just so great every step of the way. I can't get enough of her. SO SOFT.

Rocky and just his whole family in general I adore - Krystal is lovely, Pebbles is precious. I didn't think I would by his intro, since my irl self has known one too many people like him. But he actively is trying to not be angry and is often succeeding in it, is generally open and doesn't really hesitate to tell the builder his thoughts and feelings.

Sort of in the same vein, I like Pablo a lot similar reasons as I do Rocky. I like hearing more and more of his dialogue as you befriend him. He's just so pleasant all around. I like his confidence, too. I just want more content with him.

And Burgess, too. Do I even need to say what I love about Burgs?

I always thought Grace was fun but she grew even more on me. Early on I felt like I was supposed to like her but something always felt like it was missing? Guess we know why now. Similarly, Mi-an and Nia did too. I kinda put Mi-an and Nia in a similar box, the kind bff but then I thought more and more on character roles and dynamics with their personalities and it just made me love them more.

Miguel always interested me. I still can't fully put into words how I regard him but from the start he was high up on my list. He still is, don't think just because he's here on this makeshift list that I don't consider him highly. I think about him. A lot.

I do like Fang and X a lot, too. I can't say I've always loved how he is written but I do love his general concept and how he regards the builder as they befriend one another. I like that he needs time and patience and tbh, for my builder, they are sorta peas in a pod. Which worked out perfectly. Tbh I think out of all the friendships, Fang and my builder's was the most natural.

I think Logan, Haru and Andy I've adopted. There's more I want to see of them, especially when it comes to forming my opinion. But I am very fond of them. I will say I just love Andy's spunk, Haru's ambition and I think it's super fun that Logan enjoys a fight. His laughs during combat are top tier.

Trudy and Vivi are underrated and I want to have brunch with them both. I do like Amirah but I don't really know what to say beyond that. Same with Owen. They are just likable. I think because they are so easy going and know what they are about, they sort of just settle into that 'pleasant' place like Rocky (and fam). Just cozy.

OKAY CUTTING IT OFF HERE! These are the people I will immediately stop for. Which is like, half the cast by now. sdgfhgfj

Thanks for inquiring!! I can. Talk forever on this game, lmao. <3

#general #musings

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thessalian · 2 years

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Thess vs Game Moods

Currently trying to decide what I want to do with myself today. I mean, I’m mid hidden object puzzle game at the moment, and mid a lot of other things as well, but I do want something narrative and I can’t decide which of the many things I’m in the middle of that I actually want to pick up - or if I want to start the whole thing up again with something new. Here’s what I’m in the middle of so far:

Stray: My bestie got this for me because it’s been on my wishlist since I heard about it. Neither of us considered the fact that, because of the small protagonist, the camera angles were going to be a little weird and fast-moving. So that one causes me headaches and I just have to be careful about it.

Baldur’s Gate 3: Look, it’s fun to a point, but there are issues. Effectively that if something bugs out, your entire plan goes to hell and it’s not even your fault. I’m in a goblin lair and have separated one of the leaders from the pack and okay, I probably should have invested in a Silence spell before trying to murder her and that’s on me, and I can probably fix that, but that doesn’t stop the fact that I did at least try sabotaging the drum that turns the entire fort hostile and gets them to converge on your position ... and one of the goblins who came after us when leader called used it anyway. There wasn’t even a dice roll; no indication I’d failed to sabotage it. But it still worked and I got fed up. Look, I can keep track of when one of my players has sabotaged a drum, and I have eight of them. If the AI can’t figure that out with four? I’m ragequitting for now, thanks.

Horizon Zero Dawn: Still mid NG+. Still in the Frozen Wilds DLC. Not sure I’m up for that.

Dragon Age: Inquisition: On one level, relatively easy and that’s probably what I need right now. On the other hand, no matter which playthrough I open, it’s sixteen thousand miles of sweet fuck all ahead of me.

Dragon Age: Origins: Elven mage is ... headed in the direction of Denerim, I think. It’s been awhile.

Pillars of Eternity 2: I’m somewhere in the middle of the Forgotten Sanctum DLC on my priest of Eothas. Not my favourite thing in the world, but I can’t just keep stopping at the bits of games I don’t like so much.

Ruined King: a League of Legends Story: Honestly, I’d like to start that one over again, just on the grounds that while their method of handling side quests was really interesting, it could also have been a little easier to keep track of.

Solasta: I’m not calling it Crown of the Magister ‘cos that’s not where I am. I’m in the Lost Valley DLC and it’s a whole different campaign with a whole different vibe. But honestly, I think I might be looking for something slightly more linear at this point.

There’s a few I kind of want to restart, actually, just because it’s been awhile. I’ve also got some new ones that I haven’t even started yet (a fair few of those) and others I’d like to give another try from (almost) the beginning. (Look, I’m not going through the big spear fight in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey again.)

Having too many games is not a bad problem to have, precisely, but it’s not great for the executive dysfunction. Well, lemme finish up my hidden object game first and then I’ll see how I feel. It hasn’t been a great week and I still hurt so I figure something relatively easy that won’t have me ragequitting because a glitch messed up my plans.

#Thess plays video games

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certifiedgreys · 2 years

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Bioshock 2 drill build

#Bioshock 2 drill build mods

#Bioshock 2 drill build code

#Bioshock 2 drill build series

The first BioShock was a critically acclaimed hit, and was highly regarded as the game of 2007. It introduced you to the underwater world of Rapture, put you up against Big Daddies, and delivered a unique and engaging story. 2K Games hopes to perfect the world of Rapture with the sequel, BioShock 2. Your second trip to Rapture will hand you a Bid Daddy suit and a drill and will also throw you in a ring of Splicers for some multiplayer fun.

#Bioshock 2 drill build series

#Bioshock 2 best plasmids seriesīioShock 2 has the heavy task of reintroducing us to the world of Rapture, and establishing Bioshock as a series and not just a one hit wonder. The story of BioShock 2 takes place ten years after the original game. You take on the role of a prototype Big Daddy, commonly referred to as, Subject Delta you are also the first Big Daddy to be bonded with a Little Sister. It just so happens that the Little Sister is Elanor Lamb, the daughter of Sofia Lamb who is the antagonist of BioShock 2. The applications of Winter Blast outside a combat perspective might. It is an active Plasmid that instantly freezes a target enemy or object at the cost of EVE. Give your foes the cold shoulder with Winter BlastPlasmid advertisement Winter Blast is a Plasmid available in BioShock, BioShock 2, and the BioShock 2 Multiplayer. Your Little Sister is taken from you while you’re left for dead, and after waking up your only task is to get her back. Don't get caught without this powerful self-defense tool at the ready.

#Bioshock 2 drill build mods

10 Minecraft Mods 1 The Diamond Drill can be made by combining 3 1 BioShock Research. That is the story of BioShock 2 in simple terms, but there is way more to it as you progress and find audio diaries. Pickaxes are crafted using 2 sticks and 3 identical units of tool. You will learn the origins behind some of the things that make up Rapture, and although Sofia Lamb is no Andrew Ryan, BioShock 2 still has some good characters to follow the story. You’ll get the most out of the story if you played the first game, but first timers could get through it with a few minor confusions. BioShock 2 delivers a good story that is easier to digest but it doesn’t top the first. Playing as a Big Daddy in BioShock 2 has its advantages on the gameplay. Possibly this weekend.For starters, you can now duel-wield a plasmid and a gun, which eliminates having to switch back and forward between plasmids and guns. It also work when your charging so the splicer shooting you will do no damage unless there is another one shooting you on the side. You can just but your back to a wall and deflect all those shots. It's not a bad game by any means and a 5th 1999 playthrough with a different build sounds good. Its useful when a bunch of bots start shooting you. I plan to revisit it in the near future, if I am going to be honest here. With that in mind, it would be refreshing if we could have a discussion about Infinite as a retrospective. More times than not, I will still blame myself, even if the combat is shit, because I am the type to adapt to shitty gameplay, or even lag in some instances and dominate. Sometimes gameplay isn't so refined and I question whether it's me or the game that led to a gameover screen. If I died I always felt it was on me and that's how I like it. EVerything felt solid, tight and fine tuned. Personally, I didn't have a single problem with gameplay from any of the games. A single player shooter that stood out from the rest.ġ is still the best, Infinite is second and 2 a distant 3rd.

#Bioshock 2 drill build code

Regardless of 2 playing it safe it was great for what it was and still is. Each door Reward Adonis Luxury Resort: Plasmid Therapy Door Code > You will find: Audio diary (Fitness), money, drill fuel Paupers Drop: Fontaine Clinics. It was definitely more fun than 2 did have it's moments. Get stopped during progression by major battle, flood of enemies, repeat. Infinite was a pretty fun game, but after about half way through it felt more formulaic. So with that said, I'd say my opinion holds some amount of weight in attempting to contribute to the topic. I've played though all of them and got all of their achievements. I enjoyed 1, but 2 felt a bit more on rails.

#Bioshock 2 drill build

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fishing-croagunk · 6 months

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Game Clearing 2023: A Retrospective

Once again, it's time to look a back at everything I played.

As always, I will talk more about each one after the cut.

Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure : Jan 3 - Jan 5

I've played the original PS1 Crash games countless times, and I've always wondered how the GBA games compared (the platformer ones at least). And over all, I'd say they're pretty decent at recreating the gameplay. However, there's one big issue that does occur a couple times. Sometimes, you'll have to do a leap of faith and you just have to hope you fall properly. What's worse is that sometimes there's an enemy there, so I started mashing spin after every leap of faith. This still sucks for time trials. But at least there's an actual reward for getting relics, other than a gem. I also ended up cramping my left hand from constantly holding down the L button to dash, so that's something.

Shadows Over Loathing: Jan 6 - Jan 11

This was actually a gift from my good friend Mippy, although I would have bought it anyway. I've watched a playthrough of the previous game, West of Loathing, and I was really looking forward to this installment. I found the story very enjoyable, and chuckled quite a few times. I also really liked the combat and RPG mechanics. I did consider going for every Steam achievement, but not only would that require multiple playthroughs, but some things are very easy to lock yourself out of, requiring either a guide or another playthrough. This is also why I typically don't go for completing achievements.

Donkey Kong: Jan 13 - Jan 13

Last Christmas, I had purchased Mario Vs. Donkey Kong. But before I played that, I wanted to check out the game often thought as its prequel, Game Boy Donkey Kong. And honestly, it's a really good time. All the sideflips and handstand jumps make the movement in this game really fun. The varying worlds also keep you on your toes. It's also not too hard; you will die a couple times, but the bonus games means you're probably not gonna game over.

Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc: Jan 14 - Jan 27

This was one of two gifts I got from my Secret Santa last year. Thank you so much, Bilth. After playing Rayman 2, I knew I had to check out the follow-up. And, other than the AV cables for my PS2 dying, it was pretty fun. Generally, I would say the game is about as fun as Rayman 2, and I can see why people prefer that to this. I thought the new powers were pretty cool, and most of them played off of Rayman's base moves well. Now I can't wait for Rayman 4!

Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Jan 14 - Jan 20

After really enjoying GB DK, I was excited to try out this game, and I was… mildly satifsied. I found the first couple worlds to be just as fun as the original game, but then the plus worlds came in. Instead of getting a key to a door and then saving Mini-Mario, you instead have a Mini-Mario with a key you need to escort to the door. The problem with this is that Mini-Mario will always try to get to you no matter what's in the way, except in some cases, but it's really hard to tell when he stops and when he'll throw himeself into spikes or lava. Leading to a lot deaths that don't feel like your fault. Still, it's kind of a shame that future Mario Vs. Donkey Kong games basically became Lemmings, instead of refining this platforming gameplay. Also, in case you're wondering about the Expert world, that would require me to go through most of the levels all over again for a high score, and I can't be bothered to do that.

Super Mario Bros: Peach's Adventure: Feb 4 - Feb 8

I've played a lot of Pokemon hacks, so it was only time till I tried out a Mario hack. And with Super Mario World alone having thousands, if not tens of thousands of hacks, I had a lot of choices, but I had heard good things about this hack, and I have to agree. The levels are great, the music is awesome, and the secrets were fun to find, especially that Special World. I would definitely recommending checking out this hack.

Pokemon Crystal Clear: Feb 8 - Feb 17

This has been regarded as one of the best Crystal hacks, and I can definitely see why. Imagine if you could start from anywhere, get any pokemon, and fight the Gym Leaders in any order; including Kanto. That is what Crystal Clear set out to do and really excels at. Honestly, if you're like me, and wanting to play Crystal again, but with some small tweaks to keep it interesting, I'd say to try this out right now. I'd even say it's worth more than one playthrough, to see what happens with a different order…

Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced: Feb 24 - Mar 2

After healing my hand, I returned to try out the second Crash Bandicoot GBA game. And I do think it's a bit better than the first game, for the most part. It's a lot like Warped, where they added a lot of vehicle levels with Coco and Crunch, and some vehicle sections in Crash's levels. I do think the level design is overall better than Huge Adventure, with a lot less leaps of faith. Which sounds like it would make the time trials easier… except that gold is not good enough. If you want your save file to be 101%, you basically need all platinum relics. Which I did not do, cause as it turns out the relics don't get you anything. No new levels, no new gems, you don't even need them to fight N. Tropy, as you actually need the hidden color gem shards instead. Honestly, I would say to completely ignore the time trials if you want to play this game, unless you want to go platinum.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land: Mar 3 - Mar 10

With so many hours spent in Super Star Ultra, I'm surprised I've never played RtDL until now. And not long before I started playing, a remake has come out! Oh well. I still found this game to be very enjoyable. Generally breezy, but does have some challenge if you do decide to go for 100%. And the Extra Mode didn't feel repetitive either. Part of me wishes I could have played through this with a friend or two, but it's still great in singleplayer.

Pokemon Coral: Mar 12 - Mar 17

This is another hack that, since I first saw it, I knew I had to try it out. And, even though it's just a demo, it quickly became one of my favorites. I think what separates this from other Pokemon hacks is that is really does feel like a Pokemon game GameFreak could have back in the day. It was a fun romp, and the few secrets I did fine were very cool. I look forward to future demos and a full release whenever they come out! Also, if I had a nickle every time a little girl turned out to be very threatening, I'd have two nickles, which isn't a lot but it's funny it happened twice.

Viewtiful Joe 2: Mar 18 - Mar 31

With the first game setting up a sequel hook, I felt it appropriate to play through the sequel this year. And… it's alright. I would say it's on par with the first game. I did find Sylvia to be neat, although I did not play as her much except when a puzzle required her abilities, if only because I was more familiar with Joe. Honestly, the only real low point with the game would have to be same as the first game, which is the boss rematches. This is largely because of the bosses being such damage sponges that each one can take several minutes to beat. Aside from that, it was an enjoyable ride. It's a shame this game also ends on a cliff-hanger, and there wasn't a Joe 3. The closest would be Red Hot Rumble, which is more multiplayer-focused, and Double Trouble, which I have heard mixed things about.

Kirby's Dream Land 3: Apr 5 - Apr 6

This will be one of two most controversial takes in this list, but I really did not care for this game. Not that I think this game is bad. After playing so much Super Star, I have a hard time going back to games that have one-button abilities, even though this came out afterwards. The various Animal Friends you get to use are pretty cool though, and I found the Heart Stars to be neat little puzzles. Honestly, this is definitely a case of it's not the game, it's just me.

Yoshi's Island DS: Apr 7 - Apr 23

Ohhhh boyyyyy. I was warned that 100%ing this game would be a pain. And they were right! While the new babies are cool, the level design is cruel. A lot of times, there'd be hidden red coins or flowers, or a cloud of stars. Speaking of stars, they are a lot more rare in DS, and you're gonna need them more in this game, since it feels like the enemies respawn the second they go offscreen. And what's worse is that they're aren't any star items here either. While you might say that there is content locked behind going for 100%, those Extra levels are even worse. To a point where beating them is challenging enough. I honestly wish I didn't play on actual hardware cause then I could have used save states and rewind.

Pizza Tower: Apr 24 - May 11 & Aug 26 - Aug 31 & Oct 23 - Oct 24

And here is the game you were expecting to be here. Yeah, this game is fantastic. It literally caused this ordering to seem odd. I really like this game, its movement, its soundtrack, it's all so great. And I had originally planned to just get the S-Ranks and maybe get the P-Ranks next year. But then really felt like going for 101%. A feeling that I usually don't get. So I went back at it. Were some of those P-Ranks difficult? Yes, but man, did it feel good finally getting them. I then finished the game by doing a speedrun (something else I typically don't do) to get the John Suit. And the Halloween update dropped. I thought the new content was very fun and definitely tested my abilities. Now to wait for the Noise update.

Cult of the Lamb: May 11 - May 19

This is a game I played last year, but it got a pretty sizable update, adding a new QOL stuff and additional post-game content. I also really love the heavy attacks, making my favorite weapon, the axe, even better as a boomerang! The relics were also a cool way to change up crusades, and boss rematches were also good way to test all the new stuff. Overall, I enjoyed my return to the cult, and with more content coming next year, chances are I will be writing about this game again.

Antonball Deluxe: May 23 - May 25

As I wait for Antonblast, I decided to check out the game that came out before it, Antonball! And it was pretty solid arcade style game. I did go through both Antonball and Punchball, but I did not 1cc them, but I may do that at a future point. While I did originally like Punchball more than Antonball, I now think I like latter over the former.

We ♥ Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie: Jun 1 - Jun 9

Both PS2 Katamari games were my childhood, so I was excited to see a WLK remake. And honestly, it does a very good job at presenting katamari to a new generation. I would whole-heartedly recommend this game to anyone who hasn't played it on PS2. One small gripe I have is that the Royal Reverie is a really small part of the game, only being five stages, with them being remixes of previously existing stages. But still, Katamari Damacy is fun, no matter how the gaming landscape changes, which is just wonderful.

Hey! Pikmin: Jun 12 - Jun 17

As I waited for Pikmin 4, I decided to check out the fourth Pikmin game, Hey! Pikmin. And it's okay, I'd think. I feel like I don't hear a lot of people talk about it, which is a shame as I thought it was enjoyable. This game did a good job of taking the Pikmin formula and turning it into a puzzle-platformer. I was skeptical of the game being only touch controls and the Circle Pad, but it really works and it's pretty fun to use. While the game is on the easy side (and will offer to skip levels if you die too much), I didn't mind it. Although unlike any other game in the series, I don't see myself replaying this game anytime soon. Also, I did not do the amiibo stuff, because I have an old 3DS and would need to buy an adapter for it. Even if I did, I only 3 of the 9 amiibo I have would even be compatible for it.

Pac-Man World Re-Pac: Jun 19 - Jun 23

Despite playing Pac-Man World 2 and 3, I never played the PlayStation original. Until I tried out the remake, that is. And I really liked it! The levels were fun and I enjoyed the mazes. However, there was one small thing they changed that deterred me from getting true 100%. In the original game, in order to get 100%, you needed to also complete the Maze Marathon mode. However, instead of that, in order to get 100% in the remake, you need the Magic Key. Now, this Magic Key did exist in the original game, but it required an extremely high score and only counted as bragging rights. While the remake does lower score requirement, it still meant that since I sucked the slot machine game, I would need to play every stage all over again and just hope that I get a higher score, which I would rather not do.

Annalynn: Jul 2 - Jul 4

This little arcade style game is very cool. It's a maze-style game, with a couple worlds and three levels per world. After beating the Normal Mode, I was going to try to try to 1cc it, but then I spent a lot of time in Random Mode, until I realized it was an endless challenge. So, I decided I would use the Practice Mode, since perfecting levels there still counts for palettes. It was a real test of skill, but man did it feel great finally perfecting them all. I will definitely be coming back to 1cc this at a later date.

Frogger: Helmet Chaos: Jul 9 - Jul 19

After playing those two Frogger games, I decided to jump all the way to this title on the DS (and PSP). I've gotta say, this game has a lot more secrets to it then I originally thought. While there's obviously secret 1-ups and health extensions, this game also has a branching path system that's actually pretty complex. Depending on what actions or exits you take, you can either playthrough the game as just Frogger, or you could play as all three characters in one playthrough. And these other characters not only play differently, but also have entirely unique levels to them. It's honestly a shame that's there's not a lot of footage in this game of the multiple pathways, because they are definitely worth looking into. And in case you were wondering, I'm not playing any of the Frogger games I skipped.

Pikmin 4: Jul 22 - Jul 27

Ah yes, one of the games I was most looking forward to this year. Pikmin 4 does what sequel should do, it takes what worked and what's memorable about the previous entries, and combines it with some new stuff to make it feel like a homage to those that came before, while still standing on its own. Honestly, the reason I'm talking not too much about it, because I want to people to play it blind. Yes, even if you have never played a Pikmin game, I'd say to give it a shot!

Yoshi's Story: Aug 4 - Aug 6

Oh boy, this is the other controversial take, that I really did not care for this game. I thought going for all Melons and all Hearts would make things more interesting, and while it did do that, it did not make me appreciate the game more than just the fact this game has a harder challenge in it that most people wouldn't even know about. And the minigames to get the melons just kinda suck. I personally do think the game can be fun, but I do wish I could play the game as a set of stages and not have to do multiple playthroughs to play every stage.

Rayman Raving Rabbids: Aug 10 - Aug 11

Here we go. I recently acquired the Raving Rabbids Party Collection, which as you could probably guess is a collection of the first three Rabbids party games for the Wii. As someone who really likes Go Home and thought Travel in Time was okay, I've always been curious of these earlier games. And the first game is pretty rough honestly. Like, even without the context, it feels like the game was never meant to be this. The minigames too are just ok, with a lot of them just shake the Wiimote. No joke, I beat this game, after many attempts at one of the rhythm games, and woke up the next morning with sore arms. And I know there's also a Score Mode to do, but I don't like any minigames enough to replay them for high scores, and apparently you can't even beat the Score Mode on the Wii version due to a bug (and I doubt this collection patched it).

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2: Aug 13 - Aug 13

This one will be quick. You can tell this was designed with multiplayer first, as there's not really a singleplayer campaign other than just playing the minigames by yourself. Again, I didn't feel like going for high scores, because for some games, getting a high score is less on your skill and more on the opponents not screwing you over. At least the rhythm games here didn't give me sore arms. Also, I'm gonna go on a tangent about how much I dislike how Rayman looks in this game. He looks fine in the menus, but in the minigames he moves very oddly, and looks off (which I would not have noticed if 1P mode didn't lock me into being Rayman). I get that they need everyone to share the same hitboxes and animations, but he feels like a mod in his own game. No wonder he was phased out starting with the next game.

Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party: Aug 17 - Aug 18

I can safely say that this was definitely my favorite out of the three. The minigames here were great. I feel like having groups of minigames with similar theming but still being unique was a good call. (for example, all the shooting games take place in a movie studio, but the movies are different). You can also play basically the prototype for Just Dance here, and honestly it was more fun that I would have thought! I was also worried that, since I no longer own a Balance Board, I would be locked out of playing certain minigames. Thankfully no, and while I can't say I played this with my butt as advertised, I did like them more then the past entries. This game makes me wish I could have played with at least another person, because I would have enjoyed that a lot. If were to choose one of these three games to go back and get a high score on, it would probably be this one.

Paper Mario TTYD64: Aug 18 - Aug 26

One last mod for the year, and it's a Paper Mario mod! I really love PM64, so this gave me a chance to play through it all over again. Except, it's different, because this mod adds in a lot of the mechanics from TTYD, as you might assume from the name. I did use the Danger strats, and with the new badges added, it did trivialize some parts of the game. Of course, the game also has multiple difficulties for you to choose, from the pathetically easy to the nearly impossible. And it even has two other modes with a built in randomizer and one where you only use Bow. I definitely need to check out those other modes, and can't recommend this mod enough!

Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World: Sep 2 - Sep 12

Even when I did have a Wii U, I never played Woolly World. So this port was the only way I could play it. And honestly, I liked it! This game's pretty chill compared to the other Yoshi games I played, even when going for 100%. I feel like the fact that you don't need to get everything in one visit really helped with that, alongside the Power Badges. Of course, the game still does some challenge, especially in the extra levels. I also really like the aesthetic, it's very cute and stands out among the other titles in a good way. There's also the Poochy Dash stages, which were a nice change of pace. I should mention the amiibo content, which I was unable to do, but thankfully all I was locked out of was additional Yoshi costumes and a time trial mode for the Poochy stages. Would definitely recommend this one.

Star Fox Assault: Oct 4 - Oct 7

After playing 64 3D, I wanted to try out the other game in the series that's most recommended: Assault. And… I like parts of it. It might be because I've never played Ratchet or Jak, but the on-foot gameplay just did not click with me. Even with the many times I had to use it, I just did not care for it. However, the vehicles and the on-rail sections were pretty fun. This game also has a multiplayer mode, which seems cool, but as I have no one to play with, I don't have much desire to play it. A bit of shame, as there's a lot of stuff you can unlock for it. Oh well. And, in case you're wonder if I'll play SNES Star Fox, Command, or Zero: Maybe, probably not, and definitely not.

Super Bomberman R2: Oct 8 - Oct 12

Super Bomberman R was one of the first games I got for my Switch, so when this was announced, I was pretty excited! And yeah, it's pretty good. The story mode had a bit of a more open world with exploration and puzzles. Honestly it kinda felt like a mix of the SNES Bomberman and 64 / Generations style of gameplay, which really worked. There's also the new Castle mode here, and it was not too great. Yes, I like the idea on paper, but for two out of the three worlds, the layout I created ended up being too much for the AI. No joke, I could put my controller down, and the enemy would never reach the base. So that was a bit of a letdown. The other parts of the Story Mode are good, and honestly I would recommend playing it even if you only care about the multiplayer, since beating it gets you so many coins you can spend on the shop. I am sad that 100%ing didn't unlock my main from R1, who had similar requirements there. Guess I'll just have to play Karaoke Bomber instead.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder: Oct 30 - Nov 1

My, it has been long since we've had a new Mario platformer, hasn't it? While I do like the New Soup games (as I remember getting New Soup with a DS as a Christmas present), I was thrilled when Wonder was announced. So much personalty and charm oozing out! And honestly, the best way to describe how it feels to play Wonder is that it takes right back when I was playing NSMB as a child. Just so much amazement, and dare I say wonder as I trekked through the levels and found all of their secrets. I would personally say to go for 100% as it's very fun and the Special World is a worthy challenge that feels like the right amount of difficulty. I really hope this game sets a precedent for not only good Mario games again, but also that giving the devs as much time as they need can make a truly fantastic game.

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope: Nov 7 - Nov 25

This game was the other Secret Santa gift I got from Bilth, and honestly I wish I played it sooner. While I have never played an X-COM styled game, I really enjoyed this one! I really did enjoy strategizing against all of the enemies the game could throw at me. And I do have a set of heroes I used the most (Luigi, Peach, and Rabbid Mario), I felt like all of the heroes were not only equally useful, but had plenty of synergy with each other. I at first wasn't sure if I was gonna for 100%, but I was enjoying myself the whole way! You better believe I'm gonna be playing those DLCs next year, once I figure out if I need a Ubisoft account or not.

Plok!: Dec 5 - Dec 10

Out of all of the games I've played this year, Plok! is honestly a tricky one to recommend. And I've definitely had a lot of fun with it, but the difficulty can deter people from finishing it. Plok doesn't have enough invincibility frames and dies in fewer hits than you'd think, the way that continues work makes it very easily to lose progress, and no saving and no passwords means you gotta beat the game in one sitting. Of course, those last two don't really apply if you're not playing on official hardware, but it's still a valid complaint. Also yes, the soundtrack is very, very good.

And that's the games, as always, here is a tierlist of all the games.

#game clearing

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rubywolf0201 · 6 months

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My experience on going through a second playthrough of Engage

- Played it on Classic Mode for the very first time in my life.

- Origianlly was just going to skip cutscenes which I did during the Firene arc and some of the earlier Supports but then I droppped it for some reason.

- I invested in some units (Boucheron, Louis, Citrinne and Lapis) via the Arena and found some of the skills to be beneficial for them in the long run.

- Also, I maxed level the units before I promoted them so they performed better than before.

- I trained Chloè late during the start of the Solm arc but I managed to pull through thanks to the DLC still being imbedded in my playthrough. Also she’s pretty useful and can see why some ppl used her.

- I may have promoted some of the Engage Royals around mid-late Solm arc but like with Chloè, I pulled through and had to be very VERY careful with placing my units so that they don’t get killed by the enemy AI.

- I now realized that Skirmishes as you progress through the story becomes increasingly difficult.

- I avoided the mistake of donating to nations since not only is it a big money saver but also because lots of FE YouTubers recommended Engage players not to do it (which I mistakingly did in my first playthrough)

- I didn’t try to get a lot of Bond Rings from separate Emblem Rings but I did roll a lot on Emblem Lucina’s. (Which cost me my Bond Fragments RIP)

- I used Killer Weapons for the whole entirety of my second playthrough compared to the first where I used it quite late.

- Originally, I wanted to make all of them + 5 but because it costs 7,500 Gold to do it I just stopped at + 3 since it’s a lot cheaper.

- I feel guilty of using Jean in my early run on the second playthrough but the moment I got to Pandreo, I just used him more. (RIP to the original recruitable Paralogue character) But for what it’s worth, I managed to train him well and he became quite reliable if you invest in him enough.

- Replaying scenes of Zephia recounting on how Sombron disposes of his children and whatnot, I kinda observe how there’s a hint of sadness when says it.

- Also, when challenging Griss with Emblem Celica, I actually found a way to defeat him. If you have a unit that has a Warp/Rescue staff plus a unit that inherited Reposition, it would be pretty useful method. Oh and when challenging him again in Elusia castle, simply have a staff unit use the Illume staff, repositioned the heavy hitter and attack him again. So all in all, I saved myself the pain to attacking him compared to my first playthrough.

- I originally was going to give the units I was using two weapons, the Killer weapons and the long-range ones but I decided to back out of it last minute as I was running out of money at that time because I made this stupid ass decision to buy items to increase my Support with certain units that I like (Diamant, Alcryst, Lapis and Yunaka). Though I kept the idea for the Mage and Dagger units since they benefitted from it better than the Sword/Lance/Axe units.

- I married Diamant. Like I always wanted to in my first run but I was indecisive at that time and held a poll and the winner was Alfred at that time.

All in all, this got pretty lengthy, I had some fun playing through Engage the second time but I need to be pretty careful with my money and Bond Fragments in the future. Also, I do hope Skirmishes in future FE games aren’t rigged as Engage and that they drop more Gold than just giving 1,000 Gold per Skirmish.

I’m also hoping that the next FE game would be just as fun as Engage is but also at the same time try to improve on where they have gone wrong in some of their story feats.

#rubi’s post #fire emblem engage #meta #thoughts #analysis

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multiplayingorg · 1 year

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What? You're Still Here?

| Repost: Originally posted by Rer on June 29, 2012

Its true, really! Click past the jump for more info on what's going on lately.

Sooo, yea, its been quite awhile since I last posted here, and while I believe I will be co-hosting tonight’s episode of Multiplaying (spoilers! that exists too!), I feel it is time to get back to blogging!

I suppose to best way to start its to explain what’s going on with me gaming-wise. I am of course, still ridiculously active as a gamer, logging in about as many hours as physically possible (taking into account working, sleeping, and eating of course). Despite all of this glorious gaming however, my content updates have been nonexistent. My YouTube channel has really become barren as of late, and my posting on the Multiplaying forums has been minimal. Time to fix that! So, with this post I am announcing the following projects, thus locking me in a blood-blogging-bound seal of finishing them!

Uncharted Waters Online

EVE Online

Orion: Dino Beatdown

Sword and Sworcery (if not a full playthrough of this)

Civilization V: Gods and Kings

Nuclear Dawn

And Many More!

I feel like those, in addition to finishing Darksiders and Cave Story+, should be more than enough to keep me occupied for the rest of this summer. I attribute most of my apathy towards creating content around a rather negative attitude towards the Telecommunications Industry that I had for awhile. Looking back however, letting some rather unfortunate events get in the way of continuously updating and posting (never stop posting!) was rather silly.

On a more positive note, gaming has been wonderful as of late. I’ve been spending numerous hours playing EVE, as I have moved to a new corporation (SniggWaffe), known for being a very active recruiter corporation for one of Pandemic Legion’s most well-known corporations (Sniggerdly). I’m enjoying myself there, as it is much like Multiplaying in the sense that the folks in PL play many different games together (Starcraft II, Battlefield 3, DEFCON, DayZ, and LoL come to mind). A massive war is also brewing in Delve (a region in EVE), consisting of well.. just watch this:

(video is no longer available)

(Damn I need to bribe this guy with ISK to teach me how to do this in After Effects)

In regards to League, yes, LoL Coldcasts will be picking back up as well. Iaqton says he has some special surprise for me involving a pro-team or something, but he’s keeping the details a secret from me until he’s sure its going to happen. So, stay tuned for that I guess? Either way, we both agree that its high time we got back to casting. Iaqton has been riding me about it for awhile, but as I mentioned earlier, I just wasn’t in a good state of mind to get back into it. I’m not sure if we’ll continue doing Tournaments (organizing people is a huge pain in the rear, who knew?), but we will definitely be doing something.

Last but not least, I’m building a new rig! I’m not sure if I’ll be donating my old computer to my younger brother or a good friend quite yet, but either way I know it will be going to a good owner who will use it to its fullest potential. I, however, will have a completely new rig that is being constructed by my friend. Without getting too much into the tech it consists of a ASUS Rampage Intel Motherboard, a Intel Core i7, a Solid Slate Drive and normal 2TB Hard Drive, and 2 HD Radeon 6850′s that will be Crossfired with one another. Needless to say, I’m super freakin’ excited.

That’s about it I suppose. I just wanted to start blogging again and lock myself in to creating more content. Thanks for reading and.. oh, oh oh! One more thing! The Tenth EVE Alliance Tournament qualifiers are this weekend! Even if you don’t play EVE, you can expect some hilarious commentating and many explosions to take place, so stop by!

#throwback thursday

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apompkwrites · 3 years

Note

Hi, I discovered your blog an hour ago and I fell in love with it. Your writing is amazing! I love the idea of 'Reader Impact', it's very original and it would be an amazing series. Also, I can't stop thinking about either Aether or Lumine playing Genshin Impact (yes, I'm a simp for the twins) and simping for the reader through all the playthrough.

reader impact || first meeting: traveler edition

series masterlist characters: aether, lumine genre: fluff summary: a game has been released entitled genshin impact, consisting of otherworldly abilities relying on the basic elements of nature. the game follows the story of an interdimensional traveling twin in search of their other half. along this journey, they meet different characters that live in this world. including you. notes: the twins are amazing and that’s that <3

aether's playthrough -

i like to think he's the softer one of the twins.

like, lumine is the one to beat someone up while aether wants to talk things out.

aether and lumine definitely stream together.

catch them playing little nightmares 2 together and lumine being the one to play most of the time.

fit checks at the beginning of the stream.

please he needs validation :((

anyway since genshin is primarily a single-player game, the twins can't really play together for the first part of the game.

they'd still play together, though!

they will start the game together and end the game together.

they're super excited to see that there are twins as the mc.

aether is not prepared for the start of the game.

please he jumps when he sees the main god appear.

now comes the fateful decision of which twin to choose.

aether picks you automatically because he just really likes you.

your scarf is so cute and your wings are so cute and--

he feels guilty when your twin is taken away :((

he really can't imagine the feeling where you lose your other half right in front of your very eyes.

"(twin/name)!"

he's rooting for you when you attack the god but he knows you won't beat her because there wouldn't be a game if you did.

"wait! don't go! give my (brother/sister) back! please!"

he will cry, don't test him.

he really likes your voice.

it's just really soothing for him to listen to.

when the game starts, he'll just jump around the beach for a few minutes.

"look! look at their scarf!"

he likes the physics of the clothes whenever your character moves.

he's just so giddy!!

lumine is teasing him but he doesn't care.

his chat really wants to know why he likes you so much.

and honestly? he just does.

you're cute and that's that.

he's sad he doesn't get to hear you talk that often though :((

he's like a little puppy please talk!

his chat doesn't like to see him sad so whenever they can, they tell him about the voicelines in your character profile.

honestly, they don't expect him to get that excited.

but he is and now he's obsessed.

he can and will make your voicelines a daily part of his life.

anyway, back to the actual storyline.

he gets scared by dvalin because he doesn't want you to get hurt.

"aren't they, like... professional adventurers?"

"yeah, but... i don't want them to get hurt."

LET HIM LOVE YOU

anytime there is a long silence during the stream, aether will cut in and just compliment you out of the blue.

like it's dead quiet except for the game.

you can hear aether's character (you) running through the grass.

"they're really cute."

aND HIS CHAT IS GOING WILD

anyway, he gets further into the game and him and lumine have top-tier characters.

even though he has a bunch of new four and five star characters...

hE JUST CAN'T LEAVE YOU BEHIND.

you will always be in his party, no questions asked.

and then he learns you can have different elements.

he doesn't care which one you have because you'll look cool with any one of them!

he soon gets used to your silence whenever something happens.

he appreciates the noises you make every so often when you're traveling because that's all he gets.

until the end of the liyue mission.

"name your price. you deserve that much."

"we still need to find our twin..."

you guys are in sync at this point istg--

"well... could you help me put up some missing person posters...?"

you've done it.

you've killed aether.

now his chat and lumine are laughing at him.

lumine's playthrough -

like i said before, lumine's the "tougher" of the twins.

it's not like she's a tomboy type, she just is more... confrontational.

she likes to stand up for herself.

we love a strong woman.

anyway, games.

she and aether tend to do more story-based games because they like the banter that comes with it.

her viewers are... different compared to her brothers, but she doesn't let that stop her!

the chat's exactly what you'd expect from a strong female streamer... unfortunately.

once again, lumine and aether stream the game together but with different playthroughs.

while aether chooses your sibling, lumine chooses you!

she really likes your outfit, ngl.

you. are. adorable. any other opinion is invalid to lumine.

"(twin/name)!"

YOUR SIBLING LOOKS SO SAD STOP--

and they're gone.

she's actually yelling at you to defeat the god, but obviously, it doesn't work.

"stop! give my (brother/sister) back!"

as much as she loves to tease her brother, she'd feel devastated if she were in your position.

if you have flowers just like lumine, she will purposely get matching ones and wear them for genshin streams.

WHY ARE YOU SO CUTE

anyway, she loves your fighting style.

if it's graceful and calculated, she loves watching your scarf flow behind you while you fight hilichurls.

if it's reckless and wild, she'd admire you for being so tough :0

lumine still teases aether for being so smitten over his twin, but she'd be just as guilty.

they'd rant on and on after ending the game about how cute and cool you are.

surprisingly, she'd be the one to point out the slight difference in the twins.

once lumine and aether can play together in the same world, she'd have them stand side by side and attack just to explain the differences.

like how your twin uses the opposite hand in every attack.

or how your elemental skills are animated differently along with different voicelines.

also, she'd argue with aether about which twin is better.

her side of the stream would definitely start with some of your voicelines.

she wouldn't go as far as to use your lines for alarms in her daily life but she'd definitely use them for her stream.

she loves gliding around teyvat with you.

"look at how cute they are when they're flying!!"

you are her main dps, no questions asked.

her sub dps wouldn't get as much attention,,,

and once you unlock the other elements, she is prepared.

any character she has that matches your element, you get their artifacts.

she will buff you no matter what element you use.

just like aether, she wished you would talk more but she wouldn't be devastated.

her chat would tell her not to worry because you'll talk soon.

she's kind of annoyed they told her but she can't help but feel really excited for that special moment.

"name your price. you deserve that much."

"well... could you help me put up some missing person posters?"

"please tell me someone's already clipped that."

even if she wants you to talk more, she can't help but feel like these scenes are special when they pop up. <3

#genshin impact x reader #genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin impact headcanons #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact scenarios #genshin impact aether #genshin impact lumine #genshin aether #genshin lumine #genshin impact aether x reader #genshin impact lumine x reader #genshin aether x reader #genshin lumine x reader #genshin impact traveler #reader impact

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felassan · 4 years

Text

Dragon Age development insights and highlights from Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development

Some really tasty factoids here.

Cut for length.

Dragon Age: Origins

The continent of Thedas was at one point going to be named Pelledia, a name initially floated by James Ohlen

“Qunari” was a temporary name that ended up unintentionally sticking, much like “Thedas”

Mary Kirby wrote the Landsmeet. To this day, nobody understands how it works, except possibly her. If she’s “really really drunk” she can explain how it works. There’s as many words in it as Sten’s entire conversations put together

Concept art for Thedosian art - as in in-world art - draws heavily on Renaissance-era portraiture, the Art Nouveau movement, religious styles and media like stained glass, and favorite pieces from the golden age of illustrations in the early 20th century

Andrastianism in-world (art-wise) is depicted in wildly different methods depending on who in-world made the art in question. “One religion, 3 different lenses”. There’s the Chantry take, the Orlesian take and the Fereldan take; each with its own different interpretations, different mediums and different stories

The stained glass images were drawn by Nick Thornborrow for DAI, to decorate religious spaces in that game “and beyond”

irl Viking art influenced Ferelden

Greek and Italian art influenced Orlais

The book also had other insights into and anecdotes from the development of DAO, but I’ve transcribed them recently as they’re essentially the stories DG has recently been relating on the awesome Summerfall Studios DAO playthrough Twitch streams. (On those streams he provides dev commentary while Liam Esler plays through DA. The ones with DG are currently once every two weeks. Check them out! Here’s a calendar where you can check when the next one is) Instead of repeating myself I’ll just provide the link to the first transcript. From there you can navigate to the subsequent parts. Note these streams are ongoing. At this point I will also point you to a related post which is cliff notes of the Dragon Age chapter in Jason Schreier’s book Blood Sweat and Pixels.

Dragon Age II

DAO had the longest development period in BioWare history. In contrast DA2 had the shortest

Initially DA2 was going to be an expansion to DAO. A few months in EA said “Yeah, expansions like these don’t sell very well, so let’s make it a sequel.” So it suddenly became DA2 and they had to make it even bigger, although they still only had 1.5 years of time in which to do this

Production of DA2 officially lasted only 9 months, and at the time the team was still supporting live content for DAO! They finished development that January after the design team crunched all the way through the holiday period that year. Then it went to cert 9 times

The limited time they had is why the story takes place mostly in and around 1 city, and over 7 years (so it was temporal, rather than over physical distance, because a more expansive world would have taken more irl time to make)

They had no time to review even the main plot. Mike Laidlaw pitched the idea of 3 stories taking place at different points in the PC’s life, tied together by Varric’s recollections of events. DG rolled with this and made 1 presentation on the idea. This presentation was then approved and off they went

As they were writing DG realized that there was going to be no oversight and that everything was going to be a ‘first draft’. “Because nobody had time.” He sat down with the writers and said “Look, here’s the conditions we’re working under. A lot of what we’re putting out is gonna be raw. We’re not going to get the editing we need. We’re not going to get the kind of iteration we need. So I’m going to trust you all to do your best work.”

Looking back, DG has mixed feelings on DA2. “A lot of corners were cut. The public perception was that it was smaller than DAO. That’s a sin on its own.”

Despite this he thinks DA2 has some of the best writing in the series, especially character-wise. The DA2 chars are his favorite

The pace with which production progressed may in some ways have helped. “When we do a lot of revision, we often file away [as in buff off] some of the good writing as well. Somehow DA2′s whirlwind process resulted in some really good writing”

The pace meant chars landed on the writers in various stages of completion. For example Isabela was fairly defined due to appearing in DAO. In contrast Varric at the start was just that single piece of widely-shown concept art

Varric was conceived as a storyteller not a fighter. His skills are talking and bullshitting. Hence the question became, so what does this guy do in combat? The direction was to make him as different as possible to Oghren, so not a warrior. He couldn’t be a dual-wielding rogue in order to differentiate him from Bela. But you can’t really picture this guy with a bow. “For a dwarf, it would probably be a crossbow. We didn’t have crossbows, or we only had crossbows for the darkspawn. And they were part of the models. We didn’t have a separate crossbow that was equip-able by the chars. They had to like, crop one off a darkspawn and remodel it. And that became Bianca” (quote: Mary Kirby)

“Dwarven mages are exceedingly rare.” [???]

If DAO was a classic fantasy painting, DA2 was a screenshot from a Kurosawa film or a northern Renaissance painting. (Here Matt Rhodes was commenting on art style)

John Epler: “In any one of our games, there’s a 95% chance that if you turn the camera away from what it’s looking at, you’ll see all kinds of janky stuff. The moment we know the camera is no longer facing someone, we no longer care what happens to them. We will teleport people around. We will jump people around. We will literally have someone walk off screen and then we will shift them 1000 meters down, because we’re fixing some bug.” John also talked about this camera stuff in a recent charity Twitch stream for Gamers For Groceries. There’s a writeup of that stream here

Designing Kirkwall pushed concept artists to the limits of visual storytelling, because it has a long history that they wanted to be present. It was once the hub of Tevinter’s slave empire, so it needed to look brutal and harsh, but it also then needed to feel reclaimed, evolved, and with elements of contemporary Free Marches culture

The initial plan was for DA titles to be distinguished by subtitles not numbers, so that each experience could stand on its own rather than feel like a sequel or continuation. (My note: New PCs in each entry make sense then when you consider this and other factoids we know like how DA is the story of the world not of any one PC). Later, DA2′s name was made DA2 in a bid to more clearly connect the game to its predecessor. For DAI they returned to the original naming convention. (My note: so I’d reckon they’d be continuing the subtitle naming convention for DA4)

DA2 was initially code-named “Nug Storm”, strictly internally

The Cancelled DA2 Expansion - Exalted March

This was a precursor to DAI

It was meant to bridge the gap between DA2 and DAI

It focused on the fallout from Kirkwall’s explosion, with Cory serving as the villain

Meredith’s red lyrium statue was basically going to infest Kirkwall and it would end up [with what would end up] the red templars taking over Kirkwall and essentially being Cory’s army

To stop him Hawke would have recruited various factions, including Bela’s Felicisima Armada and the Qunari at Estwatch, forcing Hawke to split loyalties and risk relationships in the process

It was meant to bring DA2′s story to an end and end in Varric’s death. DG was very happy with this because all of DA2 is Varric’s tale. The expansion was supposed to start at the moment Cassandra’s interrogation of him ended in the present. “And we finished off the story with Varric having this heroic death.” It tied things up and would have broken many fan hearts, something BioWare writers notoriously enjoy. But between a transition to the new Frostbite engine and the scope of DAI, the decision was made to cancel EM, work any hard-to-lose concepts into DAI, and in the process save Varric’s life. DG has talked about the Varric dying thing before

Concept art for EM explored new areas previously not depicted in the DA universe, with costumes that reflected next steps for familiar chars. Varric was going to war, what would he have worn? With Anders, if he survived DA2, the plan was to present a redeemed Warden

A char that vaguely resembled Sera in DAI was first concepted for EM. This fact was mentioned near this concept art (see the female elf) and this concept art of Bethany with the blond bob

The writers sketched out plans to end it with Hawke having the option to marry their LI. This included alternate ceremonies for party members like Bethany and Sebastian if the player opted not to wed. There was even a wedding dress made for Hawke. This asset made it into DAI (Sera and Cullen’s weddings in Trespasser). The dress can also be seen in DAI during an ambient NPC wedding after completing a chain of war table missions

The destruction of a Chantry was explored in concept art as it might have happened in EM. This idea ended up carrying over to the beginning of DAI. (My note: Lol, the idea that DA2 could have had 2 Chantries being destroyed in it 😆)

World of Thedas

Sheryl Chee and Mary Kirby started with “a disgusting little dish called fluffy mackerel pudding”. In the middle of DAO’s busy dev period one of them (they can’t remember who) found a recipe online for this, scanned in from a 70s cookbook. “I don’t understand why it was fluffy. Why would you want fluffy mackerel pudding?” MK says. “We loved it so much we included it in a DAO codex.”

This led them to create more food for Thedas, full recipes included, like a Fereldan turnip and barley stew from MK and SC’s Starkhaven fish and egg pie. The fish pie became Sebastian’s favorite. “To me it made sense for it to be fish pie because a lot of the Free Marches are on the coast”, SC says, “It was something that was popular in medieval times, so I thought, let’s make a fish pie! I looked at medieval recipes and I concocted a fish pie which I fed to my partner, and he was like ‘This is not terrible’”

For WoT the whole studio was asked to contribute family recipes which might have a place in Thedas. SC adapted these to fit in one Thedosian culture or another, including a beloved banana bread that localization producer Melanie Fleming would regularly bake to keep the DA team motivated. “Melanie’s banana bread got us through Inquisition”

DAI

It says part of DAI takes place in or near the border with Nevarra [???]

This game was aimed to be bigger than DA2 and even DAO in every conceivable way

The first hour had to do a lot of heavy lifting, tying together the events of DAO and DA2 while introducing a new PC, new followers etc in the aftermath of the big attack. DG rewrote it 7 times then Lukas Kristjanson did 2 more passes

DG: “Our problem is always that our endings are so important, but we leave them to last, when we have no time. I kept pushing on DAI: ‘Can we work on the ending now? Can we work on the ending now? Can we do it early on?’ Because I knew exactly what it was going to be. But despite the fact that it kept getting scheduled, whenever the schedule started falling behind, it kept getting pushed back... so, of course, it got left til last again.”

“The reveal of the story’s real antagonist, Solas, a follower until the end, when he betrayed the player”. “Solas’ story remains a main thread in Inquisition’s long-awaited follow-up” [these aren’t DG quotes, just bits of general text]

Over the course of development they had 8 full-time writers and 4 editors working on it. Other writers joined later to help wrangle what ended up being close to 1 million words of dialogue and unspoken text. While many teams moved to a more open concept style of work for DAI, the writers remained tucked away in their own room, a choice DG says was necessary, given how much they talked. All the talking had a purpose ofc as if someone hit a bump or wall in their writing they would open the problem up to the room

As writing on a project like DAI progresses, the writers grow punchier and weirder things make it into the game. This is especially the case towards the end of a project (they get tired, burned out)

Banter and codexes require less ‘buy-in’ (DG has talked about this concept a few times on the Twitch streams) from other designers. DG liked to leave banter for last as a reward because it was fun. Banter begins as lists of topics for 2 followers to discuss. These may progress over time or be one off exchanges. One banter script can balloon to well over 10k words. “The banter was always huge because we were always like, laughing, and really at that point, our fields of fucks were rather barren, so we would just do whatever”

The bog unicorn happened pretty much by accident. It was designed by Matt Rhodes and was one of his fav things to design. They needed horse variations and he had already designed an undead variant which was a bog mummy [bog body]. irl these are preserved in a much different way to traditional mummies. When someone dies in a bog their skin turns black and raisin-like. The examples we know of tend to have bright red hair for whatever reason. It’s a very striking look and MR wanted to do a horse version of this as he thought it’d be neat. 5 mins before the review meeting for it he had a big ‘Aha!’ moment, quickly looked up a rusty old Viking sword, and photoshopped it through its skull like that was how it died. “And I was like, ‘I just made a unicorn. Alright, in it goes!’” It got approved. “So we built the thing. It fit. It told a little story”

With the irl Inquisition longsword, one of the objects they tested its cleaving ability on was a plush version of Leliana’s nug Schmooples

The concept art team explored a wide variety of visuals for the Inquisitor’s signature mark. It needed to look powerful and raw but couldn’t look like a horrific wound. In some cases, as cool as the idea looked on paper, they just weren’t technically feasible, especially as they had to be able to fit on any number of different bodies

Bug report: “Endlessly spawning mounts! At one point during development, Inquisitors could summon a new horse every time they whistled, allowing them to amass a near infinite number of eager steeds that faithfully followed them across Thedas. “You could go charging across levels and they’d all gallop behind you,” Jen Cheverie says, “It was beautiful.” Trotting into town became an epic horse siege as a tidal wave of mounts enveloped the streets. Jen called it her Army of Ponies”

The giants came from DA Week, an internal period when devs can pursue different individual creative projects that in some way benefit DA. They also had a board game from one of these that they were going to put in but they didn’t have time. It’s referenced though. It was dwarven chess

Josie’s outfit is made of gold silk and patterned velvet, with leather at her waist. She carries “an ornate ledger” and she has “an ornamented collar sitting around her neck, finished by a brilliant red ruby, like a drop of Antivan wine in a sunbeam”

Iron Bull’s armor is leather. His loose pantaloons and leather boots give him agility to charge

On DAI in particular, concept artists took special care to make sure costumes would be realistic, at least in a practical ‘this obeys the laws of physics and textiles’ sense. “While on Inquisition, we thought about cosplay from a concept art perspective. Given how incredible a lot of [cosplays] are, I now am not worried about them. In fact in some cases in the future I want to throw them curveballs like, ‘All right, you clever bastards. Let’s see if you can do this!’”

2 geese that nested on the office building and had chicks were named Ganders and Arishonk (it wasn’t known who was the mom or the dad). Other possible names were Carver Honke, Bethany Honke, Urdnot Pecks, Quackwall, Cassandra Pentagoose, the Iron Bill, Shepbird, Garroose, Admiral Quackett, Scout Honking, HChick-47 and Darth Malgoose

Bug report: “The surprising adventures of Ser Noodles!” DAI was the first time the series had a mount feature, meaning this had a lot of bugs. A lot of the teams’ favorite bugs were to do with the mounts. There was a period of time where the Inquisitor’s horse seemed to lose all bone and muscle in its legs. They had a week or so where all quadruped legs were broken. It was a bit noticeable in things like nugs and other small beasties but the horse was insanely obvious. “The first time we summoned the horse [for this] and started running around, the entire QA exploration room just exploded with laughter.” Its legs flapped around like cooked fettucine, leading testers to lovingly nickname it Ser Noodles. At galloping speeds the legs almost looked like helicopter blades, especially when footage was set to classic pieces such as Wagner’s Flight of the Valkyries

For DAI the artists were asked questions like “What would Morrigan wear to a formal ball? Can Cassandra pull off a jaunty hat?”

On DAI storyboarding became the norm. John Epler: “Cinematic design for the longest time was the Wild West. It was ‘here’s a bunch of content, now do it however you want’, which resulted in some successes and some failures.” Storyboarding gave designers a consistent visual blueprint based on ideas from designers, writers and concept artists

Quote from a storyboard by Nick Thornborrow (the Inquisitor going into the party at the end of basegame sequence): “Until Corypheus revealed himself they could not see the single hand behind the chaos. A magister and a darkspawn combined. The ultimate evil. So evil. Eviler than puppy-killers and egg farts combined.”

A general note on concept art:

In the early stages of any project, before the concept artists are aware of any writing, they like to just draw what they think cool story moments could be. It’s not unusual for the team to then be inspired by these and fold them into the game as the project progresses

– From Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development

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gb-patch · 3 years

Text

Ask Answers: July 10th

I really let asks get away from me lately. I was super focused on working on that Patreon Moment. With that done I can finally think about doing other things, so here’s a new collection of answers!

Thank you for sending in questions everyone ^^.

For the new Patreon moment, will you be able to reference it in step 4? Or just like a tiny nod to it if you pick certain choices?

There won’t be. I’m sorry if you were hoping for that! The Patreon moment is meant to be entirely optional, it’s not something that gets you extra content in the main game.

Is the new CG artist the main one now? :0 I’ve noticed theres been a difference in the art style recently. Is the old CG artist still going to make art for the game? :0

The original artist still makes CGs for the game sometimes, but he mainly focuses on character sprites.

Are you going to put the NSFW our life moment on a website other than patreon? I would love to get it but I can't use patreon atm.

I don’t know. I'm afraid we can't release the Patreon Moment on a normal game storefront because we can't mix 18+ content with our family friendly game. If there's some other place similar to Patreon where it's not the normal type of full-scale public content releases we'd consider using that, but I’m not sure if there is another site that’s better than Patreon in that regard. I'm sorry.

Out of curiosity, in all of your games so far, which characters in each were the most fun to write? They obviously don't have to be your favorite characters!

Buffalo Seer in AFA, really everyone in XOD/XOBD is pretty equally entertaining to write, The Guide in LoV, and Cove in OL!

idk if you accept "personal" questions, but is there anything you've been watching/ listening to lately

Mostly, I’ve been watching/listening to Authortube videos as of late! It’s people who talk generally about the process of how books become traditionally published and/or share their own experience as they attempt to be published. I don’t have an interest in writing normal text based books, but it’s really interesting to hear about that world. I’m listening to a video about royalties right now as I answer these asks.

Will one of the desserts we get to pick be fudge? That'd be such a cute reference!

Haha, yeah, it should. Unless I completely blank on it and forget when trying to include the various referential food options.

I don't know if this has been asked previously but what would be the approximate heights for the presets MC can choose from Step 2 ~ 4? Are there any measurement you had in mind? Sorry if I didn't make myself clear kk I've been struggling with my English lately 💀

I don’t know, ahah. I didn’t have any numbers in mind for that. So it’s whatever you imagine it is!

I noticed a bug with the Patreon moment when it comes to what your character wears. When Jamie and Cove are kissing while my character only had dresses selected, I had both the option to remove the dress or to remove the shirt... Picking one of the options to interact with Cove, after he removed his shirt, it had Jamie remove their shirt followed by ther pants despite only having dresses picked.

Thank you for reporting ^^

I keep refreshing steam to see when the new doc for xobd will be released. I noticed you haven't posted anything about it in quite some time. Would it be possible to ask about a timeline/potential date? (If it's even this year—) I know you and your team are probably working super hard, I'm just super curious! ~Thank you!~

There are more stories done, I just haven’t gotten around to publicly releasing them. Hopefully I will have a chance to spend the time on that sooner rather than later!

hello!! i’m not sure if it’s an update but i’ve just replayed our life and at the end i can’t propose to cove anymore? :(( i’ve actually tried playing twice but the options are not there anymore, did you guys remove the options? i’m sorry if you’ve answered this before!! thank you and have a good one :)

I’m afraid things haven’t been changed or removed, so I think you might’ve accidentally picked the wrong things somewhere along the way and locked yourself out of being able to propose by mistake. Sometimes you meant to say you want to get married but instead you mis-click and have it so the MC isn’t thinking about marriage or something. All I can suggest is starting from the beginning of Step 3 and making sure to follow the steps listed in the FAQ. I’m sorry for that.

Did yall remove some of the options for when youre making out with Cove in the charity moment? I could've sworn you could grab his bonkadonk and its not there anymore

This is the same situation as the above. We didn’t remove things and you’re not wrong that there are sometimes those options. But there are various choices you have to make to get those options and it sounds like you accidentally missed something. If your relationship isn’t long-term, you can’t do it for example.

HI IM SO EXCITED I CAN FINALLY GET THE STEP 3 DLC

Thank you for getting it!

Is Shiloh super totally straight bc I’m very gay and a huge Shiloh fan, would my man make an exception?😩

Sadly, he is one of our super straight characters. I’m sorry.

Hi, I have a very dumb question. In Step 2 does Cove not wanna share his drink with us at the mall (or rather why he stops drinking it) because it's an indirect kiss? Or is it like ...weird to him to share? Because if I remember right he eats off our spoon in the birthday scene right?

Yeah, he’s awkward about it because he likes the MC and it feels very personal to share a straw with his crush.

Hi! If you don't mind me asking, who is the artist for OL2? Their style is so pretty!

Thank you for saying so! This is her Twitter- https://twitter.com/redridingheart

Do Beginnings & Always and Now & Forever exist in the same universe?

Yep! XOXO Droplets also exists in the same universe. It’s one big GB Patch world, haha.

Do Pran's parents regret the way they raised him? Do they feel ashamed of it?

No. They’re the type of people best cut out because they’re not gonna change. Which is why Pran does go very limited contact when he’s an adult.

Hi! I just wrapped up my second playthrough of Our Life, and I absolutely adore it, but I had a question. I went to the gallery and found I was missing 2 CGS (specifically Step 1-3 and 2-3) and I had no clue where they would've shown up. Which moments are those found in?

You get it by telling Cove about his dad offering you money to be his friend in Step 1 and Step 2. You can’t get both in one playthrough, since you can only tell Cove the truth once. I’m really glad you liked it!

Hi hi! Please, how tall is Baxter and Derek? Love the game so much and I can't wait to see more!

I don’t know, aha. I think Baxter was around 5′10 and Derek was like 5′8/5′9, maybe. I really am not one who has specific heights for things in mind.

is adult cove a bottom, top, or switch?

A switch, though would choose the top if he had to pick.

I was wondering if there is a way to transfer save data? Even if through the game files. I wanted to be able to transfer my save data from my desktop over to my laptop so that I could continue playing right where I left off from but I'm not entirely sure how to go about that.

If you save the save folder/persistent data of the game from your desktop and put it into the game folder on your other device, that could work.

Hi! Is it possible for us to know the date when our life: now and forever comes out on steam? Sorry if you've mentioned it before but I haven't seen it and I'm looking foward to that happening and just wanted to know :)

It’s gonna be a long time, I’m afraid. There’s no estimate right now.

I started playing Our Life with my sister a while ago, and I think you guys should know that we discovered your secret. >:)

L from death note and Cove are clearly the same person, and this whole game is just an origin story!!

I’ve never seen that show so I’m sorry to say I don’t understand the connection/reference you’re trying to make. I’m pretty out of the loop when it comes to media. I don’t watch movies or TV.

Will OL2 have options for disabled MCs?

I understand if it's too complicated, just curious

Unfortunately, it’s not really something we have a plan for. We couldn’t finish the game if we tried to include every disability and have it be meaningful. It’d just be too much content to create. But if we decide to only include a few, how would we choose which disabilities get to be represented and which are left out? I don’t know. It’ll probably have to be something we don’t include as an option again, sadly. I’m sorry.

playing our life > anything else

Haha, I’m glad you’re enjoying it.

Honestly, I would like to thank Our Life for helping me come to terms with my sexuality. Before, I never would've actually thought that it was possible to like boys romantically and still be asexual. Almost all of the BL visual novels I've read had unskippable sexual content in them and it honestly just didn't click with what I feel. I'm glad I found Our Life. I love the game, the developers, and this fandom so much. Now, I can safely come out as homoromantic AND asexual (at least anonymously here anyway; my parents are still huge homophobes 😂).

Aw, it’s great to hear you felt comfortable being yourself in the game! That’s wonderful. I’m really sorry about your parents, though.

Will the demo for OL2 be on android? Really not sure if I could wait any longer than I have to aha

Yeah, it’ll be available for Android once we eventually release a demo!

Do all these reveals perhaps mean development is progressing ahead of schedule? Please let that be the case I'm already obsessed with Qiu

No, sorry, aha. Art comes along much faster than script/programming-work for us. It’s gonna be a long time before the game is a finished thing you can actually play. But at least we can look at the beautiful images.

Hey! First of all I wanna say I reallllllyyyyy loooovvveeee Our Life and XOXO Droplets! I have over 300 hours of playtime on Our Life… Anyways, I was just wondering, are the Derek and Baxter DLCs going to come out at the same time? If not, which one do you plan to release first? :3

They will come out separately and Derek will be first! Glad you like the game.

I keep replaying Our Life to get every possible iteration and I am loving it <3 I was wondering if Cove gets locked out of his confession because MC was talking to Lee, would it be possible to confess to him in step 4?

Yeah, you can avoid the confession in Step 3 and then get it in Step 4.

Hi, my Cove wears bracelets through step 2 and 3 but I still don't get an option to give him a bracelet? I didn't even know that was possible until I seen someone else ask about it lol

Hm, did you use the Cove creator? Maybe there’s a bug where using the creator to add bracelets doesn’t fulfill the requirement to give Cove a bracelet in Step 3.

Wait, I'm dense, when does Baxter appear in step 2? Is it from big park firework? I feel so bad since i really love Baxter and waiting to buy his dlc.

It’s in the Soiree Moment. You have to be just friends with Cove, indifferent, or crushing but not ask Cove to the dance at all. Then while there you can find someone new to dance with. But if you bring Cove to the dance while crushing, the MC won’t wanna dance with anyone else so you can’t get the scene.

In step 2 when we go to the soiree I made my mc go alone and baxter chooses the mc to dance, i'm curious, why did he pick the mc? sorry if this has been asked before!

Because the MC looked to be around his age, seemed to also be searching for a partner, and had nice legs. A perfect option for him.

I read some of the FAQs, and I saw that we could tell Baxter about the condo that he rented there was previously the mean old grandparents. how do we get the mc to tell him that?

It happens in the DLC Moment “Late Shift”. If you don’t have a job you instead get a longer scene with Baxter.

I don’t know if you’ve addressed this or not, but are you planning on paying voice actors for our life: now and forever?

Yeah, we pay our VAs in all our projects.

hey can i ask how you did the moments thing in ol? im trying to get into making visual novels and while im VERY sure its out of my comfort zone and all that atm i kinda wanna know just for the future, bc im p sure it would work well for something i wanna do :O but its also fine if you cant say for other reasons :>

I’m afraid I’m not sure what you mean. Are you asking how we programmed the screen or something script related? Adding Moments like that is pretty straightforward, though. You just have buttons that open to different labels and then the scripts are essentially individual short stories/vignettes. Good luck with your VN!

Since Autumn becomes gender fluid later in the game, will there be a character who remains as he/him to romance in game?

OL1 has the he/him LIs, OL2 is all about other genders.

I don't want to impose on your creative plans, but a parrot could possibly make a good pet in an OL-type game? They're pretty long-lived and likely to still be thriving by the end even if the MC got them back in step 1.

I do appreciate the suggestion, but I’m afraid it’s not likely going to happen. I understand there are technically some animals that could theoretically live long enough to last the whole game that or we could have the MC only get a pet after some years have already passed. But the many things that would have to be considered/accommodated for makes it just something we probably can’t manage adding. I’m sorry.

As time passes will we be able to see Qiu and Tamarack's other stage arts as well?

They are both so cute i can't wait to be friends with them!

Yeah, we’ll show content from other Steps in the future. It’ll be a little while from now, though.

Can you date Cove and still have your family comfort you in the car?

You can’t get Cove’s Step 3 confession scene if you have the family comfort you in the car. But that’s not the only way to date him. You can get together with him earlier in the game or later on in Step 4.

Is Mc always going to be the one walking down the aisle or could Cove do it? Also could you choose to have one of your moms walk you?

No. Cove wouldn’t want to walk down the aisle like that and the MC automatically respects that. And the MC also gets to have their preferences respected, so it’s up to you whether they want to do an aisle walk or not. You also can pick who, if anyone, walks with you.

Once step 4 is out, will you be able to go the whole game on crush/love without either of you confessing?

Yes, as long as you tell the game you don’t want to progress the relationship. Even in Step 4 it won’t force you to officially get together.

Howdy, so in Step 4, there will be any Romance with Derek that is not part of any dlc?

He’s only a friend unless you get his romance story.

Will the step 4 in OL2 be one big step or are you considering moments?

Step 4 is just an epilogue in both games.

hi kind of a weird question but!! we know tht cliff doesn't start dating again but. wht abt flings? like does he ever do 1 night stands or anything? thank u!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nope. Cliff has a very small interest in sex. If he’s not in a real relationship with a partner he’s crazy about it simply isn’t something he feels a need for, so one night stands wouldn’t even cross his mind.

sorry if you've already answered this, but i was wondering if there were plans for there to be bonus love interests in OL2 like how we have derek and baxter in OL1.

Maybe! There are side characters who could be given romance stories, but whether or not it will happen depends on funding and how long everything else takes to finish.

I don't know if i'm allowed to ask about ol2 here yet, if not u can ignore this or answer it later. My question is can you date one of them and be good friends with the other? I don't want to be strangers with the other bcs i love them both a lot :<

Yes you can!

what patreon level do i have to be to unlock the nsfw moment? im on the $5 one right now, will that give me access to the moment, or just access to the moment progress?

That’ll give you access! Tier 2 and anything higher allows the player to download it.

#our life #ask #gb patch #gb patch games #all projects #Our Life Beginnings & Always #Our Life: Now & Forever

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