faneposting-my-beloved

[faneposting-my-beloved]

Reblog to let prev know their presence is wanted

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It's a clever recycling if anything, giving a much needed interconnectivity between specific divinity titles. Dragon Commander's writing might very well owe it to its on the nose humor with which it tackles real-life issues. Or it could be an echo of an early idea that was kickstarted here, but couldn't make it past the writing room. The game was censored in this regard ,if I am not mistaken, throughout its development. DC starts the characterization of the races as we know it, and old DOS2 drafts used to pull from it by the handfuls. The famous quirk of the elves might be an aftermath of that. My memory is rusty, but I think there were similar cases with a certain characteristics off-handedly mentioned in Divinity 2 (THE Divinity 2) and elaborated later upon in DOS2.

I think the funniest thing about the Divinity series is that in the span of like 10000 years the elves go from being strictly vegan, or vegetarian at least, (Dragon Commander) to notoriously cannibalistic (Original Sin 2).

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"His heart races where you press your hand down on his chest."

Study with hottie.

[faneposting-my-beloved]

They're not mutually exclusive. Elven cannibalism in dos2 is strongly ritualistic as flesh = memory. They don't eat bodies for sustenance. This is perhaps the reason why they're vegetarian in the first place, they get glimpses of their dinner's memories, it can't be good for the appetite

I think the funniest thing about the Divinity series is that in the span of like 10000 years the elves go from being strictly vegan, or vegetarian at least, (Dragon Commander) to notoriously cannibalistic (Original Sin 2).

[faneposting-my-beloved]

My first animation try ever. Simple. xD And Fane, as always.

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I have reached 2000 followers! So it's time for a giveaway!

Rules:

Reblog this post! (LIKES DO NOT COUNT)

Must be following me!

Prize will be a colored (flats, no shading) drawing of your choice. No more than two characters. Can be shipping, but I reserve the right to refuse to draw some ships (sorry).

Giveaway ends on march 1st!

[faneposting-my-beloved]

I really don't understand how "without getting kudos or comments a fanfiction author is going to assume that people who clicked their fic didn't like it" became a controversial take.

I don't know why some people think an author should imagine, or guess that people who click their fic enjoyed it it when nobody is telling them that.

If you're re-reading a fic constantly, or leaving it up in your tab so that it re-loads every day for a hundred days the author is not going to know that unless you tell them. They'd love to hear it. It would make their day.

And if you don't tell them you liked their fic, there's no reason for them to assume you did.

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Advertising my Fane playlist again because honestly? It's peak

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playign as a godwoken who’s a professional hater made the well of ascension god betrayal very funny

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back at it again with another head

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a bit at a loss about the reason why the dev's didn't add banter between the companions in DOS:2. i'm currently playing DOS:1, and the little banter, even if minimal, is delightful. i love so much seeing jahan and madora bickering for almost every reason they can find.

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why the end of act iii failed

I had a lot of grievances against the nameless island as a whole... But the Academy and the last fights are events that ick me soooo much i need to let it out. Here, I'll try in a not-so-objective manner to explain why I think this act is lesser in quality, compared to the others. For questions of length, I will avoid any Nameless Isle critic and focus on the Academy in particular.

Obviously, if you like that act, I won't advise you to read under cut. A lot of bad faith is to be expected.

AN ANTICLIMAX

This is a fight for divinity : since the beginning, the gods have repeated that the godwoken will have to fight to win it - especially, they'll have to fight against each other, because, you know, there will be only one Divine, and your friends are only obstacles on your path.

The game creates a buildup throughout the acts : don't trust too much your friends, you will fight them unavoidably, you are Godwoken, if you fail, another race will dominate, and yours will be dominated. Even between humans, the conflict is here : Rhalic asks you to kill Lohse. The game is constantly telling you that, at one moment, you'll have to make a choice. What will you do ? Will you obey your god, or will you spare your friends ?

And, here's the hitch. This game completely brushed off this tension. Once you arrived at the gates of the Academy, you talk with each companion, and with high enough persuasion or attitude with them, here you are, you're the next Divine to be, your companions support you. And this is a bit disappointing, to be honest.

I was very eager to see how they resolve the potential fight with your companions, but the game realizes the difficulty it had created : the main asset of this game is probably the fight mechanics and the companions. We grow attached to them, to their stories, and they give life to Rivellon. There is no way we would fight them to gain divinity, a thing that the game fails to make attractive and valuable. This creates a false dilemma, because there is no way one would chose to follow their gods ( who casually assault you, by the way ) over their friends ( except the lone wolfs tryharder, but i don't think they're very present on this site ).

And instead of adressing the problem, it just ignored it.

But I wanted to see Ifan stick to his ideals, and go through his self-sacrificing stupid kind of shit ! I wanted to see Lohse so despaired she was willing to fight her friends in order to save her soul ! I wanted to see Fane doing everything in his power to at least giving himself a chance to save his people ! But none of that : your friends support you, even though they have the best reasons to be selfish. Particulary when you're in the middle of the game, and some companions' problem is very present, and very urgent.

The game failed to grapple correctly with this problem, by offering your main character as some kind of binder for everyone's demands. And that's it. Divinity belongs to you, because the game says so, and there's no way out.

A difficult decision like this seems resolve throughout the power of speech. And, as a literature student, I can tell you that sometimes, words are not enough. This cannot be resolved by calm and reasonable conversation. Thus, the result feels like a simplified answer to a buildup that gives no breaking point, only de-escalation.

THE ACADEMY

Maybe i'm too much upset about this, but the game tries to sell you that the Academy was a school for Godwoken, and afterwards, they should fight each other to death to be the next Divine ? And look, I always love the concept ( especially in video games ) when you’re not the only chosen one, when they existed prior your existence, and failed miserably. Those kind of stories are very endearing to tell. And it was very interesting when you find this possessed Godwoken, deep in one of the Bloodmoon Island cell. However, to present you some kind of school for to-be-god only leaves a Hogwart-like taste in the mouth. And it’s not a compliment. The idea of a school is sooo basic and sooo reused it makes me want to pull my eyes off. But that’s a matter of taste, I guess.

The number is also a problem : the area presents too much failed Godwoken as the same time. They’re inescapably becoming random figures, and the tragedy of their condition doesn’t hit. Meeting them, one by one, across the land, would have been, for me, a better way to show them in a more complex way. It was an endless source for unique stories. People could object me that a common place was needed for Lucian to commit his mass murder. That's a good point. But Lucian could have hunt them down, hidden. Imagine the possibilities ! Your Godwoken meeting dead Godwoken, some killed in a similar manner, only to discover the crime was committed by the Divine himself !

Moreover, for one of the most lore-important areas of the game, I find it weird we barely know anything about it. Sure, there’s a lot of temples, and also millenial-aged robots still tend to an Academy lost in time, and it’s Fane’s Academy. And still – we know nothing. Why the Seven chose such a place to gather their Godwoken and train them ? Why creating a school at all ? How the Academy, back to the Eternal era, used to work ? Why didn't Fane act like a damn tourist guide, presenting every room possible in a boring amount of details, screaming at you when you try to touch something precious, mourning the change caused by time ? So many possibilities to explore the lore, yet, nothing is told. It only highlights the feeling that the whole area is somehow rushed.

And it feels like it : the whole Academy quest is rushed. I think they must have slowed the pace at this very area, and they didn't. The quest is in a more or less straight line, the exploration is minimal. The whole point of Act III is to enter the Academy. So, why being inside the Academy feels so unrewarding of all these past efforts ?

THE FIGHTS

As for the fight per se… I don't think it was cleaver to take the concept "fighting for divinity" quite literaly, in the way that they didn't need an real arena. They didn't need to institutionalize the concept of fight - characters with strong ideals could have forced the upcoming fight in an easier way. And since you already have resolved the “who’s gonna be Divine” problem with your friends before, a "fight" isn't needed. So now, they have to come up with new adversaries, because there’s no way you’ll fight against your friends, especially when you resolve such problem before.

And so, they present you two fucking robots out of nowhere, and your dead companions, who took an oath out of nowhere with the God-king. And then, they never mention it again. They desire so much to give you a fight ( a very easy fight, that is to say ) that they create a shallow one, whereas we would expect some kind of acme. At the end, you earn nothing except experience, and Dallis appears from literaly nowhere so she may crash the party over.

You probably notice I repeated the word "nowhere" three times. And this is the problem : everything is artificial. It makes no sense. Threads are pulled but they don’t create a coherent weave. The game wants to give you a fight but, for a very expected one, it failed to engage with the player. Because you don’t care about fighting robots. You would care, however, if you were forced to fight your friends.

I will be a bit kinder about the gods' fight. There is some endearing lines, and the mirror between you and your gods, even though it's only in build, can be analyzed to create some interesting symbolism. Though, I’m quite fuddled to see the gods so utterly evil. Like, it’s bordeline stupid-evil. And the Source Titan is lame design and nobody won’t tell me otherwise.

In short, the act III failed to give us a satisfying breaking point.

AN HUMBLE PROPOSITION

And look, I know it is difficult. This game is paced by fights, maybe they thought that this quest needed a fight as well. And probably, yes, because without it, Dallis' arrival would fall off, and not coming as surprising as it wants to be. They fell in the trap of the buildup they were willing to make and they were probably running out of time, so they have to resolve this problem quickly. But I don't know, it felt such like a lazy solution.

Maybe the game could have us fight the other Godwoken, even reluctantly, because none of them would have yield divinity ( they have the best reasons, right ? ) and think they must ascend, no matter what you say, and then – and then, Dallis arrives in the middle of the fight, and steals all the Source of the Wellspring in front of you all. And now, you look stupid because you have tried to kill your friends for divinity and, collecting yourself, you abandon any foolish ambition to come after Dallis. It would have work, somehow. I would prefer it, also, instead of a school and some robots fighting.

( I also propose some kind of au where the gods don't pull out a stupid move about trying to kill you and still help you afterwards, if you're willing to still follow his guidance ).

And nobody can object "but what if you kill your companions ?" because the unconscious status exists. They used it at the final battle, for Lucian and Dallis. So they could have used it for this one, if necessary.

Conclusion : I need to steal the game’s codes and fix this story.

[faneposting-my-beloved]

finished my second playthrough as lone wolf 🫶

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Fane my beloved Eternal...

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Death (XIII)

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Divine Fane could be an infinite source for source. An eternal source source so to speak

Gotta keep his carnivorous boy fed after all other mortals died out so he recycles his skin

Fane fixes my artblock once again. Got me crawling out the depression nest like a newborn leech from its egg