#<- I haven’t seen this tag in ages

[kibutsulove]

mid-war Fire nation religion was probably a lot like Catholicism methinks but I won’t elaborate cuz then I’ll scare away the hoes

[apostaterevolutionary]

Okay but the thing about veilguard reviews is I don’t care what the gaming review sites think. I especially don’t care what some random ytuber who’s probably just grifting right wing nutjobs for easy money and has never actually played the games before thinks. I don’t even care what an unrelated but accomplished rpg dev thinks

The only opinions I want to hear are from 7 trustworthy sickos (affectionate) who had their brain chemistry permanently altered over a decade ago by critically hated yet loved by me specifically video game Dragon Age 2, and only after I hear those opinions will I decide if I’m buying it or not

[gothic-mothic]

NARRATOR BY @solardistress EVERYONE LOOK AT HIM RN!!!!! He’s so hamsum isn’t he?

Lovebug/misc art dump :3 (bloody/suggestive content warning)

[ryssabrin]

this is maybe delving a little too much into apologia for veilguard’s writing but for the purpose of giving it the benefit of the doubt i don’t think it’s necessarily fair to say the lack of “mean” companions or dialogue options for rook is “sanitizing” it. ultimately they wrote a story that’s about offering kindness and seeking connection through understanding. having a big ol stinker of a character that’s difficult and challenging to engage with or having the option to play as someone who is genuinely ruthless and uncaring undermines that immensely.

like anders and vivienne work in their respective stories because their character arcs cohere to the overall thematic conflicts of the games that they are in. they were about these big issues that people have very different and relatable feelings and opinions about. so yes, i would say veilguard did pull back a lot on that as a mechanic and i understand why that makes the game feel hollow for a lot of people.

but the story they set out to write isn’t one that’s about big political issues affecting the world at large. it is at its heart a very personal story confronting the very personal emotions we have about self reflection and growth. how do you write a character offering a different view on that? “fuck personal growth and learning from your mistakes! wallow in your misery!” lol obviously there’s probably a more artful way of doing that but i understand why they didn’t go in that direction. also it would sort of end up being redundant anyways because that’s basically solas’s main character conflict.

there is a certain way to play veilguard where you do encourage less growth and reinforce the idea that we can’t escape our past, which i think turns the game into a bittersweet tragedy. played another way though it is a game that challenges your empathy and ability to overcome your own faults and see how that connects you to others.

though i do think they could have absolutely hit that theme harder with rook as the protagonist. (and there's an argument to be made ofc at how the inquisitor could have worked just as well if not better in this role, but that's also getting into sticky game dev issues and is a whole 'nother post lol.) the whole reason thedas is facing a crisis is due to something that rook did. you can offer vague lip service to them feeling responsible but it’s not a failing the game meaningfully confronts. as disastrous as solas tearing down the veil might have been, rook accidentally unleashing elgar’nan and ghilan’nain has to be just as bad if not worse due to the barely contained blight. the choices that rook is meant to be regretful over work to an extent, but it would have been so juicy to have solas point out rook’s pride in believing they knew best about dealing with solas and his ritual. it’s something he could really nail you on and i think it would make their parallels stronger.

ultimately i think what i'm seeing people feel veilguard’s main failing is is that it simply isn’t the right sequel thematically to the first three games that it should be. it’s not a bad game and the writing shows a great degree of understanding of thematic structure and internal character conflict. it doesn’t hit as hard for most because all of the problems the previous games had us grappling with aren’t present. it presents an entirely new problem that in my opinion it does! do a decent job of exploring, but it’s not the problem players expected so it feels very disconnected from the rest of the series.

[blossoms-phan]

what was your first concert

[i-may-be-an-emu]

when men drop their Deep Man voice and go all silly and goo goo when talking to dogs and babies… what if I just go cry

[friendlyneighbourhoodelf]

do you see my vision

[giddlygoat]

this is so sketchy and hard to see sorry whatever. just silly stuff while i figure out how to draw them

[akkivee]

nobody asked but these are probably my favourite live looks hayama-san gave us lol

[danielnelsen]

Do you have scans of Prima's Dragon Age II Collector's Edition Guide?

i don’t have scans (yet), but you will never believe what arrived in the post literally a few DAYS ago

[mycological-mariner]

Tagged by @gniew777 (cheers, mate!!)

Last Read: Sagittarius Rising — Cecil Lewis (one of those books I’d highly recommend and also one I repeatedly had to set down at various points), Collecting the New, Rare and Curious: Letters Selected from the Correspondence of the Cornish Mineralogists Philip Rashleigh, John Hawkins and William Gregor, 1755-1822 — R. J. Cleevely - edited (long long title but extremely interesting) Mr. Midshipman Hornblower — C.S. Forester (reread, wow I forgot how relatable he is), The Surgeon’s Mate — Patrick O’Brian (took me ages but I loved it)

Current Read: Reasons to Stay Alive — Matt Haig, Reaper Man — Terry Pratchett (an excellent autumnal book, plus the ultimate comfort novel), Birdie Bowers: Captain Scott’s Marvel — Anne Strathie (tbh it’s been taking me so long to finish because well, wee bit heavy)

Next Read: god knows. When I’m not exhausted I’d want to finally read Leeward and Kidnapped because it’s been on my shelf longer than Leeward has; The Facemaker, The Lamplighters, Entangled Life and The Worst Journey in the World are all on my TBR list with a wait time of A While

0 pressure tagging @bees-with-swords @some-cold-and-some-violence @gohoubi @bookyholic @acrossthewavesoftime @werewiire @cerebrobullet @hey-scully-itsme and anyone else who’d like to!

[pwhlboston21]

Mood for today is sad because plans I made before I became a hockey fan have made it so I can’t watch either games tonight :((

[rosicheeks]

You could post cute pics and get validation from strangers on the internet while you wait.

Fr tho I hope you're doing okay ❤️

What do you think I’ve been doing 😂😘

[gagfadget]

I love playing the fandom game of “is this really discourse or did you see people joking around and decided to make a big deal about it?”

[tragedykery]

trying to figure out character voices for my ocs and I think the one I have the clearest picture of rn is taituk. they speak…not quite stiffly maybe but definitely a tad formal. more connective words & full sentences than most people use when speaking. they’ve got the admirable habit of just letting silence fall until they’ve thought of the right thing to say, very little uhming or use of other filler words. they tend to be overly specific rather than vague—e.g., instead of saying something is rare or common, they might try to give a numeric indication of how rare or common it is. they talk quite slowly and quietly, but can make themself heard if so desired. absolutely hate shouting. they prefer to speak calmly, and if they’re in an emotional situation they will wait to compose themself until they know their voice will be level. because of this they can seem emotionless to the untrained eye, but they’re just good at hiding/repressing them lol

[doctormage]

erana james IS harrow to me btw sorry. I’m sure I’m not the first person to say this but. look at her