#(negative strength)

[slayerdurge]

the thing that drives me absolutely crazy though is that gortash is presented as this commanding dominating tyrant and yet it's consistently shown that the thing he appreciates about durge (or tav for that matter) is when they're not willing to submit to him & when they are strong enough to either stand against him or to stand with him & when they are his equal.

an insane thing for someone like him to want. you'd think he'd want to rule alone and yet the insight checks all show that he actually prefers to share so long as there's someone around worth sharing with.

"Half a smile shows he is teasing you. He doesn't think for one moment you'd fully submit to him. Nor should a spawn as formidable as you."

[formulanni]

Charles Leclerc as The Magician (redraw):

The Magician is interpreted with energy, potential, and the manifestation of one’s desires; the card symbolizes the meetings of the physical and spiritual worlds (“as above, so below”) and the conduit converting spiritual energy into real-world action.

(When the Magician appears in a spread, it points to the talents, capabilities and resources at the querent’s disposal to succeed. The message is to tap into one’s full potential rather than holding back, especially when there is a need to transform something.)

Tag list: @st-leclerc @rubywingsracing @saviour-of-lord @three-days-time @the-wall-is-my-goal @albonoooo @ch3rubd0lls

[swordscleric]

I can't stop thinking about the post from a few days ago about how Critical Role has been great at doing personal faith but didn't put the necessary work in to discuss the religious/god angle of c3 in-depth. Like the fact that Cardinal Respa was linked to both the Dawnfather and the Chained Oblivion is, on a personal level, very interesting (fallen/corrupted priest goes hard) but like does that mean that there's a Papacy somewhere in Exandria dedicated to the Dawnfather? If so, are there more cardinals who ordain the bishops of the Dawnfather? Are there Conclave-level intrigues going on in the Dawnfather's Sistine Chapel? Why is the Dawnfather so Christianity-coded in vibes alone if there's no actual outline of his religious organisations? With Downfall the Dawnchild/Dawnfather thing makes the allusions to Christ as Son of God co-existing with the Father textual - was there a Dawnfather Schism around whether the Dawnchild was a separate mortal? Was there a Reformation about how the Dawnfather's Pope kept selling indulgences? Is that why the priest of the Dawnfather Grog & Pike offer a drink to doesn't partake because of a cultural shift between Protestant-Temperance-League-coded and Catholic-coded Dawnfather congregations? Why do I have so many questions about the religious organisation of one of the most important Prime Deities in Exandria and to Critical Role's 3 campaigns? How on earth were the cast (and us as the viewers!) meant to care about the gods if all they had were "really tall kings" instead of interrogating how religious organisations provide both a place of healing and community to a wide range of people and also a place of horrific harm and abuse for a wide range of people?

[iamhereinthebg]

I had the slow realization that when we will finally be on the real reveal that "oh yes everything in this manga is only here for the poor Yugi boys uwu. And the mysteries and all plots are just here to make the twins story shine" the manga will have lost me entirely lol

We are so close to a clock keeper's backstory but atp it would be foolish to think that the Yugis won't have something to do with it or its reveal and honestly I am just sad :'))) I know the manga is around Hanako and Tsukasa but doing the biggest fxk you to all your other characters for the main three is insane to me

I am still happy we got tbhk and all the character ofc, just really sad to see in which direction it has been going for some time (it started around chap 96 for me rip)

[neitherabaron]

My honest opinion: the Switch 2 Direct had several “Yay!” moments, but a LOT of “meh” ones too.

Despite having lots of cool things to announce, and very little bad, it ultimately felt poorly structured and in my opinion emphasised many of the wrong things.

My favourites (and my criticisms) under the cut. Spoilers from here on out so be careful:

Favourites:

- Mario Kart World. I desperately want to see more of this because it looks ridiculously fully featured. Open world racers haven’t always landed with me, but the idea of exploring a massive game world full of Mario Kart’s design and sensibilities? Exquisite.

- Donkey Kong Bonanza. Redesign aside, this is gonna be fantastic. I love the idea of a more chaotic 3D platformer than we’d normally expect to see from Nintendo, plus after 25 years, it’s high time DK got another crack at 3D.

- The Duskbloods. Holy shit, I was not expecting this. Mind blown. Can’t wait to get my hands on this. Miyazaki saw Sony dragging their feet and finally took matters into his own hands, huh!

- Kirby’s Air Riders. I imagine a few people might have preferred it if the game Sakurai’s been alluding to had turned out to be Smash 6, but I’m mostly just glad that he’s had a chance to do what he wants and develop a different passion project, rather than getting fed straight back into the Smash Bros grinder.

- Deltarune. I’ve actually been putting off playing Deltarune for a good long while, because I didn’t like the idea of starting a massive story and then having to wait so long for a conclusion (not a shot at the release model, just my own inability to hold characters and scenarios in my head). But now I’m finally gonna be able to play the whole thing, and I am Hype.

Least favourite game announcement:

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (specifically the GameCube version, via emulation, on the NSO subscription): Just let me pay for the HD remaster with all the improvements they made for Wii U, rather than paying monthly to have access to the inferior version of the game, through the lens of Nintendo’s questionable emulation, thanks.

My general criticisms of the Direct:

Oh boy. This is gonna read as very negative, which kind of sucks because on the basis of what was shown, there is a LOT to be excited about. But I think taken as a whole, the presentation left a lot to be desired and didn’t add up to a great first impression. It was less than the sum of its parts, and really shouldn’t have been. Let me explain.

They spent a good deal of time showcasing hardware feature, particularly the camera and mouse mode. This was a great idea in theory, they failed to reveal much in the way compelling gameplay that integrates them - particularly the mouse. DragXDrive is a start, but it looked to be the barest of bones on this first showing.

A lot of time in the early to mid presentation was spent re-announcing games that are already confirmed for Switch 1 and explaining how some of them will be very slightly better on Switch 2. While, again there’s nothing wrong with this idea, leading with, and placing major emphasis on minor performance upgrades and expansions to Switch 1 games, some of which have been available for many years, does not create a compelling case for sinking hundreds into a new console. This is something you factor in at the end of the presentation, not as one of the first concrete details you cover.

(Side note - I actually think this is cause for concern. While the reasons for the Wii U’s failure were many and complex, very few people at this point would claim a lack of quality games - in fact the later success of much of the Wii U’s library on the Switch indicates the opposite! However, one factor I do often see cited is that the Wii U’s marketing failed to set it apart as something fresh and vital. Seeing Nintendo pitch, at great length, their brand new console’s ability to run a Zelda game from 2017 at a higher frame rate, and/or an expensive way to play games already announced for Switch 1, before they so much as pulled out a second exclusive Switch 2 title, did not fill me with confidence that the right lessons were learned.)

To be more positive for a moment, the major exclusive announcements all looked fab to me, especially DK Bonanza and The Duskbloods (!!). I think it’s fair to say I was expecting more exclusives, and that I’m surprised that the whole thing went by with no mention of a 3D Mario. It’s also worth noting that, of the major, not-on-Switch-1 exclusives (Mario Kart, DK, Hyrule Warriors 3, Duskbloods, Kirby Air Riders), only Mario Kart will be available at launch, which is a bit of a blow if like me, you were hoping for a big, single player experience at launch. Breath of the Wild sold Switch to me, not Mario Kart 8, and I know I’m not alone there.

My bigger problem with how they handled the exclusives within the presentation is that none of them received anything like a proper deep dive, even though these should be the system sellers were all getting hyped for.

I understand Mario Kart will be getting one in a couple of weeks, which is something, but considering how short the exclusives list was, it was a shame not to see a little more of each. Speaking subjectively, it felt to me like these big, important exclusives ended up getting less overall coverage in the presentation than the third-party lineup, all of which is or will be freely available (and likely much cheaper) elsewhere.

Overall, the problem is not one of content, but of emphasis. After all, third-party support and backwards compatibility is vital to the success of a modern console! But the decision to frontload the presentation with lukewarm demonstrations of the hardware, games which are also playable on Switch 1, and non-exclusives, while first-party and third-party exclusives received comparatively little emphasis and were often relegated to the tail end of the show, was baffling. It killed the momentum of the presentation, diluted the message that this is a must-have product, and dampened my enthusiasm quite a bit.

And yeah, I’m also sad that we only got 3 seconds of Silksong to confirm it still exists, but let’s face it, we did that to ourselves, didn’t we?

[friendlyforestbeast]

I wanted this piece done for Halloween but life got in the way 😔

Anyways, I’m happy with how it turned out :D low effort couples Halloween costume for the changelings 🥰

The wonderful Yikes belongs to @hellscribbles

[croik]

I know protagonists are better when they're not perfect, but I think it's also fair to be sick of watching a dude, FIVE SEASONS into his "I was a piece of shit to people I cared about but I'm trying to be a better man" redemption arc, blatantly take out his frustrations on the people he cares about by screaming and swearing at them. There's not a whole lot of show left, right? He's going to learn eventually that it's immature and unfair to scream at your friends when you're frustrated at something that's not their fault, yes?

[sun-marie]

Y'know, with all the (mostly good) writing and focus on gender in Taash's arc, I think what Neve's arc is doing in relation to gender is the most powerful thing this game does with gender (or resonates with me the most at least, a cis woman myself)

Other people have mentioned it before, but by all accounts Neve is fulfilling a "male" role in this story. She's the noir detective not the femme fatale, she's a terminal cynic, she eats bad food, she lives alone in a small apartment, and in one route of her arc she is a hardened protector of her city. All of these elements, while not necessarily restricted by gender, are absolutely associated and attributed to male characters.

But Neve also refuses to give up her femininity. She asks Taash if they "like" being a woman (implying Neve does) she wears lowcut-shirts and dresses, she ties her hair up when she goes out. Just because Neve doesn't fit what society typically thinks a woman is, she still is a woman. I can so easily see the writers going down the route that she's "not like other girls" and having her fully reject any and all femininity, and I'm so glad they didn't. It's more subtle then something like Taash's arc, sure, but I really appreciate a lot.

[donutdrawsthings]

I haven't seen anyone talk about it yet, but I've been receiving a lot of asks from bots trying to pretend they're struggling families from Gaza... which I know are from bots because I've seen the same message copy-pasted into my inbox and their blogs are almost completely barren. So sadly I feel I have to post this and urge you to please, please be careful who you donate to. I am actually, utterly and completely disgusted by the AMOUNT of bot asks I've received in such a short time, and even more disgusted that these bots seem to ACTUALLY BE REELING IN MONEY TOO. Please watch the wording and check if you haven't read it anywhere else before...

What kind of heinous person do you have to be to scam kind people out of their money in such a way... You might as well be stealing the money straight out of a Palestinian's hands...

[pyrosomatic-metamorphosis]

tbh i think that even unwinnable fights should be winnable. some of the BEST fights i've ever run as a dm were ones i built kill the players (in a fun way. I had some cutscenes prepped so even the loss would be a different flavour of win)- but then they were clever bastards and managed to either win the fights or pull themselves out of trouble. I think it's perfectly fine to plan for a fight that players aren't supposed to win, but you need to let them. if they can't win, they can't lose, and the meaning of that encounter is diminished. do that too many times, and they stop trusting you to give them roleplay prompts and start expecting to sit there waiting while you drive the story for them.

but if they can win... if there is always the chance to win, no matter how impossible the odds, then they ALWAYS have hope. they always get invested. they feel the big emotions of success or the big emotions of failure, and you fucking Win as a dm/roleplay prompter/lead bastard.

[zakuryoishi]

happy early pride month to them

[comradeboyhalo]

this is karma after a month of tweets and posts from yellow enjoyers talking about how green was the miserable unfun faction like 💀💀💀 what prompted some of yall to say that was it ever that serious

[blossominthewoods]

Everyone can shine on a sunny day; there’s not much skill needed for that. It’s those that manage to push out a ray of light in the midst of a midnight thunderstorm that reveal true strength.

[tezzbot]

Yknow when someone just Makes You Mad but they haven't Done anything so you can't say shit without looking insane but every time they say something you're like Man. Shut Up.

[biigiiiii]

So this:

Leads to this:

Which leads to this:

Which allows vecna to do this:

Right? Right………. So then this:

Leads to this:

Which leads to:

???????????????? 👀👀👀👀👀

Will has had powers.

[rexscanonwife]

God fucking dammit. I'm opening with my fucking boss today that's gonna be fun isn't it = _ =