#ANYWAYS thank you THANK YOU for the ask I love talking about Faroe and her two peculiar ass dads

[beentobeetle]

wonderin... who are oscar and noel to faroe, respectively? comrades? father figures? allies?

Oh all of the above.

Oscar starts out as Just Some Guy to Faroe. She likes him enough, he’s nicer to her than anyone’s been in months, but she has trouble with trusting folk. She warms up to him eventually — especially after their father/daughter amputation bonding. That goes just swell.

Noel is a more immediate parental/supporting figure to her. Right off the bat he’s doing everything in his power to keep this snarky ass girl safe, and if that means getting himself hurt, well … shrug. It’s worth it in his book.

The two of them offer a very, very big sustaining comfort for her. Just two random guys who, despite everything, genuinely care about her and want her to make it out of all this alive. And, down the line, she realizes she’s able to replicate and reciprocate those feelings.

It can be tough, though. Poor Faroe has some major daddy issues going on. It’s the main reason she’s so immediately resistant to whatever care they offer.

^^ I think this sums it up pretty well

[andiatas]

I would love to know more about your thoughts on the Danish Royal Family. Is it that you dont like Margrethe or Fred or you are neutral?

I'm not sure what prompted this but thank you for the ask, nonnie! The easy answer is that I'm Swedish & it's in the DNA of Swedes & Danes to hate one another. There, ask answered!

Okay, no, to be serious. There is this joke amongst the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Åland, Iceland, Faroe Islands & Greenland) that Denmark is the USA of the Nordics & among the Scandinavian royals (Sweden, Norway & Denmark), the Danish have always been my least favourites. I'll post a deeper discussion around my thoughts under the cut & people; remember that these are my personal opinions. I'm not talking facts or trying to be objective here.

Not just the fact that they've done some questionable things (the same could be said for many of the European royals), but it has always struck me weird how borderline worshipped the Danish royals are - especially Margrethe & Mary. It reminds me a bit of the stan culture around some singers & bands where the fans don't simply like the person; they adore them & to the level where you're not even allowed to criticise the person. Then we have Margrethe's approval rating - in a democratic country (Denmark) & its territories (Greenland & Faroe Islands), there is no way someone can continuously have around 80% or higher approval rating.

Up to 2022, I didn't necessarily dislike them & I had no personal issue with Margrethe. The Danish royals weren't my cup of tea, but I found Margrethe very cool as a person & I still do to some extent. There was this public narrative of Frederik, the golden boy, Mary, who could do nothing wrong & Joachim having difficulty finding his role & purpose in the family. As someone who has grown up with Nordic tabloid culture, I assumed it was a Victoria vs. Madeleine situation where the tabloids make a hen out of a feather & try to create drama where there is none. Then that statement around the titles of Joachim's children was published & all the puzzle pieces came together for me...

Now I've seen a lot of people here on Tumblr point towards Nikolai & claim it's all his fault. But that guy has been working as a model under the name of Prince Nikolai since at least 2018. Maybe even earlier, I can't remember. But anyway, the only time his grandma told him off was when he was doing ad work for some car brand & used his royal title. If his modelling career was the problem, Margrethe would have done something years ago & not suddenly, out of the blue, make a decision in autumn 2022.

No, for me, the puzzle pieces all fell together. Joachim struggling to find his place within the Royal House & no one really helping him carve out a position for himself; it being public knowledge that Margrethe favoured his first wife; Marie saying that it wasn't her or Joachim's choice to move to Paris & they weren't happy about it; Marie being painted as the bitter step-mother who wouldn't allow Nikolai & Felix to be with their father & instead, they were kept close to their grandmother; & yeah, the car crash that was Margrethe stripping Joachim's children of their titles a.k.a. she legally changed her grandchildren's names behind their backs without talking to them about it. These are just some instances from the last couple of years that were at the top of my mind.

I've mentioned it in messages to @cambridgemadness @lizisanamimal & @world-of-wales (maybe other people as well, sorry if I forgot to mention you), but to me, it feels very much like Margrethe favouring one son over the other & also doing everything she can to coddle him. It's not just the Nordic tabloids pitting family members against one another. It's very much based on Margrethe's behaviour & her leadership.

[bentosandbox]

some thoughts about Stultifera Navis’s armature 3 ft. Spalter op rec

Part 1 here / Part 2 here

Part 3 of my stupidity and also probably the post most people will be interested in because I accidentally translated the entirety of Spalter’s op rec before I wrote this so I will stick it somewhere...I tried to cover the skaspec dynamic as it went through the event but this is definitely not an exhaustive rundown of their interactions

Spoilers for Stultifera Navis as usual and the op rec

ok first things first There’s a parasite in my brain being like "you know your post sounded kinda ableist lol, you know it yourself that even getting through the day is already hard enough sometimes and you still want to ‘better myself’ lmao" yes yes calm down other me and anyone else I will explain

Basically I think there was a ‘mindless consooming is not good’ message but more importantly,

Recognising issues that aren’t outwardly destructive or seem minor at first glance are still issues worth trying to figure out/improve on: ie. I wish I could have read this story a good 10+ years ago instead of just being like “Well I don’t feel like jumping down a window so I’m fine! I’m fine! (is actually fucking depressed)” and only realise from some random tweet on the bird app that actually, not wanting to live can also be considered being suicidal. Wowza ok back on topic

1 Be cringe and be free

At the beginning of SN Skadi is fretting over Specter’s phasing between her different selves and asking if Gladiia really had to bring her along with them on their journey.

Sometimes when we’re dealing with someone that needs help, when we help them, we forget that they’re still their own person. And then Gladiia says this banger of a line:

BUH BUH BASED?? That’s right this was a swordfish appreciation post after all haha gotcha!! But really though, as Specter gets more and more of her memories back Gladiia is like “nice” but also says they’ll wait for her old self to come back,

And that she’s the same as them, she’s no less normal as they are.

It's not like she's completely 'fine' either; she still struggles with it as they head towards the Ship of Fools ™

o..i love abyssal hunters…. let’s get back on topic

On the boat she finally returns to her ‘old’ self, but says that she doesn’t really mind her nun-sona:

It’s not a real or fake thing, they’re both valid identities to her, she just likes one more.

And even thanks one of the deep-sea cultists for how she ended up like she is now

And outright says that being un-normal is okay!

2 Take it easy

As someone who feels compelled to always spend their time wisely and productively, stories with a ‘its ok to do useless things they're part of life’ message always hit me hard so let's dive(hehe) into Specter’s Operator Record:

In SN Specter says that Gladiia taught her how to dance from when she was small, and the op rec opens with her induction into the Abyssal Hunters

And teaches her how to dance.

It then cuts to Gran Faro after the events of SN where now Specter is teaching Skadi how to dance and then also asks her to teach herself how to sing.

They practice for a moment before Gladiia shows up and tells Skadi that Kalt’sit wants some more tests done, so she leaves for that and our swordfish and shark go for a walk.

While admiring a rocky outcropping with Gladiia, who just sees the rock as “abstract”, Specter offers an alternative; it is beautiful, because its a “coincidence created by time and nature,” as opposed to how statues in Aegir are made; rigid, troublesome, takes a lot of time and resources.

As if they momentarily switch positions of teacher and student, Specter offers Gladiia to try a kind of scale fin snack. Gladiia deems it unnecessary, which Specter agrees to, but offers again anyway.

It may not provide any practical use, but is useful in other ways.

She talks about the beauty of everyday occurrences in nature:

And then invites Gladiia for a dance with them using each other’s names instead of their titles or nicknames:

The temporary erasing of the responsibility of being Abyssal Hunters, the suspension of superior-subordinate hierarchy, a moment shared between just two regular “daughters of the ocean” !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes we forget that we can enjoy the most trivial things. Sometimes that smallest useless thing can be what keeps you from falling into the abyss. I know this too personally cough

Gladiia goes back to work and Specter spots Irene heading towards the lighthouse, and follows our little birdie–

Sike surprise rant time. Nevermind the fact during the whole story till the end Specter mostly sees Irene like a little pet bird to play around with, people can ship whatever you want(ther was a really great scene towards the end of the main story too actually), but I’m so fucking tired of EN-only children and their selective reading completely missing the point that Irene basically just went back to her father figure++'s grave(Remember the cool head Inquisitor from UT? He ded) to try and connect to him again because she felt lost and Specter was like cheering her up and these people are just being like GIRLS BE FRUITY!!

Don’t get me wrong either they look cute together but that is probably the worst fucking possible moment to do this. Imagine going to someone's grave and his daughter is standing with someone pretty next to the grave mourning/talking and your reaction is haha don’t they look so gay together!

Before anyone pulls a “It’s not our fault we can’t read CN to read the entire SN to find out he died there!” They literally mention it explicitly in the op rec so you didn’t even have to read the entirety of SN in the first place:

Specter plays with her for a bit trying to cheer her up, but also imparts a very important lesson:

Perhaps I am over reacting because this part hit me the hardest out of all the entire event 😄 I kept wondering if it was wise to keep this whole thing but you know what. it’s my own blog and how can I write about being cringe and free and then do the exact opposite

Before they part, Specter reintroduces herself as the 2 different identities she has now, but it’s not the shark and the nun:

Specter and the Aegirian; her duty and destiny intertwined into one that she cannot and will not escape from, but also herself.

Conclusion: I was trying to install a dark theme on my google sheets I use for translation and this came up and i thought it was very apt so here it is

In Specter1′s second op rec(en loc called it “I, Namely I” but idk I think “I am Me” is more succinct and to the point...) she sings a song (and sings it again in SN)

When she prayed♪The stars ceased to shimmer♪

And when she wept♪The night let out a smile♪

And as she lamented♪The anguish sprawled upon her madness♪

At the end of this op rec she sings it again but puts her own spin on it

When I pray ♪The stars ascend into the night♪

When I dance♪The two moons shed their black veils♪

When I smile♪The sea will witness my joy♪

Man I love stories about coping and dealing with trauma and taking agency;

Nihilism vs Existentialism;

Nothing in life matters! (derogratory) vs Nothing in life matters! (affectionate)

If you like stories like that a very recent and very accessible exploration of this is the kino of the year; Everything Everywhere All At Once yes the whole point of this was to make people go watch it (iirc digital release is next month or so so it should be even more accessible)

My friends also know this too well but I cannot stop recommending Heike Monogatari, directed by Yamada Naoko of Liz and the Blue Bird fame, its only 11 episodes too, it was so good it made me trawl through the entire (modern translation) of the original war epic

Bonus AKA don’t take this seriously unless you want to I guess I cannot stop you

Skaspec is the jesus/judas of Arknights because my friend said so and I believe it (does not provide any evidence) Ok but it’s so funny that Skadi just kuudere’d Specter and comrade zoned her in the op rec lol..you do all that and you’re like “that was just my duty” ok orca

To be honest though I love how Skadi technically has the most ‘monster’ within her(she has the blood of the thing she killed back then within her) but she’s undeniably the most ‘human’ of the trio and to Specter; She misses the old Laurentina so much and wants her back so bad but she also comes to respect that Specter is also part of Laurentina, is also Laurentina herself.

Last but not least

[frecklef0x]

Mass Effect 1: Playthrough Masterpost

At last, I have finished Mass Effect 1!

I have heard some mutuals say they wish they could play it again for the first time, and you kind of can--through me! I’ve been posting little “episodes” of live-tweet-stream-of-consciousness as I play, and now I’ve compiled them into one post to make my life easier.

Anyway, here’s the first one, the rest are under the cut. :)

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode one

My ass looks great in this uniform, first of all

Impaled robo zombies, yikes

Cheap shot, Saren, smh. How will I pass my spectre test now?!

Why does he have robot eyes? Is he like, Geth-Turian? Why? Is he a robo zombie also? Was it the beacon???

Cool beacon nightmares, I'm sure this is fine

This Kaiden guy has implants? ORTEGA?!??!?

"Call me princess again and you'll be picking your teeth up off the floor" lol obliterated

The citadel elevators are very realistic, five minutes of tense silence huh

Ya girl got a PROMOTION and a DOPE SQUAD time to catch a TRAITOR

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode two

First things first, gotta go find the blue scientist to join the gang

This galaxy is HUGE! How many of these places will I actually be able to go?!

Only two friends at a time????? D:

Ah, a distress signal, let's see wha--A DESERT CENTIPEDE NOPE ABORT ABORT

Robo aliens? In MY Theronian mining facility? Its more likely than you think

Running over dudes in my Mako is extremely satisfying tbh

*runs over geth troopers* *runs over geth armature* *runs over geth colossus* ... *backs over geth colossus*

Working elevators in the ancient ruins ✔

Oooooooh man hope this nerd is gay

Wrex, a friend of yours? Nope, not a friend, too murdery

"ShAaaAame about the ruins Shep, sOooOo much collatoral damage, SHEP" stfu Council, "ruthless" was in the resume when you promoted us, 10/10 would shoot lasers through archeological digs again

When Kaiden calls us "ma'am" I am, uh, into it

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode three

Time to talk to the gang! Gotta meet the fam proper

Oh dear seems we got a shmee of racism on board, compatriots

Wow Raina, good foot-in-mouth moment with Wrex there huh...sorry about the eventual extinction of your race, lost this round of Pain Olympics

OH SHIT OH SHIT BLUE HOTTIE BIGENDER? THIS IS NOT A DRILL???

“hi I’m Kaiden wanna hear about my last crush ;)” “hi I’m Liara wanna hear about Asari mating rituals? ;)))” damn we really slidin right into the DMs no chill

Garrus: fuck rules and red tape amiright Raina: oh u right ;)

Guess I’ll actually do a mission now LETS GO LESBIANS LETS GO

Honestly rolling out with Tali and Liara is a mood, squad goals

Raina @ every corporation on Noveria: I would sell you to satan for one(1) corn chip

This reactivation puzzle is some shit

I see some Mistakes were made

We already killing moms at this stage damn BioWare

FUCK FUCK BENEZIA KILLED ME AND I LOST A FUCKTON OF PLAYTIME

THERES LIKE NO AUTOSAVE IN THIS BITCH FUUUUUUUUU

fuck fuck fuck god damn it gotta shoot a bunch of deranged baby bug people again god DAMN IT

Okay we killed Liara’s mom in front of her hope that’s fine

And we let mama bug go free because after talking to Wrex, Raina’s like “this galaxy is a little trigger happy with the genocide, good luck out there bug mama ❤️ be cool please”

I have literally watched the scientist in the hot labs get killed three times now

So far the debreifs with the council have not gone very well

“You let bug mama go?! How many generations until they take over everything???” “My money’s on two :D Place your bets now assholes or stfu :DDD”

Asked Liara if she was okay and she seems pretty Cool With It

I hope to one day return to Noveria and Death Star it into oblivion

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode four

Talked with Tali and this situation with the Geth and the Quarians is giving me an existential crisis

You “inspect” my beautiful ship? You got somethin’ to say about my crew??? Talk shit get hit, bitch I will kill you

Yoooo my old earth gang, yeah what the hell, I’ll help ou—oh nope nvm he’s a xenophobe, you hang him and I’ll shoot his friend in the face, thx for your time

Went to the citadel to finish some assignments, left tasked with twice as many

“dOn’T cUt CoRneRs” fear not dear Kaiden, I have a permit: this piece of paper that says I do what I want

Still with the elevators, I really cannot with this

“You make it all sound so...dangerous...” ;) ;))))))

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode five

Headin’ to Virmire to rendezvous with the Salarian team

A cure for the genophase?!?!?! :D

Oh wait oh no are we for real gonna talk about destroying the cure like Wrex isn’t standing right here omg

SHIT GUYS NO NOT LIKE THIS WREX PLEASE

Phew for a conversation that basically started with guns drawn, it went pretty well... “What Saren has isn’t even a proper cure, he’s just fucking with the Krogans at this point. Are we gonna stand for that? Or are we gonna murder?” “Damn Shep, you right, we gon’ murder”

Okay Ashley, go join the aliens, try not to die

Shadow Team!🎵 tearing through the base 🎶 disabling all the     defenses 🎵 (you gotta sing it to the tune of the Trogdor song)

We free the prisoners!!! :)

We shoot the prisoners??? :(

“Raina? How can you shoot them where they stand?” So it’s more merciful to let them explode? NAH FAM

This scientist is responsible for the mind control stuff? For Benezia? Fine     I’ll let her go but I hope she explodes

We did not learn our lesson concerning beacons I see

Wait if even Saren is worried about his mind control ship does that mean there are larger forces involved here?

Oh. Oh fuck

Ugh Ashley I EXPLICITLY TOLD YOU NOT TO DIE

(so we really never found any info about that genophase cure huh? disappointing)

Oh Seren, you dumb dumb. You absolute fool. Clown man.

When Raina slings Kaiden over her shoulder to carry him to the ship—mmmmmmmmwoooow I am very bisexual

Bruh Raina takes every council call and she disconnects pissed off every time

WAIT I literally just hung up with the council, ASHLEY is DEAD, and Kaiden needs a DTR RIGHT NOW?!?!? Boy, NO, READ THE ROOM

This has been a stressful day

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode six

Shepard will avoid her feelings and go to Faros instead

Seeing Ashley’s figure greyed out and her locker inaccessible makes me sad

Wrex and Garrus, let’s go shoot some geth 💪 

A mind controlling planet—of course!

Shep gets all her renegade points shooting capitalists

Saved, uh, about half the colonists

If I have one more bad acid trip I stg

Oh nope here’s another one

Shep needs a nap

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode seven

Ah, the council. Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal.

At least Liara is good at pep talks ;)

Joker, you cockblock

Haha DUDE we airborne, you THOUGHT

Now that I am exiled from the Citadel, guess I’ll run some galactic errands:

o   Killed corporate scientists who though we would rescue them lol

o   Destroyed a bunch of geth camps helping Tali on her pilgrimage

o   Disabled a nuke and killed some pirates

o   Shut down some evil Cerberus experiments

o   And illegally traded information!

Okay time to get back on track

So we may or may not be flying to our doom

OH GOD LIARA LOVES ME!!! RAINA, YOU DISASTER, YOU DID IT AAAAAH ❤️❤️❤️

frecklef0x plays mass effect: (ME1) episode eight

You know what I love? Being murdered by geth armatures

All these Ilos ruins be looking the same

Security panel is only kinda helpful

Oh, luckily I know Prothean now!

“CANNOT BE STOPPED” wow very encouraging, thanks

After that super motivating message and disabling security, its time to go down, down to goblin town

Vigil? Oh word?

My girlfriend is GEEKING out

I knew something what wrong with that fucking Citadel

Vigil: information is power. Also Vigil: What does it matter why they do what they do? All that matters is you stop them

“non-essential” personnel die first, huh? GROSS, VIGIL (gotta be honest that hits different in 2020)

Garrus gets it, I knew we liked that guy

Okay, find conduit, save galaxy, break millennium-old genocide cyle, nbd

Ugh Mako you gotta do me dirty one last time I see, I hate this thing

THE CONDUIT STRAIGHT YEETED MAKO

The citadel robot says we’re doomed : )

This shootout is SO fun, seriously

Saren get it toGETHER

Renegade Raina can kill with a conversation apparently, well done then

Concentrate on the Sovereign—why am I gonna save a council that hates my guts, sorry, but I have a JOB to DO that you ACTIVELY HINDERED

Great, zombie husk Saren, just what I needed as I mull over the possible consequences of my galaxy-altering decision

GO JOKER GO

Humanity-only council seems…questionable. Raina didn’t love the council but this sits wrong. Couldn’t we just appoint a more diverse council, including a human?

Anderson seems like a good enough dude, so…we’ll see.

TIME FOR WAR BOYS, GODDAMN WHAT A GAME

[gryphonablaze]

hello and welcome to gryphon’s crackshit crossover corner

I’ve already talked about my theory that httyd is set in the very distant, post-apocalyptic future. that theory was originally inspired by ‘what if httyd and horizon zero dawn crossover?’ My brain said things and for some fuckforsaken reason I listened. 

TL:DR I can smash together a crossover of so many different fandoms and media. It’s stupid. I’m crazy. I love it. This is what ADHD makes me think about when I zone out 

Anyway, first thing; the portal games could cross over with virtually anything. Portal-lands (borderlands). Portal age of wonderbeasts. How to Portal Your Dragon. Portal and the Princesses of Power. Portal: Zero Dawn. Portalverwatch. Portales of Arcadia. Fuck, if I really wanted, I could make the portal series crossover with Star Wars. This is because the time gap between portal one and two is spectacularly, deliciously difficult to pinpoint. If I shuffle it around, I could align the times during which action and dramatic events occur to line up with Chell finally escaping the facility. She walks through the wheat field and immediately encounters a megabunny, or a herd of grazers and striders. Or she trips on a rusted null sector carcass. Or her first night on the surface she’s staring at the moon and the star-filled sky, until she hears a slowly mounting screech and a flash of lightning. Or after a couple days she encounters a migration of creatures with stone skin, because they’re going to New Jersey and wanted to stop in Michigan to visit the great lakes, I guess. Or a couple weeks in to her new life, there’s a bright flash in the sky, and now she’s glowing? And has weird glowing tattoos on her arm? And can set things on fire? Or a year or two after she escapes, a spaceship? touches down? and out comes a catgirl, a lady with prehensile hair, a weird tall white guy, but not, like, a typical white guy, his skin is literally snow white, and someone who appears to be (???) normally human????? With portal, anything is possible. Bonus points that technically any and all fanfiction, AUs, the like etc. of portal are canon, thanks to cave literally reaching through the multiverse, thereby making all of those alternative realities possible. 

So if I wanted, I could stick portal in anything. Like how salt can be used in virtually every cuisine. 

But oh, my dear brain did not stop there. This is a crackshit crossover corner, after all.  If I fuck around enough, I could frankenstein together almost all of these. The events in HZD take place approximately one thousand years after the apocalypse, which occurred mid-2000s. As in 2050s-60s, not 2005. Kipo Age of Wonderbeasts takes place about 200 years after their mutepocalypse (also it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that ‘mute’ was shortened from ‘mutants’ and has nothing to do with their ability to speak), and we’re not sure when that happened. We could hazard a guess that Gaia was able to rebuild the world and some of humanity after Faro’s fuckup, but maybe went a liiiiiiiittle too far with the Artemis sub-probgram, and the mutepocalypse happens almost immediately. Oopsies. World goes on for 200 years post mutepocalypse, events of the series of Kipo Age of Wonderbeasts occur. Anknown amount of years later Hades decide’s that’s enough and wipes Gaia’s slate clean for her to start over again. She gives it another shot, but this time limits the amount of historical information that she gave to the humans that she released. Might’ve been a bit inaccurate, because do you know just how much human media insisted that vikings had horned helmets? (Could also explain why somehow Tuffnut knows some spanish). Whatever. This time she tries dragons. Things are actually going pretty well for a couple hundred years, Gaia always thought the ancient mythological tales of winged fire-breathers were cool, why not try it out? Until--are you kidding? The dragons disappear to hide underground? From the humans? Seriously? Wow. Wooooow. All that effort, wasted. Hades decides it’s time to try again. This time? Screw it. Robot megafauna. Hades can’t eat that. Around half a millenia later, Hades gains sentience, goes about trying to commit genocide, events of the HZD game occur. For fanfic funsies, Chell could wake up literally any time in there, because why not add another layer? These all coexist in the same space-time. Same universe, same timeline, but unfortunately not at the same time. Oof. -----> This crackshit combines Horizon Zero Dawn, Kipo Age of Wonderbeasts, and How to Train Your Dragon. (*portal optional)

Or how about somehow, some way, the whole prehistoric ‘peopling of the earth’ (deadass the name of a textbook chapter) was more like accidental colonization of the earth? The rest of the six galaxies moved on and kind of forgot about them, so Borderlands doesn’t necessarily have to be in the distant future of earth’s timeline. Some millenia ago, the Destroyer was going around, doing its thing. The Eridians didn’t like that, so they found a planet with natural capabilities they could take advantage of, asked some sirens for help, and turned it into a superweapon. After all, as typhon says, most Eridian things run on crystals. And sirens’ powers are often elemental--who’s to say the runestones on Etheria aren’t their collaborative work? Along the way they probably make an enemy because of course they do, so why not give the Heart a test run @ Horde Prime? Until Mara rebels, and yeets Etheria and its moons (and presumably star) into Despondos. Well, fuck. Horde Prime mentions ‘one thousand years’ of waiting, but when traveling through space, time can get fucky. Anyway, Now they have to come up with an alternative way to eliminate the Destroyer. It might take a few millenia of hopping around, leaving their mark on various planets, but eventually they come up with the idea of creating a cage, creating pandora... After all, the architecture of the First One’s ruins in SPOP and the various Eridian Ruins in the borderlands series aren’t super different. It’s reasonably possible that their stylistic design choices changed over time--whose hasn’t? Gothic architecture wasn’t hanging around from the dawn of human time. Anyway, we know that since they began building Pandora, the Eridians knew what it would entail. So when Nyriad killed them to power the Machine in the Pyre of the Stars, it’s not like they hadn’t prepared to die. The guardians, their own creations, have heath bars made entirely of shields, implying that they are beings not of flesh but of energy. And who wouldn’t want to at least attempt to preserve their culture, at least a shred of it? Many statues that are presumably in the Eridian’s likeness have only two arms, but some have more. And what energy-based lifeforms (from tales of arcadia) have a majority population with two arms, but a select special few with four? What is their planet called? AkiRIDIAN 5. It is implied that not even Nekrotafeyo, the Eridian’s home planet, is technically the place of their origination, so it’s not all that out of the question for them to make (and possibly fail at) a couple of planets they could put their extra-sentient lifeforms on. ‘Alright, We are called Eridians. This is the fifth planet we made for you. Have fun, we have to go die.’ How often is history not warped by time? Particularly the pronunciation of things? And of course if they’re starting over with a completely new place and no template to work off of, the architecture they come up with is not at al likely to resemble that of their progenitors. Also note that Luug and other Akiridian creatures seen, like those weird ass energy bugs, look fucking weird. You know what else looks fucking weird? The fauna of Nekrotafeyo. In this version, Mara’s story in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is the very distant early history of the Eridians, before even Nyriad, who is presumed to be very long-lived. The ancient history that the Eridians themselves left behind is in turn the prehistory of the people of Akiridian 5. And again, if u want, portal. That said, the end of SPOP S5, the end of BL3 (currently the latest borderlands game), and the end of the Tales of Arcadia series could not only exist in the same spacetime, but also at the same time. ---->This crackshit combines She ra, Borderlands, and Tales of Arcadia. (*portal optional)

[zelamorre]

Horizon Zero Dawn Thoughts

So I finished Horizon Zero Dawn yesterday, and I thought I’d share some thoughts about it. I’m going to go into spoiler territory. If you don’t want to be spoiled, keep on scrolling. Also, this is kind of long and rambling, so warnings for that as well.

Okay. First off. Holy FUCK the diversity in this game. This is not a “Whites populated with whites” fantasy game. Everywhere you go, there are people of color in varying roles, with varying personalities. The level of racial diversity is impressive especially compared to the majority of games. Background characters, main characters, one time quest givers – the game does not shy away from racial diversity in any way, shape, or form. Which is quite refreshing as this isn’t seen in the majority of games.

 Secondly, the representation of sexuality is great in this. When you first go into the Nora tribe, there is a male NPC talking to himself. “I know I like him, but do I like… like him?” I thought this was a nice, probably token nod to homosexuality the game. I’m used to games doing this. I’m used to media doing this. If there is a homosexual relationship portrayed, it’s going to be of hot women.

 Throughout the game, though, you help a lot of couples both reunite and mourn each other – both homosexual and heterosexual alike. Gay male relationships are represented too. (Though there’s like one couple that both make it out alive, so…)

 And while I’m on the subject, Aloy gets flirted with by both men and women in this game. While, sadly, there is no romance option, there is more than one person who lets their interest be known. I don’t know if this was a feature that was tabled, or if this is maybe something they’ll put into the sequel. (I’m partial to Avad or Vanasha, but I know there are some hardcore Varl fans out there too. Hell, I’m sure there’s a few Erend fans as well.)

 Of course, a female protagonist who isn’t based around some sexualized premise is rare enough on its own. (In fact, the developers had to jump through hoops to get a female protagonist at all.) While described as “pretty” Aloy’s value is never focused around her looks.

 Story wise, there are times when the game is awkward. “Bam! Exposition!” is the best descriptor I have for it. This is particularly noticeable in the first parts of the game, but does fade out as you progress. It is a bit jarring, especially as other parts flow so organically. A bit more editing on the script, a few more takes, and it might have felt smoother.

 The theme of motherhood in this was strong, but never felt sappy or overwhelming to me. The Nora having a matriarchy based around child bearing was a good move as far as narrative shortcuts go. Of course, Aloy is so obsessed with her origin when she comes from a culture that is based around motherhood being an absolute strength. (Props for an unusual take on motherhood in this way instead of being some mystical, soft gobbly gook.)

 This thread does seem to peter out mid-story before kicking back up at the end. A pity as I, personally, think it could easily have been woven in with Sun King Avad. With his brother Itamen having a different mother from him and the Shadow Carja calling Itamen the true Sun King, there is clearly a story there. Perhaps it is laid out in one of the scrolls I have yet to scan.

 Instead of holding the theme of motherhood throughout the main story, it feels like a bit of a detour into Carja’s patriarchy. It falls into an equality narrative for a while. While not unrelated, I felt like the middle section was almost a different game for a while.

 When it came to the main villain, the game was again a bit muddied. It feels as if it was supposed to be Aloy vs HADES as a mirror of Elizabet Sobek vs Ted Faro, with Aloy and HADES being more extreme examples of each other. But Helis and that Oseram dude whose name I’ve already forgotten – they felt ultimately unsatisfying to me. If they had been merged into one character, it might’ve been more satisfying to kill Helis. Instead, I felt as if those two were just in there because the game needed a couple boss encounters.

 And speaking of Oseram dude whose name I can’t remember, let’s talk about Ersa. More specifically, how she’s a great example of “convenient death after one last conversation” is a thing in this game. Because it happens enough to be repetitive. How often it happens take away from the impact of what should have been a poignant death. What would have been an interesting end to a quest becomes run of the mill as it is mirrored in side quests.

 And speaking of Ersa – let’s talk about Avad. Now, I love Avad as a character. I love him so much that when he asks Aloy to stay, I was very much into the Heart option. “I don’t think either of us are ready for that just yet,” I tell him. Then, later in the game, he asks for forgiveness for confusing me with Ersa. “You were right,” he says, referencing something my Aloy didn’t say.

 Sometimes the game gives you a choice, but drives its own narrative anyway. This can get annoying. If you want the character to react in a specific way, don’t give a choice at all.

 Aside from that, the game play is pretty damned solid. I only ran into a couple of glitches throughout the game. Once I got used to how the game wanted me to do the sprinting, the command functions were smooth. (Fuck hunting geese though. My final tearblaster upgrade is still unfinished.)

The Sci-Fi story was good. I think most people assumed this would be a “Mankind caused the apocalypse” story, and it was. But the story was pretty damned engrossing once I got to the actual creation of Zero Dawn. The desperation, the intrigue, the characters: they were all excellent.

 My quibble with the whole thing was the idea that Elysium and GAIA Prime could be sealed for a lifetime, but that creating a living space underground would be impossible because of the swarm. To me, these things contradicted each other. If you can live for 100 years in Elysium, why can’t you sustain beyond that? Kind of a loophole – which I’m guessing is related to the whole mysterious signal thing.

 Which, of course, brings me to the ending of the game. I knew Aloy was going to go to Elisabet’s home. That was a given. But I found myself really moved by the way it was done. The framing of the shots, the music playing – it was beautiful. (Even if it was a bit unbelievable that Elisabet was still sitting there untouched after hundreds of years.)

 The credits were actually pretty nice with good shots as you moved through the cauldron. The thanks to cosplayers and fan artists was actually a surprise. Of course, the end with Sylens and HADES is Marvel levels of tease. There are a lot of places the story could go. Does Aloy try to reboot GAIA? Who sent the signal to HADES? Can APOLLO be restored? If so, will people actually want to listen to it?

 What about the clone protocol? Elisabet’s notes said they decided not to implement that, but Aloy is her clone. Are there other Alphas out there? Did some of the other facilities around the world spawn human life as well, or was it just the North American one?

 My theory about who sent the signal is that Ted Faro was successful in building his whatever. There is a data point that says some tribe somewhere believe the old ones still walk among them. Either he was successful in sustaining human life, or he built his own facility with a functioning education system like what he destroyed. (I’d wager him cloning himself too, but maybe not.)

 Overall, I liked the game. The pacing was off in places, but I really enjoyed it.