#Basically the npc husband is terrible | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

iceheap · 1 year ago

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Thank you!! I read your tags too and omg I'm so glad you liked my redemption arc hc for my lil gremlin boy cjfhfgzjhosvj and wow I don't really interact with a lot of hc on here so I didn't know ppl had tried to just hand magic Zane's actions away with like, chores around the village? ???? What???? That makes no sense, Zane is literally responsible for GENOCIDE I think in a way I'm also letting him off easy with house arrest like wtf. You can't just be like "and then they forgave and it was all okay!!!" Like wtf.

Zane was a nice challenge for me because it shows how reframing certain things canake a character a lot more sympathetic. I mentioned it in the post a bit, but the part I feel is the most inexcusable of Zane's actions is the anililation of Falcon Claw. You can't remove it from Zane's crimes, but you can REFRAME it.

This might totally ruin your good feelings about this hc or make it better, but basically this is a small glimpse of my process into recontextualising characters. I hc that, one: Zane was under orders to destroy falcon claw. It makes sense because FC was the closest village to O'Khasis. They were practically neighbors.

Two: during Aaron's time as lord, FC was going through an economical recession. Similar to how Phoenix Drop was at the start of the series. Except they had a lord and phonix drop didn't. It was going on because of a combination of factors, none of which were Aaron's fault. Lily was a big part of FC political climate going down the drain, actually. I know that Jess probably made her a terrible person in Mystreet due to like, romance and competition reasons so Aphmau and Aaron would end up together, but I like to mirror characters and their personalities etc and it makes sense to keep Lily consistent. Aaron frames her as a good person and never has anything bad to say about her because she's dead and also he was loyal to her and tried his best to be a good husband.

They were arranged for marriage, they didn't marry out of love. Aaron tried to make it work, Lily did not. Lily was a serial cheater and there were big odds that Jacob wasn't actually Aaron's child.

Lily had been planning a coup to take the title of lord of Falcon Claw for herself and had roped the rest of the village into it. Most of the children had been sent away temporarily as a result.

Zane arrives to "visit" the day the coup is planned. The villagers aren't subtle and Zane is really good at politics and listening to/finding gossip (it's considered information and can be useful even though Zane hates having to resort to petty gossip) so he figures out what's going on pretty quickly, and who's behind it.

And he also finds out about how Jacob might not actually be the Lord's biological child.

So he tests it. Aaron would let Jacom play around the village pretty independently since he trusted the rest of the villagers to keep an eye on him. Zane gets him alone and uses one of hisqny relics to test his paternity.

It comes back negative. Jacob is not Aaron's son.

And, keep in mind, the only reference to how an illegitimate child is treated is in his own family. So Zane, feeling bad for him (not gat he realizes it or admits it) kidnapps him. He puts him in this medallion thing, I think there was a mod where you could put pets in necklaces? Yeah he does that.

And then he sends a manmade imp to deliver the relic that will kill the rest of the village.

Zane leaves Aaron alive as MERCY. He thought he was doing him a FAVOR by killing his traitorous village members and his shit wife.

He delivers Jacob off to a couple in the country side who take care of him as their own and pays them off pretty well so they'll take care of him. Jacob grows up to be a NPC villager floating around somewhere in the world. I hc he probably actually moved to Phoenix Drop during their population boom since he probably has a business of some sort and wanted to take advantage of the high traffic in the area, and integrates himself into the community pretty well. Odds are is he goes by Jay instead of Jacob so no one even suspects he might be Aaron's kid.

Anyway, yeah. Does this excuse Zane killing a bunch of people? No, obviously, and when Aaron is eventually resurrected (that will happen, because not letting Jess get away with the clusterfuck that was his arc, my boy deserves justice and a proper developed romance) he doesn't just forgive Zane and call it a day. Aaron was robbed of seeing his kid grow up. He suspected Jacob wasn't his child but loved him anyway. He knew the villagers and Lily didn't like him and tried his best anyway. None of this excuses Zane's actions, but it changes him from a power hubgy monster who kills people for fun into someone who can even take accountability and change.

Anyway, yes, I try my best to keep original character beats and twist them around a little bit. I'm so glad you liked the og hc! I might have gone a bit wild with this response I'm so sorry!!!uenyhsybysnyney

@panicataphmausinsanity okay so Zane HC's LETS GOOOOOOOO

Before we start trigger warning for like, child abuse and torture and shit. Seriously this gets dark. Zane redemption must come at a price >:D

So. Something interesting to me in regards to Zane is how in MCD, He's like, this evil, terrible human being, but in Mystreet, he's like, a semi functional human being who can be a NOT bad person and NOT do bad things. And so I got to thinking.

I don't think Zane was born a bad person.

Personally, I kind of hate the way Jess wrote Zane. Like, yes, evil for the sake of evil is great and all, but like. In season one and two, Zane was this overarching antagonist who was always one step ahead of the cast and plotting and having a good time being a paice of shit.

And then season 3 comes around and now he's a shadow knight, on the run, has PTSD...

Look, I'm not knocking the guy for having PTSD. I'm just saying that the way it's portrayed kind of makes him seem like a whimpery coward. AGAIN, NOT KNOCKING PTSD!!

I think the position that Zane found himself in season 3 was a PERFECT set up for a redemption arc and it makes me SO MAD that it didn't happen.

So I guess I have to do it myself apparently -_-

I've been thinking a lot about Zane. I don't want him to stop being evil. Not right away. So we keep what happened in the first two seasons the same. He's a cackling maniac that has killed a shit ton of people and is on his father's payroll.

And then he dies.

(skill issue lol)

Anyway, Zane is dead. But he's also Zane, so of course he weasels his way out of being dead. And then he gets tortured and is subjected to the same suffering he condemned so many others to yada yada yada PTSD bleh.

Everything seems to be the same so far.

But then he breaks out if the nether. Still, we're on track, right?

He gets captured, he gets expedited to Phoenix Drop, he gets interrogated, it's all the same.

But here we find a canon divergence. Instead of being absolute dumbasses, they don't bring him into the nether. Let's scrap that plot point entirely.

Instead, we're going to let Zane bake in prison for a while!

Here are the main issues that make Zane irredeemable.

1. He's killed like, a shit ton of people, for funsies ig

2. He killed Vylad.

3. He destroyed Aaron's village.

Let's keep those things in mind.

So he's in prison. While in prison, Garroth starts to visit him (along with Travis but shhhh we'll get to him another day) and just. You know. Be angry.

Garroth has seen Zane as a spoiled brat his entire life. He's always been their father's favorite. He's always had everything handed to him on a silver platter. He's always been willing to do whatever it takes for power. He's greedy. He's psychotic. Garroth hates him.

But Zane is Garroth's brother. And Garroth is the type of golden retriever, gold hearted, kind type of character to still love his brother even if he hates him.

That doesn't mean he goes in and is like, nice to him though. Nope. Garroth goes to visit him and nine times out of ten it devolves into a screaming match where Zane antagonizes him the entire time and Garroth yells at him for being a shitty human being.

And then one day Phoenix Drop is attacked and Zane escapes.

They track him down eventually. When they find him, they strike a deal with him. Due to Irene related shenanigans they need his expertise as a scholar of Irene to figure out some more stuff for Aphmau. In exchange, they'll protect him from the Shadow Lord (who he pissed off by stealing one of his soul fragments lol Zane behavior).

Eventually they're able to establish a rapore with Zane. Garroth still gets a migraine whenever they have a conversation. Vylad still refuses to speak to him (oh btw he's visiting from his nether revolution vacation just so u know) and Aphmau still wants to tear out his guts for killing the love of her life or whatever, but he becomes manageable. They can like, stand him. A little bit. Slightly.

And then Zianna gets kidnapped or whatever. So they go rescue her. But when they get back to Phoenix Drop they forget to mention the fact that Zane is like. There and in the wild and not currently killing entire villages worth of people.

So Zianna rolls up to Phoenix Drop and gets jumpscared by her youngest son and also, notably, Zane is NOT happy to see her. He shuts the front door in her face. It's hilarious even though Garroth doesn't think of it that way.

So, now we have our key players all in one place. Garroth, Vylad, Zane, and Zianna.

Let's say they have to all go find an artifact toghether or something and they need Zianna there because it's related to something she knows and they need Zane there because of Irene lore reasons. they go on this mission. One day, they sit and set up for the night, set up bedrolls, whatever. They're lounging around the fire and talking when Vylad eventually mentions his time as a shadow knight in the nether and something about torture.

Zane blinks, and, having not been included in the conversation initially, buts it to say,

"Oh, please. Don't tell me getting tortured by those amatures was DISTRESSING for you. I would have thought father's methods would have given you thicker skin."

The others bristle and start scolding him, of course, because Zane is like, the reason Vylad became a shadow knight in the first place. But Vylad himself, who is very observant and hard to antagonize, latches into something Zane said.

"Methods? What methods?" He says. He says it sharply, too.

Of course, Zane doesn't pick up on this. He just rolls his eyes.

"Don't tell me you forgot. Father had a whole floor dedicated to torture and loved collecting new methods from around the region. I think he even had a historian employed who would research for him..."

"What?" Garroth says, stunned out of his anger.

Zianna has gone silent. So has everyone else, and now they're watching with baited breaths.

"So what? What would that have to do with me?"

And for the first time that they've ever seen, Zane looks... Puzzled.

"What, did he go easy on you? Didn't you talk back to him all the time? Once, after just asking him a question, he had two of my nails pulled. Shadow Knight torture was child's play in comparison," he shrugs, then takes a bite out of his stale price of bread.

There's silence.

Zane looks back at all of them, confused and now kind of pissed off. He looks like he usually does when he feels like he's about to be scolded for saying something crass. Except, that's not what happens. Instead, Vylad looks him in the eye for the first time since Zane killed him, and with the most emotion they've ever heard from him, says,

"What?"

Zane hums.

"Come on. Don't play dumb. He hated you. Im sure he must have sent you to the "torture basement" at least once. You got on his nerves constantly,"

Garroth makes an aborted movement, like he's going to stand up and rush him, but Vylad stops him with a flick of his hand. And then Vylad starts doing what he does best. Interrogating him.

So remember that list, right? Let's reframe a few things.

Zane was not the favorite child. Garroth was.

Garte was a paice of shit. Garte hated Vylad. But he also hates Zane. Why wouldn't he? Vylad was his wife's affair child, sure, but Zane, Zane was Zianna's spitting image.

When Zane was little, he used to take snails and out them in the grass after it rained. He uses to clamor for his mother's pastries just like his brothers. He was a normal child, and he was NOT born a psychopath.

But Garte had a thought, one day.

Wouldn't it be funny... If he made his wife think he WAS one?

Wouldn't it be funny to punish her that way? Wouldn't it be funny to turn Zane into a terrible person, and have her think it was for no reason? Make her think that she birthed a psychopath? How much would it hurt her? How much would she weep?

Garte used to punish Zane for Vylad's joy. One of Vylad's laughs would equal one slap to the face. One side remark in defence of their mother would equal one hour locked in his father's study closet in his office.

Garte turns Zane against himself brothers. And the best part in his mind?

He makes Zane believe that they know about all of it.

He tells Zane that his mother knows about it. That his brothers don't care that he's beaten. That Vylad does things so he gets punished on purpose.

Zane grows up thinking that his brothers probably go through this too. He grows up thinking that his mother just doesn't love him. And so he doesn't say a thing.

Garte starts having him tortured instead of superficially physically abused? He says nothing.

Garte makes him become a priest of Okasis even though the consequence of failing the academy is death? He says nothing.

Garte would encourage Zane to blugeon animals to death and bring them to Zianna and laugh at her horrified face from afar. Garte encourages Zane to say psychotic things while they're eating dinner, and watches as his family becomes more and more convinced Zane is a monster.

Until Zane is one.

But this reframes a few things.

The people Zane killed? It was under orders. He eventually became his father's right hand man. Most of his overarching goals have been in service of his father.

For Aaron's village, we'll stick a pin in that one, but long story short, Aaron's village had been planning a coup that night under his wife's orders. Zane had them killed under his father's orders so they could eliminate them as political neighbors. He let Aaron live out of pity.

And Vylad.

Basically, remember when I said that Garte used to punish Zane according to Vylad's actions?

One day, Vylad gets into an explosive argument with Garte defending Zianna. And Garte, again, without the other's knowing, has Zane tortured. Except this time it's for a WEEK STRAIGHT.

So when Zane gets out. He's. Very unstable.

And then he comes across Vylad in a semi secluded area.

And Vylad is acting like he did nothing, and all he's ever done is make Zane suffer, and Zane hates him hates him HATES HIM--

And so he snaps. And he kills him.

Keep in mind, though, Zane thinks this is all normal. He doesn't realize that killing his own brother has traumatized him. He doesn't realize that he's a victim of abuse. He doesn't realize that what his dad did is not okay because he THINKS HIS FAMILY KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED, and if they didn't contradict his abuse, then this must be normal. He thinks that Vylad has probably been tortured too. He thinks Garroth is their father's favorite because in his mind he's determined that Garroth not receiving any attention from their father is a GOOD thing because ATTENTION EQUALS TORTURE to him.

And this reframes a few things. His constant bid for power? It's not greed, it's DESPERATION. Power makes him feel safe. Hurting others makes him feel powerful because that's how his father had power over him.

His highly volatile and violent personality? It's l he's ever known. Do you have ANY idea what torture could do to a child? He has severe PTSD. Like, severe and repressed and his outburst are more common when he's uncomfortable or anxious or experiencing any negative emotion, which is often.

Garte took Zane's empathy from him. Turned him against his family. Made him into a monster. With these types of characters, I imagine it would probably be very difficult for them to redevelop their emotions and empathy because if they do that, they would have to face their whole mountain of trauma and the guilt of all the lives they've ruined.

I think eventually, after a lot of work, Zane does eventually regain his empathy. It probably finally sinks in during a small gathering. His mother makes her famous cake. Zane has long gotten used to being excluded during these sorts of things, but then...

His mother slides a plate of cake right in front of him.

Strawberry.

His favorite.

And she smiles at him.

This is probably after they found out about Garte being a peice of shit. Maybe a few months.

All Zane has ever wanted is to be loved. Maybe he didn't know it, but when he takes a bite of his mother's strawberry cake for the first time in decades and the nostalgic taste registers in his brain, something snaps.

And he becomes human again.

And he realizes:

Oh.

I'm a person.

I'm a murderer.

I'm a monster.

LMAO WAS THIS COHERENT SORRY PANIC I TRIED MY BEST I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS ONE OSIBWIBDIBSIBU

#aphmau #aphmau mcd #minecraft diaries #aaron lycan #mcd #zane ro'meave #mcd rewrite #mcd headcanons #falcon claw

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tanoraqui · 4 years ago

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I have no idea what critical role is but you reblog it a lot. Is it just a bunch of people playing video games or something?

Critical Role is an ongoing RPG game (D&D 5e) played by a bunch of notable voice actors from video games, including Ashely Johnson (The Last of Us), Liam O’Brien (idk, he voiced some guy named Illidan somewhere? I know very little about video games), and Laura Bailey (she’s Laura goddamn Bailey). The Dungeon Master is Matthew Mercer (blanking - Overwatch cowboy) who’s REALLY GODDAMN GOOD at being a DM, and indeed does it as part of his full-time job now, because at some point they all went “fuck it” and incorporated as their own company. Because fuck yeah. Last spring (my god it was only last spring) they did a kickstarter to fund an animated series of some previous RPG adventures, and it broke several records and now - slowed by the global pandemic - there’s gonna be 2 seasons of an animated show, hosted by Amazon I think? (Every time I think about that I scream softly in excitement in my mind.)

It’s currently on its second big, multi-year campaign, with the adventuring party The Mighty Nein. Their previous campaign starred Vox Machina. Some highlights, arbitrarily mixed together, include:

that time Vox Machina had a cannonball contest, displaying their distinct personalities and powersets really well, actually

that time the Mighty Nein accidentally got into a fight with some smugglers and then the city guard, accidentally stole a ship, and thus, and I cannot emphasize this enough, accidentally became pirates

“Take me instead, you raven bitch.” - Vax’ildan of Vox Machina, half-elven rogue, offering his own life to the goddess of death in exchange for his sister’s and (unbeknownst to him at the time) beginning of long character arc of multiclassing as a paladin

Vox Machina’s archnemeses: doors, and also the elderly

the Mighty Nein’s archnemeses: chairs

Veth Brenatto, sometimes Nott the Brave, of the Mighty Nein regaining - with the help of her friends - her halfling form after years as a goblin, and immediately dip-kissing her husband and kicking all aforementioned friends (and her son) out so they can have sex

Taliesin Jaffe had eerie luck with nat20s in the Vox Machina campaign, but I maintain that Laura Bailey [harp music] actually has the best record for narratively on-point nat20s, including but not limited to:

two consecutive nat20s as Vex’ahlia of Vox Machina, half-elven ranger, to shoot the Briarwoods (sexy wizard/vampire couple) when they were about to kill her brother

True Love’s Nat20, rolling as part of the resurrection ritual to bring back Percy (Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III, human gunslinger of VM)

in the culminating moment of an episode in which the M9 one by one spoke with ancient, evil hag about what they might trade her in order to lift the curse on Nott, tiefling Jester Lavorre rolling at nat20 deception check to trick the into hag eating a cupcake laced with magic dust that lowered her ability to resist the Modify Memory curse Jester immediately cast, convincing the hag that she’d already agreed to the deal without demanding anything in return

not a Vex roll but Vex-enabled: dropping Grog (goliath barbarian) out of basically a magical pokeball with perfect dramatic timing for him to roll a nat20 final blow on his evil abusive uncle, cleaving him in twain

“Call me child one more goddamn time--” - Keyleth of the Air Ashari, half-elven druid of VM, snarling at the ancient green dragon who’d orchestrated the destruction of 1/4 of Keyleth’s people

“You were not born with poison in your veins....Welcome to the Mighty Nein.” - Caleb Widogast, human wizard, consoling/forgiving/welcoming aa lawful evil NPC who they’d caught playing a major part in creating a war between two empires for The Greater Ultimate Good (and kinda his own personal gain)...but he was their friend already at that point and Caleb had his own history with doing terrible things that he thought were right at the time, and actually someone else might’ve said the “Welcome to the Mighty Nein” part but that’s intrinsically part of it, and it’s...something they say to a lot of people; to a range of NPCs and guest characters. Which is interesting because Vox Machina DIDN’T; they were a tighter family unit but...well, they were a tighter family unit. And kinda...better people, more Heroes(TM)? Disastrous and often very fucked up inside and sometimes out, but Heroes(TM), on the whole.

whereas the M9 are more trying to sort out their own personal problems, and stumble into international politics almost by mistake. Even their relationships with NPCs are different - they don’t trust, none of the M9 trust in a way VM did, the party took much longer to gel just with each other. Partly, admittedly, because by the time Vox Machina came to the YouTube screen, the cast had been playing at home for about a year, whereas we’ve been watching the M9 from level 1...but even accounting for that, they’re all much less trusting people. Most of them had big secrets in their backstory

which is why it’s all the more wonderful every time they invite someone new it, either outside the group or just with each other. And it pays off - I don’t have a whole meta, but I’ve been thinking idly for a while about how kinda...the big (DM-created) plot twists in the VM campaign were generally...disruptions, dissolutions, or betrayals? The deception of Raishan (aforementioned ancient green dragon.) Hotis’s assassination attempt on Vax, while disguised as a trusted NPC. When Emperor Uriel stepped down and before he’d even finished his speech, there was a sudden invasion of 4 goddamn ancient dragons. Whereas the M9...not only have no NPCs unexpectedly turned on them (the grievous actions of aforementioned lawful evil NPC were mostly pre-story), but it feels almost like a plot twist every time an NPC in authority is benevolent? Like, they arranged peace negotiations between the warring empires and I think every single fan and player was waiting with bated breath for it to all go wrong...and it didn’t. There’s a truce, now. Will it last? Who knows. Jester’s god turned out to not be a god at all, just an archfey in over his head, but he’s not trying to hurt anyone - he came clean and asked for help.

Idk, man. Critical Role streams on Twitch every Thursday at 7pm, or at least, it’ll keep doing so if public health concerns don’t make it take a break again, and it makes me unironically happy to watch, pretty much every time. The cast has great friend chemistry and, now that they’ve all warmed up to each other, so do the characters.

Episodes DO tend to be 3-4 hours long, shaving off maybe half an hour in the podcast versions, so be aware of that. But I just kind of set Thursday evenings aside and I love it.

it’s funny bc I told my roommate I probably wasn’t going to go on a long emphatic ramble in response to this but Here We Are

#critical role #random anon asks

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autolenaphilia · 3 years ago

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Mafia: City of Lost Heaven

The original Mafia from 2002 by Illusion Softworks is a weird and fascinating game. It is a third-person shooter somewhat in the vein of the GTA series.

It is set in the 1930s and is about a Mafia family, the Salieris in the fictional city of Lost Heaven. It focuses on the rise of player character Tommy Angelo in the Salieri organization. It is a standard gangster movie plotline, with the Godfather and director Martin Scorcese being referenced often. The character wants the money crime can give him and is successful as a mafioso, but he experiences conflict between the horrible things he must do and his conscience. This contradiction eventually destroys him and the story becomes a tragedy.

This cinematic gangster tragedy is an unusually ambitious story for an action video game at the time, and it isn’t entirely unsuccessful in those. Mainly it is because the 1930s gangster film atmosphere is so fully realized, more than the actual writing. The writing isn’t terrible, Tommy’s story is a coherent tragedy, but it does not quite reach the high level of its gangster movie inspirations.

And it has many of the problems of the genre, except even more so. The game depicts the mafia in quite glorifiying ways. The mafiosos in these guys wear nice suits and fedoras, drive nice cars and get to have cool gunfights with Tommy guns. And yet the story tries to have it the other way too, with the mafia depicted as ruthless violent people and crime leading to a tragic end. Tommy is himself frequently appalled at the things the family wants him to do and ultimately he ends up badly because of his mafioso life. The contradiction is obvious. It is the same trap the gangster films that inspired this game fall into. Gangster films want to show this cool escapist fantasy of gangsters because it is fun, yet both storytelling logic and any moral analysis demands crime leads to tragedy.

The story also has the problem of this opposition between “good” gangsters and “bad” gangsters that doesn’t make much sense. The plot driving the story for basically 4/5 of the game and especially the middle levels is this rivalry between the Salieri and Morello families that eventually becomes an outright war. And in order to have a more easily graspable “heroes and villains” situation, the narrative is clear that the Morellos are the worse mobster family. Don Morello kills people for bumping into his car and tortures people to death. He is presented as a vile and repellent villain from the first. It is the Morello mobsters which you kill for most of the game, and you kill a lot of them, and this somewhat over-the-top villainization is meant to justify that.

And Salieri doesn’t do these kinds of things, he doesn’t deal in drugs either and fights common thugs who mug and sexually assualt women. He is the “good” kind of gangster. Even his collecting of protection money is presented as actually providing some form of protection. It is an implausible idea to say the least, and the game is certainly aware of it. What drives the plot inthe last four levels of the game is that Don Salieri is becoming morally worse after his final victory over Morello, getting more greedy for money and power. Butthe game depicts him as committing ruthless murders even before that point. This inherent evil of the mafia is what drives the actual main storyline: the tragedy of Tommy.

This Salieri vs. Morello plot feels hollow, the game’s attempts to subvert it doesn’t work because it doesn’t feel credible to begin with. The over-the-top villainy of Morello and Salieri’s softer actionsfeel like sentimental nonsense from the very start. “This gangster is good, he protects people from common muggers OwO, but this gangster is bad, he tortures people >:(“. Salieri’s slide into further villainy after Morello’s defeat doesn’t feel credible either. For a subversion like that to work it must have some plausibility to start with, some emotional resonance with the audience, and it just doesn’t.

It makes the game feel like it buys into the glamorization of crime that is often present in the genre more than most actual gangster films do.

Speaking of that, I should mention the sexism of this game. Most gangster films certainly depict a male-dominated culture. In that, the genre reflects the real-life mafia, which is extremely male-dominated and misogynist, and it is arguable how much those films endorse that sexism as opposed to merely depicting it.

And I would argue Mafiafalls into endorsing it, at least in its storytelling. There are only tworeal female characters, and each only appears in one level each. Sarah is an especially outstanding example, for she becomesTommy’s wife. The level in which she appears Tommy rescues her from a sexual assault by some muggers and they have sex and fall in love. This is said to lead to their marriage, and I do literally mean “said” because we never see her again after that level. Tommy mentions her occasionally and his marriage to Sarah and their daughter is by his own admission his most important motivation.

And that is the purpose of women in the story of Mafia: to provide motivation for their husbands. Two other gangsters are similarly driven by their wifes and children to break with the Salieri family’s obligations, in explicit parallels to Tommy’s situation. And it is not just sexist writing, it is ineffective writing too. Tommy’s marriage is meant to be very important to him as a character, and it is problem in the actual story it is never shown. We never get to see Tommy’s and Sarah’s supposedly idyllic family life, only hear Tommy talk about how it is the most important thing for him, which weakens any emotional empathy we might feel with him.

The level with Sarah at least features a bunch of dialogue between Tommy and Sarah and it is nice I suppose, but it is not enough. Sarah is also depicted as a bit of a bimbo or at least extremely naive, as she doesn’t seem to be aware the Salieri’s are well a mafia family, which seems unrealistic considering how closely connected she is with them. (She grew up as the daughter of the bartender in the Salieri’s Bar and works there, a location in which they literally shoot rival gangsters in at one point).

The writer of Mafia, Daniel Vavra would many years later become a gamergater, probably the most prominent developer to sympathize with the movement. And while it is of course a disappointment, it is not entirely unexpected. He was by far not the worst misogynist in video games or anything,

but just looking at Mafia, it is not strange at all that Vavra as a game writer would feel threatened of the very idea of feminist analysis of video games.

I talked about the story far more than I wanted to when I started writing this, and it is actually not the most interesting thing about this game, it is actually the city of Lost Heaven itself, the attempts at realism in the gameplayand the cars.

The city of Lost Heaven is one of the more fully realized cities in video games, and it is clear a lot of effort and thought was put into its design. Even the map of the city which you use to navigate it showed a lot of effort. It has (printed)creases, stains and pen markings drawn on it just like a real map would. The original box(that I owned) came with an actual physical copy of the map, which was very fun to have,although bringing up the map in-game by pressing tab was certainly the more practical option.

It is perhaps not a huge world compared to modern open-world games, but it was huge for 2002 and it is varied in a semi-realistic way. Lost Heaven is divided into various distinct areas just like a real city would. There is an industrial area, a working class housing area (“Hoboken”), a detached housing area for the upper middle class on the outskirts (Oakwood), an area with mansions for the rich (Oak Hill), ethnic ghettos like Chinatown or Little Italy. The basic idea seems to have been is to recreate an American city from the period in miniature.

And the areas have been given a lot of effort to make them appear more tangible. The building models and textures are different of course, but you can also detect a difference in the pedestrians. People in working clothes walk around in the industrial area and the working class area of Hoboken, whereas you can primarily see the nice looking suits and dresses in the richer areas of of town. It clearly took great effort to program and it contributes greatly to the mood. Even the cars seem to vary slightly, with the older and cheaper cars more abundant in the poorer districts, but the difference I think is lesser compared to the pedestrians.

The care with which Lost Heaven was constructed creates this compelling atmosphere. It feels like you are driving around in a 1930s American city. The aesthetics and atmosphere make the gangster story work better than it otherwise would. Lost Heaven simply feels more real than most video game cities do. And this is despite the dated graphics.The textures might oftenbe very grainy, shop signs especially are a blurry mess, but even they were made with some effort.

Let’s talk about the cars too, because they encapsulate this game in both aesthetics and gameplay. The cars are all based on real cars of the period, even if the names are all changed to avoid any claims of trademark infringement. Fords are called “Bolts” and Chrysler Airflows are called “Ulver Airstream” for example. If you know anything about older cars, you can however easily recognize many of them them under the changed names. an early game car is unmistakeably a Ford model T for example. Also some cars are far more common than they should be, like the concept car Pierce Silver Arrow of which only five were built is a common rich man’s car in the game under the name “Silver Fletcher”.

The cars driven by the NPCs are used to show the passage of time in the game, which goes from 1930 to 1938. As the years go by in story, older cars get more uncommon (but don’t disappear entirely) and new models are introduced. Your access to cars in gameplay also improves as you progress in the story. You go from slow, fragile cars like the aforementioned T-ford to fast, powerful and sturdy cars. The effort put into the cars from the research to the NPC programming is another thing that helps create the compelling mood of Mafiaand the city of Lost Heaven.

The cars are a good example of how the game often prioritizes atmosphere and verisimilitude over fun and accessible gameplay. The driving in this game is not a side-thing like it would be in most action games and cars in this game handle fairly realistically for this type of game. It is still arcadey, but far less arcadey than you would expect from a non-driving simulator. And most importantly, cars are period accurate in that they are both slower and more clunky to handle than modern cars.

Damage to the car also has more consequences than you might expect. A crash might damage the engine causing the car to go slower, a bullet rupturing a tyre makes the car far more difficult to handle, a shot to the gas tank will cause the fuel to leak out(fuel is never really a problem in the primary story mode, but it is there as a game mechanic and can be relevant in the free ride mode). The early-game cars are more fragile and vulnerable to crashes and the like, but none (outside a special car in the game’s free ride mode which not available in the regular story) are immune to these problems.

So this game prioritizes realism over player enjoyment, practically the only obvious concession to the player is that you always have automatic gearchanges available, but you can also choose to change gears manually if you want to. It is frankly oftenfrustrating, even the best cars in this game can be difficult to handle.

Car chases in this game are brutally difficult because of this, and the game’s most infamous level is the fifth one where you have to compete in a car race, driving a fairly period-accurate racing car. It has perhaps the best speed and acceleration of all the car’s in this game, but handles terribly. It is perhaps the most difficult level in the game, and even the developers seem to have realized how unfair it is. You could cheat in the original box copy version of the game which I played as a kid and the GOG version has an easy mode for the race.

A lot of the game is actually about this car hierarchy mentioned before. Typically at the beginning of each level you are given a new car by the Salieri’s mechanic Ralphy, and it is usually better than the car he gave you last level (he also teaches you how to steal it, which isn’t that useful in the story mode, but gives you that ability in other game modes). At the end of most levels, you are also given the opportunity to do an optional side-mission for another mechanic, Lucas. If you succeed, Lucas teaches you how to steal a really capable car. Typically the car you can get from Lucas will be better than the ones Ralphy will give you for the next 2 levels at least.

So the clunky car mechanics both give period verisimilitude and a sense of progression throughout the game.

And it does certainly add to the atmosphere and sense of realism. Mafia’s cars feel more real than most video game cars, but they are also oftenfrustrating to use in gameplay.

But Mafia priortizing its verisimilitude over player enjoyment doesn’t stop there. In each level you are given an objective, typically somewhere else in the city than where you start (which is usually Salieri’s bar). And you have to drive from the starting point to where the actual level starts. After the level is over, you have to drive all the way back.

You can’t just speed your way through the city either, because Lost Heaven’s cops will notice you breaking the speed limit or running a red light and fine you. The fine doesn’t actually cost you anything in the story mode, but it takes up time and negates any time you won by speeding. You can run away but the cop cars will follow and try to arrest you (which is a game-over), and if you try to kill them they will shoot back. The police will usually radio in for back-up too, so you will have to evade or kill the cops (including the back-up) to escape, both of which are fairly difficult.

So the best idea is to keep to the speed limit of 40 mph and don’t run any red lights. You can toggle a speed limiter with the F5 button which caps your car’s speed at 40 miles. It adds to the realism the developers are going for, but in order to play the actual level you have to have this bit of tedium with the drive both before and after. It is basicallya commute except with a varying destination.

The developers was probably aware of the tedium on some level. During the first half of the second level you get to play Tommy during his pre-gangster life as a taxi driver. It is literally just driving from point A to B under a time limit, and the customer will get cranky if you crash the car, and getting a speeding ticket is game-over here of course. The customer dialogue is often rude and theydoesn’t even thank you for most of the time. It is super-tedious and clearly intended to get the player to understand why Tommy became a gangster, since this boring dead-end job is his alternative. The problem of course is that a lot of his life as a gangster consists of driving from point a to point b in a similar fashion.

The game’s obsession with verisimilitude also extends beyond the driving to the action. Without being entirely realistic, Tommy is on the flimsier side of shooter game protagonists and can’t take a lot of bullets before dying. It is like in Max Payne, where a point-blank shotgun blast can practically kill the player character in one hit. You can find healing in first aid boxes boxes, but they are rare. Reloading before your magazine is empty also means you lose any bullets left in the magazine.

And unlike Max Payne, there are no quicksaves or manual saves whatsoever. Saves are done automatically at certain checkpoints and you have to re-start at those if you die. This save system makes this game extremely difficult, since you have to sometimes practice entire segments in order to progress. It is a lot of having to memorize where an enemy mobster pops out so you can shoot him before he shoots you.

The combat is certainly well-made and sometimes quite fun. There are like the cars some weak weapons, but overall weapons feel powerful and the environments and set-pieces are often enjoyable. But the action like the rest of the game is frustratingly difficult.

And that is the game, pretty much. You have a tedious drive to have a big spectacular shoot-out that is frustratingly difficult and you have another drive back. Sometimes there is a car chase, but that’s it. There is a stealth level that tries to change up the formula where you break into a villa, but the game is not really built for stealth so it is frustrating and very much not fun. Then there is the side-missions from Lucas on your drive back, usually a timed fetch-quest of some kind. They do add variety and have some interesting story ideas but can be frustrating in their own right.

There is also the free ride game mode, where you get to explore Lost Heaven freely and do whatever you want, although there is not that much to do, except get into car chases/fire fights with cops or random gangsters you can aggro if you want. The oddest game mode is “free ride extreme”, where you get to do various bizarre quests to unlock equally bizarre cars. It is a weird mode, especially for this game, as you have this usually serious aiming-for-realism game letting its hair down and going for outright comedic surrealism.You get to chase down a super-fast npc named Speedy Gonzales, that sort of thing. The mission certainly have surreal imagination to their credit, even if they can be as frustrating as the rest of this game.

So is Mafia a good game? It is hard to say. A lot of my fond memories of this game comes from playing an already old by that point box copy as a teen when I didn’t have access toor had played many other games, so nostalgia plays into my fondness for this game.

Replaying it now, the game’s faults are more apparent. When it comes to story, the game certainly stood out back then, and the tragedy of Tommy Angelo the unwise still broadly works, but its re-telling of gangster movies has not aged that well. Gameplay-wise the game is difficult in a way that feels frustrating rather than fun, and there is a lot of tedious driving from point A to B. Some of the action set-pieces are exciting, but the high difficulty and limited save system essentially means replaying large chunks of them almost to the point of memorization.

There are many other games like the GTA series that have a similar mix of third-person action with driving which have more easily enjoyable gameplay. Mafia seems to care more about making its world believable than any kind of player enjoyment.

And it is probably its world, the city of Lost Heaven that still fascinates about this game. A lot of work and love went into Lost Heaven, and it shows. Lost Heaven is an atmospheric and memorable place. Mafia makes a lot of strange gameplay choices just to make Lost Heaven seem more real, choices that not many other games would have made for good reason, because thatlevel of realism is not that fun.

The result is that this is a game where you play a badass 1930s gangster not just during daring shootouts in mobster wars, but also during his slow drive to and from hisgangster work, and youhas to follow the traffic laws so he isn’t ticketed. It is 1930s Gangster simulator 2002, or an approximation there of.

Mafiaisn’t alwaysa fun game, there is a long stretchesof frustration and tedium here, but it is frequently interesting and a clear labour of love, atmospheric, weirdand fascinating.

#mafia 2002 #my reviews

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nicnacsnonsense · 5 years ago

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Aziraphale & Crowley's D&D classes?

Short version:

Aziraphale is a paladin, and Crowley is a bard.

Long version:

Aziraphale originally created his character as a paladin at the suggestion of the DM because it was going to create the best team balance and be the best fit for the planned campaign. However, as he played he found he didn’t really enjoy the melee combat and would much rather be support class. He’s continually tried to change classes to cleric, but the DM won’t let him.

And Gabriel’s not even the real, original DM. She stopped answering anyone’s calls ages ago. They know she’s not dead because they managed to get a hold of her... husband? flatmate? assistant? attorney? dude who speaks for her, but she’s not talking to any of them. So the group decided to elect Gabriel to take over as DM to continue the campaign.

I say the group decided, but Aziraphale was not consulted on this policy decision. And quite frankly he’s not really enjoying playing anymore; Gabriel is a terrible DM, and the whole group has gotten rather overbearing. He considers quitting on a semi-regular basis, but always feels bad about potentially leaving everyone else in the lurch, and besides, where else is he going to go? He doesn’t know of any other D&D groups he could join or how he would go about finding one.

Meanwhile Crowley started out with his group as a bard, but then one of the other players basically tricked him into making a warlock pact with a demon prince, forcing the class change. And what’s worse is the guy texted everyone the day after that session to let them know in the most condescending way possible that he was quitting. The DM decided to narratively address this issue by revealing his character was actually the demon prince in disguise and shifting the character to a sporadically appearing NPC, so now this arse gets off scot-free while Crowley is stuck with him.

Crowley hates playing as a warlock, admittedly partially because it was forced on him, and feels like the group as a whole is getting pretty toxic. He plans on quitting, but first he’s trying to find a way to force the story to dissolve his pact with the demon prince on principle/out of spite. He just has to keep his plotting from the DM because he knows Beelzebub would stop him if they knew about it.

And Beelzebub isn’t even the original DM. They just took over when the first DM basically vanished. Crowley hates them as a DM, and feels like they’re part of the reason this whole thing has gone toxic.

In a twist that shocks all the players but precisely zero members of the reading audience, it turns out both groups’ AWOL DMs are in fact the same DM. She was running both campaigns concurrently and had been secretly weaving them together. The plan was for a big reveal and then to do one last story arc as a joint effort before closing out the campaign. Which means now Gabriel and Beelzebub are trying to co-DM, despite the fact they can’t stand each other and 2 minutes and 13 seconds is currently their record for longest they’ve gone without one of them insulting the other. And the both of them swear they’re moving things forward exactly the way the DM had planned based on her notes, as though they didn’t all know she always had a million and one things going on in her head and wrote less than half of them down. The whole thing is quickly turning into a shit show without any actual playing happening.

So Crowley is watching all this go down and seriously considers leaving for a minute, before screwing up his courage and sauntering over to sit down next to the good-looking blond guy from the other group, Az-something his name was. “Well this is going down like a lead ballon.”

Az, Az... Aziraphale! That was his name, Aziraphale. Aziraphale glances over at Crowley and chuckles a little, but he looks extremely nervous. Hopefully it’s a general social awkwardness thing, and not something about Crowley in particular that he’s finding off-putting. “Sorry, what was that?” Aziraphale asks.

“I said, ‘Well this is going down like a lead ballon.’”

“Yes, yes, it is rather,” Aziraphale agrees.

Emboldened by his success so far — given that Aziraphale is the type of person to show up for a casual game night in a waistcoat, bow tie, and pocket watch, whereas Crowley’s the type of guy (well, guy-ish) to wear snakeskin boots, women’s jeans, and get a snake tattooed to the side of his face, he’s willing to consider not getting immediately shut down a success — Crowley leans closer to whisper conspiratorially. “You know my disaster of a neighbor runs sessions with the local gang of eleven year olds, and I bet even they run a smoother game than this lot.”

“I shouldn’t doubt it.” Aziraphale huffs in annoyance. “At this rate we aren’t going to get anything done today at all, and I can’t possibly stay late just because everyone else is bickering and disorganized. I have dinner reservations for that new Italian restaurant; I hear they do remarkable things to oysters.”

“I’ve never eaten an oyster,” Crowley replies.

“Oh, well, let me tempt you to—“ Aziraphale cuts himself off and quickly looks away, blushing.

Crowley grins. “Tempt me to what?” he asks, gently knocking Aziraphale’s foot with his own.

Aziraphale darts a sideways look at him, and then back down at his hands, still blushing faintly. “I was just thinking it’s such a shame you’ve never tried oysters before and that, well, if you aren’t busy of course, that you might want to join me tonight.”

“I wouldn’t want to wreck your dinner plans,” Crowley says, which is half true. He has no problem with wrecking dinner plans in principle — he finds he especially doesn’t have a problem with crashing a date that Azirapahle might hypothetically be on — but he doesn’t want to do it if it would upset Aziraphale.

“I doubt it’ll be a hardship to ask the restaurant to bump my table for one to two.”

“Well, in that case,” Crowley drawls. The two of them are both smiling at each other now, and that’s... good. It’s very good. Very, very good. In fact, “Why don’t we head out now? Go see a movie before dinner.”

Aziraphale looks scandalized. “We can’t leave early. Everyone else is counting on us to be here to play.”

Crowley nods over toward Beelzebub and Gabriel, who look about two seconds away from an actual fist fight at this point — Crowley’s money is on Beelzebub; they’re small, but they’re scrappy, and Gabriel might be built, but he doesn’t look like he can take a punch for shit. “You really think they’re going to miss us?”

“Ah, well...” Aziraphale hems.

“It doesn’t have to be a movie.” Crowley says. “We could go for a coffee, a walk in the park, to the museum...” Aziraphale lights up at the last suggestion, and Crowley’s heart starts to beat a little faster. He firmly tells it to calm the fuck down; they’re trying to play it cool here. “Come on. You tempted me to dinner, only fair to let me tempt you to a museum, huh?”

Aziraphale takes on last glance at the rest of the group before turning back to Crowley. His smile is small but extraordinarily pleased, and he wiggles a bit in his seat. “Temptation accomplished.”

After that the two of them leave for their “is it a date? Who the fuck knows; definitely not these two idiots.” The following week they go to Newt’s D&D session instead. Crowley is allowed to immediately revert his character back to a bard. Meanwhile Aziraphale ends up staying a paladin, but the kids have enough big damage dealers in their group that he can play the character as an unusually tank-y healer.

#good omens #crowley #aziraphale #azcrow #ineffable husbands #d&d #d&d au #fanfiction #ish #did i send myself an ask just so i could phrase this post as an answer?#yes yes i did #it is an accurate reflection of the creation process of this content #ridiculous me #long post

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lilithianqueen · 4 years ago

Text

Brekka, her husband Garsk, and their daughter Vera, Lilith’s personal attendant and chauffeur/steward respectively. Brekka has been with Lilith since the early beginnings of the Pentagram, as essentially her confidant and mother figure. Garsk came later on, and he took over basically the then still a one-room dwelling. As the palace was built, Garsk took on the responsibilities of a steward, seeing to it that the castle ran smoothly while Lilith and Lucifer took care of their sovereign duties and so that his wife could continue being Lilith’s handmaiden and later friend.

Lilith will actively call them ‘mom and dad’, given they effectively raised her and taught her how to be who and what she is. They taught her how to read and write Hellion, making it the main language of the Hellborn, and they were there for her (alongside Lucifer) for every failed pregnancy. Vera was born shortly after Charlie herself was, and while the two were not too terribly close given that Vera chose a more wild lifestyle than Charlie did, she does have great respect for the Princess and was supportive of her when the idea of the Happy Hotel was brought up.

Vera has not as yet chosen a career path, though she does idolize Verosika Mayday and is slowly hinting at wanting to be a celebrity.

Disclaimer: These three characters will appear in threads as NPCs, and are canon only to my iteration of Lilith and the world in my particular canon. They can be interacted with sparsely, and I may bring them in as side muses at one point.

#𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖫𝖾𝗀𝖾𝗇𝖽𝗌 𝖲𝖺𝗒 ... | Headcanon #𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖲𝗂𝗇𝗅𝖾𝗌𝗌 𝖯𝗎𝗉𝗉𝖾𝗍𝖾𝖾𝗋 | OOC #Vera is also my Imp OC but lol?

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annakie · 5 years ago

Photo

An Annotated Mass Effect Playthrough, Part Seven

List of Posts: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Wherein we... talk to the crew. I didn’t quite make it off the ship.

Still, a lot of words.

Aka the nearly All-Gif update.

Didn’t get a chance to play ME at all this week, so I’m going to spend a few hours this weekend (double-checking to make sure screenshotting works :p) and have some real updates later.

So making it back to the ship from Therum, it’s time to talk to the crew. I maybe could have gone and talked to them after getting on the ship after the Citadel, but they don’t really have any unique lines then so, I usually wait til now to go chat.

First, let’s talk to Liara.

The thing that sucks about talking to Liara (or Kaidan, or Ashley, if you don’t want to romance them) is, you know, the accidental romance. Making “picking the Paragon-place choices = romance by default with NO WARNING” design was very Not Good. They fixed this in later games, well moreso in Dragon Age games than ME, (and Andromeda is done very well for this) but still. In ME3, the BackOff mod does a great job of making romance dialog more obvious and intentional.

Liara’s dialog choices I feel like are even LESS obviously flirting I feel like than Ash and Kaidan’s. Honestly with Liara’s most of the lines can be read and even said aloud as friendship then BOOM, all of a sudden she wants a threesome. I choose middle dialog options whenever possible with Liara just to avoid this. I’m not interested, never have been, don’t want Kaidan to think he has any competition. But seriously, it’s poor game design here that you literally have to be a jerk to a companion at some points to avoid having them think you want to bang. God, half of the reason I’d love a remaster would be to hopefully fix shit like this to avoid some of the pitfalls.

I hate that some people use this as a reason to dislike these characters more. And I’ll admit, in my early days as a ME fan, I held it against Liara, too, until I realized how dumb that is. I especially hate it when you get to the “confrontation scene” and people use Kaidan not wanting to be in a threesome as a reason to dislike him more? It’s not a bad thing to want to be monogamous? (And of course, it’s not a bad thing to NOT want to be, assuming everyone is open and OK about it.)

I just prefer to not get that scene at all now, and to avoid “leading anyone on” accidentally etc. My Shepard knows early on what she wants, and sticks with him all the way through.

I was going to talk more here about my feelings about Liara in general but uh, I guess I’ll do that later. This is already really long.

Here’s a great post about how to avoid romancing Kaidan while being rude as little as possible to him.

Well since he’s right outside the medbay anyway, let’s go talk to the LT.

Have I mentioned how much I hate the orange glow?

So anyway, I thought maybe I’d talk here a little bit about Why Kaidan?

I will point out here that I am mostly a hetero woman, so my choices in video game romances lean towards men first, though I’m also very cool with doing non-m/f romances in games, and often do on subsequent playthroughs of games I love, but that’s almost never gonna be my primary romance.

I’d already mentioned my love for Carth Onasi, one of the most hated companions in video games, If You’re A Guy.

By today’s standards, even the Carth romance isn’t that great. But at the time, it was the greatest romance I’d experienced in video games. There were a few others that were really good -- Valen Shadowbreath in Neverwinter Nights: Horde of the Underdark was the other really great one, but we also got nightmare fuel like Anomen in Baldur’s Gate (though that gets better with mods + the final BG expansion) or just under-written characters or romances like Casavir in NWN2 (who was much better with mods) or hell, either of your choices in KotOR2 imho. But I used to play KotOR over and over for many reasons, such as holy shit a Star Wars game(!!) and one where you can actually be a female main character AND has that great Bioware storytelling... but a big reason was Carth.

A funny thing about Carth Onasi... if you play a male main character, you have a very different experience with Carth than if you play a woman. And even I can agree that hoo boy Carth gets tiresome quick if you play a male, as a female you at least get to flirt and that calms him down and evens him out a lot. But the one time I tried playing as a male, I didn’t make it off Taris because.. yeouch I could actually see what the guys playing were so mad about.

But hey, that voice. Raphael Sbarge, I love that voice. So like I said early on in these posts, I immediately knew I was going to romance Kaidan the very second I confirmed he was romancable, before I even ran back into the ship and met anyone on the crew aside from Joker and Kaidan.

And... that only got confirmed more and more as I went through ME for the first time. The character is smart, and capable, and respected you, and never questioned your command, but made his feelings pretty clear along the way. He could be a little doofy but in an adorable way with some of the things he said, honestly there was almost never anything I didn’t love about this character.

I realized some time ago that I have a thing for the Paladin archetype personally.

This is Casavir, from Neverwinter Nights 2, and in NWN2, there are two romance options for women. An under-written Lawful Good Paladin in his late 30′s who is willing to buck his superiors to do what he thinks is right but also places you on a pedestal and holds back all his emotions. He’s a romance option. Or....

Bishop, a chaotic evil ranger who insults you a lot, threatens to rape an NPC under your protection, and ultimately betrays you.

Most people who played NWN2 seemed to prefer the CE Ranger. I loved the paladin so much I wrote fix-it fic that I never have gotten around to publishing anywhere to retcon his terrible dumb ending.

There’s a fan-made romance mod that helps with the romances in this game, though I dislike a lot of what they did, ultimately I always use it.

In Dragon Age?

Ah yeah, the Templar-Warden. Love him. He does have that “Oh I’m so young and experienced tee-hee” thing going on that isn’t my favorite, (at this point mostly because I’m actually in my mid-40′s so uh, I’m just Old) but otherwise, yeah, love Alistair.

Dragon Age 2, I mean I usually romance Anders but... I’m not real excited about either him or Fenris, or even either of the ladies, though I have done Isabella’s romance (as well as Fenris’) and enjoyed it. I’d probably romance Avaline (or Varric!), if she were an option. But yeah, Anders mostly because he IS trying to do what’s right, even if he... well. You know.

But Dragon Age Inquisition?

Give me that Blackwall-angst. That stoic guy trying to be a Warden who comes undone for you. You’d think I’d go for Cullen, but hey this game gave us two paladin archetypes, though one is merely pretending, he still atones and becomes what he was trying to be, one way or another, if you let him. I picked this paladin archtype first because I did not like Cullen based on interactions with him in DA1 & 2. I like him well enough in DA:I but Blackwall is my guy here.

Out of all the many, many companions in SWTOR, who’s my fave?

If Aric Jorgan isn’t a Paladin-type I don’t know who is, especially since any romanceable Jedi are uh, all your female padawans (don’t get me started) until Lana (also female) comes along.

Hell, in a very long-running 4e D&D game I played from around 2009 to 2014 where my character fell in love with our party leader’s son, married him and fought the final boss 4 months pregnant with our twins. That character’s husband... was a paladin. I mean look at this art my friend picked out for his character’s son:

I mean dang, who (of those who are attracted to men of this type) wouldn’t?

I always pick the Paladin. The guy who is gonna Do What’s Right no matter what it costs him, the guy who’s gonna be loyal, the guy who may bottle up his emotions or keep them under control all the time but ultimately does what it takes to get the girl... that’s my fave. And that’s Kaidan.

I will also say my second fave archetype is rogue-with-a-heart-of-gold, and that’s more of a Garrus or Varric (if only he were a choice!!! :( ) type.. aka my second choice in these games.

Well that was a lot more words on that subject than I meant to do, so I’m going to just say real quick here that what I love about this first conversation with Kaidan is that he’s already no dummy, he knows something is up, and warns you about it.

We’ll save talk about his backstory for another day.

Let’s head downstairs.

Yay for sped-up elevators! What used to take like 20 seconds now takes like, four.

URDNOT WREX.

This another place where Shepard starts out just sticking their foot in their mouths completely. I feel like this is something the game definitely has problems with here. Shepard should know a lot more about the Genophage, like they should have about say, Spectres, even if the player doesn’t. So basically every response you can give to Wrex about the genophage and what his people are going through sounds really insensitive. Comparing the relatively minor First Contact War with the entire galaxy more or less uniting to keep the Krogan from taking over after the Rachni war seems pretty dumb, and also like something Shepard should already know.

Loredumping on the Krogans a bunch with Wrex is necessary, but I think it could have been done better. Though I think there are a lot of questions about the Krogan and the Genophage that ultimately are important but go unanswered. I’m going to be honest, because generally I want my companions to be happy and ultimately I want the happiest ending I can get, I usually cure the genophage and leave Wrex in charge. But also I don’t think that ends up with the happiest ending for the galaxy. Everything about the genophage is terrible, how it works, how it was administered, what it’s done to the Krogan as a people, but let’s be honest, the galaxy will also be in huge trouble just from a resources perspective if each krogan woman can have hundreds (or even just dozens) of babies a year, who are gonna all live a thousand years. There’s got to be a compromise that, eventually, hopefully Wrex works out if he’s alive at the end of ME3 or the council figures out with Wreav or whoever.

It is kinda funny though that here, I basically met Wrex at C-Sec, told him I’d help him with Fist, sent him to my ship, and basically just kidnapped him to go help with the rest of the mission. He wanted to be here, right? I can only assume I’m paying him a lot.

Ashley!

I do love Ashley Williams.

I’m not going to turn this into a “Is Ashley Racist” thinkpiece. I’ve read a lot of both sides of this argument and no, I don’t think she is. Some pieces of her attitude do need to be kicked up a bit, for sure. She’s got about the same issues with aliens as most of the species of the galaxy have with each other, which sometimes isn’t great, but she’s far from supporting Terra Firma.

She’s smart, she’s funny, a hell of a shot, she’s being held back due to her family name. I would love for if someday a Wilshenko OT3 were possible. I’d do that in an instant. I despise the fact that you can only keep Kaidan forever if you lose Ashley forever, though I don’t see that changing even in a remaster. Please Bioware, for the super ultra remaster?

I know I need to do another run through the game with Ashley alive. I don’t remember too much of what happens in ME3 when she’s there.

I also love that her story is so much one of family. From her stories of her sisters, to the point that it’s her own grandfather’s legacy that’s holding her back. She’s so grounded, she reminds us that there are civilians out there we’re keeping safe, a whole world we rarely see, up in space and in the middle of so much military conflict.

GARRUS.

First of all, whew Garrus looks amazing in the lighting and with the textures with ALOT/MEUITM. Very handsome.

Interestingly, Garrus does not really loredump on the turians. We absorb a lot of what we find out about the turians more naturally. Garrus is more all about C-Sec and the general politics of the Council, of Spectres, of C-Sec. Gonna be honest, I expected C-sec to play into the game as a whole a lot more than it did based on Garrus’ talks about it. I mean it was always there, but Bailey ends up being the face of C-Sec

Garrus’ Law vs. I Do What I Want attitude is a nice way to do a non-goody-two-shoes companion story without having to go evil. I love that Garrus’ story kinda mirrors our own as players, how are we going to get things done? Shove a blaster in people’s faces, accept collateral damage, and do whatever it takes to get it done? OR play by the rules, compromise, and see if that fixes things.

The thing is though, Mass Effect actually is great at giving us the illusion of choice without making a huge difference in the end. Like I mentioned before... not bringing Garrus to ME1 makes little difference in how he acts in ME2 outside of a few lines of dialog. Lots of things are like that, like pick Ash or Kaidan on Virmire, and yes one is always gone, but 80% of the content is basically the same from there on out for either character.

There are games out now that do that choice better. Pathfinder: Kingmaker is one I can think of. Or Tyranny. Things you choose can alter the endings of those games drastically, locking entire paths out of the game.

I used to think that was what I wanted. Until I played Kingmaker and locked myself out of things I really wanted without realizing it. I stopped playing the game, sad that my LI dumped me and wouldn’t come back without reloading many, many hours worth of game. Despite enjoying the game overall, I still haven’t gone back. When I do play again, I’ll probably keep a lot of tabs open of walkthroughs and tips on how to keep things going how I want. Kind of defeating the purpose of the game.

Anyway, I got super off track again. The point is, Garrus is the companion that gives us the most Choice in who he is. Which is cool. He illustrates our Paragon vs Renegade dilemma. And it’s neat that it does make changes in some of the things he says in the future, but overall, his story doesn’t change much no matter what you do (Unless you, ya know, get him killed in ME2).

And therein lies a problem with Mass Effect, and video games as a whole. It’s neat to see the little changes, but it’s rare for anything to be an actual Big Change, because... that’s a loooot of work for a developer and how much more money is all that going to cost him.

At some point in the future I’ll point out how lucky we are for what we did get, though.

Heeeey it’s Chief Engineer Greg Adams! I wonder how many people don’t even know he has a first name? Anyway, thank you for your one short conversation in which you explain how the Normandy works (honestly, great job with explaining this, Bioware, even if the science is ???) and like three sentences on who you are. Wasted opportunity to give you an actual character. Glad you like Tali, though! See you in ME3.

TALI!

Okay, I will totally accept that Shepard doesn’t know much past the basics of quarian society. That makes a lot more sense than Shepards not knowing much about asari.

The quarians are so much more of an original creation I feel like than a lot of what we’ve seen in the galaxy so far. Krogan? Basically Klingons. Turians? Space Romans. Asari? Twilek/Space Elves but ALL Hot Ladies. Qarians feel like something new though.

I mean, I guess before they had to live in suits they were pretty normal, but their entire culture doesn’t feel like something we’ve seen everyplace before. I mean I’ve seen space (g-slur) but, eh not really.

And Tali herself is such a good character. I mean, she does suffer a little from being Very Important with her father being one of five admirals in a population of six million people but, I’ll allow it. Nobody else on the crew has Very Important Parents. I mean Garrus’ father is a little high up in the ranks but that’s a non-factor, Ash’s grandfather was but he’s dead and never seen, Wrex’s father is a chieftan but none of those is central to their current story or as big as this one. I mean, Spacer Shep’s own mother is a captain of a ship. Tali herself in-game isn’t that sexualized -- most of that was the fandom’s doing. She’s young but also confident and has her shit together.

She shoulda been a same-sex romance in ME2/3 though, damnit!

Joker. Is. Amazing. And uh, also shoulda been a romance option.

Hey first of all, how great was it that they put in disabled representation in this game. I have read a few posts on how it could have been better, and definitely agree, but it’s also been so important to have say, Geordi LaForge as chief engineer of the Enterprise and also Joker here, in space, being awesome on spaceships. And he really earns his the right to his bravado in calling himself the best pilot in the galaxy.

Also? Casting Seth Green was such a great choice. I couldn’t imagine Joker as anyone else. I mean this is Bioware so we expect, and definitely got, great voice acting (except for... ugh you know, we’ll get there in ME3) but honestly Seth Green was a particularly good choice. I don’t care that he’s covered with sixteen layers of plot armor, he deserves it.

He’s the companion that we don’t ever get to take in the squad. (I mean, except for that brief amazing moment in ME2)

I only wish in ME1 he had as much to say as in ME2/3. At least he gets cool snarky lines after all the major missions.

One last thing before we get off the ship for awhile, I love that the crew is actually comprised of both men AND women in ME1. With different hairstyles and faces, and even skin tones. It’s nice to see they didn’t just reuse the same guy over and over for the nameless NPCs.

Well, I guess they get names in ME2. :v

Anyway, I would like to point out, that there are seventeen nameless NPCs on the Normandy.

Then there’s Adams, Tali, Garrus, Wrex, Ashley, Kaidan, Chakwas, Liara, Pressley, and Joker.

That’s twenty-seven people and eight sleep pods. Let’s remove the aliens, who couldn’t fit in a sleep pod (Garrus and Wrex), twenty-five people. Are there people sleeping in the sleep pods now? There must be, right? Everyone can’t be awake when we’re on the ship just because we’re there? How does that math add up? Who is sleeping where, HOW DOES IT WORK!?

Well, that’s their problem. I got my own bed. Kaidan can share.

Also just... don’t get me started on how stupid this is. I mean it’s nice having a shop on the ship but... the justification is terrible. We all know it. He was counted as one of the 17 nameless, btw.

Okay well, I was going to get off the ship this update but this is already stupid long and honestly I don’t have too much more content to post so, I’m gonna go actually play this game!

#mass effect #kaidan alenko #garrus vakarian #urdnot wrex #liara t'soni #tali'zorah #ashley williams #jeff joker moreau #joker #annakie's mass effect stuff

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self-loving-vampire · 5 years ago

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Lack of empathy is more complicated than a lot of people realize.

I actually do feel empathy for animals, stuffed animals, a handful of fictional characters, and various things I consider cute, but not towards humans.

And this is actually not entirely consistent either. There were periods in my life where I did feel empathy towards humans (and ironically I was actually a much worse person during some of these) until it just stopped about 3-4 years ago.

I don’t know why it happened or even exactly when it happened, but I noticed it while living with my husband’s family. His depressed sister slit her wrists and had to be taken to the hospital and I realized that I did not have any strong emotions about it. My mental state was just not affected even though intellectually I realized she must have been feeling terrible and that this was a bad thing.

Other than that I just sometimes felt like certain people did not feel alive or like... responsive. Let me give you an example.

When I was in university, I had a philosophy professor who once started talking about how humans are the only animals that use tools.

Of course, I did what I always do and corrected the teacher. I told him that apes and various other animals also use tools, and even used my laptop to show a video of crows using tools to solve problems.

The professor agreed with me and said I was correct and then it was like his dialogue tree reset and he started talking about how only humans used tools again, as if he just spontaneously forgot the last five minutes happened.

That was really disturbing and alienating to see. It was like encountering a buggy NPC that only repeats the same dialogue without properly reacting to what you say like a thinking person would.

I have had this feeling a lot since then. I feel like a lot of people are not actually listening to me, or like the way they think is so separate from mine that we can’t truly understand each other.

I should not need to say this, but this does not mean that I want those people to be harmed in any way. I am low empathy, not dense. I understand that suffering is bad and that I should decrease it rather than increase it.

I basically just feel very disconnected from humanity in a variety of ways. I don’t feel human and do not want to be human either.

#long post #low empathy

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clouds-of-wings · 5 years ago

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Rating of all Bioware romances I’ve played

(Note: for a lot of people anything under 7/10 seems to basically mean it’s crap, for me everything under 3/10 means crap, 5/10 means it’s okay - because it’s in the middle - and 7/10 is already pretty good. Also if anyone else wants to make a post like this too, that would be cool, I’d like to read it.)

Baldur’s Gate 2

Jaheira - 7/10 lots of long, intelligent conversations I don’t recall at all, it seems weird to romance your mom figure tbh but nice to not have constant drama Aerie - 5/10 here you double as therapist and cause some serious character development. It’s not really interesting though and then she has a kid at the worst possible moment. I’m still torn on whether the whole “if you sleep with her when she first offers, the romance is over” was a good idea. Viconia - 8/10 starter of countless puberties the world over, you can’t just agree with everything she says or she’ll see you as weak and pathetic, which puts this romance head and shoulders over most of the rest already. Crap ending though, and a shame that they didn’t make her bi like they planned. Although, given Drow gender roles, that would have meant having to write 2 completely different romances probably. Anomen - 1/10 uncontroversially terrible, only gets a single point because you can make him betray everything he stands for, then break up with him, strip him of all equipment and leave him wounded in the wilderness, which I have done on at least 2 playthroughs Edwin (fanmade) - 6/10 the romance a million fangirls were waiting for. Starts out great, becomes unrealistic later due to too fast progression and the player’s response choices being too good. No one really talks like that. Haer’dalis (fanmade) - 10/10 the best, the amazing, everything that’s good and pure in the world, I eventually started responding as myself instead of as my character because it felt like he was actually listening to me, peering at me through the screen, and I wanted to know what he would say. The author is a professional writer if I remember correctly, which might expl- ahh no wait I just remembered that the canon romances are written by professional writers too haha oops Yoshimo (fanmade) - ?/10 too buggy to finish but great alt portrait!

Neverwinter Nights

Aribeth - 9/10 a complicated, sensitive and ambitious woman gets a boyfriend who can’t help her. Here you - spoiler alert - help your mentor cope with her husband being sentenced to death by her king for political reasons, fall in love, then she starts a war and you kill her, meet her again in hell and fight the devil together! Best storyline of all romances for sure! Aarin - 3/10 all I remember is that he tells you endless BORING stories of his life, then gives you gifts for enduring them... but my sister likes him Valen - 5/10 very attractive but also kinda boring. I don’t really like the brooding hero type. my sister REALLY liked him though, one bonus point for horns, one for “yes, my love?” Nathyrra - 3/10 I remember absolutely nothing of her romance, actually had to check while writing this whether she even was a romance option. But I didn’t hate it either, apparently.

Neverwinter Nights 2

All main campaign romances - 3/10 they were utterly forgettable, sorry I could not even bring myself to finish either of them - I don’t even remember who the male romance option was. I wanted to romance Sand and/or Shandra, but nooo we had to... I think there was a paladin and that brown-haired druid, right? And some flirts with this manic pixie dream tiefling? Who gets jealous when you romance druid lady but you can’t actually romance her instead? Bishop - 1000/10 I hated the fucker but it’s funny how realistic his “romance” is: the developers cut the plans for his romance but couldn’t be arsed to remove the writing for it that was already in the game (lol this game is such a mess I can’t believe the balls it took to even release it), so you have a guy who keeps insulting you and being a general fedora DOUCHE... and then betrays you and joins your enemies because “my love meant nothing to you”. Unintentionally great writing! Safiya - 3/10 she’s one of my favourite video game characters ever but the romance made me very uncomfortable. Safiya seems like the kind of woman who’d only be attracted to a very specific kind of person and the game doesn’t give you the option of playing as that kind of personality. I ended up breaking up with her because it felt like the game was holding a gun to her head and forcing her to say she loved me. In a way it’s a point in the game’s favour that both joinable female NPCs are complicated, strong-willed women who would realistically probably not be taken in by the rather generic responses the game allows you to give them (out of necessity of course - a game can’t give you 100 dialogue options and let all of them lead to different outcomes, that would take 293482 years to program). Gann - 9/10 honestly my favourite canon romance. Male Viconia, moody, sardonic, tired of being objectified, pretends to be arrogant as a coping mechanism (lol), it’s actually difficult to make him fall in love with you, which is great - I gained influence with him once by calling him ugly, then lost it again for saying I was sorry he lost his parents. Would romance again anytime.

Dragon Age: Origins

Alistair - 8/10 lots and lots of fun. Saw him and my warden more as bros but played the romance just because he’s so much fun to talk to Zevran - 2/10 wanted to romance him until I actually met him. Very much Not My Type. Still had sex with him in the middle of the camp minutes after Alistair confessed his love to me ahahaha Leliana - 3/10 very boring, didn’t get beyond second romance talk Morrigan - ?? have only played the game once & with a woman but would like to try her romance one day.

#bioware #baldur's gate #neverwinter nights #dragon age origins #bioware romances #others should do this too would like to read it :3

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curiosusdea · 5 years ago

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Video Game Questionnaire

Tagged by @magicalcrusaderfruit

Rules: Fill in your answers and tag some friends!

<<GAMES>>

First game you ever played: Like first first would probably Super Mario World on the SNES. Being the youngest of 3 I only really got to play when one of my other sister would get tired of it since they’d tag team it as Mario and Luigi without me.

Favorite game: Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines my dude. It’s the game that actually fully got me into gaming. Especially PC gaming. As a kid I for some reason thought PC gaming was a whole new horrible world since I grew up with consoles mostly. Bloodlines helped me realize I honestly prefer PC and that there’s a whole world out there of not co-op or multiplayer games (which I was restricted to growing up due to having siblings. We weren’t really allowed many non multiplayer or co-op games since that would leave people out and such).

Game you hated at first but now love: Arkham Knight. I was part of the group that went for the PC release and decided to power through the lag and terrible frames and just overall broken hell to finish it. It was a terrible experience but I needed it. After it got all fixed way later I actually came to really enjoy it.

Game you used to love but now hate: Knights of the Old Republic. Now, hear me out it’s a good game and all but I’ve just gotten kinda bored with it. Played it too many times I guess. Plus I’m actually not that huge of a Star Wars fan so there’s not a giant draw from a fandom level for me.

Game with the best group / companion(s): Dragon Age: Origins

A game with your favorite ending: Portal 2.

A game with the worst ending: Imma agree with Magical here and say Fallout 4. Just, why?

Best character customization: That’s not a hentai game? Skyrim. Unmodded it’s already pretty good when it comes to variety but mod that shit and it’s beauty.

<< HEROES AND COMPANIONS >>

Your favorite playable character: Zero from Borderlands. He’s a babe and I honestly just love Borderlands. Plus his skills are basically when I tend to go for in games so it makes for the perfect set up for me.

The funniest playable character: My boy Timothy the Jack Doppleganger. Helps that one of his possible skills is Jack coming on to spew “inspiring” thoughts.

Your favorite companion(s):

Dragon Age - FUCKING CULLEN (he’s top tier husband material and I fucking waited patiently for Inquisition just to finally husband this bastard), Alistair

Skyrim- Cicero, Serana, Marcurio

Fallout - NICK!, MacCready, Curie (I may be biased due to name but you know she’s wife material), Dogmeat, Lily

Mass Effect - Liara, Tali

Star Wars - Carth, Atton

Companions you could live without:

Fallout - Cait, Piper, Preston, X6-88, Clover, anyone in New Vegas minus Lily (seriously maybe part of my lack of fondness from the game stems from the fact I can’t stand any of the companions)

Mass Effect - Ashley, Jack, Kaidan

Dragon Age - Fucking Solas (I hate this bastard with a fucking passion like ugh I just I cant), Shale, Oghren, Vivienne

<<RELATIONSHIPS>>

Favorite game relationship(s): Inquisitor/Cullen, Geralt/Yen, Darien Gautier/FemVestige. Yeah I know it’s not like a full on relationship but but he’s beautiful and I love him. And I mean if you count Smolder Scrolls as being cannon it works.

Favorite companion banter: Dragon Age: Origins. Just but Alistair in with Morrigan and it’s a good time. Or Alistair with literally anyone.

A relationship you loved but went bad: AGAIN DARIEN. My love. Why must we be separated. Also need I say Yuri from Doki Doki?

A relationship you weren’t sure of but loved: Honestly, when I started Mass Effect I wasn’t sure about Liara. Like I started with a thing with Kaidan but grew to dislike him and when I tried a second save I thought ok I’ll try Liara. Never looked back.

A character you wish you COULD romance: OK I’m not a furry buuuut Razum-dar. Let me romance that cat. Smolder Scrolls just made me want to romance him even more. Why do you tease me ESO.

A minor character you wish could be a companion: Ser Gilmore. He deserved better

<<FUN>>

Shoutout to a random NPC: To that random merchant just happening to walk by a dungeon in Skyrim as I finished looting it and decided to carry fucking everything out- I love you. You know how long it woulda taken me to get back to a city to fucking sell that shit? You saved my life sir.

A game you love watching playthroughs for and want to play: Right now it’s Predator Hunting Grounds

Love watching playthroughs but won’t ever play: Dead by Daylight. I used to love the game but after some toxic hell I don’t play anymore. Still fun to watch though.

Online gaming or solo?: Solo unless it’s specifically with friends. I’m not fond of MMOs or playing with strangers.

Why do you play video games?: Because it’s fun. I get to be whoever and get to explore without consequence.

Uh I don’t really know who to tag so if you wanna try it go ahead.

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atopearth · 5 years ago

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Chrono Cross Part 1 - NPCs living their lives

The music is so nostalgic~~ Anyway, I love how both Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross kinda start off the game with the MC or someone opening the blinds in their room, it really gives that feel of it’s the start of an adventure!! Okay, it’s so cute how both Crono and Serge’s houses have a mum and a cat lmao, is this the classic MC house? Lol. Omgg I remember the fisherman guy and his gigantic fish, I always thought he was right to be so proud of catching it, I mean it’s literally the size of a house lmaoo. Anyway, did that fish…always wiggle and move?! That’s so scary LOL. It’s pretty interesting how they implement the Record of Fate/save point in the world, like it’s actually a thing in the world and not just something the player uses to save. It sounds kinda scary when the guy says it like that though, like if you forget to record it all down, you’ll lose your past, that’s… frightening. But the thing the girl says is pretty scary too! Like apparently it’s supposed to tell you what to do next, and if the Record of Fate doesn’t do that or you can’t hear anything, it means you have no future! That’s deep and scary! I find it hilarious how she tells you to deal with it by just sleeping though, since you can’t change your fate lol. It’s kinda interesting how the guy outside didn’t go fishing today because the Record of Fate told him not to go, I guess in a way, it’s kinda like a fortune telling thing too? There’s a Toma the Explorer here too?! How the world has changed though! From the great explorer that found the Rainbow Shell to the 14th generation of Toma who is outside gardening for living expenses haha! Lmao at Radius teaching the basics of battle, why did he kill me with Aquaball, revive me and then kill me again?! Hahaha. LMAOO at the grandpa admiring Miki the dancer’s poster even though he’s never seen her dance, he just wants to see her boobs jiggle HAHAHA, I loved it when he said don’t tell grandma lmao. Omg I remember the waitress girl that wants to be a poet! Lmao when she keeps calling the place a run down shack and the chef says she’s fired hahahah. Ooh dang, the poor boy is right that he needed my Komodo scale to make an accessory for Kiki because she might like Lolo instead, like dang Kiki is super happy that Lolo said he’s going to get scales for her, the boy better up his game! I’ll always remember the fisherman who gives you the Shark Tooth he got 10 years ago when he decided to succeed his father and become a fisherman instead of chasing after other aspirations he had, mainly because the him in Another World was quite different to say the least haha. I always love how easy it is to get Poshul to join the party, you literally just give her a bone and she’s like let’s go! Hahaha. LMAO at the barrel who gets annoyed at you constantly wanting an answer and gives you an uplift element hahahaha. Gotta love how passionate Leena is about the Komodo Dragon scale necklace hahaha, it is Serge’s fault for waking up late though, so he should get them for her now since she’s stuck with babysitting kids.

Gotta love how the monster’s name is literally Beach Bum hahahah. Also, I remember chasing that Komodo Dragon!! It used to be so annoying hahaha. Leena is really a sentimental girl huh? I like it though haha. Too bad Serge just disappears into Another World and can’t come back for a while. Lmaooo, did Poshul just ask if Leena spontaneously combusted?! HAHAHA. I nearly died. I don’t remember that line at all! That was hilarious. Anyway, I love how in Another World, the Komodo Dragon jumps you instead of you jumping on it in the Home World lmao, it’s such a cute detail. I find it hilarious how in the cafe, now it’s the grandma staring at the hunk Nikki hahaha. I always found the poem girl interesting, mainly because they both feel like they’re stuck in a random small village not able to really venture the world with the poems they really love, but they possess a really different attitude towards it. In the Home World, even though she’s just a waitress in the cafe, she still holds hope in writing poems and still has the drive and the dream to continue it, whereas here, she gave up on them a long time ago and doesn’t even want to mention it, she’s literally given up on her dreams and doesn’t think it’s realistic. Which may be true, but the way she’s doing it is really just avoiding what she really wants to do, which is saddening. I don’t think I realised but the guy who prays to Mojo instead of becoming a fisherman was actually a friend of Serge’s father! And it was because of what happened 10 years ago where Serge “drowned” that he ended up changing and praying to Mojo instead of becoming a fisherman. I find it saddening though, because you can see how happy the family was in the Home World where they happily talked about their daily life, whereas here, the mother and the wife etc all just talk about how the dad keeps just praying to Mojo and refuses to do anything else in his life, he doesn’t even spend time with Kiki. I always love the Komodo Dragon in “Serge’s Room” that rips you off 100G for resting there lmao. He doesn’t tell you beforehand!! He just let’s you rest and then goes pay up lmaoo. Btw, I really love how even though Chrono Cross has the same “silent protagonist” thing going on, he’s less “bland” than Crono because you can actually assume what he says from the NPC reactions in the dialogue, like they’ll kinda repeat what Serge asked to kinda gather what Serge says without you knowing. So he has more personality than Crono haha. It also helps that Serge has more dialogue choices. It’s pretty interesting how much the people rely on the Record of Fate. The girl in the front of the line at the chief’s house in Arni explains it really well, the Record of Fate tells her what decisions she should make, so there’s no anxiety or fear about what to do. It’s kinda interesting yet crazy that this thing is basically relied upon for their whole lives, it’s also kinda scary to think that if they don’t record things down, they’ll essentially like disappear from this world with no records of themselves. It’s kinda saddening that Radius isn’t the chief here, but aside from being stingy, Gonji doesn’t seem too bad?

Omggg Peppor is so slack! He literally kicked Poshul off the cliff!! I forgot who told Karsh and them that Serge will appear here, but I assume it’s Lynx? Anyway, I always love Kid’s first appearance, she’s so cool haha. I always feel bad rejecting Kid’s company here since she obviously really wants to travel together, but Leena!! Haha. It’s nice that even though this isn’t the same Leena he grew up and spent most of his life with, she still feels a certain connection to him.. It’s really sweet how Kid tells Serge to find a place to rest up since it’s getting dark and dangerous to stay out even though he just rejected her company. Lmaoo at Poshul coming back by herself hahaha. Mojo jumping down and saying he’ll join Serge and them is so random, at least the guy got it right that it’s some sort of agent of love and courage lmao. It’s just…maybe it might seem like he wasted 10 years, but his family have waited for him these 10 years to turn around and face his life, so I’m sure it’s not too late, he can still be a proper father, husband and son! I always found Skelly to be a really interesting character. Mainly because he’s a character you literally have to piece back together by finding his body parts around the world lol. I still remember his story though, I found it really saddening yet sweet. I find it hilarious that he was howling this whole time trying to find someone “dead” like Serge to help him. I love the newbie soldier that warns you to not go down and get the Big Egg because the Dodo is gonna kill them, I found it so wholesome how he was so worried about Serge’s safety and asked if he was really okay haha. I kinda feel bad for stealing the egg but the egg isn’t really the Dodo’s anyway haha. Anyway, I love how silly Solt and Peppor are, they’re such a highlight. Their theme soundtrack is so funky and jumpy, I always loved hearing it, so iconic haha.

Termina is such a great town with such a good song! Like it really reflects the upbeat and cool town it is. Omg I totally get that lady doing her laundry, it’s like, sunny weather is great, but sometimes you need rain too, it’s hard hahaha. Lmao at Lisa’s (Leena’s friend) father I assume who likes to gather mushrooms, I love how when he finds a secret path to get into the Viper Manor, he automatically assumes it’s because Master Viper likes to gather mushrooms too hahahah, yes, he’s a good lord just because of that lol. Van’s father’s story is pretty terrible. Van laments and wonders whether his father really used to be an artist back in the day considering how he’s so obsessed with money now, but really, maybe if he listened to the maid, he might understand his father better. His father is still bad for neglecting the kid and stuff, but honestly it’s understandable. When he was an artist, he was poor, so when his wife got sick, he couldn’t do anything but watch her pass away, powerless to helping her, so now he earns money to make sure that his son can stay healthy and be taken care of if anything happens. I just hope he spends more time with Van, promises are important to keep. LMAO when you do the fortune telling and it’s all serious and stuff when it comes to the future of Serge and Kid, but when you choose Leena, the fortune teller just says that she won’t get a boyfriend for a long time hahahahaha, that’s so slack. Despite how cool Termina seems though, racism is definitely rampant against demi-humans, whether it be the way people treat demi-human workers or how that guy has a freaking live mermaid in an ice cube, like what?! I always find it so funny how you can take Greco’s weights and it makes you run around really slowly because it’s heavy hahaha, it’s so random and silly. And the new Glenn! He’s not as cool as Frog but I always liked the Glenn in this game because he was such a kind and gentle soul. He lived in Dario’s (his dead but capable brother) shadow but he’s good for his own merits imo. I guess in a way, it parallels the story of Frog and Cyrus but instead of Glenn being truly as capable as Frog, I think Glenn instead found his own strengths as a person, and it also intertwines with Riddel’s story. I like Riddel~

Honestly, I like Nikki and want to get him, but his path is boring compared to Guile’s so I always end up climbing the cliff with Guile haha. And don’t even talk about Pierre’s route into Viper Manor loll, it’s so anticlimactic, it’s boring lol. To be fair though, I really enjoy the different variety because I have actually played the game three different times to see the different paths haha. I have to admit though, I love how the great idea the guards have to protect the manor from intruders is to constantly throw rocks down at them LOL, like where does all this energy come from?! Hahaha. Omgg that dragon feeding game, I am so bad at it lol, I had to get my bro to help me do anything more than 10 times hahahaha. I feel like if you suck at it (like me), the 40 times one is the most worth doing because it gives you RecoverAll which is really good! Lmao at falling through the trap hole, I remember that~ So silly of the guards to just open up the cage because Kid taunted them hahaha. I remember Orcha!! I love how he’s chopping carrots(?) and they’re just flying everywhere lol! It’s saddening that the evil guys did something to him though. I find it so funny yet silly that Glenn can’t remember the password to get through the main door and needs to write it down on the wall lol! Thanks for the tip hahaha. The Boxer Brothers aka the big and small mimic duo are so cute! I keep hitting the wrong one and don’t get any items though😭 OMG hahaha, I love how the password to get through one of the doors is “silence” because, dang, my indecisiveness helped me get through LOL. I couldn’t decide which one sounded less stupid of an answer and right when I was like whatever, the guard says staying silent was correct hahahah. LMAO at the treasure chest in Karsh’s room. Initially, he tells you that you can’t open it, but when you keep trying to open it, his dialogue changes and he counts how many times you keep trying, and when you do it for the 20th time, he gives up and just let’s you have the accessory inside the chest hahahaha. It was so cool. Too bad for Zoah’s chest, you can’t get it until he joins you haha. Marcy is a crazy girl as usual haha, she deals so much damage!! I know she’s the highest ranking dragoon (apparently) among the three since Dario is dead now, but dang. As for what the prophet said, it’s not anything I’m not aware of since he’s really just telling him that there was a 50/50 chance for Serge to continue existing 10 years ago and the two worlds kinda reflect how he survived in one and died in the other, but now what he exists in this world where he has died, there might be something more to it? I always found it really evil of Lynx to throw that dagger at Kid (who was holding Riddel hostage so that everyone could escape), it was pretty dirty. It’s kinda weird to hear Lynx call Serge the Chrono Trigger now haha.

For now, I’m really enjoying my replay! It’s honestly been so long~ The music is as beautiful as I remember, and even though the graphics can be rather jarring with the crappy quality it shows up as on the TV, it’s still all right haha. It gave me a headache before but I think I’m getting more used to it now haha. Gameplay has never been something I cared about too much, but I honestly find the Chrono Cross battles so nostalgic. However, the highlight of the game for me is still the NPC dialogues, they’re just so full of life and vibrancy! Like, I can actually feel that they are living their own lives in their own way, and maybe it’s not always the “correct” way of life, but it is their life. Whether it be the grandpa looking at Miki’s poster or the poem girl, a lot of the NPCs are ones I’ve remembered for years and years because they made some sort of impression on me and I think that’s what makes me love Chrono Cross so much.

P.S 500th post apparently! Yay to more!~

#chrono cross

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three-houses-text-files · 5 years ago

Text

bernadetta/byleth

c-s support + paired endings + night of the ball

NPC: Thank you, Lady Bernadetta. I will take my leave. Bernadetta: Oh, good. Bye! Uh, good-bye! B: Finally… Oh, that was awful. Just terrifying.

>What's going on?

>What's terrifying?

B: Ah! Please don't sneak up on me like that! B: It was nothing big. That lady just wanted me to show her around a bit. B: But strangers are just so nerve-racking. B: That lady asked me to show her around. I tried to be polite, but strangers are just so nerve-racking.

>You've never seemed scared of me.

B: Oh yeah? How about when I first met you and I wouldn't come out of the corner or even uncover my face? B: Actually, now that you mention it, it's funny. Once I started talking to you, I stopped feeling scared. (pre-skip) B: Now that you mention it, I think you're right. I don't know if I ever have felt scared around you. (post-skip) B: I wonder why… B: You know, Professor, you might be the first person I've been able to speak to normally since I got here, and I have no idea why.

>I'm glad, regardless.

B: I'm happy about it too! B: When we first started out here, we had to do drills... outside. I skipped those every chance I got. B: It's a terrible idea—going out in the forest with all these people you don't even know! B: Thanks to you, though, I can actually make it through class now. I'm grateful for that. B: I don't know what I'd do...if you weren't here...

>It's all right.

B: Sorry... I'm OK... B: I am OK. I'm doing just fine. I feel safe here, thanks to you.

>By the way, was that you singing in the greenhouse?

B: What? B: Y-you saw that? Why would you see that?! You were watching me?! B: That crosses the line, Professor! Singing? Me?! Why would I be singing? I'd never be singing! Ah! I've never been so humiliated! B: Useless! Worthless! Unmarriageable! Augh!

>...

——————————————————————————————

B: Great weather today. Perfect for shutting yourself inside, don't you think?

>I think I'll head outside, actually.

B: Oh, you go right ahead. I'll be right here.

B: The better the weather, the less crowded it is in here. I can't pass up having all this space to myself.

>Definitely.

B: I'm glad you get it. With great weather like this, there'll be no one inside to bother us.

B: I love feeling like I'm all alone in the world...

>What made you such a recluse?

B: Oh, that. Well, I guess I can tell you, Professor. B: My father's obsessed with money. He's only ever seen me as bait for a rich husband. B: To train me to be a good, submissive wife, he'd do things like tie me to a chair and leave me there all day, challenging me to stay quiet. B: I tried hard to do as he asked. Honestly, I did. B: But before I knew it, I just couldn't bring myself to leave my room anymore.

>Why not?

B: I just had this overwhelming feeling of fear all the time. No matter how hard I tried, my father never thought I was good enough. B: After that, it was just constant scolding. He couldn't say two words to me without mentioning how useless I was. An unmarriageable girl. B: My life was isolated to say the least. I wasn't allowed to play with other kids, let alone make friends. Soon, I stopped wanting that. I was happiest alone. B: But even that made him mad. And when he tried to drag me outside, I kicked and screamed so much I seriously hurt myself. B: He's calmed down a bit in recent years. His constant torment was replaced with complete indifference. He mostly acts like I don't exist now.

>How did you end up at the monastery?

B: If you can believe it, I was basically kidnapped. B: My mother ordered an attendant to stuff me in a bag while I was sleeping. By the time I figured out what was going on, I was already here. B: For a while, I was sure I was going to die. B: But here I am. Look at me...still breathing. B: Ah, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to get you down, talking like that about my past! B: Just forget everything I told you. There's no point in talking about myself anyway. B: Idiot! Oh, this is why everyone hates you, Bernie!

>Don't worry about it.

B: You're the only one who would ever say such a kind thing to me, Professor...

>Thank you for confiding in me.

B: What? N-no, it's not...

B: Oh, Professor! How can you be so kind to me?! I don't deserve it... B: I'm sorry! Please don't look at me!

——————————————————————————————

B: I can't believe how long it's been since I left home. Since I was dragged out of the house, I mean. B: Five whole years. It's weird to think about.

>Weird in what way?

B: At first, I remember I was desperate to go back, but now, it's the opposite.

>Do you want to go back?

B: No! But if you'd asked me that five years ago, I'd have said the opposite.

B: I have friends here, and I have you. B: The monastery's become a second home to me. B: Back then, I never would've dreamed a day like this would come.

>I'm happy for you.

B: It's all thanks to you! You've given me a second chance at life! B: If not for you, I never would have gotten used to leaving my room, let alone the monastery. B: Maybe the battlefield's just dulled my senses. B: I'm much better with strangers and new places now though. I don't panic nearly as much as before.

>Could you go somewhere new by yourself?

B: A new place? All on my own?

>I have some independent work for you, then.

B: What? Independent? As in, alone?

B: That sounds like a tough assignment. Where did this come from all of a sudden? Hey, hold on...

B: You're teasing me, aren't you?! B: Please don't joke around like that anymore! It's torture for me!

>All right, all right.

B: You're still not taking me seriously! I mean it. Promise me you won't do that again!

>I can't commit to that...

B: Come on, Professor! I'm begging you! Please promise me you won't do that again.

B: Friends respect each other's feelings, don't they?

>OK. I promise.

B: Good... I'll hold you to that. B: You're absolutely not allowed to send me out anywhere on my own! Got it? B: You would need to come with me. If you're with me, I can go anywhere in the world.

>I'll follow at a distance.

>I'll be with you in spirit.

>We can ask another professor.

B: No, that defeats the purpose! Why can't you get what I'm saying?! B: I thought we were finally getting close. Guess I'm not good enough for that though, am I? B: I'll let you have this one, but you'd better be ready for next time! B: Oh, that's enough. I need some time alone...

——————————————————————————————

B: How did you know I was here?

>I thought you might be hiding.

B: You know me too well. That's exactly what I was about to do.

>I've been looking all over for you.

B: Huh? All that trouble just for me?! The truth is... I've been shutting myself away again.

B: Once I got to thinking about the war being over, a lot of my old fears started to return. B: I'm afraid to go home...afraid to see my parents... B: I don't know what to do! Please, help me!

>Come with me.

B: Wait! Where are we going?! Don't make me go! B: The Goddess Tower? What are we doing here? B: This is it... We're all alone... The perfect time... You're going to kill me, aren't you?!

>I would never do that.

B: All right, I've made my peace, and for what it's worth, I'm glad it's— Wait, you wouldn't? B: Of course you wouldn't. I'm not even worth killing, am I? B: I knew it all along. I'll go lock myself away now...

>I love you, Bernie. I want you to have this.

B: Wh-what did you just say? Is that...a ring?! B: Well, um... This is, um... What kind of ring is this? B: When a man gives a woman a ring, it usually only means... Is that what this means? B: I...I don't know what to say! B: I accept! Of course I accept! B: This means...I'll be able to shut myself away in peace again. B: You can go off doing your hero things, and I'll hold down the fort!

>Don't I get a say in this?!

B: What?! Don't tell me you'll want me to keep leaving the house!

B: Fine, but in that case, I have a favor to ask.

>That's not happening.

B: No, come on, please! You just won't let me off the hook, will you?

B: In that case, I have a favor to ask.

B: There's a reason I've been able to cope with going out of the monastery so much. B: It's because I've been with you. B: I'll never completely get over my anxiety...or my fear of strangers...or my compulsive need to run and hide. B: So whenever you tell me to go outside, I want you to come with me. B: Wherever we go, whatever we do...I want us to be together, always.

>That sounds perfect.

B: Because when I'm with you, I feel... B: Wait. Did you agree? You mean it?! Ah, you're the greatest! I...I love you so much! We're going to be so happy together!

——————————————————————————————

paired endings

After ascending to the throne as the first leader of the United Kingdom of Fódlan, Byleth announced his marriage to Bernadetta. Many were concerned that the new leader of House Varley would do little more than hide, but she in fact followed the new king wherever he went and provided him with constant counsel. She never did overcome her shyness, however, and it is said that aspiring advisers who frightened her were quickly turned away. Because the ones she liked performed well in their service to the people, Bernadetta was widely believed to have a discerning eye. (golden deer + church route)

After taking on the role of archbishop of the Church of Seiros, Byleth announced his marriage to Bernadetta. Many were concerned that the new leader of House Varley would do little more than hide, but she in fact followed the archbishop wherever he went and provided him with constant counsel. She never did overcome her shyness, however, and it is said that aspiring advisers who frightened her were quickly turned away. Because the ones she liked performed well in their service to the church, Bernadetta was widely believed to have a discerning eye. (blue lions route)

Almost as soon as Byleth and Bernadetta were finally wed, the battle against those who slither in the dark began in earnest. Many were concerned that the new leader of House Varley would do little more than hide, but she fell in alongside her husband and followed him everywhere, fighting to bring lasting peace to Fódlan. Forced to throw herself into one terrifying battle after another, Bernadetta developed such a tough character, it is said that absolutely nothing could frighten her. (black eagles route)

——————————————————————————————

night of the ball

B: Ah! Wh-what's that?! B: Ghost?! Is it a ghost?! Don't eat me!

>Calm down, it's OK.

B: It'll eat the skin right off my bones and no one will ever— Huh? Oh, it's you, Professor. What a relief.

>It's just your professor.

B: I knew it! I said, Bernie, this place is haunted, you'll just get eaten by the ghost of some dusty old professor or— Oh. Oh, it's you.

>You can relax now.

B: Right. I'm better now. Thanks. But try not to scare me like that again, please... B: With the ball happening tonight, I was sure there wouldn't be anyone here. B: And from far off, you look... Well, you kinda have a spooky silhouette. B: I guess you haven't heard the legend?

>Legend?

B: Oh, so if a couple swears a vow on the night of the ball, the goddess grants their wish?

>That's amazing! Is it true?

B: I guess that's the sort of thing you miss when you spend all your time avoiding people. B: But wouldn't it be nice to spend some time alone with a nice guy in this lonely tower, cut off from all the rest of the world? B: Anyway... B: Oh, Professor! Since you're here and all, could I ask you for a favor? B: As you probably know by now, it's my lifelong dream to live in solitude forever... B: So could you help me to swear that vow?

>Nice try.

B: Saw right through me, huh?

>I can't promise that.

B: Guess you're right. It probably wouldn't work out so well for me, would it?

B: Ah, well. No use complaining. B: Actually, I'm happy I got to see you here tonight. Even if it was just by coincidence. B: Would you mind staying a little longer? B: It's nice and quiet, and the sky's really pretty. I quite like the atmosphere. B: On a night like this, being out in the open doesn't seem so bad...

#fire emblem three houses spoilers #fe16 spoilers #fe3h spoilers #bernadetta x byleth #byleth x bernadetta #romantic

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