#I hope we get a cutscene of him snapping

[softringing]

The thing that's so off putting about Sampo is that he's willing to go really far to make others happy, even at the cost of becoming a punching bag. But at the same time, he's been warning us about himself purposely, masked fools and the dangers of becoming too selfish when it comes to elation.

It's obvious he wouldnt harm ordinary people in a serious way but at the same time, we don't know if he's actual hiding evil intentions.

Remember that sampo has dead snake imagery in his design, and usually, snake imagery isn't used on moral characters, it's used on evil, morally grey or manipulative characters.

It's telling you not to trust people who hide things easily behind a disguise but at the same time, Sampo has a "line he won't cross".

He's so paradoxical that it's actually hard to tell what his motive is. I feel like he might have split personalities because of his mask's influence or just him as a very odd and mysterious character.

I went though the trashcan lore (I feel stupid) BC in his event, after you sell items it gives you these random texts and one of them has "Diagonese's Utopia" achievement that you get from searching belebogian trashcans.

I posted this on twitter and my theory revolved around the fact that Sampo's mentality may not be the same as a normal human's.

I always felt that his odd behaviour of acting like a "fool" was genuis. Because the best way to fool someone is to make them believe that YOU ARE the fool. They won't doubt you because in their eyes you're less intelligent or less complex than them.

But when I dug deeper, I realised that Sampo actually ENJOYS being hated. This is where my search through the Belebog trashcans apply.

(some of these are out of order sorry 😔)

I initially thought Sampo was Tatalov, the Garbage King because of Sparkle's portrayal of him in the dream bubble. And as you can see in the above images where there's a story of a trashcan being stabbed by someone they raised (Tatalov/Garbage King), you can link it back to the fact that Sampo MAY have betrayed someone he once loved. "The moment of betrayal" also closely aligns with this!!

"Wind of change" "snake", these elements are all mentioned in the above story of Tatalov stabbing someone--> sampo's wind is element, he has snake imagery!! Should be straight enough to say HE IS TATALOV RIGHT?

Now listen closely, in the DREAM BUBBLE, Shentana (aka Natasha) talked about how Tatalov was once a great ruler who cared about equality and justice (sampo behaviour) but was blinded by "the thing beyond the sky" (stelleron). => Now it's making a reference to cocolia rather than SAMPO. Which DOES NOT ALIGN WITH SAMPO BEING TATALOV/GARBAGE KING and hence the "backstabbing " story gets muddled and confusing.

My theory was that Sampo killed the person that made him (Seppo Illmarinen) according to the Kalevala story, after he realised that no one truly LOVED him for who he is, but rather only his ability to bring wealth and fortune. Hence, he felt vengeful, and decided to kill Illmarinen as a revenge because of how others saw him as an object (maybe including Illmarinen too). But in that story, it's mentioned Tatalov said "you will collapse beside me" to the dying trashcan (Seppo).

That's when I went back and looked at "Garboski" (Koski) from Sparkle's dream bubble. Garboski mentions that Tatalov betrayed them, and sealed them for 10,000 years. Garboski also mentions that he will reward the people who found them with WEALTH (sampo's function in Kalevala) and then he decided to eventually give anyone who found them a painless death. You can clearly see over time that Garboski's mentality went lose. I tried to link Garboski's story of being sealed for 10k years to Tatalov's betrayal but it said 15 years since the dying trashcan hadn't seen their face. That's when everything got far too confusing for me to comprehend and link together but the only thing I was able to TAKE from these stories is that they are both about BETRAYAL.

The consumable above depicts a colorless rose. You can only see it's reds in the reflection on the dagger. Which led me to think-> Sampo's eidolon "the deeper the love the stronger the hate" might refer to the fact that he despises being loved by others because he had lost trust a long time ago from the events that happened to him, how he was betrayed by the people he thought loved him but turned out to be just to use him for their convenience and selfish desires.

Remember that red roses represent passionate love and that Firefly mentions Sampo looks like he'd been training to use daggers all his life. So the symbolism of that consumable might be that Sampo trusts people's hatred more than their love because when you hate something, the hatred is (mostly) sincere. Why would you pretend to hate something you love? Sampo ENJOYS this sincerity.

He hates love because you can always hide things behind it under selfish pretense. Why else would that consumable reflect a red rose 🌹 ONLY on the dagger and not the rest of it? Because as soon as Sampo was betrayed/betrayed someone, it became clear to him/them that their true emotions towards him are HATRED not love. And SAMPO LIKES THAT!! HE LIKES BEING THE FOOL, HE LIKES BEING DESPISED BECAUSE YOU CAN'T DECEIVE HIM AND HURT HIM WITH LOVE.

He uses roses to decorate his packages in the event, also his suitcase and he uses roses to attack in HI3.

He hates love because the more someone loves him the further he will doubt them.

And that's pretty MESSES UP! To have a mentality like this means he you must've gone through some messed up crap, just like how he mentions at the end of his event that he had a "Hot-blooded past". If you didn't know, "hot blooded" usually means feeling complex emotions all at once, like anger, love, hatred, doubt, pain.

The description of the consumable sounds so warm in the begging and suddenly shifts to a tense mood? Did you notice that? It's so paradoxical. So hot-blooded. And it says "that person" so speficially!!

I'm still not sure what to believe about sampo's past, but I'm sure that his idea of love is completely messed up. In HI3, as you fight him during his boss battle, there's a bar called "depth of love", which is UHH WHAT THE HECK?? IT TELLS YOUTHE MORE YOU HURT HIM THE MORE HE LOVES YOU.

In his beta lines that were removed Sampo says something along the lines "Sampo gives all the affection yet never receives anything in return *sigh* but I'm used to it anyway 😃👍"

Ummm?? OKK?? IM SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE HE IS SANE? HE IS MENTALLY STABLE AND UR TYPYCAL CONMAN? NO WAY IM NOT!!

I hope this theory makes sense. I just need everyone to know this man has some screws lose but I love him anyway!

[rubylarkspur22]

A Headcanon About The Burned Lands Introduction

So, while watching the cutscenes for Dawn of the Dragon, I keep thinking about the introduction to Burned Lands. Particularly, how Cynder talks to Spyro after Ignitus sacrifices himself to get them both across the Belt of Fire.

I know the voice acting leaves much to be desired in that scene, but I wanted to share my take on the more story-related side of things. Specifically, Cynder. Continuing below the cut, so as not to clog up dashes.

My take on the scene is that she's trying to calm Spyro down. Not just to keep him from doing something stupid(i.e. pulling them both into the fire to try and save Ignitus, which would only send them to the same fiery grave), but also because of one thing that does end up happening in this scene.

Dark Spyro.

Remember, Cynder is one of only two people who actually know about this form in the game. And she also has personal experience with the effects the Darkness can have on someone when they're exposed. If Dark Spyro reemerged, there wouldn't be much she could do to stop him. It wouldn't be as simple as it was in the Well of Souls, where she just had to get Spyro away from the Dark Aether to stop his exposure.

So she tries to talk him down, telling him to let it go and not make an irrational decision that would kill them both. Not because she's not grieving Ignitus. She may not have been as close to the Fire Guardian as Spyro, but he was still one of the friendlier people to her after she was freed. And losing him still hurt.

But she knew Spyro saw Ignitus as something of a father figure. She could see just how badly he was hurting when they landed. And she knew if Spyro wasn't careful, he could lose himself again. But she hopes she can redirect his focus away from his grief, and towards the task they have to complete.

But then Spyro starts to give in. And Cynder panics. If she can't snap him out of it, they are in big trouble. But she also can't fight him. In his state, he wouldn't hold back, and their power difference would be even greater. And while she didn't see what happened to Gaul... Well, the fact Spyro was the only one to emerge from that lower level speaks volumes. The best she can do is keep talking. Get him to calm down enough to regain control. But in the end, it's up to Spyro if he chooses to come back to himself or to give in.

Thankfully, she gets through to him. He snaps out of it before he does something dangerous. He's still hurting, that much is obvious, but Cynder is there to be his support. He's not alone, no matter how much he feels like he is. And Ignitus' sacrifice won't be in vain.

If the voice direction were better, I could absolutely see Cynder being conveyed as more panicked/stressed in this scene. Less obviously in the beginning, before Dark Spyro, but more clearly when he does make his comeback. We saw how she reacted to Dark Spyro in The Eternal Night; she was scared there. But she figured out what to do pretty quickly. In the much less controlled situation of "Oh, Ignitus just died to protect them, and Spyro's losing himself to his grief for his father figure, with no Dark Aether to remove as an exposure component"? I imagine she'd be freaking out, looking for literally any way to stop him from keeping this up. Especially with the need to confront Malefor, preferably before the planet exploded.

[sunbloomdew]

I played the "Fields of Mistria" Demo! Here's my thoughts:

(that title sounds like something a youtuber would say auuughhhhhhhh)

I found out about this game completely randomly and decided to give the demo a try. And surprisingly, or maybe not at all, I am completely taken with it and i can't wait to see how the game will develop! :D

So for now, until the 5th of August arrives, here's what i liked, disliked and what i wish to see in "Fields of Mistria" in the future <3

strap in yall it's a bit long. but there are photos! like. three of them skfjdkhfksj

Things I liked:

You don’t choose your character model’s sex. Also because all of the models being roughly the same size, there’s freedom to imagine your characters’ body type however you want. Surprisingly I also don't recall any of the characters assuming your gender based on your pronouns, which is nice.

Multiple pronouns options! My one suggestion would be to add a She/He option as well ^_^

Wide range of skin tones available. There’s currently 36 in the demo. (to compare, Stardew Valley has 24 and 10 of them are unusual colours like blue or green)

The fact that you can set your birthday on the calendar, although it doesn’t seem to do anything for now. In one of my playthroughs I set my birthday on the 3rd day of Spring, and the only thing that appeared was a pop up saying “It’s your birthday!”. Understandable, this is only the demo after all. I wonder if the early access will have characters react to your birthday and maybe even give you some gifts!

The few available hairstyles are really nice. My absolute favourite thing about hair in the demo was that it has a moving animation! Small detail but it really delighted me.

Same goes for clothes, they are cute!

The customization isn't locked and you can create a couple of outfits you can swap any time! You can also change everything about your character's looks at any time, including their pronouns.

The predetermined palette of colours you can choose your hair colour from is pretty good. There’s 40 colours so far.

I have a small problem with the opening cutscene but the rest of the beginning cutscenes are good! I like the one when you arrive at the bridge and meet Balor and the camera slides to him. And the Juniper cutscene haha

Now that I mentioned NPCs, I really like the cute, personalized animations they have, like Adeline snapping her fingers, Balor flicking his hair before walking away, Celine working in her garden, Josephine and Hemlock singing.

I absolutely love all of the character designs in this game. The 90s anime artstyle, colours, their poses and expressions. I really feel like this is the thing that really drew me to try this game as I wasn’t interested in a new farming simulator. But here I am! All with the power of anime. For example, here are the designs of the romanceable characters! The photo is from the Fields of Mistria website:

Another huge NPC win for me is that the characters interact with each other a lot! I noticed that a lot of them meet during the day and talk with little dialogue bubbles. It feels like the townspeople know each other quite well, I hope we get to learn even more about them and their dynamics!

One of the best things about interacting with characters is that you can talk to them multiple times during the day, getting a bunch of different dialogues. Once you talk to someone you have to wait either for them to change their location or for one of the other characters to approach them, to talk. I really like it since it means you get to interact with everyone couple times a day and it honestly makes the game more enjoyable.

From the little crumbs of lore we got, I am really intrigued about the setting. Prior to the player’s arrival to Mistria, the region has been hit by an earthquake. The disaster caused the main trading route bridge to collapse, the area getting destroyed and a lot of residents leaving the town. The town leader Adeline (daughter of a Baroness and Baron of Mistria) with her brother, Eiland's, help comes up with the idea to seek out an adventurer who could help to revitalize the town. We learn that Mistria is part of the Kingdom of Aldaria (so we have a monarchy), it has its own guardian deities and rich ancient history with the Sleeping Dragon Inn being a historical landmark and that magic is not hidden from people who can’t use it (Juniper freely uses magic in front of the kids in her cutscene after completing her request). Some characters offer some little hits to what their story might be about: Balor says that compared to Elsie he didn’t have a good time in the Capital, and other characters note how he is mysterious and obtains his wares in unknown ways. Elsie is a retired socialite from the Capital with many past romance stories to share, she probably knows a lot of interesting titbits about the Capital and people there. Juniper says that there’s something suspicious about Celine and Juniper herself is stuck in a town she doesn’t really seem to like but seemingly has something she needs to achieve here. When you meet March he slips for a second and says “I- We have everything under control” so it seems he views the player’s arrival as a threat to him in some way (emotionally i presume, not literally). Errol used to be a miner, Hayden can possibly talk to animals? And so much more. And of course, there’s the statue of dragon Caldarus who appears to be a marriageable character…? Anyways, I can’t wait to learn more about this setting!

I loved that you can talk with animals like Dozy and Henrietta, give them gifts and pet them. I really hope we can do the same with our pet.

The interior designs of all the buildings is extremely cute! I really like all of them, my favourite must be the Sleeping Dragon Inn, Celine’s cottage and the Carpenter’s Shop. Plus Elsie’s room at the manor and Hayden’s house.

I also like the beach a lot. It just feels nice and there’s a light house and I sure do love a light house /reference plus there's good ambience there

If you go to the manor there’s a portrait of the Baroness, the Baron and little Adeline and Eiland over the fireplace in the dining room :3

I really like Holt’s dad jokes. Pierre could never-

Guys I need Valen I need her

You are able to swim! It’s really cool and the animation is cute. Plus you can dive in certain spots to find stuff.

You can hold down the button to eat a bunch of food if you have multiple of something.

Saving your game having a form of a diary is very cute and I love that. Same with the crystal orb serving as a weather channel.

Fighting monsters feels dynamic! You actually have to put some thought into learning each individual monster’s behaviour and attack patterns. It’s challenging but not too hard. But they do quite a bit of damage at the start. Fighting that red mushroom felt like playing “Baba Jaga patrzy” again haha.

And speaking of fighting, i like our own character's fighting moves! But it took a bit to get used to them since they make the character move and it's not just. clicking with the mouse repeatedly skdhfjsf

I like the sound design!

Soundtrack is very nice. Not all of it is very memorable but it’s nice while you listen to it and it fits the game. There are some tracks that already got stuck in my head :] I like the one that plays at the Blacksmith, it’s intense for no reason, just like March lol

I cannot stop gushing about the characters, so far even just from the designs they all feel like they have distinct personalities and each one of them has their own thing going on. They all feel so warm and welcoming even if their actions aren’t (looking at you March). I don’t know, something about the artstyle, the pixels, design and colour palette just has me very enamoured with them. I really hope their character arcs or stories will deliver.

I like Caldarus. And the music that plays when he first speaks to us in our dream.

The museum is so nice. Also I love that Errol is an actual character we can talk to… Unlike another museum curator I know /j

You can buy stuff from shops even if no one is around!

Level tenth of the Mines… I’m SO intrigued

I like that there’s magic and can’t wait to see what other spells we can learn!

You can craft at the crafting station in town even if you don’t have the necessary materials on your person, but they are in chests at the farmhouse. As long as the stuff you need is in your chests you can craft stuff which is pretty cool.

Lastly, what I really loved about playing the demo is that not once did I feel rushed to do anything. Farming simulators often make you feel like you have to maximize your time in the day *cough* SDV *cough* and I do enjoy that sometimes, but other times I just want to chill. Somehow Fields of Mistria demo achieves this feeling of not having to rush and playing at your own pace and it feels great.

Things I disliked:

Not a lot of things mentioned here are going to be stuff I actively disliked, more like felt annoyed or confused by. And before any of my little complaints gets the “this is only a demo!” response, let me assure you: I am aware. If things change before or after the early release that’s great! This is specifically what I find ‘meh’ about the demo so far.

When the opening cutscene in Adeline’s office starts playing the room is positioned oddly on the screen. I think it’s so later the camera can follow the characters’ movements but when the cutscene starts and you only see the bottom half of the room at an angle, it feels really weird, like the room wasn’t centred by accident.

I’d love for the character creator to have the option to rotate the model of your character. I think it would be good to see what the options you picked look like from different angles before you jump into the game. Although the customization isn’t locked and you can change how you look whenever. Still, this could be a nice option

So I just said that the colour palette for hair is pretty good. Can’t say the same about the other ones, for eyes and clothes. The colours we get aren’t bad but I feel like there’s too little of them. Speaking of eye colours…

Choosing the eye colour is annoying. Once you pick an eye shape (cool feature btw) a window pops up in the middle of the screen with eye colours. The icons are too small to see the eye colour properly, especially when you want to compare the darker colours. I had to move my face closer to the screen to see what was I picking. And after you pick something the window disappears and you can see the colour you chose on the model. Okay, cool but now if I want to try out different options it I have to open the window again. Constantly opening the colours window to check other options is tedious and a bit frustrating. What I think would be good instead is once you click to choose the colours, next to the options appears a close up of your character model, and the window doesn’t close until you click an “X” button. To sum up my main problems are colour options visibility and the colour picking mechanic. Hair colour and colours for clothes and other stuff is picked in the same way BUT all of those elements are bigger than the four pixels the eyes are made out of.

The controls are not obvious. The game shows you to progress dialogues with “E” key but nothing aside from that. I didn’t realise until the last day of my first playthrough that you can jump, because in my previous experiences, 2D RPG, and especially farming simulator games don’t usually have that option, and the only instance of jumping happened in a cutscene, so I thought it was just an animation for the cutscene. I think it would be a good opportunity to use that moment in the cutscene for brief player interaction so they can learn how to jump, however silly that sounds. I think the player’s experience would benefit from a controls tutorial, in form of a window popping up or them showing up on the side of the screen like in Stardew Valley on the first day.

While interior designs are really cool I feel like the outside is kinda empty. Not so much the building but the areas around them. It is felt the most in the empty stretches of land outside the town but running through the paved roads in it can also feel a bit odd. Like the area is too empty. It’s definitely not a problem on the farm due to all the overgrown grass but everywhere else you really feel like it’s just a flat stretch of nothing. I think adding some more details could be nice, maybe some streetlights, plants, a bit more texture on surfaces.

I had a really odd moment that took me out entirely. While playing the demo you can get Juniper’s request on the board to bring her a Lilac. Once you complete it, a cutscene set at the bathhouse will start playing right away, regardless of where were you when you completed the request. This felt incredibly jarring to me. The first time I did this request I gave the Lilac at the bathhouse, but the second time it was late evening at Valen’s house. So it was pretty surprising to be essentially teleported to a completely different place. I don’t think it’s a great mechanic. It would be better if a cutscene set at a specific place on the map started when you arrive there, to help it feel more coherent.

As much as I like the warm and cozy feel of the characters, it felt like there wasn’t a lot of variety in reactions to the player’s arrival. Everyone except I think literally one person is all cheery. I don’t mind this that much, cause the community being excited for your arrival feels sweet. It makes sense with the story too, the player is there to help out around the town, and who living there wouldn’t be happy about that? I just really hope the character’s don’t end up with poorly defined personalities, that’s my main concern for now about the story. It would be tragic if the game only ended up having cute designs but nothing else. Needless to say I have pretty high hopes for the final version! I really hope it works out and I’m 100% rooting for the team.

The inventory system had me kinda confused at the start. The spaces are all in one line in game but once you open your journal they’re stacked on top of each other? Yeah took me a bit to get used to that, and I’m not sure how I feel about it still.

The user interface is very cute, I have one problem though. It’s hard to tell what a lot of the little icons mean, for example, when you open the chest there’s a chest icon next to the two arrows that sort stuff. I have no clue what it does and when you’re hovering over it, it doesn’t have a name or an explanation either.

You can’t hold down mouse button to use tools continuously. This is because when you upgrade your tools, for example a pickaxe, when you hold it down you get to mine more spaces at the same time. I’m not sure if that exchange is worth it.

You have to click one by one if you want to throw multiple items out in the inventory trashcan.

It’s a shame you can’t land on rocks/big water lily leaves on the water. And you can’t walk into the sea, you have to specifically jump into it. This isn’t really a complaint, I just think I’d be cool if you could just slowly walk into the sea. Like slowly getting submerged.

I feel like the scroll wheel directions are odd… Scrolling upwards will move you to the right of the inventory but I feel like it should be the other way… Maybe it can be changed later in settings.

The buildings on the map are not named. It would be nice if, when you hover over an area you see its name.

Credits get blurry when moving. It hurt my eyes :(

Things I hope to see in the Early Access (and in the game in general):

Interactivity within interiors. So like looking at bookshelves to see what books a character has, reading letters or notebooks that were left out, finding some stuff in their drawers… Basically snooping haha. Oh and more interactivity with objects placed outside too. Right now there are some signs and items you can't interact with, like that tent by the dig site.

More settings for in-game scale! It would be cool if there was one between 3x and 2x, like a 2.5x.

The ability to sell stuff directly at shops. Sometimes you need money but waiting until the next day would ruin your plans.

Sitting! I wanna sit in spots next to the characters and vibe :]

While I do like available colours, I think adding a colour wheel or sliders would be neat.

I wonder what are gender identities and sexual orientations of the characters :]

More clothes and hair options obviously! And furniture as well

What gets implemented for the player’s birthday

How the museum exhibition will look like :D

Lastly, I might be way out of my depth with this one but it would be cool if the romanceable characters could also move in with you platonically… Or if there was a character like Krobus, a little friend you can invite to live with you <3

And that's it :] sorry for the stardew comparison, it's like the only farming sim i'm very familiar with

I've been enjoying playing the demo a lot and i definitely will play more before it closes. And i will for sure be following the development and waiting for the early access in august!

it was a really fun experience over all and if ur interested i reccomend you try it out :D

cya

[moonvigilant]

i think it has been long enough so i can say this, bg3 ending spoilers ahead

bg3 only has one (1) ending, every other 'ending' is just non-standard gameover

and the 'evil' playthrough isn't complete as well

the one (1) ending is where you tell the netherbrain to commit die, and the gate prevails once more, if you try to do anything else you get:

try to take the brain for yourself and conquer the world? illithid gamer chair, fade to black

same as 1 but you do it for bhaal instead? illithid gamer chair, fade to black

try to save the world but you didn't resist bhaal? well too fucking bad he takes over regardless of of your choices, and there's four of them, first three will result in him taking your body, which doesn't even work in the cutscene because right after he does the game cuts to you rushing to karlach LMAO

4. 4th choice will let you kill yourself before bhaal could take over, which honestly goes pretty hard i won't lie i just wish it lasted more than 20 seconds

every other 'variance' is not even part of the ending to the actual 'plot', they are character endings i.e. lae'zel going to war w vlaakith or not, sending wyll and karlach both to avernus, etc

this is why i was also thinking they just didn't cook 'evil' playthrough enough because if you are evil most choices actually don't matter

unless i've missed something, which i very much could have, when i killed isobel (through killing aylin) i couldn't find jaheira anywhere, not even a body, the game implies that she's '''''retired''''' instead of killed off so i assumed i could find her in act 3? nope just literally nothing, friend who was watching me play was confused as well

and from what i've heard minthara doesn't even have her own personal quest, unlike halsin, which is bonkers, i don't even like her but i hope all minthara enjoyers out there get what they want

volo criticizes you for being awful and then... just peaces out, never to be seen again

i will give them that if you are a paladin durge, sarevok actually makes a comment on it

and of course the interaction with helsik in general

it's upsetting that they imply ascendant astarion could make a difference, but of course it doesn't

and then allying with gortash also makes no difference my guy just gets snapped regardless

idk, if i have to put how i feel about an evil playthrough in an easy way, it would be "it's unserious" because it is lmao they clearly are trying to nudge you into being 'good' which is fine and all but i just wish being 'bad' made more sense without the game trying to guilt trip you back into being 'good' because even with my complains i still had a lot of fun, just wish they have real 'alternate' endings

end rant, i just wanted to get this out of my system

and maybe we will have a proper durgetash ending in bg3 definitive edition *gets shot*

[monarch-boo]

Wheee rant time I'll write a calmer more condensed version of this later since its gonna be real important to get in people's heads before / by the time DRDR is out, but this keeps making me upset to think about so I'm gonna be a little bitchy first.

Anyway jesus fucking christ Paul is NOT a fucking incel it's so STUPID that people somehow interpret that.

I fucking hate how the interpretation came about to because its LITERALLY just

"hurr dhburr metalhead stereotype nerd stereotype and the people he snapped at happen to be women (and also Frank but let's just totally ignore that he thinks Frank is there to bully him too ehhh WHATEVER)"

That's literally it. Like what else is there for that assumption to work? And like I emphasized, it completely ignores Frank's role in the whole situation.

I don't even get why it happens either! Lots of the other bosses throughout the game have basically everybody fully understanding the stories and nuances of who they are and why they behave how they do, I've even seen some people do analysis videos and posts, like ___ Explained shit.

Why not Paul? Do I have to make one? I almost wanna make one, I'll fucking pore through everything of him in the game, hold people's hands through the opening cutscene and play all the voice clips that demonstrate further what's actually happening and read out like a whole fucking essay with fucking Speakonia because I don't wanna record my actual voice, maybe I WILL fucking do it one day but I'll at least wait until DRDR incase there's new lines (there is the random dialogue drops survivors can give during escorts, we saw in that one Natalie screenshot- I wonder if there's anything besides prestige point hints and if so if there's anything interesting Paul will say).

Like I'm genuinely fucking scared of how many brand new players coming in for DRDR are gonna get him wrong because of some surface level kneejerk reaction shit nobody will actually think and listen to the things he says or bother to do any real character analysis. I might actually stick to No Commentary playthroughs for a while if I wanna watch other people play because the commentated ones make me nervous now.

PAUL IS NOT A FUCKING INCEL HE IS A BULLYING VICTIM TAKING RETALIATION TOO FAR (or at least he would have if Frank hadn't intervened), IT'S ALSO HEAVILY IMPLIED HE IS JUST COMPLETELY DELUSIONAL IN THE MOMENT, DEBBIE AND MINDY ARENT GETTING TARGETED FOR BEING WOMEN THEY ARE COMPLETELY RANDOM WRONG-PLACE-WRONG-TIME BYSTANDERS OF SOME SORT OF PSYCHOTIC BREAK. THAT'S WHY THEYRE SO CONFUSED WHAT THEY DID, WHY HE ACTS AS IF FRANK IS IN ON IT, AND WHY HE IS SO CONFUSED AND REGRETFUL OF WHAT HAPPENED WHEN HE SNAPS OUT OF IT. LIKE ACTUALLY WATCH THE CUTSCENES AND DIALOGUE AND ENGAGE WITH IT ALL FOR MORE THAN TWO SECONDS.

Please Capcom I am on my knees begging DRDR to make this somehow even more obvious and harder to misinterpret by adding new ingame boss/escort lines or making the existing ones more frequent because almost nobody hears the other lines that convey his character more because the game barely ever fucking plays them.

His existing OG DR1 voice lines have some absolute gold in them characterization wise but OG DR1 largely shunts them in favor of HERE'S A PRESENT FOR YA, YOU GO BOOM NOW times infinity. The fact that they often go so unheard that they don't quell the surface level conclusions sucks so much, make the other ones play more in DRDR and maybe even record some whole new ones that are even more obvious.

I mean, jeez, to people who actually pay attention and think for more than a second just that opening cutscene gives you all the info you really need to interpret him and his whole deal correctly, but APPARENTLY that isn't enough for like 80-90% of the playerbase so I hope DRDR has something, anything, to drive the point home even further, y'know?

I'm so tired. I hate how one of my biggest comfort characters is also like one of the most misunderstood and incorrectly-interpreted characters of the whole fucking franchise.

[snappydragonsclaw]

One the skylanders imaginators cutscenes redone

Deep inside of kaos's lair kaos was walking back and forth seemingly aggravated at his failures. Another one of his doomlanders were defeated once again. He could not stand it. Those pesky skylanders kept winning no matter what he had thrown at them. "Brain!? What am I doing wrong!? Those fools just keep defeating my doomlanders!" kaos asked Brain. Brain looked at him and sighed facepalming. "kaos have you ever thought of taking them out from the inside?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm. "eh!? What do you mean?" kaos ask intrigued. "well those skylanders of yours are rather close. They seem to operate like a family." Brain added."well I've seen them group hug and celebrate holidays together. " kaos noted. "how about you...make it so they turn on that pesky purple dragon. He seems to be the one they all look up to. After all that old portal master Eon is spirit so he can't do anything to protect them." brain says."but it's not that simple! These stupid's are strong-willed! Every time in the past they seem to break out of mind control!" kaos responses. "kaos im basically a god. I'm one of the very beings who created Skylands. I'm sure these skylanders can't hold their own against the likes of my abilities. " Brain says pridefully. "well that is a point. They did never face anyone like you other than the darkness."kaos says. "so why don't we try this? How about for once you have them bowing down?" brain asks. Kaos thinks for a while and glances at glumshanks who shrugs clearly uneasy about the crisis as always. " alright. Let's try this." he says in a slightly worried tone. He knows if this goes wrong the skylanders will get suspicious of him further.brain floats over to the thinking cap on kaos's head and together they say"prestobraino". Meanwhile at the academy. The skylanders were plotting.

All the starterpack skylanders were gathered at the meeting table where they spoke to each other. Spyro sits down, trigger happy happily giggles away as usual, gill grunt is next to him nudging him to quiet down, cynder is sighing clearly annoyed by the gremlin's laughing, tree rec per his woodpecker, jet vac is nervously sweating, stealth elf is sharpening her blades, wash buckler and blast zone playfully swap just for fun, food fight is surprisingly just chilling, snap shot is having a conversation with golden queen, spitfire is making sure he isn't burning anyone and king pen is just entering the room." alright everyone. I think we have a problem. Kaos has mysteriously gotten stronger over the past few days and well that is obviously not good at all. He is creating monsters! I remember a time when the only created beings walking around here were Tree Rex and Food Fight....not to be rude to you two. Anyways these things that kaos are creating are unnatural! They don't have souls like we do!" spyro alerts. "I think kaos is messing with something no mere mortal should be messing with and I'm speaking as a technically immortal being!" stealth elf whispered."I miss the days were it was just us vs him! Now he has all this otherworldly help! I rather deal with the blooming mask of power than this mess!" Food Fight says crossing his arms. "agreed. Like sure it sucked that we had our powers taken away but at least we knew what we were dealing with!" Gill grunt says."kaos I hypothesis is messing with powers only for the ancients." king pen adds drawing everyone's attention. "these powers and abilities. They don't belong to him. Have you noticed his magic arua changed from purple to pink lately?" spyro looks at cynder worried. They haven't even thought about the idea that kaos is getting these powers from someone. "spyro you don't think that kaos had summoned the rouge ancient do you?" cynder asks to hope that spyro would say no.

"uh...well he did grab the thinking cap and that book so maybe?"spyro nervously chuckles."oh yeah we're done for." wash buckler says out loud."...that was supposed to not come out." outside the academy mysteriously goes silent. As if life itself just stopped. "uh...why did it go quiet outside all the sudden?" stealth elf asks the group. Her ears lower slightly. She had seen creepy stuff before but this was a whole new level of creepy. "oi! and i'm sure the academy is NEVER this quiet! Even at three am!" snap shot says getting up protectively drawing his bow and arrow. "alright this is officially creepy." spitfire says looking out the window and seeing no one. "this better not be one of kaos's tricks!" tree Rex say getting up. The skylanders all walk outside."...where is everyone?" blast zone asks. "yeah they were outside doing their own thing a minute ago?!" golden queen adds."Ahahhah! Creepy! Hahaha!" trigger happy laughs but he is laughing to cover up his fear. The skylanders begin to look around together however food fight begins acting strangely. The artichoke holds his head as if he has a headache. "ugh...guys I don't feel so good-" he stops suddenly. He heard whispering in his ears that were well his leaves.the voice was getting louder and louder. "what...!? What are these voices....!? They are so loud!?" he cries out In pain.

The others look at him In Concern. "food fight? Mate what's happening to ya?" snap shot asks walking over to him. Suddenly out of nowhere food fight does a blood-curdling scream. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!" he screams. The skylanders jump at the sudden scream.food fight fell to his knees covering his leaves in pain. His eyes were wide and small tears rolled down his cheeks." what are we all looking at him for!? Let's help him!" snap shot roars. However, before they can do anything food fight suddenly stops.food fight just simply doesn't make a sound. "food fight? You okay?" spyro asks. Food fight doesn't respond. He slowly gets back onto his feet.His head hung low as if puppeted.Trigger Happy was about to hop over to food fight Gill Grunt held him back."trigg stay back something is not right." he said. "remember how I said how nobody is outside was creepy? Yeah I take that back This takes the cake!" spitfire says floating behind tree rex hiding behind the giant. Spyro tilts his head. The purple dragon had seen many things in his lifetime but this...this was something much different from anything he had ever seen." hello? Skylands food fight?" spyro waved his claw in front of food fight with no reaction."spyro...what's going on with him?" cynder asks."I have no idea-"before spyro could finish his sentence food fight suddenly looks up. However his gaze. There was something off about it. His eyes were a hot pink hue and glowed. It was as if no one was home. "spyro...his eyes!" jet vac alerts. Spyro jumps back in surprise. Suddenly what was happening to food fight begins to happen to snap shot, stealth elf, Wash Buckler, spitfire, and Golden Queen. Spyro panics he shakes food fight but he gets pushed away.then everyone started to experience it except for spyro. Soon they all stop their scream and all glare at spyro. Spyro backs away. Suddenly a whisper is heard."destroy spyro." it says. suddenly they all attack spyro. Spyro flies away dodging various attacks. "AAAH!! What is going on! I thought we were friends! Family even!" he screamed in fear.

spyro got a response but not one that he expected."spyro prepare to face your DOOM!!!" they all said in incision as if in a hive mind. Wait a minute doom? Spyro heard that all too much not to know who was behind this."kaos!? What did you do to them!?" spyro yells demanding answers. Suddenly a voice comes out of food fight alone it sounds like a mix of his own voice and kaos's. "oh it's not just your friends fool! It's all of the Skylands! Ahahahha!"spyro suddenly freezes.all of Skylands? That"a how many people kaos is controlling. Suddenly the dread yacht fries at him. Spyro barely dodges. He sees Flynn, cali, mags,buzz, and hugo all under the control of kaos, and just when he thought that is everyone Tessa flies on Whiskers and tries to attack spyro. Spyri flies away trying to get them off his tail but he soon notices helicopter and jet noises and more flapping. "oh come on!"spyro comments annoyed. He hesitantly turns around to see the stealth stinger, jet stream, and cynder flying behind him. (also this is a playable cutscene by the way.)spyro pushes himself harder. However, he looks down and well it seemed like all the skylanders that weren't there a second ago are now."...AAAH!!! Oh for the love of!" spyro yells annoyed.spyro then sees a window open and flies inside and closes it and barricades the door.spyro didn't know what he was going to do but he was about to figure out what to do soon! Outside the room, he could the skylanders marching on their way to the very room he was in. "think spyro think!...wait I'm not affected! But how!? Is it because I'm a purple dragon?"spyro glances and notices an old map. He walks over and grabs it."dragon's peak of course! That was always the one place that was safe from most threats!"spyro then hears banging on the door. He looks down and sees a vent. He opens it and goes inside before they break down the door. Spyro turns around to see Gill and trigg. "I'm sorry guys..." he faintly whispers as he leaves.

Alright, that was my idea of a cutscene remake so let me go over some things. First the reason I Included all the starterpack skylanders is because it just makes a bit more sense. I always thought it was strange how some of them were never an NPC and I also made Spyro's personality a bit more accurate to his personality in the books and trailers so yeah no more cocky spyro and I changed the behavior of the mind-controlled skylanders as well. I was going for a more creepy hive-mind vibe speaking of that you may be asking what was with food fight and the voices in my head thing? So that was based off of the whole devil and angel dynamic a bit from the older cartoons and also I thought it would be cool and creepy if the brain could whisper to them to control them I mean the feeling of being whispered to do something is creepy a bit In itself especially if it to do something bad because I don't know about you but imaginators definitely feels like a Halloween game. or at least it was trying to be anyways. next the mask of power reference. Not much to say there. I just love the books. I wish those became games. Alright last but not least why did I switch the place spyro goes from Dragon Temple to dragon's Peak? well, hear me out. Dragon's temple is just another part of Dragon's Peak. The reason I sent spyro off there is because that place is the universe meeting point so yup when spyro mysteriously arrived in Skylands that's where he was. So it would make sense for that place to have some sort of magical protection.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix Recap: Beast's Castle (Beauty and the Beast)

We open on Belle in her room, wearing the iconic yellow ballgown as she hums a tune I don’t recognize.

“I hope tonight goes well,” the Wardrobe notes.

“So do I,” Belle replies, “But I wonder why he’s so nervous.”

“The master does have his shy side, you know,” the Wardrobe points out.

Meanwhile, in the Entrance Hall, the Beast is in his iconic blue suit, pacing nervously.

While there is voice acting for the Beast nervously growling…

“Hey there!” a VA-less textbox reads.

The Beast turns to see Sora, Donald, and Goofy walk up.

Donald looks around.

“No Heartless and no Nobodies!” he declares.

“I think they’re close, though…” Goofy remarks.

“Better watch out!” Sora cautions as he folds his hands behind his head.

Beast turns towards the stairs.

In order to continue the story, you must use the “Approach” Reaction Command.

Donald asks what Beast is so mad about.

Beast just wants to know what SDG are doing here.

Sora explains that they’re looking for a way into the Nobodies’ world.

Beast’s just turns his back and “hmphs” in response.

This leads into a fully voice acted cutscene.

Belle descends the stairway.

“Tonight is very important,” Beast explains to SDG, before ascending the stairs to meet Belle in front of the ballroom.

The two link arms and step into the ballroom.

“Uh, maybe we came at a bad time,” Goofy remarks.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Donald replies, before rushing up the stairs.

“Donald!” Sora calls after him, before he and Goofy give chase.

Cut to the ballroom, the camera zooms up to the ceiling, dives through the chandelier, and sweeps over the ballroom to zoom in on Belle and the Beast.

“Now then, Monsieur, Mademoiselle,” Lumiere opens as he stands alongside Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Chip (not the chipmunk), “Please, enjoy the evening.”

They then notice SDG, Goofy awkwardly waving while Donald folds his hands behind the back of his head.

“And of course, our honored guests are welcome, too,” Lumiere adds.

“A welcome indeed,” Xaldin remarks.

Beast and Belle embrace in fright.

Sora dashes into the middle of the ballroom and looks around, before finding the Nobody in question looking down on the ballroom from the upper level.

“The Organization!” Sora declares.

“You don’t know when to quit,” Xaldin remarks.

“Oh yeah!” Donald replies, “We’ll show you!”

Beast glares at Xaldin.

“Get out!” he roars as he lets go of Belle to run at him.

“Not tonight!” Belle… “Grumbles” doesn’t feel like the right word, but she says that upsettedly.

Xaldin snaps his fingers, and three never-before-seen Nobodies drop in from Corridors of Darkness.

Beast swats them away, but there are two Dusks and three more of the new Nobodies already surrounding him, Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

“I’ve come to take something you hold very dear,” Xaldin announces.

Beast roars in response.

“Yes,” Xaldin remarks as he disappears into a Corridor of Darkness, “Let your anger grow…”

“Beast! We’ve got to get rid of these guys first!” Sora reminds him.

Beast is in his party (wearing his regular outfit, rather than the fancy suit), and you’re given a chance to toggle your party as needed before officially starting the battle.

As implied by the never-before-seen Nobodies, new Nobodies are introduced here: Dragoons.

Dragoons wear dragon-headed hoods (which makes it look as though they have faces on their necks), wings sprouting from their backs, and they also wield lances.

They primarily attack with their lances, occasionally jumping and diving down like a Final Fantasy Dragoon, and a couple of their attacks leave behind white orbs.

These white orbs give the “Learn” Reaction Command, which turns “Attack” into “Jump”.

Jump leads to Sora copying the signature move of the dragoons of Final Fantasy fame, leaping into the air and diving down onto his target, Keyblade first.

You can use Learn to stack up to 10 Jumps. Once you run out of Jumps, “Jump” reverts back to “Attack”.

Very rarely, they’ll drop a “Nobody Lance”, a Staff for Donald. It gives +5 Strength, +5 Magic, and Item Boost.

After the battle, another textbox cutscene:

“Where’s Belle!?” Sora asks.

“Over here!” Belle answers.

She walks in from the balcony, with Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, Chip, and Cogsworth following closely behind her.

“Whew, she’s okay,” Sora notes.

“Guess Xaldin didn’t take anything after all,” Goofy notes.

The Beast visibly gasps and runs out of the room.

“What’s wrong?” Sora asks.

Belle rushes after him.

“Belle?” Sora questions, “What’s with them?”

“Maybe Belle isn’t the only thing precious to the Beast,” Goofy suggests.

“C’mon!” Donald invites.

Beast has left the party.

In order to progress the story, you need to go to the Beast’s Room.

The Beast is pacing angrily. He roars and slams the ground.

“What’s wrong?” Belle asks.

Beast growls and seethes.

“Please, calm down!” Belle begs.

The Beast swipes through the air to shove his cape out of the way, unknowingly swiping close to Belle’s face.

“Calm down?” he snaps, “You just had to have a party, didn’t you? Do you see what’s happened?”

“Hey,” Sora interjects, “What’s with you?”

“The rose…” Beast answers, “My rose…”

The camera cuts over to where the Enchanted Rose once was, only for the rose itself to be gone.

“What, that?” Sora asks, “He took it?”

“But surely, you can find another rose…” Belle replies.

“Silence!” Beast snaps as he swipes through the air (his claws coming pretty close to Sora’s chest), “You don’t know anything!”

Sora jumps between Beast and Belle.

“That’s not fair, Beast,” Sora scolds, “Don’t take it out on Belle! It’s not like she stole it!”

Beast growls and covers his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Belle replies.

“You don’t have to apologize,” Sora insists.

Beast averts his eyes.

“Belle… Sora…” he opens, much calmer than earlier, “I want you to leave the castle.”

Belle is visibly shocked at that order.

“Look at me. Look,” Beast continues, “This is what I am.

“When you first got here, I tried to change.

“But I was only fooling myself. I can’t be any different.

“I’ll always be a beast. So, I should live like a beast.

“With no one, alone.

“Good-bye, Belle.”

“You can’t mean that…” Belle protests.

Beast tries to meet her gaze, but can’t bring himself too.

“Aw, I think his mind’s all made up,” Goofy whispers into Sora’s ear.

“Yeah,” Sora acknowledges, before turning to Belle, “Look Belle. Leave this to us.

“If we can get the Beast’s rose back, he’ll calm down.”

Belle shoots a sad look over her shoulder, before walking out.

Out in the West Wing, we see Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth, and Lumiere.

“Poor child,” Mrs. Potts remarks.

Belle walks up to the trio, waves, and continues on her way.

“How could it come to this?” Cogsworth wonders.

“And they were so looking forward to this evening…” Lumiere remarks.

“Now, now – no need to be so sad,” Mrs. Potts assures, “Once the rose is back safely, this will all be over.”

Sora asks what’s so special about the rose, and the others explain the extra details for the curse.

Namely, the fact that the Beast has until the last petal falls to love and be loved in return.

As such, the Beast has had to take good care of the rose, and it became a cherished part of his day-to-day life. It’s the embodiment of all his hopes and dreams. As long as that rose is alive, there’s hope that he can regain his humanity.

Sora is now even MORE determined to help the Beast get it back, but also acknowledges that they can’t get it back without the Beast.

“If it’s that important to him, he has to do it himself.”

If you go back into the Beast’s Room, you’ll notice something in the back right corner.

An Absent Silhouette, this one depicting a scythe.

When passing through this one, Sora is transported to a smaller version of the Station to Oblivion, where he fought the Specter.

Petals swirl around the Absent Silhouette until it transforms into Marluxia.

At the start of the battle, Marluxia teleports to Sora’s side and whispers something into his ear.

A number equal to Sora’s current level materializes over his head.

Marluxia has just cast Doom on Sora.

Now, every time Sora is hit, in addition to his HP decreasing, the number above his head will drop by one.

If it drops to zero, Sora will be instantly killed.

Making matters worse, Marluxia has some attacks which will ONLY lead into combos if they hit Sora, meaning that even if you have abilities that’ll keep Sora alive at 1 HP, he can STILL get instakilled by Doom.

Marluxia attacks with his scythe, but can also generate thorny vines, sink into the ground and spin his scythe like a buzzsaw blade to strike Sora, and also create red circles that will produce danger zones that damage anyone standing in them when their insides turn black.

Marluxia’s most powerful attack has him float behind Sora while the lights are dim, firing off fifteen petal  geysers consecutively (forcing Sora to keep moving) and then throwing his scythe at Sora as the finishing blow.

Whenever Marluxia rests, Sora can run up to him to use one of two Reaction Commands:

Aerial Strike: Prompted when Sora runs up to Marluxia while he’s resting. Sora attacks Marluxia three times and knocks him back, acting as a finisher.

Restore Count: Prompted when Sora approaches Marluxia’s scythe while he’s resting. Sora steals it, slashes Marluxia with it, knocks him back, and then throws the scythe at Marluxia. This deals no damage to Marluxia, but raises the Doom Counter by 13, allowing Sora to absorb more hits before he’s insta-killed.

When Marluxia is defeated, he reverts back to his Absent Silhouette, which fades into pink petals.

Defeating Marluxia’s Absent Silhouette rewards Sora with +1 Drive Gauge, Donald with +3 Max HP, and Goofy with +3 Max HP. He also leaves behind another “Lost Illusion” synthesis material, and the “Eternal Blossom”, another synthesis recipe.

This allows Sora to synthesize the Full Bloom, an accessory that gives +3 strength and +10 AP. (The upgraded version gives MP haste as well.)

Using the “Persuade” Reaction Command on the Beast continues the story.

“Hey, Beast,” Sora greets.

The Beast groans.

“Leave me alone,” he mopes.

“C’mon, you need to hear this,” Sora continues, “You used to be fearless. You would have given your life to save Belle. Don’t you know what that meant to us? You gave us all courage.

“Hmph, maybe you should have kept some for yourself.

“I mean, are you really gonna throw your happiness away?

“The rose is your only hope, isn’t it? Well, it’s the only hope for Cogsworth and the others, too.

“So, don’t throw away your last chance. Remember what it was like before Belle lived here?”

The Beast looks up, his face hardening into a more determined expression.

“See?” Sora continues, “You can’t give up. Not now.”

“I know one thing,” Beast replies.

“What?” Sora asks.

“This castle belongs to me!” Beast answers as he turns to face Sora, “Xaldin will NEVER be welcome here.”

And it would appear as though I was wrong about Circle of Life being the only mid-Disney world Keyblade, because this rewards Sora with Rumbling Rose.

Rumbling Rose grants +5 Attack, +0 Magic, and Finishing Plus (allows the user to unleash an additional  combo finisher after landing a combo finisher).

Reminder: humanoid bosses in this game have Revenge Values which are triggered every few Finishers. Think VERY carefully about what fights you take this Keyblade into.

You also get the Castle Walls Map, granting access to your minimap in the area surrounding the Castle.

Beast rejoins the party.

In order to progress the story, you need to go to the Entrance Hall.

“So Beast… You came after all.” Xaldin comments as he holds the rose, standing atop a windowsill above the doors to the ballroom, “You had me worried. I was afraid you’d given up for good.”

The Beast looks up at Xaldin and growls at his nemesis.

“What do you guys really want?” Sora shouts.

“… Kingdom Hearts,” Xaldin answers.

That shocks Sora.

Xaldin FINALLY lowers his hood, revealing a head covered in black hair, with dreadlocks coming out of both the top of his head AND his sideburns.

“When Kingdom Hearts is ours, we can exist fully and completely.”

Donald lets out a confused quack as he shares a glance with Goofy.

“So you see, Beast – that’s why we need your Heartless AND your Nobody!”

Cue Nobody swarm as “Desire for All That is Lost” plays.

When the last Nobody falls, Xaldin gracefully lands in front of the doors leading out to the courtyard, smirks at the Beast, then waltzes right on out with the rose, closing the door behind him.

I suggest you save before following him.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and the Beast fan out to look for Xaldin as soon as you exit the castle.

Goofy notices Belle moping up on her balcony, back in her casualwear.

She notices Goofy motioning at her to hide and, remembering that Beast ordered her to leave (even if he seems to have calmed down enough to work with Sora and the others) decides to go back into her room, only to find the rose is also with her on the balcony.

She grins, picks it up and calls down to the others to reveal that she found the rose.

The second Beast notices, Xaldin clamps a hand over Belle’s mouth.

“Belle!” the Beast cries out in horror.

Xaldin, having everything he needs for his plan, leaps from Belle’s balcony and over the walls outside the castle in a single bounc.

The Beast, tired of Xaldin’s game chases after them, SHOVES his way through the siege gates (meant to stand up to BATTERING RAMS) with his shoulder, allowing the party to chase Xaldin out onto the Bridge.

“You!” the Beast growls at Xaldin, “Get out of my castle, now!”

“With pleasure,” Xaldin replies, holding the rose with one arm and Belle with the other, “but I’d rather travel light…

“What shall I leave behind?

“Belle?

“Or the rose?”

The Beast growls and sees the fear on Belle’s face.

“Belle!” he answers, charging at Xaldin in case this is another trick.

Belle, equally sick of Xaldin meddling in her love life, elbows him in the gut, grabs the rose, and runs right past the Beast, Sora, Donald, and Goofy with an audacious grin on her face so it won’t be damaged in the coming brawl.

“Good one, Belle!” Sora cheers.

With Belle safely out of the way, the Beast charges Xaldin and attempts to gore him with a slash of his claws.

Xaldin leaps out of the way, landing further down the bridge.

With a sweep of his arms, he conjures six tornados around himself, and transforms the whirlwinds into lances.

The lances shoot up into the air.

He grabs one into his right hand, two into his left, and lets the remaining three hover in the breeze around him.

Xaldin attacks primarily with thrusts of his lances, Dragoon Jumps, and blasts of wind.

He can shoot a slow-moving ball of air that homes in on Sora.

Very rarely, he can also combine his lances into a draconic mecha, ride atop its head, and fire a sweeping whirlwind beam across the bridge.

However, some of his attacks will give the “Learn” Reaction Command, allowing Sora to stock up “Jumps” to hit Xaldin with.

Be warned, he is invincible while riding his lances.

Additionally, this is another battle the King can save Sora from.

This is by far one of the hardest boss fights in the whole game, so if ANY boss battle will prompt multiple Mickey Mouse rescues, it’ll be this one.

You can also SPAM Learn in this battle for as long as it’s up, and uses MULTIPLE Jumps if necessary. Jump can even be used to dodge Xaldin’s attacks and damage him in turn.

Be warned, he has access to KH1’s version of Aeroga, meaning he can wrap himself in a barrier of pure wind that deals damage on impact.

Defeating Xaldin earns Sora +5 Max HP and a Reflect Element (upgrading “Reflect” into “Reflera”), Donald Auto Healing (heals party members when they are not an active member of the user’s party), Goofy +4 Max HP, and Beast +25 Max HP.

Xaldin’s six lances all stab into the ground in a circle around him and glow as each one evaporates into a beam of light.

Xaldin can only scream as he fades from existence, vanishing into a gust of wind.

Secret Ansem Report 4:

The distant days spent in that beautiful paradise are an illusion to me now.

How long have I been here, banished to the realm of nothingness?

It is only by relying upon my anger and hatred that I have been able to retain my sense of self here where all existence is nullified.

My heart is being overcome with hatred toward my apprentices, possessed by the darkness, and with the anger I feel for stupidly allowing myself to be betrayed.

Is this darkness, eating away at my heart?

I cannot continue to idle away my time here.

What are Xehanort and the others attempting to do?

I must unravel the mystery of these Ansem’s Reports, intercept my apprentices, and defeat them.

That is my mission…the only way to repay the world for my sins.

Those beings who lack hearts—the Heartless—must be the key.

The darkness of the heart, made flesh. Cursed shadows who not only lack hearts, but multiply by seizing hearts from any and all living things.

Where have they come from, and where are they going?

Three elements combine to create a life: a heart, a soul, and a body.

But what of the soul and body left behind when the heart is lost?

When the soul leaves the body, its vessel, life gives way to death, but what about when the heart leaves?

A being does not perish when its heart leaves its body. The heart alone disappears into the darkness.

There is little time.

If I remain in this realm much longer, I will certainly learn these answers the hard way.

My heart is already a captive of the darkness.

Back in the courtyard, Belle returns the rose to the Beast as Sora, Donald, Goofy, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Chip look on.

“Here, it’s yours again,” Belle says as she hands it over.

“Belle…” Beast opens.

“I know,” Belle interrupts, “You want me to leave the castle.”

The Beast grunts as the others look on with worried expressions.

“What matters is… You weren’t hurt by Xaldin…” he explains, “You’re safe.”

The others silently urge him to keep talking.

“And… I’m grateful to you…” Beast continues, “for bringing the rose back to me.

“Thank you.”

Belle giggles.

“It’s the least I could do,” she replies, Beast having placed the rose back on the ground and out of the way while it was out of frame, “You’ve been good to me. And you didn’t have to be.”

“Listen, Belle…” Beast opens.

“Yes?” Belle replies.

The Beast awkwardly tries to articulate his response, and then shoots a glance over at the others for guidance.

“Say it!” Sora tells him.

“Go on!” Lumiere adds.

“C’mon!” Donald urges.

“You can do it!” Mrs. Potts encourages.

“We have confidence!” Cogsworth throws in.

“Don’t be bashful, now,” Goofy instructs.

Beast steels his nerves.

“Belle, I’d like you to stay… With me… Please?”

Belle’s face brightens up even more.

She offers her hand, Beast takes it.

“I will.”

The Beast smiles that big, goofy grin that should not be as endearing as it is with all those razor-sharp teeth, but he just looks adorable.

“Maestro – music!” Lumiere calls out.

Belle and the Beast finally get to share that dance as an instrumental version of “Beauty and the Beast” plays. They might not be wearing their iconic outfits from the dance scene, they might not be in the courtyard instead of the ballroom, but they’ve earned this moment.

“Hey, did you see that look on Belle’s face when she grabbed that rose?” Sora asks, his hands folded behind his head as he watches his friends dance.

“Huh?” Donald quacks.

“Yep,” Goofy answers, “she sure was havin’ fun, all right.”

“She is rather unique, isn’t she?” Lumiere remarks.

“Always ready for a little adventure,” Mrs. Potts adds.

“The two of them do seem made for each other,” Cogsworth comments.

“Yeah, they sure do,” Sora agrees.

The camera zooms out from the Beast and Belle as the instrumental fades out.

Beast’s Castle’s story is finally complete.

Back on the world map, Olympus Coliseum finally reappears.

“Hey everybody!” Chip alerts SDG, “I’m picking up a strange reading.”

“Are you sure?” Dale asks, “Let me see!”

“Look – it’s all cloudy and kinda fuzzy,” Chip explains.

“Prob’ly just a glitch,” Dale remarks.

“I don’t know…” Chip comments.

If you fly up to the top of the World Map, past Twilight Town, something is starting to materialize there.

-

 I NEED more batb stories where Belle throws hands with someone tbh. (if we’re not doing a KH crossover, I highly suggest the Enchantress).

[cosmicseapop]

Ohhh the rumbling of cold thunder is going to be a trip isn't it

Ooooh it totally is and I’m not emotionally ready at all.

Like the gravity of the OWO snapping Neso, even tho we managed to get a peaceful ending to the conflict, just because she stepped out of line is extremely worrying. And it sounds like they’re just looking for a problems to have the reason to just destabilize the Avatars. Also, they knew of the Voice of the Sea but didn’t know it wasn’t Neso, how does that work??? Would it have been Kathool if she didn’t step into Lore, or the Drowning Device and Water Temple if we killed Kathool and dealt with Neso before she showed up. It sounds like a general title they could slap on anyone and condemn them for whatever they did. And it feels like we getting set on a mission to find a culprit that works for their goals, what that is since I’m not buying the ‘stability of Lore and existence’ and more. Mostly due to me liking the idea of Neso being the most short tempted Avatar being the voice of reason if any of the others tried to over reach their authority.

Not to mention Neso being silenced became an Abel death flag. If Abel gets catch up in the next threat, then by the OWO’s justification of ‘the attempt being as bad as if it was successful’, they’re either going to kill or silence him. I can care less about Iseul, she’s sus and probably with the Jus Divinum, but I’m really hoping they don’t kill off Abel just for a plot device to make us hate the OWO more. I don’t need any more reason to after finding out Drakath and Gravelyn are basically on their death beds. I hope they give him a good villain arc if that’s where they’re taking him, and not him acting out in grief and gets killed off for a moment of weakness. Like I don’t think him and Iseul killed Rhubarb and Leviathanius, that would be dirty and Rhubarb deserves better, but probably teleported them away somewhere. So Abel hasn’t don’t anything terrible, at least not yet, so there’s still hope for him!

Hopefully they hold off on jumping straight into Rumbling of Cold Thunder, since it looked like a 2 parter from how the title card changed in that last cutscene.

[blackjackkent]

All right, going to properly play a bit of BG3 tonight, since I basically only played the intro cutscene last night. :D

As always, block "#bjk plays baldur's gate 3" to avoid the liveblogging shenanigans.

We left off with Hector in the flaming wreckage of, as the area name states, "A Nautiloid In Hell". What is the Nautiloid and how did it get to hell? WHO KNOWS!

Hector is definitely not having a good time right now. This man has lived in a monastery for decades and on his first major traveling out into the real world got snapped up by a demon squid creature and has a worm inside his eye now. The only thing preventing him from having a panic attack is pure adrenaline.

The Nautiloid is apparently still flying - there's hellish landscape rolling by outside the ripped open side of it. There are a few dead mind flayers on the ground and a few pods with dead prisoners inside them.

Looting around, we find some gold in a chest, and also that Hector will cheerfully walk into fire if I tell him to. (It hurts.)

At the other end of the room is a giant tentacled object called "Restoration" which healed me for my full hit points. Nice!

Next to it is uh. This.

Gross. I'm going to guess this is the door? 😬

It sure is. And I hate the noise it made opening.

The next room is full of more flames, more dead things, a really creepy voice whispering "Help usssss...", and some really uncomfortably-named items like:

and

and

and

I think the weird voice is coming from this unfortunate bastard sitting twitching on a chair on the upper level:

So let's go check that out.

Oh god what the fuck.

Hector> O.O

Oh that is an AWFUL sentence.

This is uh. Upsetting. Hector is really trying to keep his cool here but he's not doing a great job at it.

Intelligence check!

This unlocks a truly unpleasant medicine check (with advantage):

Sure, why not. Hector is just doing things on instinct at the moment, hoping that maybe this is some kind of terrible nightmare.

This is really a lot to deal with just after waking up.

I'm not entirely sure what the actual intended best call is here, but I think Hector is freaked out enough that squishing the creepy talking brain definitely feels like the right decision.

Dexterity check...failed.

Hector awkwardly tried to shove his thumb into it and then it squirmed out of his hand and turned into this.

I don't think it liked that.

Luckily it didn't seem to want to fight, but it did scurry off into the wreckage, hopefully never to be seen again.

Hector goes back to internally panicking.

[thefanficmonster]

It’s Only Fair

Corpse Husband x Reader (Female)

Warnings: Swearing, Minor Spoilers for RE8: Village

Genre: FLUFF, Humor, RPF (Real Person Fic)

Summary: It’s all fun and games while Corpse is simping over Lady Dimitrescu, seeing as how Y/N herself isn’t immune to that woman’s charms. However, things get ‘serious’ when Corpse has to deal with his girlfriend making heart eyes at the hammer wielding final lord - Heisenberg.

Requested by Anon. Hi darling! Thank you so much for this incredible request - it hit close to home, not gonna lie hehe. Thank you so much for the opportunity you gave me with this request, I had a ton of fun turning it into a fic and I hope you have at least half as much fun reading it! Love, Vy ❤

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t Heisenberg remind you of Lucas from the seventh game? I don’t know, all this speakers communication is giving me flashbacks I’m not too fond of. That guy traumatized me.“ Y/N shudders in her seat from where she’s observing Corpse’s gameplay while keeping tabs on the speeding chat, answering as many of the comments as she can.

“No idea. Never played the game.“ Corpse wheezes out, feeling the pressure’s on and working up a little bit of a sweat seeing as how this is the last lord he’ll have to battle before probably having to square up with Mother Miranda. The fact he’s running low on ammo has been stressing him out but luckily he has Y/N there to comfort him every time. She doesn’t even need to use words to do so or even ask him what’s wrong - just placing her hand on his knee allows him to feel relaxed and as though everything will be alright even though it probably won’t be if he doesn’t collect some money, ammo or supplies for making ammo soon.

“Wooow, fake fan, huh?“ Y/N pokes his side teasingly, “No, nevermind, I know exactly why you chose to play this, skipping all the previous ones in the process.“ She prods on, continuing to mess with Corpse who gives her a side-smile after having held on a still face for such a long time, features frozen in his focused and on-edge state.

He rolls his eyes, deciding to play her game, “Oh yeah? Why do you think that is?”

She scoffs, “Maybe cause thee other games don’t have 9ft tall vampire ladies? I don’t know, I’m just shooting in the dark here.” She delivers another poke to his side, giggling devilishly as she does so.

Corpse quickly takes hold of her hand, murmuring: “Maybe...” under his breath before bringing it to his lips and giving her knuckles a kiss.

Y/N wiggles her hand free from his grasp, mock-offended by his words, “Knew it! I freaking- Whoa, hello there, sir.” She cuts herself off as the game enters into a scripted cutscene, showing off the final lord in all his glory. “Who is you?”

“Y/N, Heisenberg. Heisenberg, Y/N.” Corpse laughs, “I forgot you missed the episode where he was first introduced.” 

“Damn do I regret that now.“ She whispers, eyes glued to the game instead of the screen of her laptop where she’s been fetching comments flying by. No one can blame the girl, she’s got a justified reason to be distracted. “Wish we met sooner, Mr. Heisenberg.“

Corpse finds his jaw on the floor in an instant as his head snaps to face his girlfriend, “Excuse me, what’s that supposed to mean?!”

Y/N frowns, narrowing her eyes at her boyfriend as she finally brings herself to tear her eyes off the screen where now the game has been paused. “What? You now get to complain? After I didn’t say shit about you drooling all over Lady Dimitrescu? It’s only fair I get my own simp-worthy subject, don’t you think?”

Corpse rolls his eyes, “This deal doesn’t seem like it’ll benefit you much - I get a hot, classy and rich vampire lady and you get...” he motions at the screen, his face twisting in a displeased expression, “...him.”

“Oh trust me, I’ll be perfectly benefited, don’t ya worry.“ She shoots him a wink, cackling quietly yet evilly at the shock-disappointment het comment is met with on her boyfriend’s part. “What?“ She asks though laughter, “He’s hella hot!“

“Ok, that’s it.“ Corpse gets up, pushing the desk chair Y/N’s sitting in forward, rolling it on its wheels towards the door, “You’ll be in exile until this chapter’s done with. I can’t have you simping all over the place, it’s bad for business. I mean, if you fall for guys who look like him, God knows what people will think I look like.“

“Well, you do need a shower but...“ Y/N comments through a fit of giggles, kicking her legs as to get up and off the chair but by the time she’s able to react, he’s already rolled her out in the hallway and shut the door of the recording room behind himself as though she can’t just open it and walk back in. Which is exactly what she does, much to his dismay - but she only pokes her head inside, “You’re right, it’s bad for your image, so I’ll clarify.“ She clears her throat, raising her voice as for it to be picked up by Corpse’s mic from across the room, “The two men in question don’t look at all alike, folks! Heisenberg is way hotter than Corpse!“

“OUT!“ Corpse shouts, sounding as threatening as he can while laughing his ass off alongside Y/N who has followed his ‘order‘ and stepped out in the hallway where her laughter can still be heard. “Guess the longer I don’t shower, the hotter I’ll appear to Y/N. Remind me to buy myself a cape as well. Wonder how much factories cost around the West Coast...“

“COPYCAT!“ Comes Y/N’s shout from outside the door, causing Corpse to break out in another fit of laughter.

Never did Corpse think he’d be trying to cop the ranks of a video game villain but here he is, actually googling the price of cape coats and he’s never felt more bemused with himself - ok, that may or may not be a lie considering he’s really digging the coats he finds for sale online.

@maat-the-prescriptive  @simonsbluee  @save-the-sky  @itsminniekat  @hacker-ghost  @bi-andready-tocry  @imtiredaffff  @jazzkaurtheglorious  @hereforbeebo  @fandomgirl17  @chrysanthykios  @maehemscorpyus  @loraleiix  @letsloveimagines  @annshit  @i-cant-choose-a-username-help  @enigmaticmaze  @divine-artemis  @waterlilypat  @idontknowwhatthisisfam  @evi-ka  @classyandfabulous00  @redperson58  @lilysdaydreams @solowheein  @mythicalamphitrite  @axen-gers  @luckygirl144  @nj01  @buddyemily   @the-albino-lioness  @stardream14  @gdhdkfnn  @nomadicgypsyy  @preciousskye  @fluffysuicideunicornsworld  @o-kaelin  @manacharlotte  @awkward-youtube-trash  @lolalee24  @bonky-beerns  @meme-lord-and-savior-sebastian  @strawbrinkofdeath  @teenloves  @tams0527  @browneyespinkhair  @starstruckllamapuppy  @daisychains012  @y0ulooked  @tinytacosuitcaseflap @supernatural-is-my-only-life  @jula-pauline  @melodykitty  @just-that-bi-girl  @crazybutconfidentaf  @lowellshade @alphakees  @bellero  @weallneednamjesus  @starryhanji  @boiled-onionrings  @husherstan  @fockingwhore  @melaningoddessthings  @prettypastelpetals  @haleypearce  @godwhyamiawkward  @y-napotat  @daisychainyoonmin  @little-miss-rebel3  @free-wheelin-bi-sexual  @redmoon261 @darkacademic2  @wiseflamingoqueen  @into-the-end  @namikhai-i  @nastiablr  @thelittleplantlover  @mirktuan  @dont-hyuck @jjk-bunny  @vintagegothlover  @easygoingtheatre  @itsrandombooklover  @miiaivi  @emmybaybee  @befourgolden  @jjk-is-my-shit  @eternalteaaars  @spacebadgerx  @princesslunalight  @acequinn14  @samm48  @misselsbells06 @simp-lykawa  @fo-love  @marishimomura-blog  @therealglenncoco  @cinnamonbun332  @killtherandomness  @sanshinexxxsan  @fee-btheweeb  @press-lay  @cathleenpotgieter16  @jazzydoesstuff  @moonlxghtbay  @forestrain2000  @hyunjinhugs  @blood-of-fandoms  @lovellylies  @ukiyolixx  @simpforhpcharacters  @chrisdylan17  @parkerjisung  @pedernille  @theodonyous  @wineandionysus  @malfoystilinskii05  @morbid-x  @coryisagee  @jessewa26  @scoobydooluver97 @mindintheskies365  @raeanneinwonderland  @indecisive-empanada  @gluttonypalace  @loriane2503  @btsiguess-kpop  @khaoticbunny  @lucidlycactus  @smiithys  @rottenroyalebooks  @kpopgirlbtssvt  @fangirl-tc27  @fr0z3n-1  @notmesimpingfortechno  @shotarosleftpinky  @kunoi-chan  @idk-whats-wrong-with-me  @yikeroonie  @goldenstarofthunderclan  @poetry-and-tea  @ama-do-writing-stuff  @wishbonewolf  @emeraldxhope  @t0xick1tty  @kusuinko  @speakyourselfloveyourself  @sophia902103  @lo-manburg  @classsykittykat  @dmgama  @depressedpuppythatneedscoffee  @btsiguess-kpop  @akaashi-baby  @gun-jong-simp  @geschichtenfee  @yerapotato-wp  @browneyedgirl365  @thysagclub  @sparklycloudnight  @helloatomicshadow  @queentorresstuff @vtte @val-gal  @lucy-bunny17  @aaliyahh0  @katluckybear  @boyleanti  @straybids  @franchesca-791  @cosmicstorm19  @averyisbackinthetrashcan  @aomi-nabi  @xlanawriter  @allensimpsforcorpse

[apompkwrites]

reader impact || first meetings: unreconciled stars

series masterlist characters: scaramouche, fischl, mona genre: fluff summary: a game has been released entitled genshin impact, consisting of otherworldly abilities relying on the basic elements of nature. the game follows the story of an interdimensional traveling twin in search of their other half. along this journey, they meet different characters that live in this world. including you. notes: i'm sorry fischl and mona's aren't that good :(( this is actually my first time writing for them but i hope you enjoy <33

scaramouche's playthrough -

oof scara

scara scara scara

this boy hates his chat and at this point they don't care.

it's not like he'll badmouth them, right?

think ludwig.

that's him.

he's a very angy boy please--

as for what he does?

much like childe he'd do a lot of pvp games.

he's not too keen on showing off his personal life.

he prefers that boundary between his viewers and himself, y'know?

he honestly doesn't even understand why his viewers like him.

he knows he's a mean person and yet here they are :/

he doesn't take requests from his viewers he just kinda plays whatever he wants.

imagine his viewers' surprise when they see him streaming genshin--

they asked why a lot.

"it seemed cool."

this man just wants to play some good ol' anime games.

his chat calls him soft and he just glares.

anyway now he's actually playing.

he's not really into mondstadt's characters they're all... okay to him.

he feels a bit better in liyue.

not because it's pretty oh no no no.

because look at all the enemies outside >:))

he'll clear the whole field don't test him.

anyway, now onto the unreconciled stars event :00

this man really doesn't like katheryne--

anyway at this point he's tasked with find fritz, which he doesn't really want to do.

he sees the dude on the ground but that's only after he sees someone standing next to him.

and then he sees someone standing next to him :0

"is the guy on the floor sleeping?"

"i believe so. i've tried everything, but he won't wake up."

he will pause to look at your outfit.

it's so complex but it's so cool!!!

his chat suspects something's up but... he'll just snap at them like he normally does.

but he'll silently admire you <3

also yOU'RE T I N Y ! !

and then paimon points out your clothes and the cameras pans up your body--

"heh... and by "this person over here," you mean me, right?"

he will choose the "those unique clothes are quite beautiful" option in a heartbeat.

he doesn't care that his chat is teasing him, he just wants you to know :))

he's kinda sad when you leave, though...

"please come back soon..."

his CHAT HAS NEVER SEEN HIM SO SOFT BEFORE

skip to a few events later when the constellation is revealed to be leonard's.

the sudden cutscene catches him off guard because he's prepared to fight someone.

"hi! sounds interesting... mind if i join you?"

he won't say anything but he will physically relax at the sight of you.

you make this man soft please--

he's lowkey angry when his character is teleported away from you :(

(name): the sixth of the eleven fatui harbingers

HYPEHYPEHYPE

YOU'RE SO COOL!

of course he doesn't say that but his chat can tell that's what he's thinking.

this man's eyes go wide when you order the fatui around.

please help he really likes you. you're so assertive and cute and cool and just AGH--

fischl's playthrough -

fischl can and will do cosplay streams.

her fans like to watch her because of the "character" she puts up for the camera.

honestly she just does this because she genuinely enjoys cosplaying and bringing characters to life.

oz is the nickname for her pet bird :))

she definitely gets a lot of trolls in her chat that make fun of her for her cosplays and "dumb" way of speaking.

in which case she'll just yell at them using her "dumb" way of speaking.

she really does care about how people see her but her chat comforts her a lot after, so she feels better after a few minutes :))

the games she plays are very fantasy based and take place in worlds that don't exist.

once she gets into a game, she'd pick her favorite character and cosplay as them everytime she streams that game.

sometimes she does sewing streams where she actually makes her own cosplay with her fans.

they like to make it with her if they have the materials :D

genshin impact was a game her fans recommended because they actually want to see fischl cosplay the characters.

they will beg her to do the cosplay creation on stream.

(they defintitely know who she'll choose to cosplay but it's fine)

when she reaches the unreconciled stars event, she's really excited to learn about the fated meteorite granting sleep upon touch.

she's ready to go around teyvat in search of an answer when...

"katheryne! vassal of the immernachtreich, do mine ears deceive me, or didst thou cry out mine holy name in earnest supplication not one moment ago?"

some of her chat is obviously confused by your speech but her long time viewers can understand some of it.

oz, who fischl had brought with her to play, seems excited to see your familiar flying to you :)

fischl is just as excited as he is!!

please you speak just like her and you're voice is so nice and it actually sounds like the developers put thought into what the speech would mean in "proper speech."

"a pleasure to meet you again, katheryne."

YOU'RE FAMILIAR IS JUST AS COOL AS YOU ARE!!

some of her viewers will beg for her to skip through your dialogue.

when she sees those comments, she will purposefully let your dialogue play out, proceed to read out that same dialogue, and respond to you as if she was actually talking to you.

not just to spite them but because it's also a lot of fun for her <3

"it would seem the gods have blessed us with meeting such a well-respected being!"

translation: she's really excited to have met you.

as soon as you spoke she decided she would cosplay as you.

she's already planning out all of the materials she'll need and how much time it would take.

if your familiar is a bird, you best bet oz will be in her photo shoots for your cosplay.

most of the time you're on screen, she'll talk to her viewers about you in her classic chuunibyou style <333

she's really sad when it's time for you to leave :(((

"... goodbye, fischl. you are a good listener. i enjoy chatting with you. to be honest, most of the other adventurers in the guild only ever talk to me when they wanna hear (familiar)'s reconnaissance reports... this little journey we had... it was a great adventure. i'm just sorry that is has to end so abruptly..."

she might cry wait--

she relates to you even more now :(

"ah! what am i doing? i totally broke form..."

you're too cute pleas--

mona's playthrough -

mona does a lot of nightly streams.

it's very rare for you to catch her streaming with daylight.

she likes to share things about astrology while sitting outside drinking something warm.

she'll do a lot of nightly gaming streams as well.

mainly calmer games that people can vibe to in the background.

she prefers to keep her streams lowkey and chill, much like the life she wants to lead.

if only she had the money to do so...

yes, mona is still struggling with money even as a streamer.

she greatly appreciates any donations her fans give to her because she practically relies on them to pay her rent and daily necessities.

of course, it's not like she's completely struggling, just enough to barely get her by.

anyway, her fans ask her about playing genshin impact, inticing her with their talk about the stars and night sky in the game.

she's the type of player to take her time in the environment and take a lot of pictures of her character at night.

she's actually really excited when she hears about this new event centering around the stars and sky :D

soon enough, she gets around to the part where she is need of an astrologist.

she's HYPED to hear there's an astrologist in the game.

"someone looking for me? who is it?"

she will squeal, please.

look at you!!!

your whole design has stars and is space-themed and you're so cute and you're voice is so soothing ! ! !

she really likes listening to you talk about astrology because your voice gets even softer than before.

that scene where you go to the cliff??

please she has that scene as her lockscreen <3

you just look so cool when you start to do your process.

you're so focused and the way they animate your process in the game is beautiful.

and then the fatui harbinger interrupts one of your meetings :00

you grab onto mona's character and teleport away in a cloud of stars and specks of your elemental vision.

she's kinda embarrassed when you scold her about getting involved with the harbinger--

but not only are you really cool and awesome, you're super strong, too!

please be sassy more she really likes how proud you sound :))

[novaninja]

⚠️TW: sensitive topics, beware

honestly, it’s so fucking sick what they did to max’s character.

or frankly to anyone that’s been treated unjustly in the show.

to take someone that has been broken since she was a kid and show her love, lower her defenses only to then break her over and over again is a new fucking low.

this entire season the duffer brothers have set a very clear precedent that i’m sure you’ve noticed.

- if you are different in any way, suffering from any past trauma or go to a therapist for whatever reason, you are unworthy.

- if you do not belong, you are unworthy.

- if you decide to save the world, because you are the only one willing to do so, you are unworthy.

to take s*icidal characters just to make them run for their lives like pigs running for carrots on sticks only to brutally snap their bones is such a bullshit thing to do.

it’s like they’re presenting us with this hope that all of these characters that we relate to in some way can actually make it out alive and happy only to crush all of our dreams with an iron fist.

look, i get it, they couldn’t get away with it forever.

but they were also the only ones that ever really fought for it.

eddie always saw himself as a cowardly guy. that’s the only reason he gave himself up. because he thought that if he was ever gonna be brave, it was gonna be saving others. he knew that everybody outside of their little group hated him, so he also lost a little will to live. he thought that he was better off as sacrifice than as living.

max had been continuously pushed to her limits emotionally, barely finding time to find the courage to talk about it when she couldn’t even catch her breath before the next big thing. it was just her luck that it was always after her blood.

to set such a character as the ultimate sacrifice is so emotionally brutal, and to just ignore her and all the other’s death with a cheap cutscene is lazy.

fuck you duffer brothers 🖕🖕

[vintagerain]

Let’s talk about Genshin 2.1 ✨

<Spoilers for the Archons Quests in Inazuma to completion so if you haven’t spoken to Yae Miko yet, you should probably leave.>

Right! I did make a Post earlier about 2.0 regarding the Archon Quests and Mihoyo’s Godly writing team that involves the Traveler’s development.

But honestly I am so overwhelmed and in Shock by what I just witnessed right now that I’m sure what I’m about to say is even coherent. Whoever’s working on the story needs a raise, honestly.

Let’s talk about The Traveler.

The Traveler Is someone who genuinely cares about people and despite their fighting ability is certainly not violent. But the Fatui pushed them WAY too Far this time. The Traveler snapped. Teppei genuinely didn’t deserve what happened to him.

Rest In Peace Teppei✨

BUT WHAT I did not expect was the Signora Boss fight. I knew we would fight her but I didn’t think that’s how it would play out. I didn’t expect the Traveler to duel her in front of the Shogun. The Traveler has heard Kazuha’s story so she would fully understand that the loser was going to die. In that moment, I can’t help but think that the Traveler wanted Signora to die. Which is interesting because they’ve never really been murderous. This is also probably what led to the cutscene afterwards.

But anyway, I love Venti sooooo…

But I do have Questions. Is Signora really dead? I just find it hard to believe I guess?

Did Scaramouche set her up? At that point he’s probably had the Gnosis for a day or two so why did Signora continue to meet with the Shogun?

Also was Sara unconscious or dead? Because she definitely stopped moving… and I completed Baal’s story quest and she wasn’t mentioned despite being a part of the Kujou clan? Because if she is dead then that means playable characters aren’t immune to death. Also how the Harbingers making use of their Delusions of it’s so dangerous?

The part involving Kazuha was insane. As a Kazuha main, I am a little upset that we didn’t see him or Gorou more in the story. But his scene was truly heartbreaking especially when he left the vision shell behind at the grave in the last cutscene. But I’m also incredibly proud of him✨ But at the same time he gave me a heart attack running at her with Goddamn Fillet Blade.

I’m confused as to what made the vision reawaken though? Was it possibly his ambition to save his friend. Was this the same ambition that gave his friend his vision? I’m confused and on tears.

In any case, I will now be actively looking for that location with Kazuha. I hope we’re allowed to leave Flowers 🌻

In terms of Baal. In my personal opinion, I’m definitely more attached to Venti and Zhongli and honestly I don’t really have anything else to say about her.

In Terms of Scaramouche’s background!!

Now This was very interesting. I figured that he was related to Inazuma somehow but that was unexpected. I am genuinely curious to see how he plays out in the future. However, it is said that Ei began making the puppet centuries ago but definitely after Khaenriah which means that Scaramouche is roughly 500 years old. And immortal.

So that’s fun.

Do I like him? He’s not exactly in my good graces but I am so genuinely curious about him that I can’t say I dislike him either. Im definitely looking forward to seeing him again especially since Signora is gone. I’ll make a clearer judgment on him when I know what’s going through his head.

About the Gnoses.

The Gnoses has genuinely baffled me because up until this point it almost seems like not a single Archon actually cares about Celestia. They’re literally just handing them away. Yes, Signora did aggressively take it away from Venti but afterwards he was just like “sooo anyway….”

Like do you not care??

Although the Gnosis does give them an increase in power it seems as though it’s main function is to connect them to Celestia. But the Archons do not seem phased about losing said attachment as well as most of their power.

Venti was notorious for not using his Gnosis anyway and honestly he doesn’t seem all that eager to get it back. Zhongli handed his away, as he only kept it because he wanted to continue to look after Liyue. And Baal just gave it to her friend who traded it with ease. Yae Miko didn’t even know what it was.

On top of that. We now have confirmation that they are indeed modeled to look like chess pieces. I do now have a theory that they were all being controlled by their Gnoses in exchange for their power and the War with Khaenriah has made them all bitter towards the current ruler and they all wish to rebel in their own way. But THIS IS JUST A THEORY!! And it is my Own Personal Assumption so please take it with a grain of Salt!

Anywho. That’s all I have to say for now. I wish you all a Fantastic 2.1 and to those who are wishing on the Banners, May your wishes shine Gold!

Let me know what you think of The New Update and what you liked about it most. I quite like reading Comments and reblogs.😌

[dandelion-wings]

Doing Whumptober again. This one is “self-induced injuries to escape,” which I kind of twisted around a little because it’s not deliberately self-induced, but I’d been thinking about Thoma and I had a couple options and by the time I realized the one I took was going to go this way it was an hour and a half past my bedtime and I didn’t want to delete half my work to change course just to make sure I got the prompt technically correct. XD;; Anyway, this is based on That One Cutscene and how efficiently he got those ropes off, from which I chose to extrapolate that he has had previous practice.

This is my first stab at Thoma, unedited, and also did the thing that sometimes happens where the last several paragraphs suggest a theme that requires a bit of the first half to be rewritten to make a coherent fic? Which, since it is now two hours past my bedtime, I definitely didn’t do. So YMMV, but I had fun! As a timing note, this is set probably a year or two before Thoma gets his Vision (going off the leaked story stuff that someone kindly gave me).

---

ETA: Now edited and available on AO3!

---

Thoma's back and side ache, with an ominous sharpness to the otherwise dull throbbing at one point just beside his spine. His neck hurts, too, though he hopes that's just sore muscles from the way it had snapped around when he fell. He'd fumbled the release cord on his glider, hit the ground before he could get it right, then been too winded from the fall off the cliff to put up much of a fight when these nobushi had tied him up.

Now he's propped up against the base of the cliff, hands behind his back and his ankles bound loosely to the ropes around his wrists. The nobushi are going through the contents of his pockets in front of him. One of them makes a disgusted sound as he opens the last pouch and shakes it out into his hand.

"Not even a hundred mora on him," he scoffs. "Just these papers."

"Those papers are private messages belonging to the Kamisato Clan," Thoma warns him, as the man reaches for the seal to one of the message-scrolls that had been in the case on his belt. "There are serious consequences for breaking those seals."

"Consequences from who? They have to find out to do anything about it." The man grins at him, leering and cruel. "You didn't think we were going to let you run home and tell them about it, did you?"

"There's plenty of people out there who will pay good money for the private correspondence of the Kamisato Clan," another of the nobushi adds, his grin just as nasty as the first. "And might pay more for the chance to squeeze information out of their pet outlander. Or blame the leak on you, and make an example of the Kamisato family for trusting a foreigner."

Thoma swallows hard. He can feel the fluttering of incipient panic in his chest, growing stronger as the nobushi describes his potential fates. The implied threat of torture isn't even the worst part. Not that he wants to endure that--he definitely doesn't--but the idea of the Kamisatos, who have been so kind to him, suffering on his behalf is even worse. He's not afraid of them thinking he's a traitor to the family. He's more afraid that they won't be willing to disavow him if he's set up to look like one. They've already refused to be expedient where he's concerned.

"Lots of options," the first nobushi says, taking a clear pleasure in what must be an increasing pallor to accompany the growing chill in Thoma's face. "Or, if no one wants the bonus, what's one more outlander body adrift in the sea?"

Chuckling to himself, the man puts the scrolls, thankfully still unopened, back into their case and wanders away towards the little camp the other nobushi are setting up further along the cliff. It's close enough for him to be in their sight, but far enough that he can't quite pick up the conversation there unless the rogues deliberately pitch their voices to carry. His friend checks the ground around where they'd been standing for any additional mora, then wanders off to join him. Thoma is left alone, kneeling, his aching back to the cliff.

He has to get out of here. And get those messages back, though they're lower priority--Ayato and Ayaka may trust him, but the rest of the clan doesn't consider him trustworthy enough to carry anything particularly important yet. With their mother in such poor health and the succession uncertain, they aren't going to defy the clan elders like that at the moment. Thoma at least has the comfort of knowing that he hasn't let anything truly secret fall into villainous hands.

But Thoma himself could still become a weakness for the clan at an unfortunate moment, as the nobushi had so cruelly pointed out. He can't stay here and let himself be used against it. Nor does he want to hang around to get killed, if these rogues are wrong about whether they can make the sale.

In the camp, the nobushi are starting to divvy out food and settle down to eat. That might be the distraction Thoma needs. He glances about, though he already knows this is a bad spot to try to sneak away: a broad stretch of grass spreading out beneath the overhang of the cliff, with no bushes or convenient piles of stone to be seen. Even if there were, he couldn't crawl on his knees fast enough to actually escape. His first priority is getting loose.

The nobushi had left his polearm leaning on the cliff not far from him, point-down, the tip of it buried in the rocky earth. He'd winced to see them stab it down. It's nothing fancy, but up until now the weapon had served him well, and it doesn't deserve to be dulled by ill handling. Now, as an idea comes to mind, he finds himself grateful for the careless treatment.

He edges along the cliff slowly, keeping an eye on the camp the whole time. Fortunately, the nobushi don't have much discipline. No wonder they've gone rogue; unfamiliar as he is with the Tenryou Commission, he can't imagine their officers tolerating that kind of sloppiness. Even someone as forgiving as Ayaka would be disappointed. They haven't even taken his glider off him, though to be fair, the Mondstadt invention seems rare enough in Inazuma that they might not be able to recognize the harness layered into his clothing for what it is. Well, Thoma won't be complaining to them about their lapses.

Eventually he reaches the polearm. Leaning back against it, he traps the haft of it between his back and the cliff, ignoring the way his wrenched shoulders protest. Now that he's made it halfway there, he can breathe a little easier, push the flutter of panic down.

Another deep breath, then another, the slow, measured exhale and inhale that he'd been taught along with the use of his weapon. Thoma will never be as meditative as some warriors are, but the techniques help him center himself as he finds the right placement for the ropes and the blade.

His ankles first, Thoma thinks. If he's discovered halfway, those ropes are loose enough that what he's doing won't be so obvious. He squirms back further against the wall, until his heels are up against it--his legs protest the shift in position, pins-and-needles prickling all along his calves and thighs--and leans back even further, the back of his head against the wall, so that he can twist his fingers to reach the ropes. Then he starts to rub them against the blade of the polearm.

He's most of the way through the two lengths, one for each ankle, when one of the ropes catch on a nick in the blade. The rope jumps sideways, his hands go with it, and the blade slices deep into the meat of his right palm, the thick pad below the thumb, cutting all the way down to bone. Thoma gasps and then bites his tongue, hard, to strangle the cry threatening to emerge. His mouth fills with the taste of blood.

After a moment of groping at the wound, he realizes it's far too deep to just hold for a moment and hope it seals like he might with a minor cut. It's bleeding profusely, slicking his hand and the rope and the blade behind him. He glances over at the camp again, to be sure the nobushi are all still eating, then grasps the rope once more. It's not slippery in his hands, not yet, but if he waits too long it will be. He shoves it up against the blade again, pressing harder as he scrapes it up and down, until suddenly the tension between his hands goes loose as the rope falls away.

Breathing hard, he leans his head against the stone, closing his eyes for just a moment. Then he forces himself to open them again. He needs to get his hands free before the nobushi finish eating and think to check on him. Scrunching down against the stone behind him as subtly as he can the sharp-aching point in his back flares up in protest, Thoma lines up the blade with the ropes around his wrist and starts in on those.

It takes longer this time. The nobushi talk and laugh off to the side, and Thoma tenses more every time one of them raises his voice, afraid it's a prelude to a shout of alarm. He can feel sweat trickling down his face, seeping out from under his headband despite the chill that seems to suffuse him. His hand can't be bleeding *that* badly. When he folds his fingers up to touch it, there's still blood flowing, even if its pace has slowed. The wound itself throbs, a deep burning pain, and there's a tingling in his fingers that makes the panic start to rise again. What if Thoma has damaged the hand badly enough it'll affect how he holds tools, or wields a weapon? He knows that can happen, especially if there isn't someone with a healing Vision around to treat the wound.

He realizes that he's let his breathing speed up, and forces it to slow down again, counting in his head between each breath. His shoulders move with the count, evening out the rhythm of rope against blade. He feels one loop of rope give way, then another--and then the third, and his hands are free.

Thoma stays where he is for a moment longer, letting his muscles relax, slowly bringing his shoulders forward now that he has the freedom to do that. He glances one last time at the camp. The nobushi who'd taken the case of messages is sitting at the edge of the camp, with it beside him. That's a risk, but it's too tempting a risk not to take if he can escape with the messages he was entrusted with, unimportant as they are. Thoma will have to move fast once he's got them.

Another breath, and another. He flexes his hands behind his back, feels the right tingle ominously, and grasps the haft of his polearm near the top with his left instead. If he does have to fight, better with a hand he's not used to using than one it might slip free of. Then he braces himself against the stone--pain sparks in his back again, but not enough to keep him from moving--and pushes himself up and onto his feet, breaking into a run in the same motion.

Shouting in alarm, the nobushi start to scramble to their feet, reaching for weapons they'd put aside. Thoma charges towards them, watches those who have make it up all the way cluster to intercept him, and then, at the last moment, dodges right, the blade of his polearm skimming past them as he dashes to the side of the camp instead. He swings it about to knock the nobushi beside the case to the ground, bends low to snatch it up--willing his right hand to work, just barely able to grasp and lift it--tucks it into the bend of his elbow, and keeps going.

Beyond the camp there's a cliff, falling off to the rocky shore below. Thoma sprints straight towards it, then over the edge. He tosses the polearm, more clumsily than he'd meant to with his left hand, and watches it tumble below him as he reaches back and, this time, *successfully* yanks his glider's pullcord. The shouts behind him take on an angry tone as he catches the wind.

Thoma puts his left hand over the message case, securing it into his elbow. Despite the ache in his back and the throbbing in his hand, he takes a deep breath of the sea air, laden with salt, and feels the last of his fear melt away. Sure, he's an outlander--but he's from Mondstadt, which means he's comfortable riding the wind. And that will help him complete his duty to the Kamisato family, because he's an Inazuman, too, and he's going to get the job he was given done for them.

[stainedglassthreads]

A list of my thoughts on Omnipresence Over Mortals, spoilers obviously-- 

-On the one hand, delighted because we got both confirmation of Signora Crimson Witch AND her true name, her kickass boss music(which maybe shared a leitmotif with Childe’s did I hear????), confirmation of a Sheet Heat-esque mechanic, AND from her expressions, implication that maybe she feels a bit of remorse over people losing their Visions, despite remaining adamant they were a ‘necessary sacrifice’, even giving us a chance to back down from the battle and leave. (Or perhaps it’s just how much I love female villains who are morally grey and rely on Violence And Arson over seduction coloring my perceptions. Either way, Playable Signora When!)

-On the other hand nooooooooo Signora died I wanted her to reunite with Bloodstained Knight. And also roll her. The second I heard it was a duel to the death I was very sad-- and then got distracted by Crimson Witch confirmation and kickass battle music. 

-On the anomalous third hand, goddamn she still insists on going down fucking fighting. Like, kinda futilely since the Fatui already had the Gnosis by then, but good job Signora. I love you you have butterfly motifs and they represent reincarnation, please come back. 

-On the increasingly alarming fourth hand, there seems to have been at least three days between Yae doing hostage exchange with Scaramouche, and Signora doing diplomacy with Raiden. Was there not enough time for Scaramouche to report he had gotten the Gnosis and for the Fatui to be withdrawn, or did he just not bother to tell Signora because he didn’t like her? He did refer to her and Childe as his ‘least reliable colleagues’ (’Least reliable, despite Signora being the one to gather two Gnoses, and being seemingly more  active than him in pursuing a third. Is it just that they’re impulsive and emotional, or does he really view them as weak or foolish compared to the other nine Harbingers?) 

-On that note, I have a feeling that that bone marrow... it’s probably gonna come back, as will how he seemed to be using the Traveller’s anger to fuel... something. At first I thought he was just kinda being an arrogant little shit, but he was purposefully baiting us. I’d say clever, but observing the Traveller’s dialogue options... they’re kinda ALWAYS two steps away from snapping the nearest Fatui’s neck, honestly. So it really isn’t that hard. 

-Also, that Ei cut ties entirely with Celestia by giving up her Gnosis years ago... it wasn’t the lore I was hoping for, nor was the reason she was gathering Visions ultimately the one I was anticipating. I was kinda hoping that she’d realized Celestia could spy on people through their Visions, and was confiscating them so they couldn’t see shit about Inazuma. But her cutting ties with Celestia, and confirming that Khaenri’ah is a major motivation in halting Inazuma’s progress and creating eternity... is still interesting. That’s four for four Archons who want nothing to do with Celestia so far. (Since Dendro was promoted exactly 500 years ago, VERY curious what their stance on Celestia will be, I still strongly believe Sumeru will be a major turning point somehow.) 

-I love boss fights where you just have All The Buffs. I also love that the end of the fight was just... Yae refusing to let her friend keep sulking all alone. I would have preferred an Ei who was a little more morally dubious, but I still like the version we got. Loneliness and loss fits with the themes of prior archons and does a lot to humanize her-- as does Yae comparing her to a child throwing a fit and locking herself in her room. 

-Also... Baal and Beelzebul. The former Archon ‘Baal’ really being Ei’s twin sister. Damn. I didn’t expect it, but I should have. There wasn’t much direct foreshadowing for it, but there’s been such a strong theme of siblings this entire game, and the Archons have such a strong theme of grief and death. It only makes sense the themes would collide in such a way for ONE of the Archons. And likewise, them both being ‘Baal’ explains why there’s never much distinction made in the books and history between the present Raiden Shogun and the past Raiden Shogun. Because from the people’s perspectives, they were probably extremely identical and always assumed the same name and role. That said... it leaves me wondering if it’s foreshadowing Abyss Twin or the Traveller dying, as Ei and Makoto have been the only other set of twins we’ve met so far. 

-We should ask Ei about our twin. Watch as she realizes the kind of loss Traveller is going to, and attempts to make amends for trying to kill us by ripping a hole straight to the bottom of the Abyss. 

-I like Ei. :) I am happy she is still alive. Even if Signora was not. 

-You know what’d be even better tho? If her Gnosis were still in her body and we did keep the Fatui from getting it and we befriended her and then in Snezhnaya Celestia calls the Archons to assault the nation and we see Ei in her puppet body but now another is pulling the strings and we have to fucking fight her again but this time she is Our Friend and doesn’t wanna do this and Tsaritsa uses her as an example of why she was gathering Gnoses while Ei physically strains against Celestia’s bonds and-- 

-Also that walk, after killing Signora while slowly leaving the Tenshukaku.... that was so fucking creepy, I was wondering if the Tatarigami(?) was still affecting the Traveller and gonna make them ill. It did an excellent job conveying their mental state. And that cutscene with the resistance and Kazuha! A bit sad he didn’t really get any lines, he said in the prologue he’d ‘seek answers from the Shogun too one day’, I kinda wanted him to at least ask after his friend. 

-So I guess Teppei’s just gonna die of old age huh. The resistance stuff at the very beginning felt a little rushed, I did see that Teppei was advancing through the ranks Weirdly Quickly, but it could’ve been cool if he tried saving the Traveller from some danger and Traveller realized ‘Hey what the fuck? What’s my friend doing with a delusion? How’d you get that, Teppei? Put that down, we need an infirmary and we need to tell Kokomi’ 

-On that note-- if using a Delusion aged the resistance at an excelerated rate... why don’t Childe and Diluc look all that old...? Does having a Vision protect them somehow? If the manga is still canon, did using a Delusion age Crepus Rangvindr into dust? 

-Signora please come back you were at Sumeru Academia you can tell me all about Sumeru while we wait for it to be released, let’s chat Old Mondstadt and Cataclysm history, Signora-- please Signora, please elaborate on your voicelines and maybe we can get you a good therapist-- 

-Also who is Lesser Lord Kusanali? I thought Dendro Archon was a he, but Lesser Lord Kusanali seems to be a she? Was the God of the Woods the he? Is someone other than Kusanali the Dendro Archon? But also as a fan of Marielda, oooooooooh FUCK YEAH KNOWLEDGE IS HOARDED KNOWLEDGE IS A RESOURCE LET’S BE KNOWLEDGE SMUGGLERS LET’S GO

-I wonder if Vision distribution is also restricted in Sumeru-- since Lisa seems to have uncovered some Forbidden Knowledge about Visions, and Knowledge is a resource, perhaps it’s also heavily restricted who can get a Vision-- and if Dendro wielders are pursuing knowledge in some way, they’re even smaller in number to prevent them from finding out Too Many Secrets...? 

-Celestia lore in Sumeru! Please Celestia Lore in Sumeru! 

-Also, Lisa character quest act 2 as prologue to Sumeru please? 

I may have forgotten some things I found interesting, and I have not yet played Ei’s Character Quest. 

[sylviah98]

A Halo 4 appreciation post about two things that I want to mention:

Halo 4 has some very under appreciated osts. Most "halo" fans kind of hate the sound tracks but I would say Neil Davidge and Kazuma Jinnouchi did fantastic work. But I want to focus on my favorite osts among them and how I feel each of them tells a story.

117: 343 gave Master Chief his own theme which somehow reflects the very essence of what John is. It is believed that John's trait is his luck. In terms of stats the entire Blue team is better than him. Kelly has the fastest reflexes, Linda is the best sniper and Fred is second in all stats. But as bad Halo 5 was, there is an underrated scene in which the blue team starts getting tired of fighting Warden and his minions and Fred Kelly and Linda think they might give up but John tells them they need to keep going and they can't give up now. This confirms one thing, John's trait isn't his luck its his tenacity, its his willingness to fight until he fulfills his mission. And 117 completely emulates them. Listening to that soundtrack just brings that sense of tenacity and the willingness of not giving up.

Arrival: This ost tells us about a losing battle that John has been fighting alone , but he can't afford to lose the battle because it would cause mankind's extinction. Halo 4 gave John an antagonist that he can't defeat with brute strength and his enemy is winning every round. Combined that with Cortana's rampancy we got a ost of desperation , a battle that John has to win at every cost, and the cost finally comes.

Green and Blue: An ost of final farewell. John thinks he has died as he punched the nuke but the song starts with hope of survival and then the realization happens. The song gets sadder as the reality dawns on him. He couldn't keep his promise, the cost finally came and his world starts falling apart and he doesnt know how to show these emotions. He had to make a choice and he took the harder one and lost perhaps one of most important person closest to him.

Legacy: An ost of fall of civilization(humanity),agonized screams of ancient humanity that was defeated in Charum Hokur and degraded from a Tier 1 to a Tier 7 species, I don't know why but the way Ancient humanity was degraded to a point where they had to start over from scratch from a point of extinction to tier 3 civilisation is really a sad story and this time it wasn't even their fault. Neil Davidge has done a really good job for ost wrt to Forerunner and ancient Humanity.

These were my thoughts on my favorite osts from Halo 4. Now one more thing that I extremely liked about Halo 4 are all the rampancy cutscenes of Cortana and how both John and Cortana were dealing with it. It was like looking at a person closest to you who had been a charming sassy fellow losing their mind in dementia, and the person unable to stop it despite how much they try. How John has to choose between duty towads this closest person and duty for humanity. The scenes where John is in denial that he might fail in saving her, just assuring her but more himself that he will be able to save her, the scene in Composer where Cortana apologizes for the mishaps caused,(which feels even sadder knowing that Cortana could do processes much more complex than that with a snap of her finger but the more rampant she got the more human she became and more prone to mistakes),and the scene where John calms Cortana down when she goes in depression after Didact steals the composer, soothing her by telling her to focus on those she can save, the sadness John expresses through the scream when he thinks Didact has killed Cortana but still moves forward to fulfill his duty, culminating in the final farewell where his denial is shifted to realization where he doesnt know how to deal with this loss thinking that the situation can still be resolved, the way his head shift in regret of not saving her as Cortana places her hand on him, the sudden hand raise and twitch while he says "wait" as Cortana says her final farewell and the way the entire hardlight walls fall, signifying his world getting shattered to pieces. Steve Downes, Jen Taylor, Bruce Thomas and Mackenzie Mason really brought a new sense of life into our favorite Green Blue pair with their amazing Voice Over and Motion Capture. God I cry everytime I see those cutscenes. I kinda hope Halo Infinite draws inspiration of some osts from Halo 4 too, along with the emotional side of John that we got to see in Halo 4.