#I managed to do that twice with two cutscenes

[immawraffle]

Today I learned that you can cheat during the Leper’s Smile section of Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous by taking all but one item from a lootbox, quicksaving, and loading that quicksave without exiting the lootbox.

[thatboreddrake]

Okay, bare with me on this one, because I am operating on a grand total of like, two lines of dialogue and a dream: a dream of finally getting a solid-ish number on the Elden Ring Timeline!

So, the first line of dialogue, which Ranni delivers during the cutscene for the Age of Stars ending:

Now cometh the age of the stars. A thousand year voyage under the wisdom of the Moon (emphasis added)

Fine, vague, poetic.

The second line, delivered by Miquella during the fight with Promised Consort Radahn if the player is hit by the grab attack:

"I promise you, a thousand-year voyage guided by compassion."

Now, once is vague, but twice just might mean something. Could it be metaphorical for "this is gonna be a long time"? PROBABLY BUT WHO CARES!

This brings me to my first main point: we have an official time-stamp on how often ages and gods cycle in the Lands Between, presumably. This means that this is a semi-regular phenomenon which could be looked for upon its arrival. Or perhaps, this time of transition is marked by visitors:

It is said that when Oracle Envoys appear playing their pipes, they do so to herald the arrival of a new god, or age.

Anyway, this allows me to slap together a somewhat coherent timeline of events for Elden Ring (effing finally):

The age we will start with is the Age of Dragons, led by Placidusax as Elden Lord (Remembrance of the Dragonlord) with Uhl, the Fire Giant, as the vessel of the Fell God and centered on the power of the Crucible (blatant speculation but its headcanon at this point). In the last few hundred years of the Age of the Crucible, the Hornsent begin to focus their efforts on producing a viable Empyrean to ascend to godhood for the next age. Side note, but this would also be when the denizens of the Eternal Cities were working on their project with the Lord of Night.

Anyway, through one way or another, Marika is chosen by the Fingers to serve as the Greater Will's vessel in the Lands Between after her village is butchered by the Potentates. This is also approximately when a proto-Radagon enters the scene through Empyrean mitosis (Marika severed her desire for order after the death of her family as per the Minor Erdtree incantation). For a time, Marika plays along with the Hornsent, if only to establish her base of power.

Her first stop is at the Eternal Cities, where she attempts to convince the Nox to join with her in the upcoming war against the Fire Giants. The Nox reject her upcoming divinity in favor of their Lord of Night, killing proto-Radagon with the Fingerslayer Blade as a symbol of their rejection. The Greater Will does not stand for this insolence, and sends the Malformed Star Astel to devour their sky and cast them beneath the earth.

Marika then allies with the berserker warlord Hoarah Loux and begins her assault on the Fire Giants of the Mountaintops. After all, their flame would be the one thing that could threaten the Erdtree during her reign. She manages to slay Uhl in battle, and shunts proto-Radagon's soul into his body, thus birthing Radagon as a proper Lord. However, at this point, Marika is diverted from her mission by the First War of the Dragons.

Emboldened by the defeat of Placidusax's god, Bayle the Dread leads his brood of drakes in a direct assault on Farum Azula. To counteract this threat, Placidusax sends the Ancient Dragon Florissax to instruct their erstwhile human allies in the practice of Dragon Communion. Among these, the greatest knight and leader of their order was Theodorix, a troll freed from the Fire Giants during Marika's initial assault. It is during this war that Marika and Radagon bear the kindling twins, Messmer and Melina.

Where Messmer fights on the front lines alongside Radagon and Godfrey, Melina instead takes up tutelage under Maliketh, Marika's Black Blade. After the war is over, and Placidusax has had three of his heads removed, he sees that the age of the dragons has come to a close and moves Farum Azula outside of time to await the return of his god.

Keeping their momentum, Marika and her forces carry on to complete their destruction of the Fire Giants, realize that the flame cannot be put out, and leave a nameless giant in charge of tending the forge. At this point, the time of ascension arrives, and Marika ascends to godhood using Radagon as her Lord catalyst. However, afraid of exposing Radagon's true nature to their followers, Marika instead takes Godfrey as the First Elden Lord, ushering in the Age of Plenty (Blessed Dew Talisman).

With her seat of power established, Marika dispatches her champions to complete their conquest of the Lands Between. Godfrey goes south to Limgrave to do battle with the Storm Lord and the inhabitants of the Weeping Peninsula. Radagon also goes south, but stops in the swamps of Liurnia to challenge the kingdom of sorcerers, who have been united under the rule of one calling herself the Full Moon Empyrean. Messmer, meanwhile, travels back to Belurat to exact vengeance against the Hornsent for their treatment of the shamans. It was this last expedition that was closest to Queen Marika's heart, and thus were they accorded the greatest share of golden grace of any of the Erdtree's armies.

In the ensuing 700 years or so, things proceed as normal. Messmer slaughters the Divine Beasts and burns the country to ashes. Godfrey's conquest of Limgrave nears its conclusion and he sets his eyes towards the Caelid Wilds. Radagon has fought two wars in Liurnia, finally forging an alliance with the House of Caria through his marriage to Rennala. Beneath all this, an old god conspires to put its own Empyrean on the throne.

Per Prince of Death canon (it is canon to me!), Melina is selected as an Empyrean vessel by the Deathbird who pushes her towards rebellion by exposing the injustices perpetrated under Marika's rule. Melina's breaking point is when Marika abandons her own children, the twin Omens Mohg and Morgott, for the sake of keeping up appearances (or so it seems). Taking the moniker of the Gloam-Eyed Queen, Melina marches to Leyndell to cast Marika down from her throne and slay the Elden Beast with black fire.

This rebellion is stopped by Maliketh's timely intervention. He bests his former pupil in combat and, under Marika's orders, seals the Destined Death which gives her flame its deadly bite. It is at this time that the Land of Shadow becomes Shadowed, as Marika fears how Messmer may respond when he discovers that his sister has "died" in a rebellion against their mother. However, Marika's heart is not of stone. She sees anew that which had driven her daughter to such desperate measures, and vows to reexamine the fundamental tenets of the Golden Order.

Remembering what happened to the last civilization to deny the Greater Will, however, Marika banishes Godfrey and his Tarnished warriors from the Lands Between. Should another star come to punish the land, she would not have her beloved caught in the blast zone. Thus ends the Age of Plenty; Marika plucks the very concept of true death from the Elden Ring and the blessings of the Erdtree slowly begin to dry up.

Here, the Ancient Dragon Gransseax sees an opportunity to restore the Ancient Dragons to primacy in the Lands Between and assaults the very walls of Leyndell itself. However, he did not account for the tenacity of humankind, nor the power of Godfrey's son, Godwyn. Godwyn leads Marika's order to victory in this Second War of the Dragons, forging an alliance with the Ancient Dragon Fortissax.

Seeking to keep Marika loyal, the Greater Will recalls Radagon to serve as Elden Lord in Leyndell, threatening his family with true death at the hand of the Black Blade should he refuse. Together, Marika and Radagon usher a new thousand years of history, an Age of Order.

Towards the final quarter of this new age (fully guestimating here), Marika sees that she is running out of time to find a solution to the cycling of ages and gods. Conspiring with her step-daughter Ranni, she plots to use a fragment of Destined Death to sever both herself and Radagon from the Greater Will's control, if only to free them both from the curse of immortality. However, plagued by internal conflict and mistrust, Ranni takes this opportunity to free herself from the machinations of Manus Celes, a Two Fingers serving its own god. Marika is distraught as, rather than severing her own fate, she is instead left to deal with the aftermath of the death of her beloved son, Godwyn.

In a final act of desperation, seeking to end the cycle once and for all, Marika takes up her hammer and shatters the Elden Ring, that which represents order itself. Aghast at her actions, Radagon joins her inside the Erdtree, sealing the entrance using an aberrant sorcery to create a barrier of impenetrable thorns. He sought to repair the damage done to the Elden Ring, but erecting the barrier bled him nearly dry. Seeking to protect its last hope of maintaining control, the Elden Beast fuses Marika and Radagon into one and stuffs the shattered fragments of the Elden Ring into the gaping wound in their side. There, the fused, fractured deity would hang for hundreds of years, until the time for ascension came again, and the envoys arrived once more to herald the arrival of a new lord.

[luridparty]

hey pikmin does NOT deserve the hate wtfff this game is PRECIOUS to ME ❗

the music is SO GOOD OMG. first on this list because like OH MY GODD i keep just putting my 2ds down for a while to listen to it its just so. sooo lovely and peaceful and strikingly nostalgic for a game ive never played before lol

the pikmin have so much personality in this game?? the lil cutscenes, the way they interact with olimar + each other, their animations for like. jumping on the dandelions and fire and such, the pikmin park..

the levels are fun and challenging yet they are also simple and accessible enough that i dub hey pikmin as a PERFECT relaxing game for a long day of, for example, six hours at work on top of six hours at school. based on personal experience 😬👍

all the models are Wuite cute. olimar looks VERY silly especially during the special cutscenes inside the dolphin ii

speaking of. i reaaaally like the ss dolphin ii i think it is sillay. perhaps one of my favorites. BUT. no ship beats the hocotate ship of course

im no game design prodigy but like. considering you only use the circle pad and stylus plus the two on-screen buttons? the devs did well with including fun (aaand sometimes annoying tbh) mechanics consistently so gameplay doesnt get dull.

also replaying levels is pretty much what you're INTENDED to do which i find fun. go through to unlock all treasures, get more pikmin, more sparklium etc

well shit i just realized you get a little reward/special border for completing a level without losing any pikmin. which i have managed to do. like twice. fuck my obsession with 100%ing viddy games 😬💥

anyways ive just gotten to sector six sooo back to it !!! point is do not believe the haters. if ever you have an opportunity to try out hey pikmin then TAKE IT. its certainly not perfect BUT ! its sweet and entertaining and that seems perfect for a spinoff imho

[tishinada]

I have to say, I hadn't expected Lalafells to be one of my favorite races when I began playing FFXIV. My reaction at first glance was they were meant to be comic relief or maybe halfling inspired. Halfway through ARR, though, I kept telling my daughter that they had all the classic traits of dwarves, a race I do love to play (she managed to suppress her snickers until I hit Shadowbringers...) And I'm not sure you can get as far as the beginning of HW without realizing that Lalas are just as complex and diverse in personalities as the other races. Pretty sure two of the top five most hated NPCs are still Lalafells, while there are definitely a couple in the most beloved (Tataru, for instance).

And they give Lalafells every bit as much loving attention as the other races, whether it's clothing, animations, expressions, or camera angles in cutscenes. OMG, Kass has some great clothing. And I was really surprised at just how GOOD the expressions are.

Possibly my favorite one of Kass...

And some other fun ones

Everyone looks *at* Kass when speaking to her. And in some cases, they even adjust body angles in a very Lala-specific way so it feels friendlier.

Or they change the camera angle, above and behind an NPC so Kass is more clearly in the scene.

There's never a moment when the game doesn't treat a Lalafell WoL as a serious adult. Not that people don't sometimes comment on your size. Lots of moments where it's funny when people react in terror to a Lala WoL. Or the Lalafells in the group are out in front to defend the non-combatants

Sometimes, the comedy of a scene is just that much funnier with a Lalafell. I'm convinced they chose the warrior trainer location with a Lala warrior in mind:

(SPOILER FOR SHADOWBRINGERS)

And of course this moment...

Even more than two years after starting to play, it's hard to explain how much that still means to me. Because more than a decade ago, I fell in love with Dragon Age: Origins. The dwarven origin stories were two of my favorites, and I particularly loved that the men and women dwarves had the same build. In fact, they absolutely HAVE to have the same build for the commoner dwarven origin to *work*. A fact which they completely threw out by the time they got to DAI (there weren't really any women dwarves in DA2 which was honestly a human-only game anyway.) Dwarves in DA: I were a very reluctant afterthought with that reluctance made clear because it was too much trouble to change camera angles, etc. for scenes with them, with the result that in a huge number of scenes, the camera was above the head of dwarven NPCs or there was furniture in the way. And they suddenly gave them extreme sexual dimorphism---my first thought on seeing a woman dwarf for DAI was that they introduced hobbits while men dwarves were at least twice as wide in the shoulders as in DAO, sigh. Which of course broke that DAO origin. Honestly, it would take a lot for me to get seriously interested in a DA game again because I felt I was sold such a subpar game as someone who played dwarves by preference.

So there's never a time I'm playing Kass in FFXIV that I don't appreciated the loving attention to detail, even if it's nothing more than an NPC looking down at her when she walks past.

[grape-eating-vampire]

alright, it's done. i finished it.

this is the third and final part of things that happened in my first bg3 playthrough ever that I found so funny that I put them in my notes (spoilers below)

let me start this by saying I have only cried twice in the 155 hours it took me to complete this shit. however, I have almost-screamed at the characters more times than I'd like to admit. but first here's stuff that happened since the last one of these posts I made:

after killing Orin I went around Baldur's Gate for a while and did odd sidequests, including

clearing out a haunted house and sidelining to kill a stinky man in a wardrobe (and drag his body to a guy two streets over)

entirely ignored Gale's quest to look at a book because I kept getting arrested there after having killed the boss mage guy

I also foolishly though this wouldn't have any consequences. oh boy was I wrong

went to see a underwater prison, got told off by Gortash, decided to explore it after killing him, and promptly forgot to do so

killed Gortash! fuck that guy the only good thing about him is his fancy robe

tried to recruit a dragon called Ansur, found out the emperor is Balduran (????????? honestly I was shocked)

killed said dragon and felt like I was playing skyrim all over again

found a letter ("Dear Ansur") by Balduran/the Emperor. this was the first time I cried. I could still cry.

patch 6 came out! that was yesterday and I spent about 10 minutes trying out new kisses and sitting on Shadowhearts stool in camp (she now says "I'm glad you decided to join me" or something like that when you do)

went pretty much straight to the underground pool thing where the brain was supposed to be

failed abysmally to Dominate The Brain™

got pulled out by the emperor and had to start beef with Lae'zel because I had also forgotten to care about Orpheus and the hammer from the House of Hope

admittedly, I didn't really forget, I just didn't want to spend any more time with Raphael than I absolutely had to

my +14 persuasion saved the day once more and Lae'zel was fine with the one hope in her life getting his brains sucked out

went off to fight the brain once more. my game crashed twice trying to load that cutscene.

met all my allies! I forgot how many there were actually, and I only called on two of the groups later on

fought a lot. like a LOT lot.

got to the Netherbrain and kicked it's ass*

*had to reload about 3 times and try again because Minsc at level 12 was stuck on 100 hp for some reason and kept fucking dying

finally managed to kill the fucker! had Lae'zel deal the killing blow which seemed very fitting

more cutscenes, but this one actually didn't crash the game, I got to look at some beautiful unloaded walls and stuff instead

Lae'zel left right after we got to the haven. understandably so

remember how I ignored Gale's quest? well he didn't blow himself up like he inteded earlier, but he left to becOME A GOD????? I cannot fucking deal with this man

Karlach on the pier. this was the second time I cried, but unproportionally much so

Wyll left with her for Avernus, the little cutscene of them arriving there made me feel a bit better

Astarion had to leg it because of the sun (sorry)

Shadowheart didn't do much of anything during all of this, neither did Minsc, Halsin or Jaheira

decided to go help kids with Halsin, seems to fit my character (eventhough I really didn't roleplay so much)

we got an epilogue! yippie!

caught up there with everyone, except Lae'zel (who was there via the fantasy version of zoom) and Gale (who was there via the fantasy equivalent of a voicemail)

tried to hug Gale, couldn't, almost cried again but managed

also met a tressym who I recognized from fanart as Tara. I don't know why she was there, we never met her before and Gale hadn't mentioned her either

read a LOT of letters the party had received. barely kept my composure at the Gur's letter to Astarion

Withers did a cool speech and the game ended

after all of this and so much more that I didn't take notes about, I can confidentially say that Baldur's Gate 3 is the best video game I have ever played, and within it's genre my favourite ever!

I'm also emotionally devestated, especially after these final parts (but in a good way)

that's all, thanks for reading!

[fullmoonfireball]

what is UPgamers i only JUST realized that the Pikmin 3 Secret File cutscenes use a different translation than the versions used in Pikmin 3 Deluxe for Olimar's Assignment

and all that because i wanted to grab a screenshot of Olimar mentioning the IT department in the Twilight River cutscene to be like "imagine working in IT for Hocotate Freight", only to make the discovery that line is remake-exclusive . so for future reference, here's a line-by-line comparison for both versions ig. dialogue below will be formatted like this:

AREA

"Wii U" // "Nintendo Switch"

GARDEN OF HOPE

"This is Olimar, captain of the SS Dolphin." // "This is Olimar, Captain of the S.S. Dolphin."

"This is the third time that I've set foot on this planet." // "I've been on this planet twice before already." (note: it's strange that they didn't fix this repeated mistake- this would actually be the fourth time, given that Pikmin 2 has two trips. i guess the miscounting is probably also in the japanese version(s), then.)

"Our company, Hocotate Freight, is up to its eyeballs in debt - courtesy of our beloved president." // "Hocotate Freight is drowning in debt. I'm not saying it's our company president's fault...because this is an official log."

"We've come here in search of treasure to help us repay that debt." // "We're here in search of treasure to pay off that debt."

[Louie cutaway]

"Needless to say, the local wildlife isn't exactly rolling out the red carpet for us…" // "But I know from experience that the local wildlife won't make this job easy."

TROPICAL WILDS

"This is Olimar, captain of the SS Dolphin." // "This is Olimar, captain of the S.S. Dolphin."

"This is my third visit to this planet. Hunting for treasure here never gets old!" // "I've been to this planet twice before already. I never tire of hunting for treasure here!"

"While searching this area, we stumbled across a key of some sort." // "I made an interesting find in this area: some sort of key-like object."

"I wonder if it unlocks a treasure chest?" // "I should hold on to it in case I find a treasure chest."

"Or could it be the key to..." // "Unless it's the key to something else?"

[Louie cutaway]

"…We'd better keep our wits about us." // "I'd better keep my eyes open."

"The crabs here are peckish, and we're on the menu." // "I wouldn't want to get between the crabs of this planet and their prey."

TWILIGHT RIVER

"This is Olimar, captain of the SS Dolphin." // "This is Olimar, captain of the S.S. Dolphin."

"This is my third visit to this planet. Hunting for treasure here never gets old!" // "I've been to this planet twice before already. I never tire of hunting for treasure here!"

"My explorations have taken me far and wide." // "I've travelled far and wide across this planet during my several trips here."

"Somewhere along the way, a number of my notes and memos went missing." // "But I'm only noticing now that several of my notes and log entries have gone missing."

"There must be some sort of bug in my file management software." // "It must be a leak with my file-management routines. I think I heard someone in IT talking about that once."

"Once we get back to Hocotate, I'll try to convince the president to invest in an upgrade…" // "Once I'm back on Hocotate, I'll try to convince the president we need an upgrade."

[Louie cutaway]

"Maybe he can upgrade Louie while he's at it." // "Maybe I can get an upgrade to my partner while I'm at it."

DISTANT TUNDRA

"This is Olimar, captain of the SS Dolphin." // "This is Olimar, captain of the S.S. Dolphin."

"This is my third visit to this planet. Hunting for treasure here never gets old!" // "I've been to this planet twice before already. I never tire of hunting for treasure here!"

"Unfortunately, I'm absolutely freezing, even with my spacesuit on." // "Unfortunately, even my advanced suit can't quite keep out the cold."

"It's doing a terrible job of keeping out the cold." // "I'm not surprised Hocotate Freight cut costs when it came to insulation. Brr!"

"It wouldn't surprise me if the president had plucked our spacesuits out of some budget mail-order catalogue." // "It wouldn't surprise me if everyone got the same standard-issue suit, no matter what kind of assignment they were on."

"Hocotate Freight's new venture has been an utter failure, and our earnings have suffered as a result." // "The company's new venture went down in flames, and it's dragged our yearly earnings down with it."

"Now it looks like we're cutting corners even on basic equipment like spacesuits." // "We don't have the money for decent space suits now. This one isn't even custom fitted."

[Louie cutaway]

"Shocking, to say the least." // "Without any insulation, I wouldn't want to put this suit up against any nasty shocks, either."

"I really should've held on to that Anti-Electrifier…" // "I really should've hung on to that Anti-Electrifier..."

FORMIDABLE OAK

"This is Olimar, captain of the SS Dolphin." // "This is Olimar, captain of the S.S. Dolphin."

"This is my third visit to the planet. Hunting for treasure here never gets old!" // "I've been to this planet twice before already. I never tire of hunting for treasure here!"

"While surveying this area, I came across something gold and shiny." // "Our survey has revealed a massive golden object in this region."

"It's got to be worth a fortune!" // "It'll be worth a fortune to the company!"

"My perpetually mute colleague Louie actually spoke up against coming here, for some reason…" // "My taciturn partner, Louie, didn't want to come here for reasons he refused to explain."

"Speaking of which… I haven't seen him around lately." // "Where did he get to, anyway? Well, it doesn't matter."

"Where's he disappeared to?" // "I'll just get this treasure myself and then it's back to Hocotate."

[emblemxeno]

Xenoblade 1 DE Main Story/Game Thoughts

Finished the main story! I didn't go full completion but I got full affinity for all areas and saw every Heart-to-Heart. More detailed thoughts-including spoilers-under the cut!

-For starters, DE is a great update to the original. Many QoL improvements trims the extra menu time down a lot (inventory management, art books, equipment/gems, etc.), especially swapping gems. Also hell yes to including the appearance feature from X, as someone who prefers the default outfits for everyone!

-Same applies to battle stuff and general gameplay. Quest tracking, gauges on things like Break and Topple, clearer status effects, chance arts being highlighted, even something as small as the scroll between Talent Arts/Running/Chain Attacks being more streamlined had many great returns on me not pressing the wrong thing.

-However... why did they not just go all the way with more changes? The two big ones that come to mind are trading and Colony 6 collecting. First, why can you not bulk trade? It is such a time sink having to constantly open the menu again and again. And since trading and skip travelling share a button, I clocked probably over a hundred instances of opening the damn map menu instead of trading since there's a second of cooldown before the option appears for the NPC again! It's an annoyance that is easily ignored once or twice, but absolutely brutal after the tenth time.

-Jumping ahead a bit, but I speak not just criticizing DE but XC1 as a whole. It's probably an unpopular opinion but I don't like the ongoing Colony 6 reconstruction sidequest. The first time I completed it-about half a decade ago I think-was magical! Seeing a ruined home blossom into a lively city due to my hard work was something I'll never forget as an RPG fan. But I don't have that kind of time on my hands anymore (or I simply have better management of time now that I don't stay up til 4 am playing video games anymore lol). Exploring Bionis and Mechonis is an undeniably wondrous and beautiful experience, but only when doing normal quests (well most of the normal quests) and progressing the story. Jogging around places trying to find each item is incredibly unfun and tedious. The big offenders are typically Ice Cabbages (luckily I got all the ones I need by playing through the Valak portion of the story), Rainbow Slugs (I spent an entire hour on the Fallen Arm ugh), and the Black Liver Beans. The last one was the breaking point, I can't stand the Bionis Interior and after an hour in there just trying to find one, I said fuck it and did the Time Attack trials to get them that way. It was just not... good! I don't like it a bit.

-Last thing on DE specifically, I found that the graphics are apparently controversial among fans? I'm understanding of the position, as there's definitely a charm that the original artstyle had, especially being on the Wii. But to me the original has more issues in its visuals than just being a different artstyle. Poor resolution, blocky models, souless faces when not in an important cutscene, absolutely diabolical pop-in. And some say that the original gave its characters more personality during cutscenes, which... I don't get whatsoever. Did we watch the same scenes, cuz it's very hard to distinguish emotion in the original, whereas DE has better mouth, eyebrow, and facial movements. Certain scenes may "look" more emotional in the original, but things get exaggerated all the time to compensate for poor resolution or graphics.

-Now on to the just XC1 in general! Holy fuck the main cast is better than I remember. Shulk, Fiora, and Melia were already my favorites, but honestly... Dunban is probably my absolute favorite out of all of them now. His story is just so succinct and he's just so cool and hot and kind and just ughhhhhh!

-Egil is still best villain in the game, no surprise. Revisiting this game honestly made it really fucking clear why I loved Dimitri from 3H so much cuz the two are so similar (to the point where you can pull line's from the game about Egil and put them in 3H). The others fair less well. Metal Face/Mumkhar is delightfully hammy and an amazing threat for the first half of the game, but is as deep as a puddle. Dickson and Lorithia I found I dislike even more, for the wrong reasons; they lack charisma, and it's noticeable in places where the game gets really anime in its hammy villainy, but they're written and played a bit too straight for it to come off as anything other than lackluster. Though at least Dickson has presence as Shulk's caretaker and the guy who everyone knows and respects; Lorithia though? Throw her away. Honestly if Yumea took her place and retained the bigotry against Homs it'd be much more entertaining IMO.

-Zanza himself is a definitive mixed bag. Were I ignorant to Klaus' entire story from XC2, I'd honestly write him off as a by-the-numbers arrogant (but secretly imperfect and prone to "human" folly) god figure that happens in many, many RPGS. But I can't dislike him because I do know the entire story, and Zanza being an utter dickwad is explained in great detail and makes sense. Honestly, he does work for the story that XC1 is telling without playing XC2 as well, but ehhh. I guess it's just really difficult to be the main villain after Egil does such great things in a limited time.

-Narrative is great, just as it was the first time I played. Highlights for me:

Singlemindedly fighting for revenge is destructive not just to your enemies, but to yourself and your friends. Ignorance and unwillingness to look beyond your own world or history means you may be hurting innocent people without realizing it. Chaining your life to the deaths of others rather than supporting the survivors is unhealthy and can lead you down a path of misery and disaster.

Ether is not just analogy for carbon/other base elements in our world. Philosophically it's analogous to light and fate as well. Shulk unlocks the Monado's powers when he stops treating it as a tool with functions, but rather as an extension of his will. He wills his wishes into his heart, and they are made manifest. He protects Reyn with Shield not cuz the Monado lets him, but because he desired it. Same with Sharla and Speed, and it's how Alvis taught him to unlock Purge. It's how he resists Apocrypha, and later gains Cyclone once the Apocrypha is destroyed. His will is so strong, it becomes resistant to Zanza's influence, hence why he starts suffering the more he learns of Mechonis' history. The truth being brought to light is painful internally and externally, as Zanza physically rejects anything that challenges how he sees the world. Shulk brings himself back to life, begins having visions without Zanza, and gains his own Monado-which looks purely made of ether and light-through pure willpower and the desire to create his own future.

Shulk's duality and inner turmoil when he realizes his yearning for revenge is destructive; Fiora's endless strength of heart when dealing with a machine body and carrying on Meyneth's wishes; Melia going through hell and back trying to find a balance between her sense of self and sense of duty (I imagine Future Connected is gonna touch on that more as well); Dunban grappling with his moniker of being a hero and mentoring the party despite being imperfect and lamenting his disability; Reyn's goal of being a protector developing into being a supporter once he becomes insecure over his strength and character compared to Shulk; Sharla trying to keep hold onto a sense of hope that her love is alive before coming to terms with the fact that she needs to cherish her life and love those within it; Riki just being the fucking best dad and friend in the world.

Having played XC2 and XC3 makes all these things even richer as well.

-Last but not least, gameplay:

-Most quests are good. Most. The generic quests weren't ever fun for me, and they cause significant bloat that could've been trimmed IMO. Especially since lots of quests ask you to kill monsters and collect items anyway.

-The method to get quests started though? Awful. I know that things like Community in Torna and Field Skills in XC2 are hated, but man I can't stand having to change the clock and track the damn NPCs in XC1. Especially since there are many areas separated between towns/villages and "wild" areas (Colony 6 and Bionis Leg, Frontier Village and Makna, Alcamoth and Eryth + Valak), it just makes things so drawn out. Going back and forth, changing time and all that, is a sour point on this game.

-Like I said a few weeks ago, the Xenoblade series as a whole is unmatched in gameplay story telling. Beautiful and large environments make curious exploration a treat, especially as you start getting pieces to puzzles that can get completed later. I payed a lot more attention to the High Entia and Giant related sidequests due to the fascinating lore, for example.

-The fights are great, if a bit centralizing. Shulk, due to Monado arts, is the best character to have in the party and is sorely missed when switched out. I have pretty standard opinions on the rest of the characters, so no need to speak on each individually. I will say though, holy fuck is the AI just as bad as I remember. Shulk wastes his Monado gauge, Sharla is terrible at using arts and always puts herself into cooldown, and Melia for the love of god, stop firing elementals as soon as you summon them you're made of tissue.

Topple locking is deffo the prime strategy, cuz there were fights I wouldn't otherwise have won were it not for it, and thankfully Reyn and Dunban have pretty good AI.

Two major gripes though. Spikes are a terrible mechanic, gross. Second, I hate that the enemy tags affect accuracy, it makes certain quests extremely brutal to complete without grinding. And I just hate having to fight tough/overlevelled enemies as a whole, it becomes routine and simple after a while.

As a whole, I like the gameplay still, but it feels very restrictive going back to it after seeing all the crazy tricks I could do in 2 and 3. And also auto-attack arts > timer arts forever and ever.

-Overall a very great experience getting to replay this game like this. Though more rough points than I remember, and with certain things that have not aged well whatsoever , XC1 is still a good game that I'm glad introduced me to this series. I'm taking a break before playing Future Connected.

[eaglefairy]

We're back with more xenoblade 2 aND SHE KEEPS PULLING RARE BLADES. HOW. WHAT.

First pull of the day is Azami. Sure. Why not.

Next two are commons. I guess it isn't all rare blades but I'm thinking of my fruitless quest for Zenobia in my own game and sighing

The Tora-Tatazo reunion got her a little emotional. It's a sweet scene!

She does really like Perun (who she pulled last time), she'll probably join the party sometime soon

Roommate wants everyone to know that she was in fact kicking Rosa's ass before the cutscene started and showed us losing

Patroka appeared on-screen and my roommate is like "OH! WHO ARE YOU?!"

So yeah new crush. extremely predictable

The fact that we've been interrupted twice in the middle of battles going very well in time for a cutscene of us losing is getting annoying

But we're both whooping and hollering now that Mórag and Brighid are here so maybe it's fine after all

She just said that Patroka and Mikhail are her new favorite members of Torna and I'm hyped! Mikhail is one of my favorites (and I'm always ready to mourn a female character's lack of personality)

Pulled a few blades on Mórag (because we wiped against Mikhail and Patroka. whoops.) and the first blade she pulls is Electra. The absurd rare luck continues

We're watching the flashback with Addam in his cloak and my roommate is theorizing about why his face is hidden and if it'll be relevant later, and...

Me: "So remember how I told you that there was an important character whose model they didn't finish in time for launch?" Roommate: "...Addam?! They didn't finish Addam's model in time for launch?!"

"current praetor is Indoline". That's what Mórag says. Have there been praetors who aren't Indoline? When??

We had to pause for a second to summarize some cutscenes and after that the first question my roommate asked me is "wait, if Amalthus was Malos's driver, why does anyone trust him?", which is exactly the question I'VE been asking since I first played it!

We've successfully managed to pivot from "Mythra's a total bitch and I hate her" to "oh no, you poor girl" and all I had to do was tell her that Torna was a country 500 years ago! So easy!

She doesn't trust Fan la Norne at all and I'm just like "it isn't her fault...it's the brain damage..."

Malos: "That guy..." Me: "What, your boyfriend?" Roommate: "HA! Oh, his eyes were definitely looking down there." Me: "'Hate to see him leave, love to watch him go,' right?"

Oh and then we're doing the Leftheria flyover and my roommate sees the name and she just: "Oh, Leftheria. That's where that fucker lives." Me: "...'that fucker'? You mean the main character??"

We were chatting about the biblical allegories while doing some siequesting and settled on the idea that Addam and Mythra each have some shades of the Adam and Eve archetypes, while Amalthus is the snake who damns them both

It's very very funny that the quest dialogue doesn't change when Mórag joins the party. So far she's been assumed to be a Garfront mercenary (note: not Urayan, DEFINITELY not a mercenary) and asked to join the Gormotti military regiment (lol)

No context roommate quote: "Don't tell me Mórag's above beating children, because I know she's not!"

She just now noticed the cloud ridge and she very much dislikes that the sea can go up. "Why is it doing that?! I don't like the Cloud Sea, it's creepy."

We got to the other side of the ridge and just jumped down and swam to Fonsett. Absolutely not the intended route but it was pretty fast!

Roommate: "Aw, Rex and Pyra are going on a date." Me, knowing it's to see Rex's parents:

[revserrayyu]

2.1 Penacony thoughts [part4]

**BOSS FIGHT SPOILERS** Going to be rambling about the battle itself and the two cut-scenes that follow right after, but not quite the whole story’s ending yet. That will be the next post. If by any chance you haven’t beaten the boss yet and are still gazing upon this post then I urge you to come back later because I would never wanna ruin the experience for you.

I’m glad Himeko questioned the number of murders because I also sat there for a good minute wondering who the third death might’ve been, only to realize how stupid I was upon clicking forward to hear Aventurine’s response.

I still wish his hat & glasses were part of his usual attire. I’m glad he pulls the hat out of nowhere whenever he launches his follow up attack, but the glasses would’ve been real snazzy if he permanently wore them. It was nice seeing us wield the lance instead of the bat for once too.

So, the fight itself.. was a bit irritating, mostly due to the gambling. I believe I tried a total of four times until I beat him. The first three attempts I simply switched around different team members, using those who could easily score big against his dice and win those gambles. His first phase went fine no matter which team setup I had. It was that second phase that kept knocking me out, mainly because my healer and support units could never manage to roll higher or on par with Aventurine’s number seeing how they could only attack a single target at a time. It also didn’t help that I had no ice or physical characters properly leveled up to assist Serval in weakness breaking.. until I remembered destruction Trailblazer existed. So, after struggling with different teams for a good hour, I decided to do some relic farming (which basically resulted in me taking the first gold pieces I could get) while also getting materials to level up traces and a random light cone because I have literally not switched back to this path since we first acquired the flaming lance. Half hour later and my destruction Trailblazer was ready to come out of retirement with a hasty, last minute build.

Of course the stats are not the greatest thing in the world (all relics, traces and lc not even maxed out) and I wasn’t confident that I would do any better than my previous attempts against Aventurine, where the lowest I managed to bring him down to in his second phase was about 60% before biting the dust. After activating a pair of consumables and fighting through the first phase as usual, I would like to think everything was going rather smoothly with how well I was keeping everyone alive at least.

The team wide gambles during the second phase went as well as I imagined; Serval and Stelle would manage to score high with their AoE while Huohuo and Bronya would typically suffer and take a hit. They might’ve tied once or twice but the odds were certainly not in my favor whenever those two would roll the dice. By some strange stroke of luck though, I finally managed to beat the fancy gambler! Thank god too because if this team failed, I would’ve been all out of ideas.

The following cutscene is good and I wish I had taken more screenshots but I was caught up in enjoying it. Aventurine’s really out here acting like a Meowth using Pay Day twenty times in a row.

I do feel bad for Acheron, walking a path she doesn’t even want to tread on and endlessly looking for someone. Haven’t a clue on who she might’ve been talking to though.

Himeko and Welt protecting the kids like the good parents they are! We’re certainly going to have some crazy stories for Dan Heng once we return to the Express. Dude is probably just chilling in the archives, maybe having some snacks with Pom-Pom while we’re over here fighting for our lives.

Another moment where I was so invested in watching Acheron that the idea of screenshots left my mind completely, but ohhh boy, the extent of her power is grand indeed. It’s a bit similar to what was shown in her character trailer but seeing her ultimate like this in game is truly an experience.

Big fan of the brief moment where she’s shown to sheath her sword again..

..and the way it goes from the monochrome world to reality and it starts raining hard is so very nice. Can’t help but think back to what Aventurine’s sister said about rain though at this time.

Finally getting that confirmation of her path even though it was no secret to us.

I really hope so because the longer we linger here the more worried for Aventurine I become.

This gives me little hope that Robin might be alive? If whomever is behind this just wanted to cover up the truth about Penacony and its recent happenings, then simply taking away their ability to speak should be effective enough. Death seems a bit too extreme but perhaps that was merely an accident. Or at least I hope so. I want her alive if you couldn’t tell.

So Aventurine had this all planned out? Putting himself and Acheron on opposing sides so she would have to draw her blade against him, all to nullify that strange Harmony magic that Sunday placed upon him? This man is out here playing 3d chess.

And like a fool I feel for his bluff about wanting to make our stellaron explode. But if his stone is broken, does that mean he never planned to make it out of this fight alive in the first place? I know his future was grim due to the conditions Sunday placed upon him, regardless if Aventurine managed to solve Robin’s case or not, but I still don’t like the sound of this!

Yes, please, wake up pretty boy. In reality and alive, preferably. Also, I wonder how much longer we’ll need to wait until we can finally get an explanation behind the red text. I have my guesses, but wish to know for sure.

Both of them asking and giving such real answers.. ahh. Life and death truly are such frightening things.

I would like to know the meaning behind your words, ma’am. Why must you do this? Are you even aware of it? What if I uno reverse card you and give you anxiety instead huh??

I’m thankful Acheron reminded him of Ratio’s parting gift and that Aventurine still held onto it even now, but with how this whole scene ends.. I can’t be certain if our gambler decided to use it or not.

Oooohhh my heart.. here comes the pain.

I’m sorry sir, but you can’t just give us these real handsome and gentle smiles and seemingly disappear into a void afterwards?? I don’t wanna accept this!

AVENTURINE!! You better be walking your pretty boy butt back into reality somehow, I swear! If you’re still choosing to end yourself despite Acheron’s words and Ratio’s help I will SOB!

I seriously do not like the sound of this.. I know Aventurine hasn’t had the best kind of life by any means, but as poetic as this all sounds, I want the dice to keep rolling!

No doubt Aventurine assumed that he would be cut off from obtaining outside help at some point during this scheme, so leaving behind pieces of his stone to convey a message about whether or not his companions can proceed was clever.. but still upsets me because I really don’t wanna accept a “death” from him. I wonder how Topaz truly feels about this, like is it fine because his actions were towards the mission or is there any genuine concern? I know their phone call back during Belobog was a bit rough between them but at least Topaz spoke relatively highly of him when we saw her in the reality hotel.

So this is the achievement I read about last time with its connection to the “Sibyl, What Do You Want?” achievement.. and after witnessing everything that happened, it hurts even more.

Aaahh, my poor man. He deserved better and I truly hope he can return. This upsets me more than Firefly’s “death.” And speaking of which.. I got the whole ending to chat about next hm?

(originally written on 3/29)

[stillness138]

can i ask for two characters: gezras of leyda and thaler? if not you can choose one of them xD

oooh nice, thanks! gonna do both

and cut it because it's gonna get long :D

Thaler

first impression:

i think i first saw him in gwent actually, and that was when 'silver spies' were still a thing. he was a pretty good card back then. only learned about his character once i watched a witcher 3 playthrough on youtube though. i don't recall it that well, but if i thought anything particular, it was probably "i hope he'll wash his hands at some point soon" because he's literally peeing at the start of the cutscene.

impression now:

he's cool! questionable hygiene aside, i love characters that have like, a thing? as in, a simple but fun premise or at least a surface reading. he's a spy, but very dedicated to the shoemaker cover, and that's how he manages to get by in an occupied land. i like that there's a little throughline with him about appearances often being deceiving. the shoes are one thing, but even further, he seems like a crude, self-serving bum, yet his loyality to Temeria is something so integral it's not even a question. This country really lucked out on devoted spies. Foltest was just that charismatic.

favorite thing about him:

willingness to do anything, no matter how uncomfortable, for the country. i think i like it because it's different from Roche's brand of servitude. again, cdpr is pretty good at writing ocs.

thinking about it now, he reminds me of a few guys i know. rural Temeria is, from an outside view, a cold, wet, kinda bleak bumfuck middle of nowhere, yet Thaler has this air of loving the physical country for what it is - he even mentions that he prefers the travelling more than a different cover like being an innkeep. like it doesn't bother him that it's cold, it seems he finds comfort in it in his own way. i find that kinda sweet.

least favorite thing:

seriously mate wash your hands 😭

i'd also rather cdpr didn't make him a vessel for racist jokes in the first game. (i swear i was looking for the exact clip where he talks about Azar and couldn't find it, i need to play the first game properly...)

favorite line/scene:

[how are you doing?] "A bit like a potato beetle. I keep quiet, stay outta trouble, and live on fucking potatoes."

i saw only a few scenes from witcher 1 and they were dubbed in czech, which adds to the hilarity of it to me, but his voice actor probably had a field day with it. "Nedělej si ze mě kurva srandu, seš zasranej amatér." [Geralt: will you play poker with me? Thaler: Don't fucking bullshit me, you're a goddamn amateur.]

favorite interaction he has with another character:

befriending and handling the three trolls. game Lambert has something to learn from him in that regard.

a character that I wish he would interact with more (or at all):

imagine if he appeared in the second game in any capacity, that would've been fun. in wild hunt, it's the same as with Roche: i wish the entire politics plotline was better. if i had to pick one character, it'd be Letho. there would be a lot of profanities but i actually believe Thaler would have more to say than even Roche at Kaer Morhen.

another character from another fandom that reminds me of him:

again i only know 5 things, and the only method acting spy in elder scrolls is Caius Cosades from Morrowind, whose similarities to Thaler pretty much end at taking a cover story too seriously.

as a side note though, i went to tv tropes to look at character lists in case i forgot about someone i actually do know, and in "sir swears-a-lot" subpage for videogame characters i found Thaler twice; gwent has its own separate mention. legends only.

a headcanon about him:

if Roche likes architecture, i think Thaler really enjoys music. maybe he even plays the lute. i'm also really curious about his youth and how he ended up a spy, but i do think it's quite different than Roche's background. i imagine he had a lot of friends as a kid and a comparably normal home life, but always showed talent for remembering what people say and for getting them to say even more.

a song that reminds me of him:

it's more vibes based than anything, but this czech song, most known from a movie. zmrzlinář means ice cream seller. it's all kinda... reminiscing, nostalgia and trying to find something nice or poetic in ordinary things (and in the case of the movie, in a shitty political regime). short movie version isn't on youtube, so i gotta upload it here.

an unpopular opinion about him:

this is less about the text and more meta, but i genuinely think he has a load of potential for exploring loyality, northern politics, motivation, and tropes or trope subversion (like the appearance thing i mentioned), but people sleep on him because Roche is right there. that's not to say dissecting Roche doesn't have merit - like i said, they're similar, but each has a different approach to what they do and what they believe.

favorite picture:

probably the gwent card. it says what it needs to and is surprisingly fun or even whimsical for a character most known for swearing on every third word. i think that's a neat choice though.

Gezras

first impression:

the cat school is, beside manticore, my favourite, so when the witcher expansion dropped i was curious who the leader will be next to Erland or Ivar. i wasn't disappointed. pretty sure i thought he's cute.

impression now:

*gently holds*

where Erland continued performing the trials to create a knightly order, Gezras and the growing cat school did it to protect themselves. it's the witcher dissected towards its core; a cycle of abuse maintained as something deemed necessary despite its harmfulness, out of desperation, out of a sense of belonging, out of losing touch with what's enough and what's too much.

and all that in pursuit of autonomy. Gezras; sold, experimented on, discarded, hunted. the fact the formula used on him was meant to suppress emotion yet ended up doing the opposite is a testament to that - this is about being treated as human. the trials are literally reclaimed, to strengthen other abandoned and thrown-out stray kids. to enact revenge. it's no wonder then that they'd seek refuge with the elves. the cat school was the one that took systemic oppression the most personally.

favorite thing about him:

that he's a unique exploration of the things i just mentioned. i find this very compelling and him relatable on that level, as an abuse survivor myself.

also his gwent card art and the bags under his eyes. that's relatable too.

least favorite thing:

it's meta again because i'm near incapable of judging the character without judging the writer: the little bit there is in gwent leans too much towards the edgy. he does have one voiceline about elven sages which i find especially interesting, but given that his trial ended up enhancing all emotions, if you want to show that somehow, give me rapid mood swings or something like that. gimme nuance!

this is me wanting every minor character to have dimensions.

favorite line/scene:

his flavor text; "Take a contract from Aen Seidhe over a dh'oine any day, as you’re far less likely to receive a knife between the ribs in place of coin."

favorite interaction he has with another character:

i think he actually has no lines or scenes with any named characters apart from the expansion key art where all the founders are together, because unlike the other three, he wasn't in the tabletop rpg books. i do however like his card's interaction with the bronze that happens to have my most favourite card art. there's awesome fanart about it too!

a character that I wish he would interact with more (or at all):

any named elf of his era, naturally, and especially the sages, but i am actually curious how he'd react to all of the other founders. Erland, i think i can imagine, but given both Arnaghad and Ivar ended up opposing Erland, that'd be more interesting. and even Iwan, the founder of manticore school as per the trpg, maybe he'd be the one Gezras would find most common ground with actually. If only for leaving the other three to their squabbles and seeking work and protection in a more equal society.

another character from another fandom that reminds me of him:

this is weird and i'm going to bring it up again, but Gezras reminds me of Allinall's work. weird because these are takes or adaptations of other media - particularly elder scrolls and berserk - but he specifically brings forth similar themes; conflicts of humans and elves, othering and otherness, cyclical abuse, coping mechanisms. the concrete characters i'm thinking of are Allinall's oc from the elder scrolls project and Rosine (and by extension the in-world fairytale character Peekaf) from the berserk project.

the nameless oc, mostly referred to as "One-Ear", had mixed parents, their human father cut their ear off in an attempt to hide their identity, even though their yellow sclera is undeniably elven. they join (or rather, their vulnerable state of trauma is exploited and they're indoctrinated by) a regime that aims to end material existence. Rosine is also a domestic abuse survivor, a village girl who comes across a promise of power in the form of an evil artifact that turns her into a moth-like elf monster. she starts devolving into bloodthirst and allows for horrible stuff to happen in order to maintain a fantasy of comfort and freedom.

a headcanon about him:

i didn't come up with it, but i love the idea that him and the saber-tooth tiger were buddies.

i think it's safe to assume that he's not actually from Leyda. if he was mutated at Stygga, he more likely was a local kid from Ebbing. I do also think he stayed in Dol Blathanna at some point when the school was wandering around, though.

and maybe that's too shallow, but i like to imagine he did genuinely enjoy being in nature. and if he ever conducted any trials by his own, he might've been notably good at herbology.

a song that reminds me of him:

'To Die' by Allinall (relating to One-Ear), and Peekaf Song (to Rosine).

as for more personal picks, my forever favourite, Nihilist Blues by Bring Me The Horizon (and Grimes); "do you mind if i'm exhumed?"

and Unraveled by Lorn, which is kinda ambient, but i like the harsher noises and associate it with my own search-for-identity oc.

an unpopular opinion about him:

Gezras is more interesting to me personally because of that focus on abuse, autonomy and revenge, and he's already a bit on the side because Erland and Arnaghad's conflict is at the forefront when this era of witchers comes up, but i think Ivar Evil-Eye needs even more love. despite being in the trpg, no one talks about him (he has that in common with Thaler i guess) and that's a disservice to the viper school as a whole, i think it's just as fascinating and has just as much unique and profound stuff to say as the cat school's story.

favorite picture:

his gwent card is in my top 20, but i especially like his reward tree portrait; it's the most detailed likeness we have. the mega tired eyes just draw me in.

[dna-d2]

TOTK Spoilers

So I beat Tears of the Kingdom and that final fight did not go how I expected for reasons I barely comprehend.

Again, Spoilers, obviously

So I’m down in the chasm, just got past that one cutscene where the Sages show up and I’m about to fight Ganon. I’ve got like seven sunny dishes and a whole lot of full restoring meals and I think I’m ready, I’ve got like 17 hearts, 2 stamina wheels, fully upgraded armor, and a bunch of decently strong weapons, AND the Hylian Shield. I got this, or at least I can gauge what I need to do for the next attempt.

I went into the second phase with no more sunny dishes, and all but 7 of those hearts have been lost to gloom

So second phase begins and the sages come in, and by the end of it I’ve died like twice, and thank HYLIA for fairies and the fact that I brought 5 of them with me. It went fine, I guess, I actually forgot there was a second phase it was so normal, BUT THEN

THEN THE THIRD PHASE

And Ganondorf pulls out what I think is one of those health bars that signifies you’re supposed to lose this fight because EXCUSE THE ABSOLUTE MOTHER FUCK OUT OF ME IT KEPT GOING??????

And I’m fighting, thinking “Okay okay I know I’m probably not supposed to win this” but I’m trying anyway because goddammit my dad might have raised an asthmatic, but my momma did NOT raise a quitter!!!

AND THEN MY LOST GLOOM HEARTS ALSO STARTED DISAPPEARING and I’m just like “HEY HOLD ON AM I GETTING THOSE BACK WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS I WORKED HARD FOR THOSE” and all the other sages seem to have been knocked the hell out and I’m just desperately blocking for the first time in the entire game and taking pot-shots when I can when he gets down below half and I’M STILL ALIVE????

And that’s when I realize SHIT I THINK I’M SUPPOSED TO WIN THIS FUCK FUCK FUCK

I have like 5 hearts left overall and that’s just because of the last two fairies giving four back when I get revived and NOW I’M OUT OF FAIRIES AND HAVE LIKE A QUARTER HEART LEFT, MAYBE HALF and I’M FUCKING STRUGGLE-BUSSING

He’s down to like a tick and I decide FUCK IT and just jump in and start slashing like I got 3 max hearts left and NOTHING TO LOSE

AND I WON?????

I didn’t even feel happy or excited or anything because I was just sitting there confused, like how the hell did I do that??? How the fuck am I still alive??? And what the fuck-HOLY FUCK HE’S TURNING INTO A DRAGON SHIT-SHIT-SHIT-

And after that it was actually pretty easy. Got all my hearts back, jumped off a dragon a few times, used my fall-damage-proof wingsuit, shit went great.

Overall, great game, loved it, but I’m still in a state of shock that I managed to beat that boss fight ON THE FIRST TRY???????????

~

Edit: Quick sketch of a moment taken 5 seconds after/before disaster(s)

~

Not pictured: Ganondorf in the background sticking his entire goddamn fist down his throat

(Like bro you did NOT need to do that what the actual Shit)

[maryaustria]

favourite metroid?

always like the zeta metroids. they look like an akward teenage phase of the metroid evolution. it doesnt look as goofy in the remake of two and they made it look a bit too similar to the omega one in there imo.

also shout out to these two from prime. i like the different metroid mutations from the prime series

genuinley thought the question was about the species at first lol. ill still answer the game question.

its hard question for me to answer since i like most of them a lot. mostly not a fan of the first two games. although i should give them another go. probably wont like it as much as the others but i should give them another shot

for the 2d ones it comes down to either fusion, zero mission or dread.

zero mission is probably the one im most familiar with since i played it a lot on my phone. its THE metroid if you ask me. its the best place to start out of all them. its got all the basic elements that make metroidvanias great to me. the exploration is fun and even though it has stuff that shows you where to go you can still get lost really easily and it doesnt hold your hand too much. getting items is fun although some of them in the later feel like theyre just lying around in your way for you to pick up. the story isnt too interesting obviously but i love the little section at the chozo ruins with the little drawing from samus. its also the only game i managed to beat fast enough to get samus to take off her suit.

fusion is probably the most lineral out of all of the metroid games. while both it and zero mission have systems that point you to your next objective, with fusion i feel the level design is layed out that there isnt too much exploration that you do on your own. there are the optional items obviously, and to their credit the items are really hidden in this game, but they are still just optional. it is the hardest game imo. your defense is really low even with the gravity suit. the bosses can be really demanding as well. looking at you yakuza and chozo statue. he story is really fun though. its nice that we get to hear samus talk and think in this game. they managed to keep her cool while not making her an emotionless robot and her inner monolog is always nice to hear. at times it feels a bit interrupting to the actual game but its still nice.

for dread its easily the best mechanically. its fast, responsive, the exploration is great and the movement is fun to execute and to master. exploration is fun as well and the abilities make revisiting areas really fun. theres also events in the game which change the world so revisiting areas is exciting too. story is the most emotional one imo. the way samus interacts with the different characters in the game. raven beak is proably the most fun villain in the series and his fight is awesome. samus is so emotive in the game as well. the way she carries herself in cutscenes says a lot about her as a character without saying a word.

im still not sure which one i would say is my favorite. i think i would need to replay dread again to really be sure. i only played that one twice.

for the 3d ones i think its just basic prime 1. i played it the most and its the safest one out of the three. i think i again just have to play 2 and 3 some more to be really sure. i like the bigger focus on exploration instead of speed in the 2d ones.

i could proably talk more about the prime series but its been pretty long since i played them

EXCEPT ALL THIS TALK WAS JUST FOR SHOW BECAUSE THE REAL GOAT IS METROID PRIME PINBALL BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[barnabyboppins]

Every time my brother tells me about another thing he found in ToTK I start ranting to the nearest sibling because

This continuity

Is

BULLCRAP

Which would be fine if the game weren't trying so desperately to one-up it's predecessors!

The gameplay is magnificent (most of the time) but the main story and worldbuilding is anachronistic nonsense! I expected the Zonai to be these cool archaic unknown powerhouses with complex history that managed to ambiguously tie them back to somewhere in the ongoing timeline, but what we get instead is a shoddy oc-insert trying to compete with already established lore for who and what actually happened in LoZ's history.

If you consider ToTKs world from the perspective of a new timeline/world, then it is still weak writing because most of the story relies on the player having existing knowledge of the history. The story tells you Rauru and Sonia are the first king and queen of Hyrule, and it tells you you gathered the sages, but there is nothing on why the sages were picked or why they follow Rauru or why a tall furry man and this lady became king and queen and they certainly don't elaborate on any of their symbols or imagery. They don't elaborate on the "secret stones" (which is such a lame name) beyond their most basic function. Shockingly, it's really hard to care about characters or what happens to them when they speak twice and do nothing otherwise. Also if the Zonai were these cool tall furry magic people why are there literally only two of them? Did the Zonai go nearly extinct before this? Are these two just special mutants? Rauru refers to the very human humans as Zonai so clearly something isn't adding up here! And wtf is their magic thing this is so dumb

If you view totk from the perspective of a continuation of the classic timelines what you have is a mess where someone wanted their super cool super op super important oc to be super important. Continuity? No! The rito and this hairy lady were totally part of the sages yeah, ignore the fact the Rito are descendants of the Zora and wouldn't have existed in the time of the imprisoning war, don't worry about that. While we're at it let's just replace any concept of Zelda's goddess powers with inferences that her powers actually come from this godlike hair man.

If this game is supposed to be a reboot then why are they copying the older games lore but worse?

My rant is derailing here because I'm getting distracted so I'm just going to end off by pointing out that Link and Zelda are just background characters who don't have character arcs while the game shows you pretty cutscenes where you watch Rauru's Tragic BackstoryTM and watch Zelda react to Rauru being the main character. Link's main quest is asking people where Zelda went and all of the dungeons are his friends asking him favours along the way.

This game is driving me insane

[incorrectpizza]

So...my roommate preordered Jedi: Survivor for me for Christmas. I was ecstatic as it was a purchase i never would've splurged on myself, but she knew how much I loved the first game and wanted to me to be able to play the second one.

Since then...

I scheduled myself for work the original release date (St. Patrick's Day)

Then EA moved it to right before finals week.

Then the most dramatic campus-specific event in years rocked my little world and made my anxiety skyrocket, but, hey, at least I had Survivor to look forward to!

BUT, my dear friends, EA's release *sucked* and I stayed up until midnight to play it, only for it to spend hours unpacking.

And then the title sequence glitched the first time I tried to start it in the morning.

And then then, while troubleshooting the title sequence glitch, the FIRE ALARM WENT OFF.

My roommate managed to get it to boot up after we were allowed back in the dorm safe and sound. I played up to the first meditation point. It was amazing! One or two frame rate drops but overall it looked & felt epic.

Then we had to go to classes.

Then my roommate had a boatload of homework.

We finally were within twenty minutes or so of being able to sit down and play in earnest for a few hours.

And...

A friend walked over from the other room asking if I could run her to the ER because she felt like she couldn't breathe. Asthma attack. Cue forty five minute drive. She's okay, now, but we have the long, dark drive back which I'm not really looking forward to it.

I swear it feels like I'll never get to play Survivor.

Maybe I should quit trying before I jinx something else.

ADDENDUM: So...I never posted this...

BUT I can't resist posting even though it's terribly late and I did (spoiler alert) get to finish the game because IT GETS EVEN BETTER.

I was able to play several hours over the course of the first five days after the game's release but then there was a patch that came out Thursday, May 4th so I couldn't play it in the morning. I was going to play in the evening because I had a terribly busy afternoon but then...

I GOT A CONCUSSION.

And could not do screens because headache and also healing. So, not only could i not play on Star Wars Day, I had to take a solid five days off from playing.

I did technically boot up the game twice, once to play myself for fifteen minutes, and the other time to listen to my roommate play for a while because I really, really wanted to try and progress the story a bit.

I managed to play a few more hours after healing up and before my roommate left, taking her gaming laptop with her.

At this point, I was midway through the game and desperate. I somehow managed to launch it on my crappy computer and played for forty-five minutes one day. It stalled and I kept glitching through walls I was supposed to run across, but somehow it didn't crash.

Then once I got home I crammed the last third of the game in THREE DAYS before I went on a trip halfway across the U.S. During that time, I had to switch from my sister's gaming computer to my brother's because one of the last cutscenes kept glitching.

I did the final boss fight FOUR TIMES.

And then, my friends, I actually did it. Somehow.

Despite work schedules, delays, launch day bugs, a fire alarm, inexplicable crashes, and a concussion, I completed Jedi: Survivor.

[sol-consort]

I was so upset when I thought Grunt died because I was like “I’ve seen him in different cutscenes though what’d I do wrong???” Luckily Grunt is the goat and lived because he’s Grunt. Wish I took him on missions more but you can’t beat the Tali/Shepard/Garrus combo I rocked the entire Trilogy

I love my fatass son even if he blocks 60% of my shots by walking directly in front of my camper Shepard just right after I pull the trigger then yells at me for friendly fire WHEN HE WAS THE ONE TO WALK IN FRONT OF MY SNIPER.

anyway so, I love him so much! I was a few seconds away from opening the task manager and force closing the game bc I thought for sure he died and I didn't want to finish the unskippable cutscene. I would've kill a that rachni queen a thousand times over if it meant Grunt got to live, zero hesitation.

Thankfully his bloodied limbing body emerged eventually and I have never felt happier in my life.

I wish him and Eve had an interaction since the two of them were in the medbay during the same time but oh well. She would've definitely fell hard for my glorious beloved son and forgot about dusty crusty Wrex!

Also his email after he recovers is so

OF COURSE MY BELOVED SON, I WILL SEND YOU ALL THE SHARK VIDEOS IN THE WORLD. SHARKS ARE VERY SMOOTH SKINNED AND MISUNDERSTOOD CREATURES WHO ARE CURIOUS BY NATURE JUST LIKE YOU MY SON. I AM GLAD IT IS NOT DOLPHINS YOU HAVE AN INTEREST IN SINCE DOLPHINS ARE DEVILSPAWN SOCIOPATHS.

it is super adorable that both the animals he is obsessed with are from earth just like Shepard, dinosaurs and sharks.

Wait are turians dinosaurs who survived their own meteor radiation-

Anyway! Here is more on the game report so far. I am falling asleep as I type.

Story plot

So far enjoying everything, the story writing is amazing and the dialogue is pretty hard hitting at times. Sometimes bloated but oh well. Tuchanka felt like such a big pay off to a huge build up since the first game, the quest delivered a full course meal.

Especially the reaper fight oh god, you get to feel powerless for once with a brute after brute after brute being thrown at you and no obvious spare ammo laying around. You just have to gun it (Ha) to the controls and avoid getting sqaushed like a bug by the reaper or charged by the brutes like a football.

Cloaking is a god sent gift that spared me so many times, I pray the brutes never develop thermal vision or the braincells to employ technology that uses it.

Mordin's death hit hard man, it was so right tho. It felt like it was meant to be, I wouldn't have cared for a random salarian. But Mordin? Oh no.

The fact he sings the model of a salarian scientist during it is the knife twisting in the back after the stab.

It's so clear he is doing it to calm himself down, to not mess this up.

It's a reminder of how much he has given to science, his whole life, identity and hobbies. His music, youth and great mind. So many of his beloved students too.

And he dies correcting the mistakes of superiors playing politics who let fear cloud their judgement.

Wrex calls Shepard his sister in it, Wrex has not hit on me once, I am unbelievably thankful for his writers and so overjoyed with this lovely platonic relationship between them.

Because yes they do feel like siblings!

Still, ME1 Wrex now feels like a different person in comparison to ME3 and I am not talking about believes.

I mean he used to be less open with us, less animated and more shut on himself and brooding. Now he laughs, makes jokes and gets excited, I'm really happy for him! It's like he found his true purpose and passion in life.

Kaidan

I forgot how sappy and adorable he is, when sorrounded by badass characters with edges so sharp it could cut a paper, you get so used to them and someone awkward like Kaidan easily stands out.

He's unsure, confused and just so very human. He's still trying to do the right thing while looking at Shepard for guidance. The fact he doesn't think twice before refusing Hackett's offer to have his own ship just to be with us again.

I don't think Kaidan feels complete without Shepard. In his romance he is so sappy and adorable too, earnest and speaking from the heart. Since the first game he was one for romantics and rarely relied on sexy flirting but rather love confessions are more his forte.

I mean look at this man my heart

I he is just so fjkwkcbaoxjs <3333333 he is the softest person in this whole trilogy, even Tali and Liara are more jaded than him at times. But he still acts as if we were his first love, as if he is a schoolyard boy giving his crush flowers and asking their favourite color.

Femshep

You mentioned only playing as maleshep so I'm not sure how different our experiences are, so I will mention the things I think are exclusive to femshep here.

In the reconcile scene in ME3 where your ME1 romance takes you back after you romanced someone in the second game, they accuse you of cheating.

Apparently maleshep can say it isn't cheating because they broke up with you on Horizon. But femshape has to apologise for cheating??? It's very weird idk dude.

I installed a mod that just let me have the maleshep dialogue instead.

You can also hit on Joker when he asks you about EDI.

And have a full conversation on him being with you instead.

He rejects you and says he's not Kaidan (ouch) and doesn't date crew, he will follow you into hell but not into your quarters.

EDI doesn't wear a uniform so he feels okay dating her.

Can you hit on EDI as maleshep?

Talking about EDI, it's making me really uncomfortable how openly the game is being inappropriate about her. I get she has a hot body and that's perfectly okay, but why does every other person feel the need to comment on it and sexualise her? Like she's an object or something.

ME1 had this problem with femshep where antagonists would hit on you to show them being trashy or whatever and the paragon option is to swallow it down and keep talking while the renegade option is to call them out on it.

And in ME2, someone calls you a stripper, and a turian npc asks about your boobs.

I thought they fixed it in ME3, and true, so far, femshep doesn't get these weird comments.

But instead everything was turned on EDI and the game keeps bringing it up and it's just gross my dude. At least Shepard could tell them to fuck off but EDI can't.

James Vega is a character I really like! I loved his bro relationship with Shepard so much. Even as femshep he still says "hey man" or things like that.

But it is weird when he hits on you out of the blue without any prior interest indications. I envy the platonic bro relationship he has with maleshep, really wish femshep could have the same one.

He isn't even a romantic interest, you don't flirt with him or anything. He just hits on you sometimes. Because. Woman. Ig.

Eve opens up to you more as femshep, that was nice and made me feel better. She is one of my favs too, I love everything about her.

Thane

The Thane romance broke me oh my god.

He calls you Siha when he warns you about the citidal attack. In his romanced ending, his last ever act before dying is to literally pray for you, not for himself but for you. For his goddess to forgive you and grant you eternal love and peace, his son even joins him.

He says your heart is pure despite all, that's the goddess should keep you by her side and make you a companion to her much like you were to Thane. The moment is so touching and genuinely emotional I actually cried.

The voice actor for femshep is phenomenal in this too. You get used to Shepard's harsh and commander voice tones and suddenly it's all soft and quiet, whispery and on the blink of tears and it literally cracks your heart open and makes you realise how this big strong commander is crumbling watching the love of her life die in front of her.

And the dress looks so out of theme i know but the context to it just makes the scene even more sad.

I didn't know the citidal mission would start, I didn't know about any of this when I finished tuchanka. I just picked the prettiest red dress I could find because I was excited to see Thane again and wondering if he'll kiss Shepard again because he mentions he can't do it much bc of his sickness and would need some rest so I assume a mission or two will reset it.

So in my mind, I'm getting ready for this cute date with Thane, dolling my Shepard and all excited and happy walking to the citidal. Thinking about him and looking forward to his dialogue and make I'll take some pics with him in this pretty outfit.

But it's...he doesn't get to see it. He doesn't get to see Shepard in her pretty dress that she wore for him because she had to change into armour for the mission. Then he gets stabbed and you can't even stay by his side after he saved you from an assassin.

Btw that assassin scene was so fucking cool, it's easy to forget how badass Thane is and how deadly he can be even while dying.

By the time it's all over, Shepard had to go see him in the same red dress for their date because If I went to the Normady to change he would've already died. There is no time. This outfit that was supposed to celebrate their love has become the dress for his funeral instead, the date on his deathbed and it's squeezing my heart painfully.

Like that is the oufit of someone who thought they had more time, of someone who didn't realise how close tragedy came by.

[zwei-rhunen]

I JUST CLEARED SEPHIROT EXTREME WTF

>be me, it's like 10pm, i'm on BLU, i saw a party in PF earlier doing a spell run, I've never done that before. I've only used PF like twice lol. I wonder if it's still up?

>it's not still up, ah well. but i still see a listing for Sephirot EX that i saw like 30 min ago - a someone requesting help to clear for their friend and there's like 4-5 roles filled already

>well. i like sephirot hard. i dont remember sephirot extreme. i probably cleared it once with @lucia-dartancours a long ass time ago, maybe. sounds like fun tho i'd like to help out. i'll probably remember some of it during the middle of the fight or smth.

>join, be upfront that i'm "not experienced with this one" and i'll drop if needed. im told its all good and we'll figure it out, cool!

>duty begins, and i get.... the cutscene???? huh??????

>oh. suddenly, a shadow of the past echoes in my ear. flashbacks flit across my mind's eye as i recall asking @lucia-dartancours to do sephirot EX with me, but we cannot, bc alas, it is one of the few that is difficult to solo and may require a party.

>ohfuck.jpeg i am about to act very clueless in front of strangers

>"i'M nOt VeRy ExPeRieNcEd-" hi sorry guys, by that i mean it as in i havent seen this AT ALL EVER IN MY LIFE LMFAO OOPS

>sweating.gif

>okay i've seen exactly ONE video and that was when @ was soloing it on WAR, and i probably had just finished HW, and knew fuck-all about trials. except that it was cool and flashy and looked fun and maybe someday i'd do it, when i got past all this dang MSQ.

>welp i guess it's "someday".

>get full party, do fight, our first ever attempt goes REALLY well. we managed to clear the first phase and wiped at maybe the second towers/right after the first towers? something like that.

>i have no idea what i'm doing and ngl i'm surviving off of sheer beginner's luck up until the very end of this first attempt lmao. idk how i managed to survive that long.

>... and i did not manage to recreate that again, up until the tail-end of that two hour time-frame.

>we try again a few more times, then the markers get broken out to divide the group up into 2 parties

>LMAO'ing because me and the other first-timer get the kindergarten shapes... xDDD

> the mentors/experienced people lay out the plan

>i understand half of what theyre saying, but i keep the mantra "green=hug, orange=spread out"

>idk what colors mean when they refer to that but i'll figure it out/i think it's similar to zurvan with the hot/ice debuff mechanic (i later figure out this is exactly what that is)

>tbh, at first that "color" meant the tether color. but now i think you get that tether if you stand close to Sephirot, regardless of your debuff color. And im MNK, so at first i thought i was always orange b/c the tether color is orange, and i was always getting that tether b/c i'm always up close as MNK. but color refers to debuffs, i figured it out.

>not me sounding like a lunatic everytime we get to the debuff phase, muttering "okokokokok, orange is run, orange is run"

we keep wiping in the first phase, but slowly learn and adapt and improvise and overcome our way to the second phase before the duty timer runs out.

lol

>it is 11pm. someone mentions they can stay on until the next duty runout, i'm like same (bc it's 11pm lol). one of the healers switches to SMN for shields, tank offers to do a discord call to do calls, no one takes the offer, so we continue on-wards

>about midway into the second duty attempt, i finally understand what people mean when they say "stack in front of green bubble for the flash to bait the (whatever you call it), and then spread out", bc i started noticing the flash, and at one point i had died early and was able to kinda notice what ppl were doing, plus short snippets from @'s video from 500 years ago are coming back to me and i'm starting to remember this part of the video)

>so i finally stop dying at that part (i always kept getting wiped out by his flash attack bc i kept forgetting that it takes up the entire side of the arena T_T)

>i keep dying at the 2nd phase, when he does the flash and then the first middle knockback fist, and im like how tf does everyone else keep surviving. oh, is it arm's length? and someone replies about positioning and i'm looking at the screen like "okay 1-130, i'll just stare hard at everyone else and follow them" b/c up until that point i was focusing hard about the debuffs and trying to make sure i was in the correct zone lmao

>AT SOME POINT, i dont die + the stars align for everything else + we have just enough people constantly alive and suddenly we survive phase two and we're blowing past the fist slidey part and now we're killing the air add and there's a flurry of pings going off in chat from the tank and now we're in the stack and the fist is going across the floor and THANK GOD the third phase is mostly a repeat of the second phase and LB3 gets hit and we trim off the last few HP on his bar and ITS OVER WE'RE DONE OH MY GOD.

15 minutes left to spare T-T we got out at 12:15am lol but shoutout to the person who stayed up till 1am to see this through

a few things:

> green debuffers are supposed to "pass the tether" to the orange debuffers. i still have no clue how to do that. I thought it'd be like, we run to them. but the green bubbles are always in the way, and i never saw people touch each other. so i have no clue how we pass on the tethers lmao

>tanks also take both towers in the second tower phase. but also, people with orange debuff must take towers? i am still confused on that part. I'll probably watch a video later.

that was really fun!

but also

i think i'm going to stay far the fuck away from PF extremes for a bit lmfao