#I still can't parry in this game

[maritoke]

I haven't drawn anthropomorphic animals in long while, how do you guys do it so well--

It was a lot of fun drawing them tho. I felt realy sad when Lady Ethereal told me to hit her. I really didn't want to do that = (

[philosophiums]

okay gaming done for the day i need to look for refs i simply must draw my ocs today

[svtskneecaps]

ayo shoutout to revali for being the champion whose ability i have used the least since obtaining

[nemofil]

erm um haha

highly unpopular opinion flesh prison is much easier to deal with than minos himself and YES i have a skill issue i can't react to a homing serpent straight after his two punch combos* and the most i've done is parry "judgement!" over and over

* unless i try really really hard which i did here**

** and yes i consider parrying serpents to be hard </33

[prancingintheshadows]

Is the Sonic Frontiers update supposed to be kicking my ass? Because it is.

[makapatag]

On Posture In Gubat Banwa

So the sixth version of Gubat Banwa's First Edition "returns" to the ideal that HP as a pacing mechanic, an Action Economy limiter, and a resource pressure. As always, in Tactical Combat games, resource management is a major aspect of the gameplay. Management of action economy, management of distance, management of other currency (such as Class-specific Resources). Most of a Tactical Combat Grid game revolves around the manipulation of these mechanics: reducing, regaining, adding, changing, force multiplication/division of these resources, and more. In Tomian Design (that is, Tom of LANCER RPG and ICON RPG), costing.

For the first 5 versions of Gubat Banwa's design, we worked with lower HP values (across the board) and with Dice Pools. The idea was that each dice in a dice pool was an attack launched, or a moment of concentration. Every die in the defense pool was a parry or evasion attempted. While the fantasy of that worked pretty great, the maths on the other hand did not. It worked almost counter-intuitively against the high-flying martial arts x deliberate tactical combat that I was trying to strike a balance for. My white elephant, my Shambhala, was to strike a good balance between that.

The Change

In 1.6, while the Dice Pool didn't entirely go away--much of the game is built around getting tactically advantageous positions so that you can get more dice and a higher chance of dealing greater damage on the target--it went for a more linearly scaling game with the result on the die reducing the target's Health.

It was a hit, mostly, among the inner circle (that is to say, my friends that I run the newer version for). There was an immediate sense of "we know how this game works" now.

On Tactical Video Games

It was more transparent--this information was crucial to making a tactical game work and sing. This is why in video games, almost every tactical game has the "Combat Forecast", like in Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics, that showcased the expected Hit Rate and the Damage Output.

This is absolutely integral: tactical games are decision point games. Without the proper information (doesn't need to be complete information), no decision can be done satisfyingly. This isn't to say that dice pools can't be used for a tactical game of course--I've done it. But it requires a different kind of design principle and design goal that Gubat Banwa wasn't going for. That sense of martial progression, of spiritual strength and eventual enlightenment.

From HP to POS

During the initial playtests, we were still working with HP. Hit Pearls. The idea was that every hit "shattered" a Hit Pearl. This worked with the Dice Pools, because the fiction was that every attack could be parried with Defense Dice.

What was the problem with this? Firstly, the math of this was inherently fraught, unfortunately: on higher levels, Defense Dice were either horribly impenetrable or did absolutely nothing to defend you. It became a binary thing. That was not the goal: for the martial fantasy to come to life, much of the decisions should not binary but rather, on a gradient spectrum.

To me, the destroyer of tactical grid games is when there's a single best strategy that shatters the tension of the game. My favorite parts of Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre were early game moments where the output randomness could make every fight go completely different, even if you redid the same stage more than once.

Secondly, when the outcome of an action is that, really, nothing happened, you used an attack (even worse, the attack was buffed by yourself, an ally, and tactical modifiers) and then the target was able to parry all your hits. The fiction is exciting for a second, but then when you return to the battle grid, nothing changed. The mechanics fed into the fiction, but the fiction didn't feed into the mechanics.

With the math change, the fiction of the Hit Pearls wasn't working because HP values were higher to compensate for the changed math. 12 Hit Pearls could feasibly be visualized as Link's Hearts, for example. But at 48 HP, that didn't work anymore.

Hearkening to the Ancients

So I actually went on a trip to older versions of Gubat Banwa, and found I'd solved that particular problem. Older versions of Gubat Banwa had HP as "Mettle", their ability to stay in the fight. Turning to the game's current version, I realized the Physical Defense stat was perfect: POSTURE. The stance, the guard, the ability to keep fighting, the ability to turn mortal wounds into grazing hits, the ability to ignore the effects of bleeding wounds, of burning pyres, of seeping poison.

Every attack was inflicting damage by chipping away at the target's guard, or forcing their stance into more compromised positions so that they would be open to an actual mortally wounding strike. They were still real hits that the defender was actively still guarding against. And with every attack defended, their guard wore down.

This hit me after watching Donnie Yen's SAKRA (2023) the other day. Reaching back into the high-flying wuxia roots, Donnie Yen's character doesn't even take real hits until after he's overwhelmed because he is such a martial superior against the rest of the Beggar Clan. Because his Posture was so high.

Ten Thousand Earth Shattering Blows

It worked great. Not to mention that it's a great reference to Sekiro, another huge inspiration to the games's intended fiction, which also had a Posture break. Now Staggered for half Posture or lower made sense: your guard is brittle! You court death! Now the Wide Open affliction felt more in genre: your guard is wide open, so you're suffering more!

The Physical Defense stat was renamed into PARRY, while the Magical Defense stat was kept as RESILIENCE (itself a reference to Final Fantasy Tactics A2!) The defenses were there to keep the mechanical bite of an Attack vs Defense interaction, to provide an avenue for another mechanical design space, as well as to shoe in the fact that when an attack targets your Parry you're physically blocking while an attack against your Resilience requires your fortitude and concentration to block against: when your Posture is reduced, when you guard is worn down by these attacks, you know how you were defending.

When enemies hit 0 POS, that attack is the one that gets through their Defenses and kills them outright. When a Kadungganan falls to 0 POS they're not dead, but they suffer a WOUND, which only heals on Downtime (as opposed to POS healing on Repose, ie., short rest).

On Defeat and Victory

While you're Defeated, you suffer the same effects of Stun, but you can still act and do things, even make attacks at full power: you're Kadungganan after all. But every attack against you, despite your PARRY or your RESILIENCE is not met with a stance ready to block. Thus, every instance of damage you suffer, no matter how much, inflicts another Wound. When you eat 5 Wounds, you can pull on your Conviction to stay alive. Otherwise, you are tossed back into the cycle of reincarnation, or into the river to Sulad, or to Lunar Heaven, or to whatever next life your Kadungganan has chosen to ascribe to.

Status Effects

Statuses such as Poisoned, Bleeding, or Aflame, don't break you yet because they must eat through your bodily resistance. But they are still real: an aflame Kadungganan fights on even as flames swathe their body.

They can die later, when they feel the effects of the burn when their POS falls to 0. They can die later, when the Poison finally seeps through and enervates them and destroys their defensive capability. They can die later, when the bleeding takes its toll and they can no longer keep their stance up.

Martial Glossolalia

With a simple terminology change, the fiction changed entirely. Now everyone knew it was their defenses wearing down. Swords didn't cut off their fingers, flames didn't burn through their skin. They know that defenses are a holistic thing: your stamina, your constitution, your composure, your reactive ability, your dexterity, your presence of mind, your focus.

"It's not realistic!" The game is not meant to be realistic, and realism is not an inherent ontological good nor is it a goal for most TTRPGs, you will notice. Experiences, feelings. The fiction Gubat Banwa draws upon--SEAsian Folk Epics, Asian Martial Arts Cinema--is filled to the brim with the CLANG CLANG CLANG of sword-on-sword action. Often these clangs happen so quickly that you cannot process them, they are abstracted to you when it resolves in your brain--so is it abstracted by Gubat Banwa. Posture going down is the CLANG CLANG CLANG that resonates across a fight scene. It's not realistic because it's not meant to be, and even then, we must argue what your conception of reality is!

I could be argued that much of Tabletop RPGs (and, I would argue, most of games in general) is an exercise of language. Exploiting its vagaries, its ability to connect. When you go into Gubat Banwa, learning the mechanics of the game is learning a new language. And what is language but the foundation of culture?

[paragonraptors]

YEHAW DA:V REVEAL THOUGHTS BELOW!!

Overall: Feeling so excited for this game. I'm climbing up the walls. I can't believe that was 20 minutes, it felt like 10. Need this in my hands yesterday.

What I liked:

-Holy fuck wow wow wow the hair looks like nothing I've seen in a video game before.

-Combat seems very different but also a natural progression of gameplay past. Real-time turn-based was always a little on the clunkier side, and while it never really bothered me, moving towards something more ME-style was expected. Very excited about being able to aim a bow. Would like to know what difficulty they were showcasing bc I'm considering jumping right into a Nightmare run.

-Now that I've been soulsborne-pilled the prospect of a parry mechanic has me buzzing.

-I feel like people are gonna dunk on the "stiffer" animation, but I prefer it so much more than the BG3/HZD constant wobbling. It'll make the key performances stand out instead of mostly jangling keys in front of a baby and letting the big moments get lost in the sauce. (Not that the aformentioned games didn't have good animation, just. If your characters don't need to move their whole body to convey dialogue I'd prefer if they didn't.)

-The sublety in the facial animations is CRAZY.

-The roleplay dialogue seems really reactive!! And the cuts to inject the unique dialogues feels smooth. I'm sure there will still be moments where it's easy to tell, but still cool. Seems like they're gonna be paying more attention to your personality type like DA2 too.

-So excited about Harding and Neve as companions and can't wait to meet everyone else.

-Neve's staff/wand makes me excited to see what kinds of focus options we'll get as a mage AAAA.

-God the costumes have so much swag. One of my hottest of many BG3 takes was that the costumes were overall flavorless. (Really hoping they didn't change the Grey Warden uniforms though that would really disappoint me.)

-Cinematography looks fantastic. Lots of well set up shots.

-NGL I felt something when Solas showed up. Wasn't expecting that. And while not perfect, I liked his interaction with Varric. Their relationship from Inquisition really slips under the radar if you're not bothering to look.

-Varric has never gotten over the trauma of what happened with Anders and it breaks my heart in a good way. God you could see it in his eyes!! [chef's kiss]

-However, I definitely have to kill Solas now for what transpired in this preview.

What I'm iffy about:

-The voice peformances feel a bit stilted. Not really what I'm used to from Bioware and I feel like it's important when the animations are more subdued. Hopefully this feeling will change when I get more of the game.

-The dialogue also felt a bit dumbed down. "Solas is doing his ritual!" "Yes. Solas' ritual. The ritual that we have to stop." Again, hopefully this is symptomatic of a tutorial level/trying to onboard newbies quickly and not the whole game lol. While I prefer this to dialogue that tries to sound smarter than it is, I'm really hoping we see an overall improvement from Inquisition.

-Sort of wish they went with the Andromeda dialogue system instead of bringing back Inquisition's, but I do like that it seems all dialogue options are getting tonal indicators again and they're not as easily conflated with morality. (Though I imagine people will STILL interpret it that way.)

-A little confused about them introducting Minrathous' panopticon shit and then immediately swerving into Solas' ritual. Would have liked some breathing room on that kind of worldbuilding.

- While I'm generally open minded about the change, I Do Not Love not being able to switch to playing companions. Might turn around on this if your ability to issue them commands opens up the closer you are to them/the more you grow into a leadership role. I do like that it seems you will eventually be able to command when they use abilities a la OG Mass Effect bc that was my biggest beef with the Andromeda gameplay, esp on Nightmare/Insanity difficulty.

-Not crazy about the new Pride demon design where are their leggies.

-Not really a Criticism, but they are definitely setting up for Varric to die and while I get it, narratively, I'm NOT HAPPY. Dragon Age has been almost allergic to scripted deaths so it's also gonna feel like being dunked in an ice bath. EVIL STUFF. IN DENIAL.

[sugoi-writes]

KNY HCs - A Surprise Kiss! (Hashiras + Kamado Crew) Part 1

Prompt: You give them a kiss unexpectedly; how do they react, when they like you back?

A/N: This is Part 1! This part includes Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke, Rengoku, Giyuu, Shinobu, and Sanemi. Next part will include the rest of the Hashira, Nezuko, and Genya.

Some of these have implied less-fluffy notes, but nothing explicit/over the top.

Tanjiro

Let's be honest, he would internally be a mess. He would try hiding it, but his face would flush and give himself away. He would hastily touch the spot you kissed him (whether his cheek, lips, forehead, etc.), eyes beaming.

"S-Sorry, I wasn't expecting that...!" Unprompted, he would take you by the wrist if you were trying to walk away," W-Wait!!! Let me return the favor!!!" Mentally, it's like you're proposing to him. This boy takes you and your love VERY seriously!!!

One kiss becomes MANY. He isn't overtly the PDA type, but makes it his goal to sneak up or surprise you with it every once in a while. Especially before big missions.

He becomes more protective of you, like Nezuko, and always makes the time to kiss you good morning, and kiss you goodnight. It's a routine that he will live by, and love by, as long as he can have you. Domestic vibes, for sure.

Zenitsu

Let's be for real: you already know what happens. But let's get into it anyway:

Similar to Tanjiro, he goes to touch the spot you kissed him at," Ehh?? Ehhh?? Y/N-san??? Was that real-- just now?!" He's stammering, blushing vibrantly. You may have to kiss him again just to keep him from spiraling with questions.

He would be a mess under your kisses/touch. He would be all over you in a SECOND, clinging to your arm, his arms wrapped around your waist: anyway he can be close/touching you, he will. He makes it his mission to never leave your side again.

He becomes heavily protective of you: to the point he has "The Talk" with Tanjiro and Inosuke. He'd be warning them that if they try to make a move: he'd kill them (all jokes... for SURE). He's spunky and fiery, but as soon as you get a hold of him, he's putty in your hands.

Inosuke

He gets a far off look on his face, before snapping back to reality," WHAT WAS THAT?!"

You'd have to explain it properly for it to sink in. And even then, it may take a few times for it to really click. He would have to talk through it, OUT LOUD, even if other people were around.

"So it's not an attack; it's meant to be a good gesture... Friends don't normally do it, but there is a stage ABOVE friends that do all the time... it's disarming, but it's STILL not an attack or a way to parry..." Inosuke would grab you by the shoulders, shaking you.

"TEACH ME MORE!!! IT MAY NOT BE AN ATTACK, BUT IT CAN STILL BE USED IN BATTLE!!! THEY'D NEVER SEE ME COMIN--'"

You explain that the boar mask would have to come off for that to be effective. Then his resilience would deflate, but he'd get the picture. Can't go around kissing demons...

But he DOES do it to you. It becomes a game to him. Almost like rough housing/fighting... Whenever you're in a compromising position, whenever you're doing chores or tasks, even before a big mission: Inosuke always surprises you with a kiss.

Again, one becomes many... and soon enough he deduces that there's a reason you only kiss him... so in return, he'll save his kisses for you.

Rengoku

His large eyes, normally unblinking and brilliant, twitch. He would blink a moment or two, looking up/down to you.

"Ahh! Thank you, friend! That is very sweet!" You would have to explain that you had feelings that stemmed PAST friendship.

"...OH. Ohh, goodness... well-- nothing is more valuable than companionship. I am honored that you've considered me."

He would wrap his arms around you so quickly, spin you around and kiss you deeply.

"Allow me to choose you, too!! I choose... to be with you!!!" Be careful. Similar to Tanjiro, it almost feels like a proposal. 

He would usually be his normal self around you, but would go out of his way to kiss you. Especially before big missions or summons. He would make the time to see you and be with you, even if it was a detriment to himself. Whenever he kisses you, he locks you in somehow: by a hug, a two-handed caress of your face, or even by locking his legs around you... (This last part is mostly if he's sitting down)

Like it or not, his kisses are as fiery as his spirit: it's VERY easy to get worked up for the both of you. It's like Lays: you can't have just ONE.

Giyuu

Similar to Rengoku, he would be taken by surprise. You would see his eyebrow move slightly, or his eyes widen a touch. Even with him being super dense emotionally, the dots connect for him instantly.

"O-Ohh..." More than usual, he's basically speechless. But leave it to him to practically sweep you off your feet with a kiss in return. He takes it seriously.

You started it. And now he won't let you go a day without at least a few kisses, heated or tame.

Much like Inosuke, he would go out of his way to find you and kiss you. But unlike some of the others, he won't shy away from doing it in front of others. He doesnt give a FUCK if they see, make fun of you two, etc. A kiss is a kiss, and hes gonna have one with you whether they care or not.

Some think it's on purpose, to show the other Hashira that he has friends AND more. But Giyuu is just REALLY touch starved. And he REALLY likes you.

His kisses are intense, especially before a big trip or mission. It's hard not to get into something more when he comes for you. He practically makes your legs give out, and he has held you the few times they have.

His kisses are dangerous. Be careful with this one. Especially if you aren't alone...

Shinobu

"Hmm? Did you need something--"

When you kiss her, she wordlessly kissing you back, smiling," Ahh~ you're so sweet, Y/N-san!"

At first, she thinks you're just overly friendly or affectionate (similar to Mitsuri). But she starts to get it once it starts to happen more often.

Her kisses are interesting. She kisses you places that are a bit off-kilter. The knuckles on your hands, the tip of your nose, close to a spot where she had to stick/poke you for blood.... she kisses you most everywhere, but hardly ever on your lips.

She's not the type to show PDA: she'll hardly ever do it. But when she does want to kiss you directly, she's making excuses to sneak you away and do it privately. It's a very intimate thing for her, and she doesnt want to feel prying eyes. It's hard for her, especially at the Butterfly Estate, but she warms up to you and PDA after a while.

Her kisses are featherlight. And though few and far between, she makes them count.

Sanemi

"...what're you on about--?"

Oh. Oh shit.

When the kiss ends, the air immediately becomes tense. Heat rises in his face and ears almost instantly, as he takes you by your wrist. If you're not already in a private place, he takes you to one and nearly slams you against a wall.

"...what're you trying to play at here?" Similar to Inosuke and Rengoku, you'd have to explain yourself. While his body language is guarded and on the offensive, the blush betrays him. He's smitten. He's ALWAYS been smitten. But hearing your words and the way you say them really nails in the fact that you aren't joking, and that you're not trying to get him embarrassed or anything. You GENUINELY like him.

Similar to Giyuu, his kisses are dangerous. Which is why they're usually received or given in private. He HAS held you up before because his kisses can get pretty steamy. But he's also given you kisses so sincere and sweet that it makes you relax enough to fall asleep with your head on his shoulder.

He's a man of many words and actions: most of which are aggressive or crass. But he saves the nicest things for you when you're alone.

But be wary: if it's been a while since your last kiss, especially due to missions: just know it's coming. And when it does, it'll be REALLY hard to stop.

---

End of Part 1

[azen13]

[Not really sure if this counts as a request but here we go] Who’s your favourite male yandere(s) from genshin? And could you talk about why?

Ah I love this question! Thank you so much for asking. I've been really busy with college lately so I haven't gotten a chance to write recently, but after this week I should be finished with a lot of tests until finals. Just to clear things up, I absolutely accept questions like this! I feel like I haven't really shared a lot about myself as a person so I'm hoping to do more of that in the future.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

CW: Yandere Themes, Spoilers for Wriothesley's Story Quest

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

I'd say I have four yanderes who I really like, and then a few who I like but I'm not obsessed with. Those four being Alhaitham, Neuvillette, Wriothesley, and Zhongli. Beyond the fact that I just like them as characters (and I'm gay asf lol) they're the most interesting yanderes to me, in part because of how much power they have in their societies.

Alhaitham is really interesting to me because there's this personal conflict between his values and beliefs and the idea of falling in an obsessive love. Alhaitham is inherently self-centered, not narcissistically so, but to the point where he prioritizes and values his time alone. In doing so though, he's also extremely lonely. I think a lot on how Alhaitham would react to someone who's able to match his sharpened blade of wit with one of their own, how he might exchange parries and blows with that person and find himself needing to understand the nature of their mind. I also think about how he'd react to someone who struggles with taking care of themself, or overworking: how he'd try to get you to stop doing so much and trying to please everyone. If his lover can keep up with his intelligence, he treats the romance like a game of chess, lining up his pieces to topple over the defenses surrounding your heart. His possession of you is slow and methodical, like vines growing on walls, slowly creeping over every inch. If his lover's wisdom is spent in other areas, then he's quick to snatch them up and take them home. While I think he's quick to get you under his control, it's harder for him to make them fall in love and surrender to his calculating embrace.

Neuvillette brings a really interesting element that I like to think about when I'm writing for him: immortality. He's a dragon who's lived for centuries, and that element of the slow passage of time is really fun to both write and think about. I really like to think of Neuvillette as a really, really soft yandere; he's seen humanity at its worst, and doesn't want you, the beautiful thing you are, to be tainted by all of its ugliness. Besides, he just can't help himself, what with his draconic instincts.

Out of the four, Wriothesley is the character I'd say I have the hardest time writing for because it's harder for me to explain why he feels the way he does. The working justification I have is that being betrayed by his adoptive family and living his whole life in Meropide made him incredibly lonely and developed a lot of abandonment issues that remained unearthed for years, as he didn't really make many close friends in Meropide. Then you come along though, and for once, Wriothesley has something good, something he doesn't want to give up. He's definitely one of the hardest yanderes to escape, what with Meropide being a literal prison. I think he definitely takes extra precautions when it comes to you, though, because he's so scared of losing them. Beneath his gruff exterior, there's a heart of gold, a man who only craves your complete affection and attention.

And then there's Zhongli, who was actually the character who got me into writing Yanderes. The thing about Zhongli is that as a yandere, you're practically powerless, unless you're on a similar or higher level of power/divinity to him. Even if you exceed his power, you're still going to have a very difficult time escaping his control. With how long he's lived and how much he's seen, he knows the only way to guarantee your safety is to isolate you from Teyvat entirely. Zhongli has no qualms about doing this, regardless of how much you might protest. Because when you've lost everything but Zhongli, you'll eventually—and inevitably—crumble into his arms. Only then will Zhongli put you back together, shaping you to be his perfect lover. Zhongli's greatest power as a yandere is his patience.

[wwaheoh]

"The Dangers of Hollow Work", Cunning Hares x gnReader (Platonic), SFW, Angst no Comfort

c/w: contains mentions of blood, death, injury, and body mutation.

a/n: in chapter 2, sorry if it's ooc. fun game, even if it is a bit mindless. i like the animation a lot, can't wait for further updates and for more fics for it!!

To be trapped in a Hollow without a proxy was a death sentence. Depending on one’s aptitude, it would be a quick transformation after half an hour or so, or would be a slow, painful change. Your body would mutate, cells being created at an accelerated rate as the environment forced your body to change into something inhuman. New appendages, body parts being ripped apart as it struggled to keep up. Your psyche only knowing pain, for hours, before finally setting into a new shape, your DNA having been broken and reshaped.

Only pain and destruction filled your mind, mindless, memories of what you once were and those you knew washed away like a sandcastle on the beach.

-

The Cunning Hares were no stranger to traversing the Hollows, oftentimes enlisting the help of the legendary Phaethon. This time their leader, Nicole, had accepted a lower paying commission. One that seemed simple, quick in and out, so they skimped on the premium and gone with a cheaper proxy. Something perfect for you, still easing into working with them. A mistake that would cost them dearly.

It started off normally, following a Bangboo through the formerly human-inhabited city. It was more rudimentary than the premium one Phaethon used, without the syncing and high-tech they had, it couldn’t do the same as theirs could. As they delved deeper, the proxy reported a nearby disturbance, their tech couldn’t identify that it was a monster magnitudes higher than what they were being paid to fight.

They learned the hard way, with only a moment of notice before the monster sprang out, a head split open, revealing a mass of unstable energy. Green splitting their charcoal body. It was monstrous, forearms the size of entire car. It crashed through a wall, as if on a mission to kill them, and only them.

-

“Nicole! The proxy’s trying to tell us something!” Billy the Kid, an sentient AI, spoke out, kneeling as the Bangboo held out text, encrypted in case anyone apart from them got hold of this information. Nicole, the leader of the Cunning Hares, made her way over, a sense of unease as they continued along their mission. “It says…” She read the small text that was displayed on the Bangboo’s eyes.

“Something’s coming!” Anby spoke, rushing with blinding speed from her spot guarding the group to parrying a monster that smashed through the wall. It was a monster too strong for them to handle right now- or at least until they were being paid to.

“Fall back! We’ll do this commision later!” Nicole shouted, swinging her suitcase forward as she shot out a ball of energy, erupting as it began to pull the monster and anything nearby to its epicenter. “It won’t hold it for long, let’s go!”

You, Nicole, Billy, and Anby ran out, picking up the Bangboo and having it direct the group on the go. There were monsters on the way out, having to slow down every once in a while to combat them before making a break for it. “We better get a bonus for this!” Nicole shouted as the telltale screech of the monster echoed through the city.

Finally after seemingly forever, the Cunning Hares had reached the exit, a swirly mess of blue and purple, with a white bubbly outline was their way out of this mess.

“Trial by fire eh!” Billy joked, slowing down to your pace, his long legs easily making him the fastest out of the group. He helped keep you calm, someone who could make the best out of unfortunate circumstances.

“C’mon guys! Only a bit further left.” Nicole directed, someone emotionally sturdy, who had been the first of the group to meet you. Originally you’d been friends outside of this whole Hollows business, until the two of you learned that you’d shared this “hobby” together. She’d invited you to join the Cunning Hares, happy for one friend to meet her other friends.

The portal out got closer as they moved, yet the stomping of the monsters got arrived first. It landed from the air, with Billy saving you from being squashed by the several ton monster. He tossed you to Nicole, having her help right yourself as he unloaded bullets onto the monster. It didn’t do much but helped distract the monster for Anby to rush in.

“Say hello to my little friend.” She spoke in her monotone voice, seemingly to herself, as she unsheathed her blade and rocketed forward, slashing at the monster, sparks flying as electricity flowed through her blade.

Quickly they moved, hurrying to the exit as the monster was riddled with electricity coursing through their body, locking their joints and nerves, immobilizing them.

It seemed to be smooth sailing from there, with the adrenaline that had been coursing through your veins seemingly evaporating in seconds. A mistake, as you were not out of the woodworks just yet. A stray piece of debris on the ground made you trip, with a small yelp as you slipped onto the ground.

The monster recovered from their stun, now more ferocious than ever, they charged. Nicole and the others hadn’t seen you fall, caught up in keeping the monster busy and keeping the Bangboo safe. Once they had reached the portal and turned back to the monster, they’d seen you on the ground.

It was a shock, with Nicole nearly rushing forward to help you before being stopped by Anby. “The monster is too strong for us. It should’ve been incapacitated for 72.3% longer. We need to come back again.” “But we have to save them!” “We will all die if we do. We can come back, with Phaethon to aid us.” Nicole couldn’t bring herself to agree to what Anby was saying, it would basically be agreeing to abandon one of their own, even if for seemingly a short while. But she stopped protesting, letting herself be dragged out. Once she got to the outside world, she made a break for the video store, in search for the legendary Proxy’s help.

-

You lasted for half an hour against the monster. Running and dodging, clashing for a minute before making a break for it when you could. You knew the Cunning Hares would be back, but this was an enemy unlike anything they’d come up against previously, the only monster akin to them would’ve been the Dead End Butcher.

The monster had caught up, pulverizing your ribs with a single hit and leaving you concussed, falling down several floors. Your vision was blurry, the world felt like it was spinning. Pain, unbearable. Unable to move without the chance of nicking an artery or damaging an internal organ. Nothing to say of your spine having been shattered as you hit the ground.

You lay there for half an hour, your screams and cries rang out for thirteen minutes before, your voice failing on you. Before a groaning and inhuman screams replaced what was left.

-

The Cunning Hares had been able to take down the mysterious monster; what would usually call for celebration had to be postponed as they followed Phaethon deeper into the Hollow, searching for the last signal of human life. It had been seventeen minutes since the last ping. Phaethon warned them that what they would find would either be a corpse but the Cunning Hares refused to believe that, not wanting to part with you so early into your career, not when you had become integrated into the group.

Finally reaching the last known location, they found a puddle of blood, drying up, with no body. A monster nearby, with scraps of clothing still hanging on, yours.

They couldn't even leave with a body to bury.

[mactiir]

sword misconceptions part 2: shortsword

Post series: longsword | rapier | buckler | dagger | spear

so as I'm getting back into fantasy lit as a historical fencer, there are a lot of things I am noticing cropping up in swordfights that are inaccurate or flat out wrong. So i wanted to write a post for my fellow writers putting down a few things I've learned in 2.5 years of swinging the actual weapons around!

Disclaimer: i REALLY wanna emphasize this because in my last post someone decided to get cute (and wrong) about this. Historical terms for weapons were NOT STANDARDIZED. There as no "one" longsword/rapier/shortsword etc when we're talking about a weapon that existed for hundreds of years across an entire continent. And "shortsword" especially is not a specific term. As how you use weapons are governed more by their properties than their names, you can generalize many things that may not have historically been called "shortswords" under this term. There are like five or six different weapons which have distinct traditions in HEMA which match the fantasy game description of "shortsword". So I'm talking here about any one-handed, straight-bladed, double-edged sword with a (mostly) simple hilt/crossguard and a blade length typically between 2 and 3 feet. As "shortsword" is a generic and not a specific weapon descriptor, this covers what we in HEMA call arming swords, gladiuses, some messers, and probably a bunch of other types of swords I can't think of right now (the "simple hilt" rule is because I'm putting italian side swords and scotch broadswords in a different category. They feel really really different to wield than an arming sword/messer, and classing them as shortswords feels wrong).

Misconception 1: dual wielding shortswords is safe and effective.

When you dual wield, you really REALLY want different length weapons in each hand -- like a dagger in the offhand. Otherwise they cross over each other, get in each other's way, and generally slow you down and mess you up. We'll dual wield matching weapons for fun sometimes, but it strangely feels very unsafe and most of the time you have to resort to windmilling (getting stabbed in the chest as a result). Is this a skill issue? Maybe partially, but there's another reason to have a shorter weapon in your weaker hand, and it's physics. Maintaining parry structure and speed in a full size blade is really hard to do in your weaker, non dominant hand, so if you're going to hold an offhand weapon, you want it to be something that can't be easily wrenched or beaten aside, and instead something that has more leverage (like a short lil dagger!) so that you can turn aside incoming hits without the sword getting blasted aside. If you have a character that's really, truly ambidextrous they might be able to legitimately dual wield full length weapons, but most of the time this one just looks silly.

Misconception 2: since it's a one handed weapon, you shouldn't use your nondominant hand at all.

One of my favorite things about slashy one handed weapons like messer and arming sword is that your offhand still gets a job, but it has to diversify its job prospects! Most "shortsword" traditions aren't like modern fencing the way saber or rapier are, where you only use your sword arm. In messer, which is a very grappling-focused system, your offhand's job is to grab your opponent's arm, put them in joint locks, seize the opponent's blade after you've locked it in a bind, and otherwise be a nuisance. In arming sword and buckler, the offhand holds a lil shield, whose job then becomes to suppress the opponent's sword by shoving the buckler into a bind, protect your sword hand, parry afterblows, or deny entire target areas to your opponent. Most shortswords are NOT weapons designed to be used without backup from your other hand in some way. Don't just have your character hacking an arming sword around. Have them close distance, grapple hard, yank, push, armlock, trip. Shortswords don't grant the luxury of distance longswords can. You have to be up close and very personal.

Misconception 3: shortswords are faster than bigger weapons.

And in close quarters, they sure as hell ARE faster, because that's where longswordsget jammed up by proximity. But "close quarters", in this case, is "less than five feet apart". I'm talking CLOSE. Correct to: measured by speed of the hand, you can swing a shortsword more times per minute than a longer weapon. But a few things equalize that: their length, so you have to step in to score a hit, making them slower; and their relative lack of mass. This seems counterintuitive, but think of it this way: cutting a longsword around often just involves redirecting its velocity, which is already trying to continue forward due to its mass, in a different direction. Cutting a shorty around often involves restarting the whole cut: it's probably stopped against your opponent's weapon or bounced off, so you have to re-engage your swinging muscles to get it moving again. This is why when you watch sword and buckler or messer fighting, fencers will often avoid binding their blades at all costs and instead repeatedly disengage under or around each other's blades instead -- because in this situation, with good footwork, the sword actually FEELS its proper speed. A two-handed sword is going to be faster and more nimble than a one-handed sword in almost all cases UNTIL you get close enough that the longsword wielder can no longer move their sword properly -- which is well within the longsword's cutting range.

Misconception 4: shortswords are for weaker characters than longswords.

My beef with d&d 5e is that every sword SHOULD be a finesse weapon with a strength prereq to wield. Yes, shortswords ARE lighter than longswords, but only by about a pound. Add that to the fact that you can only use one hand to hold it and the fact that you're probably trying to swing it faster due to being practically in the other guy's teeth, I find short swords actually more physically taxing to wield than longswords. They burn out your dominant shoulder BAD and there's no way to relieve the weight on your arm without dropping your sword and probably taking a point to the chest. Yes, they are easier to pick up. They are harder to fence/fight with for extended lengths than longswords, at least to me.

That's all I can think for now! Hmu with any questions or confusions.

[nautilusopus]

jokes aside gascoigne is honestly one of the best first bosses in like any game ever, it's just that what he's there to teach you differs pretty drastically from nearly every other game, including the previous two soulsbornes before it

he's got a gun and a whackin' stick just like the player, and you immediately see how incredibly effective it is when he just fucking comes after you, and hey maybe you could try that. and how nearly every attack in this game has momentum, so dodging backwards (which was generally the smart option in a lot of situations in ds1 and 2) is an invitation to get your shit pushed in. he's there to force you into the only path to victory, which is to get in his face and go to town.

it's pretty deep in the game but one particular boss, amygdala (one of the first "big" bosses you find), is even there to fuck with players that have gotten used to the "bury your face in its ass" strategy of big bosses where its ass cuts all damage down to like a tenth and will easily instakill you, and the safest option is to actually hang out in front of it and dodge and attack rather than trying to hunker down in a safe spot. (its AI is actually incredibly passive btw in order to facilitate this teaching strategy of "staying in front of a boss for once" and sometimes it'll just sit there and puke multiple turns in a row, but when you're new to a boss that does this kind of thing and you're there in the moment you don't really realise that's what's going on.)

it's put the game in a weird spot where people that wanted it to be a dark souls either complained it was either way too easy ("the game shouldn't reward you for being that aggressive! souls games are about slowly and carefully trading blows and waiting for openings and being patient! healing from attacking just encourages button mashing! there's not even any boulder traps that kill you with no warning or platforming with controls that aren't built for platforming anymore! ugh game for noobs!") or way too hard ("there's not a SINGLE chance to recover your stamina or heal in this game and your dodges have almost NO i-frames because the animation is too fast and you can't even block anymore and you have zero Poise period no matter what while enemies can have it and everything has WAY too much range so there's nowhere even to dodge in the first place! and your health bar is so small even if you invest in it and everything does so so much damage it's completely unreasonable!") and somehow you still spot this shit in the wild even though it's been almost ten years.

i'm still not over that one liveblog where someone was bitching the gun does almost no damage so CLEARLY no one playtested it, why even have a gun, ugh they removed shields so you can't even parry anymore

[helaenalyst]

⚔️ Sparring Match — A Crisgwayne One-Shot (Part I)

RUSHING to post this before episode 4 comes out and changes everything forever. Sorry for all the typos and mistakes. Still I hope you enjoy! I wondered a lot if Gwayne would be openly into men or still lying to himself, so I chose to go with both. Without further ado please grab a seat and watch him embarrass himself.

Warnings: None I can think of? The slightest bit smutty towards the end. Part II is a lot gayer I hope I can finish it in time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having marched all through the night and then slept for the better part of the morning, Criston Cole's men found themselves now attending to their many chores and duties on the camp. While they cooked, washed clothes, kept watch, packed up their tents, sharpened their swords and trained, their Lord Commander made the rounds among them, walking with his hands behind his back, keeping everything in check. Far were the suffocating walls of the castle and his overwhelming new duties as Hand. Here, he was in his element, and he felt alive.

His slow pace ground to a halt when he came across Ser Gwayne Hightower, idly drinking the last of the liquor he had brought in the company of his merry band of men.

"Ser Gwayne." He called, "You watch from the sidelines while my men work on their training. I'm surprised you haven't been mistaken for a swooning maiden yet."

The comment greatly amused Gwayne's men. Gwayne himself, not so much. Still, not wanting to appear weak, he laughed along with Criston and with them. 

"Oh, but I was!" He jested in return, "One of them asked to carry my favor. I delivered it rather reluctantly. No offense."

Criston responded with a short, contemptous laugh. "Very funny," He said, in a way that made Gwayne immediately fear for what he might have brought upon himself. "Go join the others," Criston instructed Gwayne's men. "As for you..."

As he said this, Criston drew his sword and grabbed Gwayne by the top of his breastplate as the others scrambled away. "Show me what they taught you at the Citadel."

"The enemy might be upon us any moment like you yourself said," Gwayne quickly sputtered, stepping back and straightening himself. "I fight under my own banner, I am not under your command, and I will not exhaust myself with your boreish games."

Gwayne's petulant protesting amused Criston. His anger left him. Gwayne was no threat.

Criston flashed one hungry smile at Gwayne. "You won't deny me one round. I thought you were in my debt?"

Gwayne scoffed. There was no escape.

"Fine." Gwayne said. "I suppose it's only fair."

To his merit, Gwayne drew his own sword in such a flourished way that even Criston was impressed. If nothing else, even in their direst moments the Hightowers carried themselves with irreprochable grace. This was something that Criston had always adored in Alicent, envied in Otto, and now couldn't help but admire in Gwayne.

The thrust that followed was not as fortunate, however, and even less fortunate was the way in which Gwayne stumbled to avoid the ground once Criston expertly parried his sad attempt. Criston did not press his advantage. Instead, he let Gwayne regain his balance, and waited for him to try again. Gwayne grimaced when he saw the triumphant smirk in the other man's face. Criston was enjoying this. They would be here until the night fell.

"That can't possibly be all, can it, Ser Gwayne?" Criston taunted.

Gwayne closed his eyes and tried to muster up all of his strength. He charged at Criston with enough force to push him back a few steps, clashing against him with his shield, nearly falling down himself. Once again Criston didn't hit back. He laughed a good, hearty laugh, seemingly approving of this second attempt.

"Better!" He encouraged him, patting his armor where he was hit. "Again!"

To his surprise, Gwayne laughed too as he wiped off his sweat. Now more relaxed, he made a better attempt. Having discovered that he moved faster than Criston, he didn't use his full force for the charge this time, making sure to keep his balance so he could strike immediately afterwards, moving his shield away to give way to his sword. Now met with a worthier challenge, Criston began to strike back, testing Gwayne. Had this been a real fight, it would have of course lasted mere seconds, and the Hightowers would be down an heir, but Criston was still nonetheless quite impressed.

"Your pride will cost you your life, Gwayne." Criston said. "See how much better you do when you have nothing on your mind but your shield and your blade."

"If you believe I am doing so well," Gwayne replied, half in jest, taking a moment to catch his breath and brush his hair off his face "Then why are you holding back? Where is your famous strength?"

Criston laughed. "Where it ensures that I'll see you return in one piece to Her Grace."

Gwayne tilted his head and grinned, far too eager for a man who thought himself straight.

"Come on. A little taste?"

Criston shook his head at first, but then couldn't help himself. He let his sword arm fall to the side and approached Gwayne, who was so taken aback by the suddenly imposing presence of the man that he didn't even think to attempt a defense. Soon enough, Criston had grabbed Gwayne by his breastplate again, and had shoved him against the ground as easily as if the guy was made of hay. With his hips and with one arm he pinned Gwayne down, and with the other, he held his sword to his neck, staring in a way that made Gwayne doubt if he had been clear enough in agreeing that it was his intention to be returned to his Lady sister in one piece as well. Gwayne's lower lip trembled, and his eyes widened, and Criston worried for a moment that he was going to drop dead right there. But sure enough, Gwayne threw his head back and began to laugh, then let his sword fall to the ground and threw both his hands in the air.

"A good showing, Ser Criston!" He said, his bright and joyous laughter still rumbling through his chest. "I'll admit I brought it upon myself!"

Criston relaxed, and began to laugh as well. He then let himself fall back in mild exhaustion, namely on top of Gwayne. Both men wrote off the exhilaration that they felt when Criston's full weight pressed against Gwayne's loins as a consequence of the adrenaline, and they believed their little fiction strongly enough that neither of them moved when they saw Gwayne's men approach.

"There you are, my friends!" Gwayne loudly proclaimed. "You will not believe it, you were right after all, I had thoroughly misjudged our dornish friend. As it turns out, my Lady sister chose her sworn protector rather well."

Gwayne's men looked at each other, unsure what to say. One pushed a polite smile and nodded. Two others looked away. Gwayne's inclinations had always been a loud secret known to all but to himself.

"You were..." Criston said, standing up and offering a strong arm to Gwayne, "not as bad as I expected, yourself. Do not neglect your training, and you may survive this yet."

He patted Gwayne's shoulder once they were both back on their feet. When they saw the looks they gave each other, Gwayne's men began to disperse. They had seen enough, and much to their dismay, they would see a lot more in the days and weeks to come.

[sareisnot]

Lord Gwyn: The Perfect Anticlimax

"Dark Souls is a hard game"

To anyone who's even a little bit familiar with the franchise, this is an obnoxiously obvious statement. The game has held the title of THE "hard game" for so long, that not only has the statement "X is the Dark Souls of Y" become a cliche, but so has every subsequent mocking subversion of that comparison. To even acknowledge its obviousness, as I did, is territory so well-worn, that I'm at risk of falling through, into the hackneyed void. But it's still worth mentioning. It's a well-earned reputation. Not only is Dark Souls, on a purely technical level, difficult to beat, but its entire identity is based around its difficulty, if the name of the "Prepare to Die" edition is any indication. Its world is a punishing one, seeking to beat the player character down at every single opportunity, until they can't stand to move another step forward, lest they get thwacked by a swinging axe, skewered by a demon, swept off a cliff, or obliterated by a dragon with teeth where its torso should be. It's a game that crushes you down, intending to make very clear just how easy your character can die, and, importantly, just how unimportant your death will be. To these bosses, these titans, these near-gods, you are nothing but an annoyance. Many of these fights feel like climactic struggles against an ancient, near-unbeatable foe, who existed long before you were born, and has a pretty solid chance of existing after you've expired. When you enter the arena of Ornstein and Smough, the music swells, and the two knights flex the skills that they're going to use to kill you over and over again. Many of the game's bosses, try to tap into that sense of scale, of importance, of grandiosity, each of their respective battles feeling like they could easily be the final one.

Then, after a long struggle, you make it to the end.

The game's final boss is Gwyn, a towering figure who's been hinted at throughout the game, through dialogue and item descriptions. Even if you didn't pay much attention to the little pieces of lore that the game hands you, you're able to put together that he's a pretty important guy: the mighty Lord of Cinder. The buildup to his fight hints at an even larger presence than the other bosses. You travel beneath Firelink Shrine, your home base for most of the game, where you find a massive expanse of land, cold and dark, a mysterious coliseum-like structure looming in the distance, which is impossibly large, even so far away. As you get closer, ghosts of old knights appear to attack you. They are easily dispatched, but still a shock. The structure towers over you, emphasizing just how much space is needed to house this mythologically strong figure, and the power that he holds. You enter, and find…….a hollowed old man. He's slightly taller than you, dressed in robes, and wielding a flaming greatsword, but he's nowhere near the scale of other bosses. However, he rushes at you all the same. When you begin the duel, it feels different from the others. There is no dramatic, sweeping music. All you get is a somber piano, like something that would play during a funeral, rather than a climactic duel. It feels like Gwyn's theme is actively pitying him. Granted, it's appropriate for the fight. All Gwyn can do is swing is flaming blade, which you can avoid with ease. There's been some easier bosses, but at least they didn't feel like they WANTED to die. Besides, this isn't the fragile Moonlight Butterfly, or the starting Asylum Demon, this is the final boss! He should be challenging you! Putting all the skills you've learned to the test! He's a fucking King! Why isn't he stronger? Fighting Gwyn after you've fought everyone else feels like walking into the home of an old, dilapidated hoarder, and kicking him while he's down. If you've been practicing your parrying, its like doing the same, except with cleats. He just seems………tired. As pathetically destitute as you were at the start. He might as well just keel over when you walk in the door. You beat him, naturally, and then the game just kinda….ends. If you got the ending I did, you just exit the area, look at all the nice snake friends you just made, and then roll credits. For all the work you've put into getting here, and all the struggles you've had to overcome, it feels like a severe anticlimax, like the game is playing a prank on you.

But if you know anything about the setting of Dark Souls, you'd know that there's really no other way this could end.

"The world of Dark Souls is dying"

This is a phrase that, while not as oft repeated as the above, is also pretty common knowledge at this point. Lodran, the game's setting, is a desolate place, long past its glory years. Once a powerful kingdom, teeming with life and magic, it is now in ruin, every citizen either dead, hollowed, or left to survive amongst the numerous deadly creatures that now roam the land. Everyone who's still around at the start of the game is either destined for misery, or already there (Unless you're Andre. He seems to be doing pretty well, all things considered). Somewhere around the time Lordran has reached the end of its life cycle, is when the player character enters the story, albeit with a rather unenviable role. Your job is to essentially be the world's janitor, cleaning out the world's former main characters, most of whom are insane, and all of whom are well past their useful days (or, if you have the DLC, you get to see Artorias right as he passes this point). Unfortunately, most of them would like to keep being alive, so they're going to make that difficult for you, by turning you into red mist until you stop trying to kill them. Even the grandiose presentation some of them have can't entirely hide the fact that this is a rather sad state of affairs for everyone, especially for those who haven't really done anything wrong (I nearly cried at having to kill Sif, and I will never fight Priscilla). Fortunately, some of these bastards contributed to the world's current bleakness, so killing them provides at least a twinge of catharsis, albeit one that will certainly be gone by the time you move onto the next bastard. The goal of this whole clean-up process, is to prepare the world to either continue with the age of fire with you as the catalyst, hopefully without those brutes who were clogging the power vacuums, or plunge the world into a new age of darkness, now that it has been cleansed of its polluting influences.

The only mean to either of these ends, is to kill Gwyn, the Lord of Cinder, former ruler of Lordran, and one of the primary reasons that this world is such a goddamn mess. To sum up his actions without getting too deep into the lore's intricacies; Gwyn knew that his kingdom was destined to fall, due to the world's oncoming transition from the age of fire into the age of shadow. This transition was represented by the dwindling light of the first flame, the lifeblood of the kingdom. After utterly failing to rekindle it, Gwyn entered a final gambit to prolong the life of his empire, linking himself with the first flame, but burning himself, and many of his knights, away in the process. This left him as a hollow, doomed to languish in his kiln, until another unfortunate soul took his place, linking the flame to further prolong the changeover. In doing this, Gwyn went against the natural laws of his world, which didn't react well to having its transitionary cycle interrupted. The world fell into a sharp decline, becoming a desolate, unhappy place, festering with demons and monsters (many of whom were the result of the last time someone tried to rekindle the first flame), making life hell for anyone unlucky enough to still be around afterwards. Gwyn wanted to prolong the inevitable, prevent the death of his kingdom, and continue its prosperity, so he sacrificed everything. His realm has persisted, but in a state of undeath, having stuck around long past its natural expiration date, just like him. Gwyn's story can be properly summarized as what happens when someone is psychotically obsessed with preserving their power, even when that preservation only serves to make the world a substantially worse place. Gwyn, in his hollow state, is a symbol of Lordran's persistent deterioration.

None of this information is directly handed to the player. Some bits are alluded to through snippets of dialogue and item descriptions, and the opening cutscene depicts one of the major inciting events of the narrative, but for the most part, it's a sprawling, multi-phased story, that is dolled out non-linearly, and piecemeal.

Now, with that context, let's cast a new lens on that fight…

After delving underneath Firelink Shrine for the final time, you come upon a desolate landscape, the Kiln of the First Flame looming in the distance. It's clearly well past its glory days, looking decrepit and sad. It is home of the world's lifeblood, but in name only. Now, it holds the last remnant of an age long past. As you approach, the spirits of old knights come to attack you, but they aren't much of a challenge, being just shadows of their former selves. They're victims, really; their loyalty has bound them to a sorry task, but they're in the way, and they weren't really living much of a life anyway. When you get closer to the kiln, it feels impossibly large, but also cold, and surprisingly dark, for something that's supposed to house an eternal flame. When you can see more details, it becomes clear just how long it's been falling into ruin. It feels abandoned, but you know its not. After all, you're here to end the life of its only resident. You enter, and find…. Lord Gwyn, a king who destroyed himself and cast the world into ruin, just to hold on to a formerly prosperous time. Lord Gwyn, whose refusal to let the fire die is the reason why you had to struggle through this entire journey. Lord Gwyn, whose death will mark the end of a era, no matter what you do afterwards. He charges at you, barely even conscious anymore, having been locked in this tomb for unknowable amounts of time. But he can't really fight you, at least not well. His strength isn't nearly what it used to be, now that he's a hollow, tired and worn-down, just like you were at the start. He's a pitiable figure, and the music knows. That sorrowful piano fades in, almost like something that would play at a funeral. But this isn't a funeral. This is a mercy killing. Spiritually, Gwyn died a long time ago. You're just putting his body to rest. When he's finally dispatched, it feels like an anticlimax. But of course it is. Gwyn is the embodiment of the world you've spent so much time exploring. Lordran has been denied a proper climax for so long, because he extended the story long past where it should have ended. He's been waiting to be killed for ages now. It feels only right that Gwyn be an easy, anticlimactic boss, because how could such a destitute figure be anything else?

"Dark Souls is a hard game for a reason"

The above statement is a simplified summation of why Dark Souls is one of my favorite games that I’ve ever played. It's set in a dying, hostile world, that's been brought to ruin by the violation of its natural laws. Thus, the game is insistent on making the player struggle at every turn, to make them feel just as downtrodden as the world they explore. Lord Gwyn is a example of just how thoroughly holding onto power can corrupt someone, leaving them as a husk, the scraps of their former glory existing only the in the memory of the people who are still forced to cope with the consequences of their selfish actions. Thus, his boss fight is an intentionally easy anticlimax, to emphasize just how far he's fallen, to the point that he can't even put up a good point. It's the themes of his character, perfectly melding with the gameplay. It's a perfect encapsulation of the game's best quality, how the experience of playing the game, reflects the themes and tone of its story. The reasons why the fight with Gwyn is the perfect anticlimax, and why Dark Souls is a near-perfect game, are one and the same.

[three--rings]

So it's time for my "alt-right dudebro gamer" Dragon Age opinions.

(Note: I'm a 45 year old womanesque queer person who mostly plays indie and Japanese games.)

(To further my cred I was super excited to meet and hear Karen and Patrick Weekes talk about this game in development at Havencon a couple years ago...it's a small queer con in Austin.)

Dragon Age is my all-time favorite game series. I adored Inquisition, though DA2 has my favorite characters overall.

My opinions about the gameplay reveal are:

The environments and background graphics and effects look awesome.

The character design still bugs me quite a bit. The faces, ESPECIALLY the female faces look Disney/anime/Overwatchy in structure. The textures looks a lot better in game than in that trailer. I miss my Not Particularly Pretty Female Characters. They have sameface now.

There's something off in the lip syncing. Mouth animations looks weird. I can't define it more than that but I noticed it with multiple characters and it through me out.

Varric's hair annoys me SO MUCH. Someone pointed out he looks like Blackwall and now I CANNOT UNSEE.

The structure of the game/quests/whatever looks fine, this reminds me of all the moments running around Haven at the beginning of Inquisition. Some of my least favorite moments, but yanno.

The combat. I'm very worried about the combat.

I am 45 years old and I have arthritis in my hands from gaming and knitting. I gave up knitting to keep gaming. I cannot play some action games. Like Hades, I tried but simply couldn't continue more than an hour because of the pain. And that's with my hands in good shape these days.

Some action games I can play, but only on easy, and sometimes only if I limit my playtime. This is simply a reality I've had to get used to, but it does kill me sometimes.

Do you know how enjoyable it was to pick up Baldur's Gate 3 and be able to put it on a higher difficulty, to be able to actually struggle through combats and have to use tricks and my brain and try and fail and do it again, all without worrying about my hands? Makes me think I need to replay Origins again.

So I'm concerned. The combat in this game is focused on attack type, dodging, parrying, countering (according to bioware)....all stuff that requires quick and frequent button mashing, which is what I can't do. So I'm looking at a game that I can probably only play on easy and maybe even not then? In my favorite game series.

The question we don't really know is how different it will be from Inquisition, and I find it hard to tell from the footage since we can't see what buttons are being pressed. But I'll say that while I love it, Inquisition was the game that first hurt my hands. It made me aware of the problem and made me have to start limiting my activity.

IDK . I just hate the idea that devs have that turn based games can't do well and are inherently not exciting.

Fucking Solas motherfucking killed Bianca! That was the first time in these reveals I've been 100% reacting as a fan. NOT BIANCA!!!! HE MUST DIE!

Oh I did like the Rook in the gameplay and his face looked good. Again I feel like it's the character design and not the engine that is the problem.

As for the plot, it's interesting that Solas has gone from Main Antagonist to Opening Antagonist and I wonder if he's actually going to transition to an ally later in the game to undo whatever the fuck has gone wrong in this clip.

I do still have some worries about the writing. "She's greatest detective ever and she has a lead on Solas." So do you think that lead is the giant glowing thing in the middle of the city spitting out demons? Did you need a great detective?

And basically nothing I've seen so far has super MOVED me, as someone with serious connections to this world and the characters, other than the fucking Bianca moment. I'm hesitantly curious about some of the new companions. And if the griffon thing had come at a moment other than me going WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS? in the trailer I may have been a lot more excited.

So yeah, call me a hater or whatever. But that trailer reveal CRUSHED me emotionally. I was so depressed the rest of the day Sunday. These are my true reactions to the gameplay footage today. I don't have an agenda, other than I want the game to be good and I want it to do well and my confidence in EA and Bioware is at a very low point.

I've tried to keep a realistic mindset this whole time, but keeping in mind HOW MANY PEOPLE have left Bioware, how few OGs are left, the constant turnover in leads, the game being scrapped and redone like twice from scratch. And the game industry as a whole at this time, I have to be somewhat skeptical in general.

I'm not a skeptic overall, I was both a Cyperpunk 2077 enjoyer (but not apologist) and a Starfield defender and frankly there was a lot less reason to be skeptical of those games before release. So am I going to say "well I've been a Bioware fan since KOTOR 1 released, so I'm gonna hype it up and not point out flaws I see?" No. I'm going to be honest.

I'm not a casual Dragon Age enjoyer. I can't react casually to this stuff.

Will I play the game? Almost definitely, but am I going to wait till the release reviews? Probably.

[satureja13]

Poor Ms Coombes. It was one of the hardest decisions in her long life to order oblibious Ji Ho to attack Vlad hidden in that mannequin. But Ji Ho would have never directed his powers purposefully at Vlad. No matter how angry they would have made him. Yes. She also ordered the others to additionally upset Ji Ho so he let out all his feelings and anger... They needed to find out what's about that spell Morgan mentioned. In a safe environment - before the Boys would return to the mundane world. (Ms Coombes is convinced that Ji Ho's grandfather put a spell on him to seduce Vlad. It must have happened two years ago, after Ji Ho left the Slums and lived in the ocean until she found him. Ji Ho's grandfather and the Council just waited until Ji Ho gained his feelings back and sooner or later they would further influence him to steal Vlad's powers and the Prophecy would be averted and the Council remained save. As it seems, Ji Ho's grandfather already managed to influence Ji Ho in the Therapy Game. They might be nowhere safe from him.) Luckily Vlad was prepared and able to parry Ji Ho's attack. Wesley also put a protection spell on the mannequin. The worst damage done is Vlad's broken heart. Was the love he felt for Ji Ho really a lie? They can only be sure after they found a way to remove the spell. But does Vlad really want this? Better under a spell than without Ji Ho.

The others gathered in the Screaming Mandrake for dinner. Ji Ho: "Where is Vlad?" Kiyoshi: "Oh, um... Ms Coombes has something to discuss with him. She has to leave soon and needs to make sure we are covered for the next days until our next lessons." They ate in silence. They love Ji Ho. But now, that they know what he's capable of... Ms Coombes did warn them to not let this incident change their feelings for Ji Ho - and of course it doesn't. Just...

They are more determined than ever to work extra hard to find a way to finally remove that spell. Ji Ho does still not know that Vlad was hidden in the mannequin. He's just so happy to finally feel powerful. Powerful enough to search for his grandfather and fight him. And once he's dead, that spell would die with him.

Ms Coombes joined them, she has to leave soon. She can't speak openly around Ji Ho, so she just told Sai and Jeb to meet Vlad to talk about their schedule for the next days... (Means to look after him in the hospital wing until he feels better ö.ö) And Ji Ho to clean up the Defense against the Dark Arts Classroom. (Because he caused the most mess down there.)

Jack and Kiyoshi care for Vlad in the night shift, so Kiyoshi took Jack to the beach. Vlad is Jack's best friend and he's worried beyond measure. He needs a break. Jack: "Thank you for saving Vlad, Kiyoshi. And for being there for me. I'm having a hard time." Kiyoshi: "Vlad will be fine. Even though Ji Ho hit him harder than expected, Wesley did a great job with that protection spell. He'll be out of the hospital wing by tomorrow, you'll see. And - I'll always be there for you."

Jack: "I'd love to be your mate - always. And... and I grew fond of you. Now that we finally left all the misunderstandings and madness behind us. But is this possible even though you're a diety know? Don't you have to leave again to do your eh... diety stuff?" Kiyoshi laughed: "Even though I've spent 6 decades in that tree, and there are people who think of me as a diety and worship me - to be honest they mostly worship the tree. And it's the tree who heals them. I just kind of nurish it somehow. Anyway, I'm not more special than you are, Super Soldier ^^' And no, I won't leave you again. I've learned my part. Painfully." Jack sighed and looked at the last remaining rash spot on his arm. He also learned his part, painfully: "That almost sounds to good to be true. I'm happy, you know?" Kiyoshi: "I'm happy too."

They sat there for a while and talked about this and that and Jack put his arm around Kiyoshi again to make sure he doesn't tip over, like last time... And Kiyoshi leaned his head on Jack's shoulder - until it was time to take turns with Jeb in the hospital wing to care for Vlad.

Sai spent the time in between with Ji Ho, doing homework and preparing their upcoming meeting where they'd discuss how to remove that spell from Ji Ho. And now it's time to go to bed. Ji Ho: "Where is Jack?" Of course Sai can't tell Ji Ho that Jack spends the night in the hospital wing with Vlad who got hurt by Ji Ho's attack... Sai: "Ah, he sleeps upstairs..." (That's not even a lie, since the hospital wing is upstairs - just upstairs the tops' bedroom...) Ji Ho: "With his Alphas? Aren't you going to drag him out of there?"

Saiwa: "I think we shouldn't worry about this anymore." Ji Ho: "Hm..." As if that were so easy! Ji Ho does not want Vlad to have anyone else than him! As soon as this spell is removed and Vlad - hopefully - still fells something for him, he will hit so hard on Vlad, he forgets Jack and his damn pheromones ever existed! Maybe Vlad will hate Ji Ho because he seduced him? Will Vlad still feel something for him when the spell is gone?

That's the same thing Vlad still worries about. How will it feel when the spell is removed? Will there be any attraction left between them to build a relationship upon? Or will they just be - what? They barely ever talked to each other or spent much time together. So they didn't even have something that could be called friendship. What will this make them after the spell is gone? Acqaintances? Gladly Jack is with him. His presence soothes him. Just a few more days and they'll know more.

Before Vlad fell in a restless sleep, he hears Skully singing from 2 floors below, until Sai told yelled at him to shut up already...

'Every night in my dreams I see you, I feel you That is how I know you go on

Far across the distance And spaces between us You have come to show you go on

Near, far, wherever you are I believe that the heart does go on Once more, you open the door And you're here in my heart And my heart will go on and on'

Celine Dion - My Heart will go on

TMI: I've never seen that movie! ö.ö No way I'm gonna waste my time when I already know beforehand there's no happy end...

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