#I’m getting all this dlc so help me god

[heyheydidjaknow]

hey girlie, are you still writing or recharging your queen battery

I am actually working on a non fanfiction related project because writer’s block in which I break down the plot of an otome game. Today I spent more time than I’d like to admit asking a character if he’d mind if I called him masterr so he’d throw currency at me like a very boring stripper. I haven’t slept in a week.

[ikissjude]

one round? 🎮 lhs

in which you and gamer!heeseung name aspects of your relationship | tiktok series

gamer bf!heeseung x fem!reader, warnings: cursing, dialogue heavy, suggestive at the end, fluff, crack-ish (idk i think i’m funny), kinda short, wc: 452

“now stand right here and act like you’re walking to your desk,” you directed your boyfriend, heeseung, for the tiktok that you wanted to make.

to start gaining traction on your couple’s page, you decided to participate in a trend that details your lives as a gamer couple. it only made sense considering the page would be the two of you streaming together and uploading highlights.

“now when i say go, start walking, and say whatever comes to mind,” heeseung couldn’t help the smile on his face, seeing how serious you were about directing your little video.

“alright, and go.”

“we’re a gamer couple; of course we obviously met on league.” heeseung walked to his set-up, pretending to open up the game.

“oh baby, you’re a natural! actors around the world should be scared,” you beamed. heeseung chuckled at your compliment. “alright, now for my turn, i’m gonna do the same thing, but we’re gonna cut to us both playing a round. sound good?”

“of course, miss boss lady. tell me what to do.”

after setting up the tripod, you got into position.

“we’re a gamer couple; of course we get super competitive with each other.”

the two of you then played a round against each other, with you winning, of course. you figured you got a good clip with the two of you shittalking each other. it was like that the entire time, the two of you taking turns back and forth with you directing. heeseung found you the cutest, getting so into this 15-second clip.

“we’re a gamer couple; of course our set-ups are side by side.” heeseung’s idea naturally, he wanted to keep you by his side at all times, even when he gamed.

“we’re a gamer couple; of course i spend all of his money on games and dlcs.” you said with a smirk on your face.

“hey!” heeseung giggled. “you can’t say that, the guys are gonna call me a simp.”

“you are a simp, hee. and weak-willed."  you laughed.

“alright then, i have something for your ass.” heeseung walked over to his chair and sat with his legs spread wide. tilting your head, you decided to just go with it.

“we’re a gamer couple; of course she asks to sit on my dick while i game.”

“oh my god, heeseung!” you screamed, face heating up in embarrassment. “you really can’t say that.”

“why not?” he laughed before reaching out to grab your hands. he slowly pulled you into his lap, your legs connected to his hips. he knew just how to fluster you. you kept your head down to avoid further embarrassment, but he lifted your chin to meet his gaze.

“it’s true, is it not?”

© ikissjude 2024

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

The Witness and Why It (and its demise) Means Everything to Me (A POC Perspective)

Hey everyone!! The Final Shape has ruined me and has brought me to levels of not only grief, but hope, that I did not think possible, so I decided to give my thoughts on the different aspects of it that moved me to a place where I can be at peace with many things in my life and look forward to paving a better future!!! I think I’ll be making many posts pertaining to the Final Shape as a way to help me express my thoughts on how important this DLC was to me, but we will see!

Please note that these are just my loose, not fully structured thoughts and I’m yapping. My opinions are subject to change and I’d love to hear the input of others! We will be talking about subjects such as slavery, religion, black experiences, and personal experiences of mine!!! It’s very long too, so I’m sorry about that and any writing errors!!

Though I do not believe what I speak of was fully Bungie’s intentions when making the character, the implications and views you can take on the Witness do relate to what I will discuss.

I wanted to start off my return to tumblr with one of the many, many reasons why I have such a deep attachment to the Witness (Precursors and Dissenters will get a different post bc they mean the world to me too!!) , because truly, this entity owns my whole life. I think of it all the time, it lingers in my thoughts, my art, my writing, all of it. It has been so deeply intertwined with my enjoyment of Destiny since it appeared and has offered so much to my perception of the world. I do not think I will truly get over it and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t draw it every chance I get. It appears in every single thought of mine, it’s bad you guys.

I love the Witness so deeply because I have never harbored such a personal level of DISGUST for a character before. As much as I joke about it being silly and the love of my life, the very existence of the Witness revolts me to the core and the tragedies it has directly or indirectly caused squeeze my heart empty. This festering rot of an egregore SICKENS me as it is the beliefs that has robbed me and many others of family, culture, and livelihoods given form. My love for the Witness comes from how it instills in me such HATRED, and truly, we were far too kind to it in game.

For context, I am Caribbean American and have a tumultuous relationship with my heritage for many reasons, but it wasn’t until the Witness and its many victims that I felt like the religious imperialism that has affected my heritage was represented in a way that crept into my spirit.

My Caribbean mother always said to me that we are of this world, not in it. That the hearts of men are wicked and sin (cruelty) was embedded in existence itself. It is only when we give ourselves to a higher purpose that we will be free in the end from all suffering. To her, this life and everything in it did not truly matter for it was a temporary challenge to overcome in order to earn an eternity of salvation. A perfect paradise was awaiting us all if we just gave into the way and left everything else behind.

These were all convictions she held to her very core as she tried to shed away all other aspects of herself to give into this “truth”, especially her Caribbean culture.

She did not always believe this way, but to her, the island she came from did not truly matter at all. Those “wayward people” she grew up with were not worth anything and would die as nobodies on that nowhere island for their lives were not saved, even if they knew of the “truth”. In her adopted views, those people believed in false gods and practices (such as Vodou and beliefs that belonged to those taken from Africa and indigenous populations), they invited in frivolous wants of the flesh such as lust (with „improper“ attire and certain dances), and committed crimes that proved to her that they could never be anything more than what they already were (though she would be blinded to the fact that these behaviors are a result of hostile environments created by the systems established for slavery and racial subjugation). If she wanted to be fit for “walking the right path”, those people had to be left behind for they were lost causes who could not be saved unless they were delivered by the “respectable” ways of life. She had to discard her black mannerisms, hair, speech, and more to have a place amongst the truly chosen.

Religious imperialism has a long history of being heavily tied to discussions of race and colonialism as those who participated in subjugation believed themselves to be more enlightened than the people they brought devastation to, giving them an entitlement that drove them to force their way of viewing religion onto populations. After all, in their minds, they were doing the greatest good for they were setting the people they subjugated on a path for eternal paradise. There was no cost too high in this finite life for infinite salvation to colonizers and all efforts to convert populations who did not see this truth would be “necessary”. People would die or be forced into servitude in mass to support the ambitions of the “enlightened” ones, whole cultures and populations being scrubbed from the face of this Earth in an attempt to “heal what is sick”, to “break broken bones again to heal them right”. I think of all the generations lost to war, slavery, colonialism, and every other act done to deliver “purpose” onto others, all the people whose names will never be known because others used the breath needed to utter it on preaching of their own virtue, and I am left in ruin.

I think of how my mother speaks of those lost to destitute lives because of the social pillaging of the island as an unfortunate side effect of guiding them to the truth and I look at how her world view has been ruined.

My mother thought she was saving me by keeping me from my culture, my people, my family. I did not get to know the language, the customs, the land, but I did get to know how much my mother thought those were distractions. She spent my whole life trying to cement the truths given to her by the same people who left her island in such as state that she felt like she had to run from it, to ensure I would not grow into a person, but a vessel of the righteous message. After all, to be a person is to be complex, nuanced, and flawed and there was no room for that in the visions given to her. The complexities and human flaws that came with our culture would only distract us from giving our whole lives to freeing ourselves from the curse of existence.

The cruelty the Witness delivers with such gentleness as it razes civilizations, its unwavering belief that it is the objective truth and other perspectives are blind to this truth, the means it will use to get that “justified” end, its gut wrenching to me and all that has been lost throughout human history to ideologies that bear the same qualities. Its zealous, static nature that relies on circular reasoning keeps me up at night and makes me mourn what could have been if the unfamiliar and hard to understand parts of human expression were allowed to flourish instead of being eradicated for diverging from someone’s vision of what makes a life worth living. I see this big eyed vessel, incapable of growth and convinced of its own righteousness and my chest feels like it is going to cave in. I see its disciples and pawns in the faces of too many people I know and recall their stories in moments that remind me how poisonous what the Witness represents is.

The Witness is an evil that has hollowed out lives, homes, land, and futures, especially for those who come from heritages that have persevered against attempts to “rectify” them. I still grieve the empty life my mother lives and the people left to suffer the consequences of daring to create their own meaning. I look at the face of the Witness and think of the “burdens lifted off my mother’s shoulders” by those who thought themselves as witnesses of a truth that could not be contested with interpretations that could not be questioned. She prides herself on being a weapon wielded to correct the sinful hearts of men, but I just wish she prided herself on being a person because those who “delivered” her robbed people of color of personhood entirely.

The Witness is not a person, but the embodiment of these deeply rooted ideologies and concepts that affect so many. It’s horror, both in game and the parallels it has in reality, is far too grand and unfathomable for me to bear its weight on my soul and not agonize. Its very existence is monstrous, despite the understandable intentions that went into its making, and my stomach churns at the mere thought of it.

How many species in the Destiny universe will we never know about because their whole galaxy was used to get closer to the Final Shape? How many star systems were left barren because of the Witness’ ambitions? How many children, spouses, artists, philosophers, siblings, neighbors, and more, people who were something, became nothing because of eons of the Witness‘ justifications? Bile boils just thinking of it.

What the Witness represents has hung over my head my whole life and its perverse touch lingers on the whole Destiny universe, tracing many of the depraved atrocities in the game back to itself. It’s death in the Final Shape, at the hands of those it had turned into victims and left to deal with the repercussions of its influence united together, moved me in ways I do not think I could ever properly articulate. To see beloved characters I had given a decade of my life to come together from different backgrounds with different reasons to defeat such a heinous entity, I felt like I could do my part to bring others together, despite our struggles and differences, to rebuild what had been taken from us.

As a person of color from a group of people many still think are undeserving of life, seeing so many characters I have related to over the years say “I matter because I decided to and you can’t take that away from me” to an entity who thought itself so refined that it got to determine everyone’s worth strengthened my entire being. Existing as a person of color is bold in and of itself, but the defeat of the Witness at the hands of people who wanted to exist so bad they risked everything for it ignited in me a flame to be audacious. My existence and culture as a poc is unsightly and heretical, but TFS encouraged me to take on the prejudices of others by saying “Here, despite generations being molded into a “perfect” image and so many lives lost in the struggle to live personal truths, ergo sum. Ergo sum and there is nothing wrong with that”.

To me, the Witness’ death showed me that the stains left behind by social structures such as religious imperialism and colonialism can be overcome by people banding together to make the future different from the past. When we embrace the subjectivity of existence, we can create spaces for different views on life to flourish and reconnect with the nuances of this world. We can better the lives of our people, no matter who they are, not by abandoning all cultural practices and ways of life that were deemed meaningless, but by rebuilding our societies to allow for fulfilling lives and self efficacy for all.

My people no longer have to let imperial powers decide our fate for us or decide that we can be nothing other than the „nature of our race“ that they believe is inferior. Instead of looking up at others who asserted themselves as more enlightened for salvation, we can look at each other and realize there is no one truth to life, especially one worth all the devastation and cruelty placed against those who lived differently. The intricacies of life often lead people to belief systems that allow for comfort and understanding, alleviating the anxiety of possibly living an improper life that will forfeit a desirable afterlife. It is up to individuals to decide what makes their life fulfilling and what beliefs will guide their actions, for no one can make your fate but you.

My mother still likes to wear the patterns of the island and keeps paintings of island scenery in her room. She talks on the phone in patois when she doesn’t feel the pressure to be “proper”. She misses her mother because she used to make dishes from home. To relate it to Destiny, she still has the coordinates to her Lubrae in her pyramid despite convincing herself abandoning it all was for the best and there was nothing there worth keeping. I once thought reconnecting with our heritage alongside her would be a frivolous endeavor, but I hope that with time and understanding, the Witness may not have power over her anymore and she won’t look back on her disassociation with relief. Time and understanding will make our island grow and flourish, free to decide what it wants to be, not held back by preconceived notions of the worth of its existence.

Despite all the Witnesses in the world, I will persist on and try to acquaint myself with my culture without shame. The Witness is everything to me because I hope one day it desecrates nothing ever again. I hope the Witness becomes nothing at all and the cultures it has corrupted make themselves something audacious.

Thank you guys so much for reading!! I hope you guys don’t mind the vague language, I chose to spare some details for my own sake and to make the message more applicable!! I’d love to hear the takes of other people about this bc I love hearing people’s perspectives!! And always remember, no one makes your fate but you!!! Go be audacious!!!!

[hateno]

time for ME to throw in my two cents on miquella

spoilers under cut

i’m not a lore keeper/theorist so if there’s details i get wrong or forget, 🤷

i think godhood was miquella’s last ditch effort. he was disillusioned by and abandoned the golden order because he saw the shortcomings and flaws of it. i doubt being in charge of his own order was appealing. but he had tried literally everything else he could! fundamentalism didn’t help cure him or his sister, so he moved on to trying to break the curses himself. unalloyed gold didn’t work. growing the haligtree didn’t work. the eclipse for godwyn didn’t work. every plan he made, every attempt at taking the reigns of fate, failed. the idea of godhood and the absolute control that comes with it would start to look tempting in the face of so much letdown. maybe the evils it took to get to it would be worth it, in the end, if it saved those he loved.

so he uses his power of affection on mohg. he makes his vow with radahn. he leaves his sister behind. he’s started down this path and now he has to reach the end of it, no matter the cost and no matter if it goes against everything he once believed and stood for. he has to do this.

and along the way he continues to use and manipulate and both figuratively and literally lose himself bit by bit. he gets rid of his love and compassion even! of course the miquella we see at the end of the DLC is selfish and only wants his “gentler world”- it’s all that he has left.

basically the point i want to get across is the way miquella is painted in base game (genuinely kind and loving, a beacon of hope to the down trodden, and overall good) and the way miquella is in the DLC aren’t at odds with each other- it is the result of the pursuit of godhood. to become one you literally have to abandon everything that you are for it. miquella WAS good, and kind, and loved, but he was irreparably changed when he decided to become a god. and i think that’s great. i think that’s so fromsoft.

i still don’t get why radahn is his consort

[epicfroggz]

While i agree with you that it's very likely the abyssal serpent isn't an outer god and more of an eldrich parasite, you don't see other outer gods being obsessed with consuming and destroying the demigods they cursed. Most of them feel they're just forces of nature like the rot & the frenzied flame etc.. while the Abyssal serpent show some "wickedbess" and hatred towards Messmer it will do anything to destroy him .so you think that they're similar to Radagon/Marika? I think the white blind serpent is messmer while the red one he summoned which has red eyes and multiple eyes on its body is the serpent of the abyss, so they're kinda still different entities? While i think the abyssal serpent being Messmer is confusing but i appreciate your analysis, because it's far more interesting than the serpent being a new outer god.

Hi, thanks for the ask! I will attempt to clear it up!

I do not believe the Abyssal Serpent is attempting to consume or destroy Messmer, at least not intentionally. As is the theme of the DLC, perspective must be considered—the serpent is malevolent, but to who?

(long post under cut!)

The Abyssal Serpent is not stated to be harming Messmer, as far as I can tell. The only potential harm it could be doing is eating away at his kindling, but it is his flame that is the curse: “Messmer despised his own fire. Time and time again he hoped to rid himself of it, but ever did it burn” (Messmer’s Orb). So, it can be said the serpent is eating at the kindling instinctually and/or in an attempt to help snuff it out. Messmer explicitly has tried to get rid of his flame, but has not tried to get rid of the serpent—instead, he accepts it:

“The winged snakes were Messmer's constant companions. They were there when the base serpent was sealed away behind his eye. They were there through his eternity of suffering. They will accompany him yet, in his hideous new form born when he destroyed the grace granted by his mother. They have accepted his fate as much as he.” (Messmer’s Helm)

We’ll get back to the winged serpents in a moment, but note the timeline here: it first states the base serpent was sealed, THEN Messmer went through an eternity of suffering, THEN he removed the seal and was reborn anew. It might be hideous, but it’s his, not something his mother or anyone else has done to him. Thus, the serpent’s malevolence must have been directed at outside forces. Marika does not often directly interfere with something or someone unless it could bring personal harm to her or the Erdtree—such as when she personally slew the Fell God. Yet, she plucked out her own son’s eye and put in place the seal to contain the Abyssal Serpent, despite the consequences this may have for Messmer. The serpent was that much of a threat to her, hence why I believe it is the “traitor to the Erdtree” that was foretold. It was not even the flame part that concerned her, but the serpent’s great powers of Shadow, like I explained in the last posts.

(The whole sealing ordeal has an air of “I’m doing this for your own good” which I’m certain Messmer wholeheartedly believed. Being called an accursed traitor your whole life just for existing must’ve sucked so, yeah, seal away. I’ll go blind for you, Mother; I’ll take the blame for you, Mother; I’ll do anything you ask of me, Mother—and yet, she still didn’t trust him enough to not remove it one day, and left him abandoned in the Land of Shadow. If she had just loved him as he was instead…)

On the subject of the winged serpents—I believe you are confusing them a bit there. The winged serpents are a separate entity from Messmer and the Abyssal Serpent. Messmer himself is a black serpent with red eyes all over its body, while the winged serpents are red with green eyes; Messmer is blind, the winged serpents are not. The winged serpents only appear white in phase 2 because they are shedding, though under the shed texture you can see they are still red.

They are called “wise friends” and “constant companions”, lending to the winged serpents being separate entities from Messmer, and this can also be seen in their design. They don’t grow out of him in a seamless or natural way, instead seeming as though they’re impaled through him, and Messmer and the Abyssal Serpent do not share design traits with the winged serpents like they share traits with each other. The winged serpents are the natural wardens of the Abyssal Serpent, stated to “keep the base serpent at bay and hold its power in check” (Winged Serpent Helm). This says to me they have been performing this task since before the seal, otherwise there would be no need for them. Consider also that for all its malevolence, the Abyssal Serpent did not cause any catastrophes in particular, else we would have heard about it. It was only prophesied to. Between the winged serpents and Messmer’s own compassionate self, the serpent’s lust for destruction was not acted upon (or was channeled to fulfill his mother’s wishes instead). If I may indulge Freud for a moment, Messmer was balanced—the Abyssal Serpent was the instinctual id, the winged serpents the logical superego, and Messmer the mediating ego between them. Something about the winged serpents being specifically “wise” makes me think of that, like they are Messmer’s personal advisors. His equals, and revered as the symbol of his army.

I say all this in efforts to explain that Messmer was whole, and will be whole again. That his serpentine nature was despised was a matter of public opinion, of what was writ in the Golden Order, of what he asked everyone to do—“Direct thy maledictions, thine ire, and thy grief towards me alone” (Messmer’s Set). The serpent within may be a scary and lightless and hideous monster, but he accepts that. He is what he is. When he removes the seal, the only thing that changes is that he has disappointed his mother; he is still just as lucid as he was before. He is still Messmer.

“Embrace thine oblivion, as shall I.”

- Froggo

P.S. I may have downplayed in this post how the Abyssal Serpent is inherently destructive and painful to Messmer, and like, brooding a hundred snakes inside him (more on that later), but what I’m getting at is that this is a natural thing he was born with, while the seal was an unnatural thing that was done to him. The serpent is a disorder that does not wholly define him but is still a part of him, while the seal was an improper cure that only repressed his self. Marika often hides away that which she does not want to deal with—out of sight, out of mind, as they say…

[cosmic-seer]

I saw your terastilized juliana art and it reminded me of a moment in the dlc. When you approach the elevator, your asked if you've gone down it before. Answering 'i dont know' makes Briar say "Oh? Did you already forget what happened last time you were here? Perhaps this is a side effect of prolonged exposure to Area Zero..." Which just, gives so many ideas to ways being down in area zero for too long could mess someone up

God, okay, man-

That was where I was coming from with it, though my interpretation is pretty sure that the response comes from being uncomfy about Briar’s intentions, which, thoughts about Briar aside (and I have a l o t to say), my inspiration from it actually came from seeing the crystallized tree you find in the Underdepths. (Which reminds me a lot of Xerneas which, yknow, the theories about Paldea and Kalos being connected and the crater a result of it have some ground here I would think.)

I did have a mini uh au/worldbuild about it that I’m mentally fleshing out.

Putting stuff under the cut —

Originally it was inspired from the fact that AI Sada and Tulo both terastalize as a failsafe result of the programming and also just from overuse of the time machine harvesting terastal energy.

My idea was that the Paldaen Squad all got ‘terastal scarring’ as a result of this; it affected EVERYONE, but MC (Juliana) gets the worst of it from directly taking the burden of battling AI Sada/Tulo.

For the most part, cos they all left immediately afterward, they were pretty okay from it and it didn’t have too many adverse effects.

So it isn’t until MC agrees to go down to the depths the second time around that the consequences start really taking effect due to the energy being more pure and potent than from the caves above. And the deeper they go the worse it gets and then I haven’t quite yet worked out the rest, but I am thinking extremely heavily about the emotional ramifications regarding the ‘Dons and how it affects everyone else (including Kieran). The image of a Titan Terastal Koraidon trying to defend MC (Juliana) currently lives rent free in my brain. And maybe there’s a way Terapagos can be helpful rather than being misused.

When I work it out, I’ll make a post and draw stuff about it (probably) but yeah.

[hornsent-consort]

Hello there!❤️ I loved your last Varre fanfiction. Because of that, I wanted to tell you about a scenario idea I had for a Tarnished x Varre that has been obsessing me since the DLC came out. You see when Varre dies, he begs Mogh to help him but he gets no answer. It's probably because Mogh was brainwashed by Miquella or because he had been killed by the Tarnished before. In the case that it was because of Miquella's influence, I can't imagine the pain and confusion in which Varre died. Now, let's imagine that we (the Tarnished) find Varre dying after a fight with another tarnished who killed Mogh. We manage to save him, but Varre is mentally broken because his god abandoned him. Varre is always portrayed as a super sassy and mischievous character. I would be really curious to see him in a lost and desperate state. The Tarnished tries to heal his wound and to comfort him by telling him the truth, that Mogh was manipulated by Miquella. Now they can go avenge him together by going to kill him. Now Varre and the Tarnished travel together. The Tarnished has his own ambitions, while Varre's new reason for living is to restore the honor of his fallen lord.

I think it would be a cute fanfiction if the Tarnished has the opportunity to comfort Varre❤️ I would kiff for some fluff with this man

A/N: First of all, Thank you so much for your request! I’ve been really struggling on how to do this, so I’m going to split it into two parts so I can get the easier first part out firsts and you don’t need to wait too long!

Healing Varré 1/2

Warnings: male reader, no use of Y/N, no pronouns for reader, no beta reader (we die like men), major spoilers for base game and DLC, OOC possibly, hurt comfort, mentions of ED and throwing up, possibly many typos and grammar mistakes

🩸Varré is many things, but most importantly, he is a follower. As much as he thinks he’s in control, he truly isn’t. This is all thanks to Miquella of course.

🩸Mohg truly was an amazing leader and did care deeply for his followers, but the charm Miquella had on him forced him to not show this part of himself. He seemed unresponsive to his faithful followers, but truly was not his fault.

🩸Varré, unfortunately, was not aware of Miquella’s charm or his plan to kill Mohg, so when one of the newer members of the mohgwhyn dynasty invaded him, he expected Mohg to save him.

🩸no matter how much he begged and cried, Mohg never answered him. As Varré was on the brink of unconsciousness, he saw a moving figure out of the corner of his eye.

“Mohg…” Varré groaned, raising his hand at the blurry figure in front of him as his vision started to black. “Please… give me..” he took a sharp painful breath, “life.” He felt warm as his eyes were closed and his body was relaxed. If this was death, he wasn’t sure if he truly wanted to live again.

Varré’s eyes tried to open, but the bright limbgrave sun shined on his face. He felt a hand under his head as it lifted him up so he would be staring into his lap. He was finally able to open his eyes, and when he looked up, he was met with a warm and familiar face.

“Oh! My lambkin!” He smiled, finally feeling as if he was able to rest. He sighed as he lowered his head, “I feel so silly,” he chuckled and slumped his head into your shoulder.

🩸you comforted him, and helped him cope with Mohg’s supposed betrayal with warm and hopeful words. He pretty much the same as before, except he would have some bursts of emotion and would need some time alone.

🩸he would not eat or drink anything unless you forced him, and even if he did eat whatever you forced down his gullet, it would end up being rejected later in the day nine times out of ten.

🩸it takes a very long time to get him to accept your help directly, but when you’re able to get through to him, it really helps. You need to put things into perspective for him and show him that his whole life does not revolve around one person.

🩸you know that eventually, he needs to learn if Mohg’s passing. That Varré didn’t do anything to warrant him not being saved, but it was hard. Varré is quite unpredictable, so his reaction could be frightening.

Varré sat against the wall of the abandoned church, just waiting. He wasn’t waiting for anything in particular, but he still waited. It was something he found himself doing quite often when you weren’t near. He heard something, or something, approaching, but he didn’t move. Whatever it was, it wasn’t fast, so he assumed it wasn’t anything dangerous.

“Hey, do you have some time to talk?” You sat down next to Varré and stared at him with your head in your hand. He turned his head towards you and stared you down, “when don’t I have time?” You chuckled and sat up straight, your face quickly becoming serious. “It’s about Mohg, so I don’t want to spring it up on you,” you admitted, trying to read Varré’s expression. “Go ahead.”

🩸you explained the situation of Mohg’s death causing his unresponsiveness to Varré’s past pleas. Varré was very much upset, but he didn’t blow up. He mourned the death of his luminary, but he was glad that there was nothing that he did wrong and was being punished for it.

🩸you’ve gone on a small journey back to the empyrean cocoon just to see if you could find anything of use to help heal Varré’s mental wounds, but when you came back, you found something and didn’t seem ready to rest.

“We need to go”

Part 2 coming soon

[cityofjieun]

★ . . . . jia in 5-star era

highlights !!

they won a moonman!!!

jieunnie was among the members that had a big shocked reaction.

she, beomgyu, and jeongin took a selfie together (ily 01z).

ji also met megan thee stallion at the award show??

she had gone to the bathroom with one of their staff during the show and ran into her in the bathroom

jia is a huge fan and had to take the opportunity to compliment her performance earlier in the night. the two had a cute little convo and exchanged instas and even took a selfie together. long story short, jia is the first person in skz to follow a non-member.

she didn't get to mention the interaction to any of the members because after she returned from the bathroom, they were announced and everything was kind of a blur after

but imagine everyone's surprise when jia is trending the next morning because meg had posted the selfie on her story and stays have noticed that they are also mutuals now

also she’s so blonde now y'all.

really one of her best colors

we got tiktoks with lsf yunjin, p1h keeho, shinee key, and tbz eric.

the pilot fanmeet.

jia x seungmin x hyunjin cafe hopping rachalog.

they hit up like 4 cafes and spent time eating and chatting at all of them.

hyune brought his sketchbook and minnie brought a book while jia was writing notes for one of their dance practices.

side note: these last couple comebacks jia has really taken to helping lino monitor dance practices and stuff of that nature.

she has gained a lot of confidence in herself as a dancer.

anyways, they took some time to just do their little things independently.

it was giving very much study with me video.

a gift for the stays in school for real.

she also got to guest host on inkigayo.

this is the second time she's guest hosted on a music show and she really needs a full-time slot, someone get on that.

jia’s favorite schedule this era by far was kstar next door

she is an avid watcher of the show and was really upset to not go on last time

10/10 era

mv styling !!

photocards !!

concept a vers, concept b vers and digipack vers.

lines !!

hall of fame 0:00 - 0:20 (original: seungmin) ★ i write my name into the stars right now on gaelleorie nal namgyeo nal jungshimeuro doraga sunlight 0:57 - 1:00 (original: han) ★ ibi tteok beoreojige mandeuneun gwanggyeong legendary 1:12 - 1:16 (original: felix) ★ shaking the industry quaking reality making it iconic 2:24 - 2:29 (original: bangchan) ★ hear the people call my name here i’m on the hall of fame

sclass 0:20 - 0:28 (original: hyunjin) ★ byeollan geottuseongi byeonhameopji beonhwahaneun geori 0:57 - 1:00 (original: seungmin) ★ luxurious like i’m an s-class best of the best on first class 2:47 - 2:48 (original: han) ★ nune ttineun tenshyeon 3:11 - 3:13 (original: felix) ★ bichi beonjyeo deouk binnaneun star

item 0:52 - 0:58 (original: han) ★kkeunimeopshi i make it mine, never die 1:05 - 1:08 (original: han) ★aitemppal? igeon naeppal purop jangchak gadeuk cha 1:46 - 1:50 (original: seungmin) ★ got the best of the best nothing much, i confess 2:22 - 2:28 (original: han) ★ i do things that nobody can do god blessed, i’m the one and only

superbowl 0:37 - 0:40 (original: felix) ★ fresh taste, fresh scent fresh shape, fresh everything 2:23 - 2:29 (original: han) ★ i’ll do it again, just the way you want it i’ll do it again for the days to come 2:33 - 2:35 (original: han) ★ yeah we bring the rain

topline 0:43 - 0:48 (original: seungmin) ★ drawing, i’m moulding, i’m rolling my waves yeah i’m counting wins on the grand line 1:01 - 1:03 (original: felix ) ★ cause we dont give a fuck 1:22 - 1:25 (original: felix) ★ BOM DIGI DIGI BOM BOM BOM BOM 2:13 - 2:18 (original: jeongin) ★ gijuneul olligo mollineun moduga brave but they can’t pass me i’m the red line

dlc 0:00 - 0:11 (original: changbin) ★ we’re only going to dance like crazy It’s just that, I like it la la la 0:54 - 0:56 (original: han) ★sunrise 1:26 - 1:29 (original: felix) ★ amudo moreuge 2:50 - 2:18 (original: jeongin) ★ got me feeling like lalalala got me feeling like lalalala

get lit 0:35 - 0:40 (original: jeongin) ★ geocham soreum dotge tto hal georago saenggiji ilgeori sandeomi oh yeah 1:37 - 1:42 (original: bangchan) ★ I don’t wanna do it, I don’t wanna do it geunyang da naeryeonoko manyang michin deushi nollae 1:56 - 2:00 (original: seungmin) ★ oneul urin bureujua eokkae pyeogo danyeo dangdanghi saramdeul apeseo chumsawido 2:27 - 2:28 (original: han) ★ let's go

collision 0:31 - 0:36 (original: bangchan) ★ romantic haetteon chueok hwesang sogak haneullo heuteojyeo beorin maeyeon gatta 1:04 - 1:14 (original: hyunjin) ★ uri dul bappi chungdo 1:11 - 2:18 (original: hyunjin) ★ yeah chungdol 2:01 - 2:07 (original: seungmin) ★ shigani jina urin mannaseo buseojideora geu heunjeogi on uju jeonchereul maemdoneun i bam

fnf 0:31 - 0:37 (original: jeongin) ★ nal dulleossan fauna and flora meonjiga dwaedo i really want you back 1:26 - 1:28 (original: leeknow) ★ yeah i’ll never be the same 2:09 - 2:17 (original: bangchan) ★ i’m catching up 2:45 - 2:50 (original: felix) ★ dallyeoga jjochaga bulganeunghaed oh

youtiful 2:13 - 2:18 (original: bangchan) ★ “I don’t know if I’m ready to show myself” you worry day and night 2:13 - 2:18 (original: seungmin) ★ cause when you give me a glance i am sure that i see the universe in your yeyes 2:13 - 2:18 (original: jeongin) ★ then that little star was surely going to become the biggest thing 2:13 - 2:18 (original: hyunjin) ★ you are a miracle, miracle you are youtifull

the sound 0:48 - 0:51 (original: jeongin) ★ ttarawara da ttarawara da 1:27 - 1:30 (original: hyunjin/jeongin) ★ oh nothing better yeah nothing matters 2:12 - 2:17 (original: bangchan) ★ deo keuge nopyeo volume up jogeum deo gwitgaeneun hamseongsoriga meolli peojyeo ganda

time out 1:09 - 1:18 (original: han) ★ so come on let’s go tteona da mirugo eodideun gaja yeogiseo meolliro run to (run to) run to (run to) 2:39 - 2:47 (original: bangchan) ★ so come on pack up piryohan geon teong bin meori sallangineun baram ttaragaja we run to (run to) run to (run to)

©︎ cityofjieun, all rights reserved. pls, do not copy or repost my work.

[hollysoda]

Okay so I know that totk turned one year old a couple of days ago but I was away for the weekend and didn’t get a chance to post something about it. Now I’m home again, I think I wanna just put some thoughts down

Firstly, I still love totk. It was a really fun game and had just as much fun playing through it complete blind as I did playing botw with only a loose knowledge of the game. In fact, I enjoyed it more than botw. Maybe it was because I knew more about Zelda than what I did back in September 2022 when I first played botw, or maybe it was because I could see the improvements they made when it came to dungeons and overall exploration. For at least six months totk was my favourite zelda game. Now, a year on, it isn’t.

I think on reflection totk is a very flawed game. While it is technically genius, story-wise it’s incredibly weak, possibly the weakest in the entire franchise. Here are a few points worth mentioning:

Why bother bringing back Ganondorf if he isn’t going to have any real motive? Is there a reason why he’s fighting with Rauru and seeking his own secret stone, or is he just doing it for funsies? Part of the reason why Wind Waker Ganondorf is so good is because he has a strong and clear motive. Without any motive, totk Ganondorf just feels like an enemy rather than a main antagonist

The main thing that drives forward a story is a theme to take away from it. Breath of the Wild’s theme was exploration and lost memories, Skyward Sword’s theme was loyalty and/or devotion, but it’s hard to tell what totk’s theme is. Sacrifice could be the outstanding one, seeing as both Zelda and Rauru make crucial sacrifices for the sake of Hyrule, but where else is it seen in the story? Totk just tries too many things, and having a clear theme would just help to solidify things

For a game that was supposed to solve the mystery of who the Zonai were it sure did a poor job at doing so. I absolutely adore the Zonai and in my opinion Rauru and Mineru’s designs as some of the coolest in the entire franchise but my god. Their lore is so underdeveloped it hurts. We know the bare minimum about their civilisation and culture. We still don’t know why they died off, why they built the labyrinths (and by extension who the Lord of dragons/owls/boars are), why they have secret stones in the first place, why is the Temple of Time in the sky when it was originally on the ground and most importantly why is draconification a forbidden act. If you’re gonna imply that the three dragons introduced in botw were once people then tell us!! Totk deserved a dlc that could explain all of this and not leave us in the unknown

Saying that the Sheikah technology just “disappeared” is an absolutely awful way of saying “uh yeah we never thought about that”. That’s some god awful world-building and planning on the developers behalf. Even if they just said that after the Calamity it lost its magic and then parts of it were repurposed for new technology, like the Skyview towers, it would be so much more believable. The Divine Beasts should have at least been in the game somewhere, perhaps in the depths. The lack of Sheikah tech makes the game feel so disjointed from botw, and makes totk feel as though it’s only a sequel because it has the same characters in it

The ending of the game just doesn’t sit right with me. Why bother having Mineru beg Zelda not to swallow her secret stone if in the end she would be able to turn back into a human. I understand the developers want a happy ending but at least let there be consequences. Let Zelda’s memory be a bit hazy or give her dragon features like many artists have done and let Link permanently be an amputee

Also the Ancient Hero angers me. I’ve got no problems with him not being a hylian because honestly it makes it wayy more interesting knowing that not every hero was hylian, but just explain why. If he’s some sort of Zonai, why doesn’t he look like Rauru and Mineru? Is he some sort of hybrid or a different breed of Zonai? And why does the tapestry depict him as a hylian if he’s not? Seems like an oversight more than anything

I think I should stop there because this post is getting long but uh TL;DR totk could have been a phenomenal game if they spent more time planning out the storyline and fleshing out lore. I get it, the game was originally botw dlc, but after so many delays we at least deserved a better story.

I do still love this game though Tears of the Dragon goes HARD

[wisecrackingeric-2]

Very short and sweet Serennedy Analysis of the Seperate Ways DLC

Obvious spoilers disclaimer but also this is NOT supposed to be a diss at any ships whatsoever!!!!!!!! I love them all!!!!!!! My current hyperfixation is just on Serennedy and I see a lot of potential for it in the DLC!!!!!!!

• Ok first and most obvious. Right at the beginning, the part everyone was screaming about in the trailer, is that Luis’ first thought is to tell Ada that there is One More Thing (tm) he has to do, and that’s to help Leon, and Ada’s IMMEDIATE reaction is to be like “….ok.” I have a feeling in this context that she KNOWS how much Leon means to Luis. She KNOWS that he’s HIS priority, and that’s why she lets him go

• Again more obvious scene, but when Luis sees that the room containing the medicine intended for Leon is on fire he RUNS THROUGH A BURNING FRICKEN BUILDING TO GO RETRIEVE IT. His immediate thought (in my mind at least) is that he doesn’t wanna see Leon die in the same was his Grandfather did metaphorically. He couldn’t save his Grandfather because he was powerless, and now he’s powerless to save the medicine that would save Leon’s life. Hell, he even says “it’s all gone!! That was my last chance to set things right!!!” When Ada questions him on why this was so important to him. It’s because he cares deeply about Leon and wants to set things right. God. I love him SO much.

• Also I’ve mentioned this before, but Luis seems a LOT more relaxed/ jokey with Ada, and if you ask me, I think that’s a sure fire sign that Leon’s been putting on an act to impress Leon. He wants Leon to think he’s cool and self assured so that he’ll like him more, and in a similar vein with Ada, he dies before Leon can see that REAL side of him. JUST when Luis opens up about Umbrella, he’s stabbed in the back. It’s so sad. Sobbing,, crying,,,,

• HOOOOOOO BOY THAT SCENE WHERE HE SAVES ADA???????? I LOVE that we see his hesitancy to run because he can’t decide wether it’s worth running off to Leon or helping Ada whose in more urgent danger and he chooses Ada because he’s a GOOD PERSON WHO CARES ABT HER,,,, BUT THEN WHEN ADA SAYS “go. Besides, you have a promise to keep” SHE K N O W S HE NEEDS TO GET BACK TO LEON. SHE KNOWS HOW MUCH HE CARES ABT HIM RUARGH. AND THAT FACE?????? OH MY GOD????????

• Holy shit his death scene…………. When he’s on the phone with Ada and he goes “oh, and take care of Leon for me will you?” HIS FIRST THOUGHT IS ALWAYS LEON. AND THEN HES LIKE “gotta go, Leon needs my help” AND HE CALLS OUT FOR HIM?????? AND YOU CAN HEAR HIM DYING ITS SO AHSNWHENEJE

• And then ofc we see the death scene from a distance where Leon rushes to his side and holds his hand, and I feel like that only solidifies their affection for one another to me. As my beloved mutual said, ‘Luis got to spend the rest of his life with Leon but Leon never got to spend the rest of his life with Luis’ I can’t. Brb I’m gonna go cry after writing this all.

[crazylittlejester]

ive finally decided. each slugcat that goes with each member of the chain

now i originally panicked thinking "oh fuck theres only 9 and inv would horribly mischaracterize whoever i threw them with because theyre basically just known as the dating sim one what do i do" (for context the dating sim is a feature added once you finish inv's campaign as a joke) but then i remembered the watchers existence so everything is great

oh yeah i threw the chart of them with each slugcat and the color i associate each one with at the bottom, and the slugcats themselves !! :)

Four is Monk because I just think it fits, a silly little guy, so why not?? (i secretly didnt know who would fit him and monk seemed like the best choice)

Hyrule is Survivor because Survivor is the sort of the mascot of Rainworlds AND everyone is based on their design, which is kinda what I see Hyrule as!!

Twilight is Hunter because Hunter's campaign is fairly hard,, atleast for a newgen ☹️ i got killed by like every monster and that reminded me how when i started playing twilight princess i gave up on the top of the castle because the birds kept killing me.

Wild is Gourmand because Gourmand can mix food and it gives him an extra food pip, which sorta relates to how Wild can cook food and its more hearts than the ingredients mixed in it are

Legend is Artificer because both are more closed off due to trauma of losing people they love </3 they could never make me hate you Artificer (shes been one of my favs since last year (i drew ship art of her and hunter to annoy my friend once as a joke even if the two characters NEVER MET and then i became an artificer fan LMAO))

Wind is Rivulet because.. well ive already yapped to you about this but Rivulet and Wind are kinda.. both already water related in their stories but also both care about the people they love!! Rivulet considers the character Looks to the Moon as their mom and their campaign is basically just helping her and Wind saves his sister in Wind Waker :3

Sky is Spearmaster because Spearmaster has a special ability of holding two spears, which i just think is cool and i was like "huh sky was kinda the one who helped forge the master sword (correct me if im wrong LMAO)" but also comes with a downside because.. Spearmaster cannot eat normally. they have to use the spikes they form from their tail to drain the nutrients out of creatures ☹️

Time is Saint for ACTUALLY THE PERFECT REASON???? basically once you reach karma 10 (im not 100% sure what karma even is but its earned through playing the game) you become a god and have the ability to kill everything with one hit (compared to before where you couldnt even pick up a spear) but when you ascend and end the campaign you end up in the same place as before, restarting the cycle.

Warriors is *checks notes.* thats? not a released character yet thats an upcoming DLC- who cares hes The Watcher/Nightcat because they technically arent canon outside of arena yet and haha thats like battling. hyrule warriors is battling mainly. see it matches it matches it fits its fits,,!! (ignore how their picture is their marketable plushie they have no canon illustration outside of arena icon yet)

NOBODY GETS INV.

heh... the yapping.. its over 🔥 i spent like 20 minutes on this. :3

tumblr please dont snack on this i hid a knife in it itll hurt☹️!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THEYRE ALL SO FUNKY LOOKIN THANKS FOR INCLUDING THE IMAGES. IM FUCKIN OBSESSED WITH THEM

i genuinely appreciate the amount of time you put into this dude, i may not really understand all of it but I’m absolutely fucking eating it up

[beesmygod]

old hunters DLC also highlights some themes of colonial violence and exploitation too, imo. what’s been done to the fishing village and kos ties the beast thing up with this idea that like, the impulse to Conquer and Dominate another leads directly to the Curse. It’s not enough to understand the old ones and the blood and all that, they needed to control it, to take it for themselves, and exploit it however they can. And now there’s wolfmans everywhere.

And this is in the core gameplay loop itself, we extract all the vials and blood echos and blood gems that we can in order to become strong enough to conquer more and more powerful prey. When we’re hit, we hit back harder and take back the life that was taken for us. Sure it’s ostensibly to Break the Curse and seek Paleblood and all that, but we know why we’re really doing it. Because it’s sick as hell, and feels awesome to best these monsters. The old hunters knew that too, and it turns them into giant horse creatures unable to do anything besides violence. That thirst for violence and power makes hunters turn into beasts, now only functioning as a cog in a perpetual violence machine. They lose their humanity not through repeated death like in Dark Souls, but through taking life. It turns the characters into monsters, and the players into wiki editors and lore theorists (aka monsters) bc we also can’t let go of the feeling Bloodborne gives us.

Tl;dr: Bloodborne is like if Spec Ops had any subtlety or desire to leave itself up to interpretation (probably helped by the fact that very little of what I’m talking about is likely intentional and I’m just insane)

OKAY im back from my appointment and finished my little treat. anon ("anon" @chicknparm who should get credit for these good thoughts) i could not agree more. i mentioned this in a previous post but finding a strand of commentary about the evils of colonialism made me worried i was becoming dangerously online, but it's a relief to see someone else mention this idea. i think you are absolutely right that one of the overt messages in bloodborne is that spilling blood for your own benefit leads to ruin. its actually kind of shocking how, in spite of the combat being the draw to these games, the message of most fromsoft games is a message of anti-violence. like, how many times do we end up fighting something that, in hindsight, needed to be put out of its misery. oh. shit. thinking about it, our player character is explicitly an outsider. the role of hunter of hunter is filled by outsiders...

also lol you are so right about the wiki based insanity but i think that's the consequences of insight poisoning. literally every once in a while while trying to edit this stupid bloodborne doc i think to myself "oooeergg too many eyes" and take a break for a few days

anyway, turning this back around to the colonialism theme, hear us out ok: watching/reading the sekiro lore videos/posts by shetani of shetani's lair helped introduce a lot of esoteric buddhist and shinto concepts that were totally novel and unknown to be as a baka gaijin. now these ideas are impossible not to see in all of from's other works.

i did a few days of research on "shinshi" (mostly a lot of stuff that turned out to not be relevant, but interesting) after becoming aware of them and found they shared a lot of qualities with the augurs (or "phantasms", invertebrates that act as intermediaries to the great ones) of bloodborne. realizing this, i thought about the great ones not in the context of a christian god, as the MODERN yharnam does, but as kami. kami are numerous, everywhere, hidden, and are thought of as actively controlling or influencing the terrestrial world. the re-translation reveals that the "great pthumeru chalice" had some nuance lost in translation: "祀る - Means to enshrine or worship, but has connotations of doing it to appease spirits so they may reach nirvana or Buddhahood and avoid becoming evil"; this is simply translated to "deify" which is technically correct but the original feels like it's much more pointed about finally revealing to the player that the "gods" as we've been lead to believe them to be are not what they seem.

the healing church, a product of georgian to victorian era western beliefs, razed pthumeru, loran, isz, and the fishing village (and probably yahar'gul too) in the quest to become like their newly discovered gods. the framework by which they related to pthumerian culture was completely wrong and misunderstood the nature of "gods" as all knowing or all powerful and, thus, something aspirational. the reality was more that they are just another type of creature in the world with different limitations than a human. and they're still mortal.

[goji-pilled]

MK-S: (Unmarked talk about the final boss of the Elden Ring DLC ahead, but you already know about him. This warning is more for anyone else reading. Though feel free to PM me if you’d like me to resubmit this ask with any redactions, if you want to respond but don’t want the spoilers mentions, as I just saw you were censoring spoiler information.)

I was randomly thinking one day and decided to give myself a challenge to defend Miquella’s actions. (I don’t agree with them, but that’s what makes it a challenge; trying to think of things in a different way, and see if I can stumble across new ideas/theories in the process.) That’s when I realized something, and I’ll start a new paragraph for dramatic effect and intro. (Please keep in mind this isn’t my “headcanon”, but rather a possible “interpretation” of events.)

I had wondered for the longest time how Miquella’s “eternal youth” could be considered a curse. On its surface, it seems more like a minor inconvenience, especially compared to Rot. But as I was thinking about Miquella’s actions and this notion, a thought struck me: What it’s not just his body that was eternally young, but his mind/maturity? Physically unable to emotionally mature, and being stuck with a child’s outlook of the world. Now THAT could definitely qualify as more of a curse. And makes events take on a tragic new light.

Miquella seems to want to help people, like a kindly child, but he’s not able to truly grasp concepts like the importance of choice and free will. So in his mind, if he wants people to stop fighting and get along, the simplest thing to do is brainwash them and then problem solved, they stopped fighting each other. But he fails to truly grasp that he took something important from them.

Come think of it, maybe that’s what his promise with Rahdan was; if a truly young Miquella, as in only 12 years old and named an Empyrean, a god to be, sought comfort from his older half brother Rahdan, Rahdan may have made an offhand promise or agreement to help calm the distressed child. But since, under this interpretation, Miquella remains immature, then like other children he just operates under the mindset of “a promise is a promise”. So when Rahdan doesn’t follow through on a promise he didn’t really mean, or even thought was taken seriously, Miquella throws a tantrum and sends Malenia after him.

No wonder Malenia describes him as “the most fearsome Empyrean of all”; He has all these powers, he’s a genius as evidenced by the spells he’s created along with the Needle, and he’s too emotionally immature to be responsible with his gifts.

Hope this was entertaining to read. Again, I’m not saying nor suggesting “this is official, how it’s meant to be”, but just thinking about a different interpretation of the circumstances, and how those interpretations result in new stories and motivations. Good day to you!

See when it comes to Miquella I have many thoughts, especially with the vow he and Radahn made.

While I certainy see and understand the argument that perhaps his eternal youth also refers to his emotional maturity and mental state, I'm not a fan. But that's more a personal thing.

I feel like something that helps a lot with understanding him is the fact that he and Ranni are very clear parallels/foils in terms of their characters.

Unless of course someone doesn't understand Ranni either, in which case we get the takes such as "They're both evil but Ranni gets excused because she's hot" lmfao

They're both Empyreans, possible canidates to succeed Marika and become a god and when you think about it they take quite similiar paths in the end.

Ranni -> Orchestrates the Night of Black Knives in which she uses her step-half brother Godwyn to rid herself of her empyrean flesh -> Radahn and the Radahn festival play a key role -> The Tarnished essentially becomes her Promised Consort -> Age of Stars

Miquella -> Bewitched his half brother Mohg to use him for his plan -> rids himself of his empyrean flesh -> Radahn and the Radahn festival play a key role -> Promised Consort Radahn / Radahn Consort of Miquella -> Age of Compassion (Had he suceeded)

And there's of course the two most important points:

A god who forces his will onto the people, a god who grants the people true free will and their perception of love.

Love is something natural to Miquella. Love and affection are given to him freely by so many, for him love may very well have been taken granted, and why shouldn't he? Like I said everyone loved him, gave it to him freely as if it's the easiest thing in the world. And why shouldn't someone who's kind at heart wish to share this with the world? To unite all beings in a kind, gentler world.

And then he make his gravest mistake: to abandon his kindess and love. To rid himself not just of his flesh, but of the very thing he had promised to use to make the world better.

But he still wants to lead the world into an age of compassion, of love! And if someone rejects his love? Well, he'll just make them accept, makes them love him. It's better for their own good if he is the one who makes this choice for them.

Yet the truth is: What meaning holds "love" and a supposed "Age of Compassion" forced upon you by a god that cannot even love anymore?

But to Ranni? Oh to Ranni love is a precious thing. She's a carian, and boy, carians simply love at their very core. From Rennala, to Rellana, Rykard, Radahn, Ranni herself and even Blaidd: They all love. She loved and trusted her brothers, she loves Blaidd and Iji, sounds guilty when she speaks about how much they're both willing to give her, she chooses the Tarnished as her consort and let's them hold her heart in their palms. She does not give her love out lightly, because it is a precious thing, but she treasures it.

And on top of that she stands for the right to choose, to dictate your own fate without any god or order forcing their will onto you, to not be controlled by these things. That's the order she envisons, led by the moon into the dark night and far away from the world. Even if it means facing uncertainty amd being afraid, from that day on the people will have the chance to truly choose their fates without gods.

And this shows with their chosen consorts too.

Although they made a vow, it is entirely possible Radahn did not actually want to be part of this after the Shattering (unless I'm missing something), which possibly may have led to the Battle of Aeonia and could explain Malenia's line "Miquella awaits thee, O Promised Consort" right before she blooms. Even more so because I vaguely recall hearing something about Jerren and Radahn having made a promise to have Radahn die an honourable death at the Festival.

If that is the case, and the Consort Radahn we face may as well be charmed like Mohg was (it is his body too so like...) it yet again parallels with Ranni.

Because Ranni chooses the Tarnished, we are her only choice, and yet she does not force them. In fact, Ranni does everything in her power to ensure the Tarnished is well aware of everything even before she gives them the key, as shown through the conversations during the hunt for the Shadow in Nokstella. Hell, the ring itself holds a warning!!

Yet even after all of that, she still makes sure to let us know what the Age of Stars entails.

She has made her choice, and she chose us and she has been open and honest so that we can make a choice too.

I have said this before but all things considered, especislly the nature of the ring, the game could've easily locked us in the Age of Stars ending but it doesn't. And it is extremely reflective of Ranni as a character. She will not ever force us to do anything even if it means losing the chance to realize her order, even if it means experiencing heartbreak, well aware of what it can do.

Fate and love are things not to be forced no matter what, they are choices, because Ranni may have rid herself of her flesh, may be ready to betray everything, but she still holds onto her heart, her ideals, her love and the ability to love.

To Miquella love is a means to an end, a weapon if need be, and the right to choose does not matter anymore, because he not just rid himself of his flesh but of his love and ability to love. In the name of achieving godhood he has lost himself, he is but a husk with the empty ambition to fulfill a child's dream.

The worst part? Saint Trina, the part that was his love begs you to kill him, because godhood would be a prison for him.

Miquella is not evil, nor is he good.

Miquella is a tragedy.

[unia102]

Me when I’m big brain.

So inspiration to @crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington for their Ethan work and @granola-slut-quet for bouncing this idea with me!!

So an Ethan and Rebecca team up fan game. Hear me out: Rebecca is sent out to study and collect samples of this new virus going around the markets and in true RE fashion, it goes horribly wrong as the sample she gets, mutates and takes over her only form of transportation, forcing her to flee into the woods of Europe. Basically all of her supplies are lost and all she has is a knife, and a radio that can’t pick up shit. Eventually through the will of god she finds an old hideout black market traders were using, giving light exposition on the new virus and running into a a ‘survivor’. It’s Ethan. He’s of course presumed dead after RE8, only surviving through sheer stubbornness and my word. He’s trying to get back home making up a story of being kidnapped and ‘infected’ after hearing Rebecca researches this.

There’s two big sections: the Rebecca section where she’s hunting down ingredients and tools to try to make a serum for Ethan

And Ethan sections where he’s trying to carve a path home, while trying to single handedly take down every single cell this corner of the world in order to help Rebecca.

Rebecca sections are your classic RE fare, item management, guns, puzzles, and crafting. She has the ability to heal herself more and do puzzles that involve more biomedical processes. Don’t quote me on this. She’d have more of your classic tank controls, while Ethan is his typical 1st person POV gameplay.

Ethan on the other hand deals with more Shadow of Rose DLC where he can use his mold powers to get through obstacles and enemies. The downside is if you use this too much the mold takes over you and it’s a game over. So you have to take it slow and steady still and balance between using a gun that’s weaker but won’t KO you, or a much more powerful mold attack but constant use without any items to reduce how molded you are, will result in a KO. The more you use Ethan’s mold powers the more visibly moldy you get: mold on the edge of the screen, your pants and grunts are replaced with growls and hisses, occasionally you’ll run on all fours. You’ll also look visibly different in cutscenes and Rebecca will react accordingly to this. Such as concern for him being more animalistic than human, and removal of certain scenes

The syringes used to curtail the mold is something that’s used by the black market traders to hinder the molds progress during transport but it never was a solution and that’s why Ethan was in the area, he was looking for some as his mold is almost constantly growing and threatening to take over.

As quoted by granola slut, there are boxes where you can drop supplies, so when you go over the area again as the other character, or in a different area, you can retrieve these supplies and balance out the items you have. This also gives more of a mechanical interaction with the dynamic duo to endear the player to their dynamic. ((I’m very bitter about RE7’s way of handling Mia))

During cutscenes there is their banter and just generally call backs to older games. For example a scene talking about their ‘hard head friend of gold’ is really just them talking about Chris and neither of them knowing. As well as chances to trade collectibles and get your achievement hunter on.

So when the big reveal that Ethan has actually been molded for a while and is lying to Rebecca about everything? Well fuck that break up!! Rebecca doubles down and holds Ethan because that man has been through a lot and he just wants to live a normal life and she respects that. They’re in this together and they care for each other. They are brother and sister and you can’t stop me.

Either way

At the end the big but predictable reveal that Ethan can’t be cured comes up, and they take down the headquarters of the local ring that’s been causing them problems. Rebecca manages to get a rescue but Ethan despite wanting nothing more than to see Rose, also really doesn’t want to be studied like a bug. Rebecca pulls out her girl boss powers and manages to get Chris to stand down and let Ethan live his life. His condition is manageable and he’s no less of an intelligent and lovely being than any other person. So Chris is strong armed into letting Ethan live his life and it’s our first happily ever after with and RE series in a bit because holy hell they need this

:)

[miquella-everywhere]

Hi. This is my first ask here! Sorry for any mistakes; but your latest post about the Wiki got me thinking: we know that even with Miquella’s needle Malenia wasn’t able to eliminate the Goddess of Rot; and maybe the same thing happened to Miquella. He tried to get rid of his outer god’s influence but failed. Maybe Trina is a sort of Outer God of Slumber, because when you sleep time passes differently (?), maybe that’s why he is seen as young. It would be interesting to fight Trina and perhaps free him of its influence once and for all. Miquella is one of the biggest mysteries… anyway this was floating in my head since my first playthrough. I’m scared of the DLC, because I’m on NG+3!! Keep up the good work!

I definitely think that Miquella is attempting to rid himself of whatever Outer God has cursed him, which parallels Ranni's own shedding of her flesh to escape the control of the Two Fingers, but compared to her it's clearly a far more difficult and complicated matter altogether. Maybe the only way he can do that is in the Realm of Shadow... or maybe Miquella breaking his curse is actually a lost cause and instead he's focusing his efforts towards a different goal in the Realm of Shadow? 🤔

Regardless, I am very excited to get some more context behind Miquella's curse and how much deeper it goes than just "eternal childhood" and also how it severely cripples Miquella's true strength(most likely intentionally)

As for Trina I personally doubt that she is straight up an Outer God. Outer Gods/Great Ones in any Fromsoft game are usually vague, unseen beings that are never directly met/seen but still hold tremendous influence despite their enigmatic nature. Now Trina could potentially have come to be because of the meddling of an Outer God or could be working for one 🤔 I read a theory a long time ago that there could be an Outer God associated with the different status ailments, and for now there's not much to go off of in regards to sleep.

I'm psyched that the DLC is gonna expand more upon sleep because it is so under underutilized in the base game, and ngl sleep is really fun to use and super OP if you have the right build for it lol

Also dont be afraid of the DLC! Just go into the Realm of Shadow tenacious, stubborn and moreover flexible! We're getting several new weapon types, items, talismans, spells, buffs, spirit summons, so on and so forth! Take advantage of all that is there to help you succeed and you'll do fine! And if it makes you feel any better, I'm on NG+6 and I know for a fact I'm gonna get my ass kicked more often than not, and I am afraid as well but still so very excited! 😂

[talesfromthebacklog]

Adding to The Backlog: Christmas Sale Pickups.

This is the time of year I pick up the most titles (which I then work on for the rest of the year.). And why not? Everything is on sale! I actually budget for this time of year.

It’s “Tales From The Backlog” not “We buy nothing until I finish the backlog”. The backlog will never be finished.

So let’s go over what I got! Links for everything will provided. As I find people are more likely to engage if the work was already done for them. Me included. This is not necessarily a suggestion list. If you want to see if any of these games are actually any good follow my blog. But I do think it’s interesting to show people what kind of gamer you are, the games you’re attracted to, their difficulty level.

A gamer’s library says a lot about a gamer, in my opinion.

For Playstation 5:

Goodbye Volcano High:

TLDR: I put this one first because if you don’t see any of the other games on my pickup list, I AT LEAST want you to consider this one. This was the only Playstation title I picked up on sale (It is also on Steam). This is pre(historic)-apocalyptic coming of age visual novel with killer animation and music. I’m surprised I don’t see folks talk about this one more. It’s maybe the most stunning looking visual novel to come out this year. (At least at a glance)

Which is a hefty claim considering titles like Jack Jeanne and Virche Evermore: Error Salvation dropped this year. I can’t WAIT to play this one.

For Nintendo Switch:

Roots of Pacha:

I came back around to this one. It looks like Stardew Valley but with cavemen. You don’t see cavemen touched on a lot anymore so it seems different and interesting.

Wylde Flowers:

This is one see that keeps popping up in conversations and videos as a great cozy game. It’s supposed to be really good. I’m honest enough to admit that it being on the Apple app store as well as Switch makes me REALLY skeptical. But I’ve seen enough gameplay where I’m willing to take a chance.

Coromon:

I enjoy Pokemon-like titles. I don’t think we get enough of them. I love Pokemon. And you’ll be seeing my update on how I feel about Scarlet/Violet’s last piece of DLC the Indigo Disc here pretty soon.

However Pokemon is so domineering on the market that a lot of these smaller collector games get unnoticed. This seems to be a very unapologetic Pokemon-clone much like Monster Crown. Which is fine by me.

Nexomon + Nexomon: Extinction bundle:

Another very obvious Pokemon clone. But it’s obviously prettier than its Coromon counterpart. (Kinda wish the names were more unique.) I have nothing new to say here.

Monster Sanctuary:

Pokemon… but it’s a Metroidvania. $3.99. I swear the theme wasn’t intentional they just all popped up on sale at decent prices.

2021 Moon Escape:

This is from the same people who did Traumatarium. I did a review on that one a few months back. It’s on sale for $2.49. And this ISN’T my cheapest pickup for this year. The gameplay reminds me of Zelda or Star Tropics. But I don’t know much about it other than what the trailer already shows us. But also it was $2.49. It’s okay with me if it’s just okay. Not all games have to be 10/10.

Mythic Ocean:

I have a soft spot for ocean games. Even the more spooky ones like Subnautica or Dredge still have this serene element to them. Mythic Ocean is no different. You apparently help a pantheon of gods find themselves. Which in turn those choices shape the world around you. Sounds simple, short, and cute. It looked a bit explorable too? We’ll see. I’m unsure about that part. It’s on sale for $1.99. And this was my cheapest pickup this season.

For Steam:

Sonic Forces: Overclocked (Steam version REQUIRED for this)

I have, in no uncertain terms. Have played this game. I 100%ed it even. I like the game. Played better but I still like it.

HOWEVER. I haven’t played Sonic Forces Overclocked. Which requires the PC version of Sonic Forces!

This is a FAN MADE incredible mod that blows the original game out of the water apparently. This is, perhaps, my most high priority game purchase of the YEAR. And it’s only $10 to buy Forces right now. This is literally a no brainer.

Slay The Princess:

I felt like videos on this one sprung up seemingly overnight on Youtube. I watched someone play the demo and it was an awesome looking game. A horror visual novel about saving a princess is a neat little premise. This one was barely on sale, but I see myself playing this one soon because of the hype. The full voice acting is great.

Magical Diary: Wolf Hall

The original visual novel Magical Diary: Horse Hall was a game a friend showed me back in high school. Pretty innocent and cute. When this dropped in 2020 I was surprised the game got a sequel at all. The thing I remember most about Horse Hall was that there was a route where you could date Professor Snape. That wasn’t his name but… it might as well have been.