#I'm no expert on game lore but yeah

[pianokantzart]

What do you think of Movie! Peach in comparison to Game! Peach?

Honestly? They're quite different from each other, and yet at the same time I really like them both.

I truly have a soft spot for videogame Peach. She is a big soft huggable ball of sugar. She's bright eyed, giggly, girly, and leans in to her girliness hardcore and without shame. She gives cheek kisses, sends cute little hand-written notes, plans parties, and bakes cakes for all her friends! She's tenderhearted, soft spoken, and slow to fight unless it's absolutely necessary. She's a big, pink, frilly, bright-eyed doll of a princess.

Anyone who sees this behavior from the outset might assume that these traits make her childish, and though she is fun-loving, that couldn't be further from the truth! She's a competent and beloved ruler! She runs a tight ship, and will absolutely put her foot down when necessary, and I feel like we need more characters like that– characters who are fun, and silly, and lighthearted, and competent, all while being unashamedly girly.

However, it is important to keep in mind that Game Peach and Movie Peach have different backgrounds. Game Peach has had Mario around to watch her back since almost the very beginning, and... depending on the game/canon... a father figure in Toadsworth to turn to when she needs advice. Movie Peach, up until the very recent arrival of Mario, was the sole guardian of The Mushroom Kingdom, and though she was raised by The Toads she has adopted something of a maternal role toward them despite still being fairly young herself.

Peaches' different relationships with their respective Bowsers also has an impact on their personalities. While Game Peach has to put up with Bowser's kidnappings, outbursts, and shenanigans, he is mostly just a temperamental prick who can't accept "no" for an answer. Meanwhile, Movie Bowser is a raging sociopath who has a long history of being sworn enemies with Princess Peach. Now... much to her confusion and dismay... that hatred has suddenly been turned on its head into terrifying infatuation. Bowser can and will destroy everything she loves if he thinks it'll put him in a position of power over her. I mean, he caught her being friendly with some guy for 5 seconds, and proceeded to try and nuke her entire kingdom over it.

Though Movie Peach is thankfully still feminine and sweet, she's got an edge to her that comes from a heavy weight of responsibility she has had to bear herself. Unlike her game counterpart, she has had no chance to relax and unwind... though that may change now that she's allies with Mario and Luigi. Let the poor girl breathe for a change. TL;DR

Videogame Peach is the extroverted best friend who throws and attends a lot of parties and brings the most delicious home-made muffins to book club, all while somehow being on honor roll and maintaining a perfect sleep schedule.

Movie Peach is the mom friend who is ever vigilant, always notices when something's gone wrong/someone's not feeling well, and is as ridiculously resourceful as she is sympathetic.

[feiofthefae]

wait so what else is up with awoken amethyst besides the reflection thing

oh boy oh boy oh boy do I have an essay for you! it's mostly irl nerd stuff, but!!

Awoken amethyst is nothing like amethyst from Earth! Actual amethyst is almost always purple [but can have blue as a secondary hue], usually has color zoning and belongs to the hexagonal crystal family. Awoken amethyst is blue, has no color zoning, and has a pentagonal structure [which doesn't occur naturally]. Also, a lot of it hums and glows!

It is so unlike actual amethyst that it has been compared to a variety of other gems/minerals, including azurite, fluorite, tanzanite, sodalite/lapis lazuli and agate. So far, the Oracle Engine seems to be the main exception:

"But some of it looks purple. Why is that?" Good question! From what I've seen, it comes down to lighting and backlighting. In the Confluence and Blind Well, Awoken amethyst looks purple in the shadows but is blue when you step back. In The Corrupted strike and seasonal areas like the Coil, it's the opposite - it's purple from afar yet blue up close. The Last Wish raid shows it in purple backlighting at first, before giving way to its true color (blue).

Something something "nothing is as it seems," I suppose.

There is one more exception besides the Oracle Engine, however. And I think it's an interesting one. At the very back of Harbinger's Seclude, by the statue of the first Awoken queen Alis Li, the arches are clearly purple and resemble polished irl amethyst. What does it mean? I have no idea, I'm not a lore expert. But I wouldn't be surprised if it did mean something.

Other than that, I only know the standard lore stuff about Awoken amethyst. It's a symbol of Awoken royalty, it can be created thru Awoken favor, Techeuns use it to enhance their powers, it was once given as diplomatic gifts to Eliksni, so on and so forth. And yes, Mara did wish for the Dreaming City to be built out of amethyst.

Being a rockhound and aspiring mineralogist [and Awoken lore enthusiast], I'm always on the lookout for amethyst-related lore, but this is all I've got at the moment lol. Also I don't know if I actually answered your question but thank you for the Ask!!

Here is a screenshot of my Hunter as a token of my appreciation:

[txttletale]

what are some things you like about fnv?

so much! i like the character writing, i think every companion is well-written and compelling--i like the extremely tight and overarching but (mostly) unforced focus on theme. 'let go, begin again' gets said verbatim maybe a bit too much in dead money but it's also the theme of all the other DLC and every individual companion quest and the most popular of the four main story paths and i think that kind of broad coherence really shines. i love the quest and world design, i love how many different skills will pop up in conversation because it lets you genuinely roleplay, getting the option to e.g. tell dog the cage must be locked from the inside or bypass difficult combat encounters because you have a high lockpicking skill makes you feel like your character is an expert lockpicker in a way that just being able to get optional loot sometimes just doesn't--i love how you will be directed to important or interesting locations from multiple quests, how all these places interconnect.

and i also deeply love how fnv's world is a world of history and people, not of facts and lore. you can kill caesar and kimball and their factions don't just explode without them--and you will hear multiple, contradictory takes from people in the world about how those deaths will impact those factions. if you kill caesar, house says it won't matter at all, boone says he has successors, ulysses and some NCR guys say it'll collapse the legion, and you never really get to know for sure. and so much about the world is like this, stuff you can get endless perspectives on and no single authoritative 'neutral' information. and in that line i love how the world is more than those people! how the world is much more than you., as impactful as the courier can be, the world reacting and moving and changing is prioritized over absolute player freedom to Experience Content--i love that, for instance, if you're vilified by the NCR before House gives you the quest to protect kimball, he just says "they're not going to let you get close to them, we'll just have to let him die" and then you can't do that quest and kimball dies! little shit like that makes new vegas' world feel real instead of warping around wikis and lore bibles and the protagonist.

so yeah i like a lot about fnv! i am a bit more vocal about my criticisms just bc quite frankly i think all of the things i like are things most people like and i see people saying basically all of this every time the game is brought up while i don't see people talk about the stuff i think is weird/bad as much. and i'm naturally inclinced to like, say whatever i think my more original trhoughts are so i'm not just adding to a chorus. but i do love fnv a lot

[knickynoo]

Well, I was sufficiently enabled for the idea, so here it is: ✨Alex P. Keaton's Top Neurodivergent Moments✨

The funny thing is that the amount of time I put into scrolling through my encyclopedic mental inventory of Family Ties scenes, compiling these moments in a list, making gifs, and finding past gifsets/analysis to link back to makes creating this post one of my most neurodivergent moments. Good for me.

These will be organized by season (easier for me than trying to rank on a scale) and are in no way ALL of the moments. I'd need like...15 posts for that. Also, tumblr only allows 30 images/gifs per post, so I'm going to include links to past posts when possible.

ENJOY!

• Alex gets his first-ever failing grade and immediately decides to quit school

Exactly what it says. Alex strolls into college all bright-eyed and confident and ends up a broken shell of a guy just a week or so later. The prototypical Gifted Kid from the moment he learned to speak, Alex cannot handle anything less than perfection. Getting the first F of his life shatters his entire self-image, and he wants to drop out of college entirely.

• Alex's friend Doug announces he's getting married, and Alex spirals into despair. As one does.

The entirety of the "Best Man" episode is one big Alex displaying neurodivergent behaviors moment, honestly. There are a whole lot of Alex-centered plots that are set into motion because A Change happens, and he just cannot deal with it, and this is one of the best examples. Alex is so distraught at the suddenly altered dynamic that he wanders the house like a lost soul—sad and confused and needy. He walks in on Steven's shower just to give him a hug, offers to go shopping with Mal and play dolls with Jen, and also draws up a seven-year contract for his other friends to sign to ensure they stick to their regularly scheduled card games, lest they also run off to get married and destroy his life.

• Alex P. Keaton: child development expert

When faced with the news of another sibling on the way, Alex has some very nurturing advice at the ready for when the baby is crying.

• The Keatons all laugh at a funny story. Alex is not amused.

This is one of my favorite Alex scenes of the series. Uncle Rob shares a memory of the time Steven was young and got in trouble because he started rebelling against the system and refused to write his name in the designated spot on his school test papers. The family shares a hearty laugh. Alex, king of black-and-white thinking and lover of rules, is deeply upset.

I love him so much. He genuinely cannot see how they're enjoying such a story. The Name Spot is for names. And his father dared to write in the Not For Names Spot?? Jail for Steven.

He's so ridiculously autistic.

• Alex's favorite childhood toy

It was a cardboard box. I can't quite put into words why this sets off my ND radar, but it does. Maybe it's the being attached to unusual items thing that's common with autism? The intense fixations that make other people go ????

The Alex and Ba-ba plotline provides some wonderful Alex Lore.

• Mr. Mustache

Yeah, those intense fixations? In the "Fool for Love" episode, Alex grows a mustache and legitimately cannot speak about anything else for the several days that follow. He's asked to present a speech at Mallory's homecoming dance and centers his entire speech around his mustache. He's unable to have a conversation that doesn't involve mustaches. It's incredible.

• Everything in "Matchmaker"

Alex is so sweet in this one. After Mallory comes home crying after a bad date, Alex promises to help her find a great guy. Unfortunately, putting someone who struggles socially and with processing emotions in charge of your love life isn't exactly a great fit. Alex uses the power of science to craft a formula to find Mallory's perfect match (he isn't), then tags along on their date and helps foster a very natural environment (it isn't) for the relationship to flourish (it doesn't).

The episode ends with a great scene between Alex and Mallory that shows just how well Mal understands the inner-workings of her big brother's head.

• Divorce is tough. Alex has some advice.

The Keaton kids are shocked to learn that their Uncle Rob is divorcing their Aunt Maureen. As Jen and Mallory reel from the information, Alex helps to reframe things.

He then pulls out the Special Interest Card and compares the divorce of their aunt and uncle to a "failed merger, not unlike the breakup of the phone company—although obviously less emotional. Nothing more than a natural fluctuation in the marketplace of love and marriage."

And the thing is, he IS impacted by the news. He just hasn't the slightest clue how to actually process it. So, a simple failed merger it is!

• You had one job

Mallory needs some croissants for a fancy get-together she's having with her poetry class. Alex helpfully offers to go pick them up.

Now, I debated about this one because there's part of me that's like, "Hmm, did Alex purposely do this to annoy Mallory?" Is this just a jerk move? But you know what? It stays on the list because the whole "I personally don't like this thing and struggle to see how anyone else could. Therefore, I will get the thing I like" is (for me) a relatable aspect of being ND.

• Every single second of "A, My Name is Alex"

For real, though. This episode is a deep dive into how Alex became the person he is, and it is FILLED with "flashbacks" of an intensely neurodivergent child whose issues were made worse by the people around him. (Mostly teachers and peers. Steven and Elyse did their best with him, but I do also have some critiques of the way they parented him). Anyway, he represses his emotions to the point of a meltdown

And then there's this

Full coin gifset here. Also, I made posts on the full episode, which can be found here and here.

• "Alex has a weird body"

That's Mallory's explanation to Andy as to why Alex can't help her when she needs someone to model one of her latest clothing creations. She says Alex's head is too big for his body, and those words, unfortunately, find their way back to him. In a mini plot reminiscent of the mustache one, Alex proceeds to obsess over the comment.

And I mean, I think being told your head is too big for your body would make anyone insecure, but it's the way Alex handles it. He's unable to have regular conversations for a while because he can't stop fixating on the size of his noggin'.

Both of the "Read it and Weep" episodes fit in this list, to be honest

• An accurate statement by Lauren

I've got to include this because it really does neatly condense a lot of who Alex is

So true, bestie.

And then, to wrap this whole thing up, there's all of this

And this is just what I can fit in this here post without going over the limit lol. Obsessed with the way MJF played Alex.

Thanks for reading ✌️

This is me with Alex, btw

[rekino2114]

More drdt drabbles cause I have so many you have no idea

Thinking about how Veronika trying to explain the fnaf lore to you

"OK so there's this guy is name is William afton"

"Wait why is he purple?"

"it's just way to distinguish him. He's not actually purple"

"Oh ok"

"Unlike his son"

".........what?"

"Yeah so Michael Afton, that's his son, he's actually purple"

"Why?"

"Cause a robot crawled inside his organless body and left him as a rotting corpse"

"..........."

"And then he starts working at the first pizzeria but we'll get to that"

"Wait, he survives? How?"

"Probably remnant but I'm not sure, we're still trying to figure it out"

".....o-ok"

"Actually, you know what, I might need an expert"

She opens youtube and pats the space on the couch next to her

"Come on, darling, we have about 500 game theory videos to watch"

"..................what?"

"Please,It'll be like a movie night"

You sigh and sit next to her as she starts to cuddle you

"And then when we're done we can read the books"

"...........WAIT THERE'S BOOKS?"

[crossdressingdeath]

DAI does that with a lot of things. Morrigan gets to claim to be a Elven expert, even though you know that is far from the truth if you've played Origins where she didn't know shit. Cullen gets final say in his dialogue options despite you knowing that he's lying. Grey Wardens gets shit on and the Inquisitor can wildly overstep.

DAI has this weird mix of a) expecting you to have read all the books/comics so that they don't have to explain anything and b) assuming that you haven't played the previous games so they can try to rewrite what happened.

Yeah, the required reading for DAI was ridiculous. WEaWH is always the big one because most of the others you can get by without it (even Cole's backstory isn't necessary to appreciate and understand the character, and enough of it comes up in-game to get by), but knowing what Celene and Gaspard did is kind of fucking important, Bioware. And then even when Celene purging the alienage comes up it's used as a mark against Briala for being in a relationship with her at the time even though if I'm understanding the excerpts I've seen of TME Briala breaks it off as a direct result of the purge and (as Dorian rightly points out) that'd be more Celene's scandal than Briala's anyway. Like, they try to make Celene purging the alienage into Briala's crime because she was sleeping with the empress at the time and that's just... ugh. But it's like, I would argue that it would be fair and honestly best practice to assume that people playing the third game in a series have played the first two games? DA has an overarching narrative even if the connections aren't particularly close, if someone wants to start partway through they can but the writing should expect people to be familiar with the games' stories. Maybe have some codex entries summarizing the previous games or a little intro cutscene, but... I don't know, I'm worried about the fact that apparently DAV doesn't need you to have played the first three games when literally all the setup for it is in DAI. Expecting people to have played all the games in a narrative-driven RPG series and not to have jumped in partway through is fair! Expecting people to have read five supplementary novels and two coffee table lore books to understand the plot is ridiculous. At least Tevinter Nights and The Missing so far seem to only be relevant to DAV in that they show some glimpses of what's been going on between games and give us a point of reference for some of the new characters...

The thing that gets me with DAI is that the game really wants you to side with the Templars whether it makes sense or not. Like... let's take the choice between mages and Templars as an example. The game wants you to side with the Templars. It really does, it tries its best to dissuade the player from siding with the mages if you go that route (Cullen's little "Oh... it's so dangerous... we shouldn't do it..." routine is notable when compared to Leliana and Josie, both of whom favour the mages, being very professional about you picking the Templars), it does its utmost to claim that the rebellion was unwarranted when it absolutely was not, the rebels are constantly framed as weak or mean or evil or stupid while the Templars were just misled (by... a guy who told them he'd let them murder all the mages and left out the "in service to Corypheus" bit, they still joined his little walkout to murder people, but the game doesn't get into that), it even lets you switch quests well past what should've been the point of no return if you're on the mage route (WHY CAN YOU SWITCH AFTER LEARNING THERE'S A FUCKING MAGISTER IN FERELDEN TRYING TO ENSLAVE A BUNCH OF MAGES, BIOWARE, WHY THE FUCK IS THAT AN OPTION) whereas with the Templars you can't even learn what your advisors' plan for getting you in alive is until you're locked in. And I'm not going to lie, CotJ is legitimately the better quest. I did it once to see and god damn it is quality, I don't dislike IHW but... yeah CotJ is definitely stronger.

But then you actually look at the story and... why the fuck would you side with the Templars? They left the Chantry because the Divine told them not to murder people. That's explicit, people tell you that repeatedly. They're making excuses for it, but there's always an acknowledgement that... yep, that's why the Templars left, they wanted to kill people and were mad about being told no. Leliana (the most familiar face among the advisors and given Cassandra's previous appearance was threatening Varric and Cullen's was playing yes man to Meredith for nine years and only changing sides once she became a threat to him/because not doing so would mean fighting Hawke Leliana's the one people are most likely to want to side with) is pro-mage and dismisses Cullen's claims that the Templars could help close the Breach as speculation. Which... it is. This situation is completely unprecedented, no one knows what's going to happen. But given mages are incredibly powerful and Templars are repeatedly portrayed as mostly useless in any sort of real danger that doesn't involve children or indoctrinated Circle mages (it is not a coincidence that the only people locked in the tower in Broken Circle who survive with their minds and bodies intact without the demons actively choosing to let them live for funsies are mages; the only Templar who's alive and unpossessed is Cullen, and the demons very obviously could've killed him at any time and just chose not to because they were having fun toying with him) I'm gonna say the mages are a safer bet. Also because... they invited Quiz. That could be a trap, but you know what's definitely a trap? Walking into a fortress full of heavily-armed mage killers who openly want you dead. Meeting with the Templars is really, really stupid (especially if you're a mage) and you don't even learn the plan for getting you inside unharmed until you actually select the quest. Also that plan is basically just "if there are witnesses with societal power the Templars can't murder you unprovoked" because reminder: the Templars are the absolute worst. Why would you ever want these people around. And then if you meet with the mages first like "Well I'll figure it out once I've heard what they have to say, I don't have to commit if I do things this way so I might as well" you learn that there's a Tevinter magister serving an evil Tevinter cult just chilling in Redcliffe and why the fuck would you go to the Templars at that point this needs to be dealt with. The game wants you to side with the Templars but it gives you no reason to do so, I really wonder sometimes if the writers weren't talking to each other at all.

[streetkid-named-desire]

HEY! HEY YOU!

Do you write Cyberpunk 2077 fanfic?

Do you like developing your OC lore?

Do you like picking apart and discussing the canon (TTRPG and the game!)?

Do you want a chill place to hang out and share pics of your blorbos? Maybe dabble in a lil modding (no experts lmao we just have a channel for it)

Then come on down to Writers of Night City!

Just send me a DM if you're interested! We do have a bit of a screening process due to the ~drama~ so often prevalent in the fandom and I'm very protective of the space.

This place was created because I wanted more people to bounce ideas off of and was struggling with self doubt and wanted a space where we could all struggle together as writers. And this place has grown! We have writers but we also have a lot of VP and modding posts but the original intent is still the same.

And yeah it's Cyberpunk focused but if you write other shit or write other fanfic for other properties you can share that and I WANT you to share that.

Never feel like you're a bother, too much, not valued. You don't have to make yourself small here. This place is specifically to do the exact opposite. I want you to share the shit you love and get excited about it in whatever way that is. All caps, word vomit, whatever.

I made this place with the understanding and personal experience that it's difficult to understand an existing fandom server's culture and in jokes and what's okay to post and what's not and the feelings of wanting to be included but the anxiety and difficulty around reading text and figuring out how to fit in with an existing friend group.

[awakened-dreamers-blog]

Soulslikes, just like any genre of media, obviously aren't for everyone. However, they often seem to resonate with trans people in particular (or, at least, they did for me), and I've figured out what one of the bigger psychological reasons for that may be.

If I asked a bunch of different people what one word they most associate with the genre, most of them would probably answer something to the tune of "persistence." These are games about throwing yourself at seemingly insurmountable obstacles and failing. A lot. Until, eventually, you succeed. And you will succeed, no matter what, as long as you are willing to put in the time and effort and just don't give up.

Every time you try to get past a boss or a tough group fight in those games, you learn something. You get experience. Even if you don't actively realize it at the time, you are closer to achieving your goal, simply because you tried and failed. But at least you tried. And, when you eventually put all of your accumulated knowledge and skill into beating the fight, what once seemed like an insurmountable obstacle is vanquished, rewarding you with a nice [noun] [verb]ed screen, some levels, and maybe a weapon or something.

So you persisted, even though it seemed insurmountable at first? Isn't that the definition of insanity? Well yes, because you'd have to be insane to actually enjoy those games, but also no.

Because soulslikes bosses are a very practical example that perseverance can work.

Sure, you'll die a bunch. Maybe even spend 4 hours on a single boss like I did when I killed the first Tree Sentinel without doing anything else. But the first few times you die, you'll notice that the boss's health bar is a little hit more empty than it was the first time. After that, you'll probably plateau as you work out the moveset and the dodge timings and all that, but at least you know it's possible. And once you do beat that first boss, that rush of dopamine is even more confirmation for your brain that trying (and failing along the way) does eventually lead to success. So at the next obstacle, you're lore than willing to throw yourself at it and learn and grow until you win because you've already seen that it will work and that it's not fruitless. And, when you come back to that boss on subsequent playthroughs, I bet it'll be a lot easier now that you've already overcome it

Now, to bring this back to trans people, you can probably already see where I'm going with this. If you can't, allow me to explain with the metaphor that led me to this realization in the first place: voice feminization training.

At first, it seems impossible. You'll never sound as cool or as pretty or girly or whatever as the people that have already mastered their girl voice and been using it for years. But those are the speedrunners. The people that have already mastered the game's mechanics and can no-hit bosses faster than you can beat them normally. But you aren't an expert on the game yet. In fact, you've just started, so you shouldn't fee bad about not being as good as they are. If anything, all it should do is serve to prove that your goals are attainable, as long as you put in the effort.

So you try. You're never gonna get it your first try, unless you have a really good build and crazy skill, which, if you do, then good on you, I guess. But for the vast majority of us, you're going to fail at first. That's fine. Resurrect at the nearest bonfire, grab your runes, and keep on saying "heat from fire, fire from heat."

Yes, it's uncomfortable and dysphoric, and yeah, maybe you need to take a break and come back the next day because it's too uncomfortable to have to pay so much attention to the voice you've been avoiding for years. But simply in the act of trying, you've gotten closer to your goal. Literally just by playing with your voice and seeing what happens if you x or y, you have gained experience and knowledge that will get you closer and closer to your goal. It'll probably take a while, of course, but as long as you keep trying, the voice you dream of someday having will eventually end up being the voice you use to order coffee and chit chat and mundane crap like that.

Eventually, you'll be the one no hitting social encounters with your relaxed and flawless girl voice. It'll be so commonplace for you that it won't even seem notable that you didn't slip up at all.

Anyway, all of this to say that trans people like soulslikes because they show us that working towards a goal is the most important step in achieving that goal. They teach us that failure is just a step in the path of learning and that anyone is capable of doing things that seem impossible to them, as long as they try.

Father Gascoigne will never be put to rest if you don't get curb stomped by him a few times, and, I'm sorry to say, you won't ever wake up with the feminine voice of your dreams. You have to work for it. And you'll fail along the way, which is unpleasant and sucks major ass. But you beat everything Miyazaki could throw at you, goddammit, and you can beat your larynx into submission too!

[megoomy]

judith, a witch(?!) in a pact with a malak named ba’ul

more info and reference sheet under the cut!

here she is!! i'm happy with her look, less so with the rendered image of her, but we can't win them all.

like it says on the sheet, i was taking a lot of cues from her in game Draconic Lancer title costume. I wanted to lean into the white more than her default outfit, calling back more to the helmeted look she has before joining the party. but obviously, i didnt want to do anything that looked too much like that, or that had gold accents like her in game jacket and...skirt cape(??), because then she'd come off as kind of abbey coded. so i settled on pink accents, pulling from the colors on the Draconic Lancer look. i think it's fun. it gives her a girlish touch, which is a part of judy's character that i like! she's badass and secretive and mysterious, but she likes cute things too. well. her idea of cute, anyways...i think it suits her persona of being a "witch" in this setting. judy understands how to create an image.

speaking of that. unlike rita, who has a lot of magical knowledge, judy is basically a witch in name only. she understands how to form a pact, and not a lot past that! i think we landed on this for a few reasons:

Judy's father, Hermes, was a blastia expert, and naturally good at the magic of vesperia's universe. but judy was just the opposite, and in the novels she initially couldn't even grasp the talents natural to most krityans. being a witch who doesn't actually do much magic seems apt.

speaking of her dad, this also provides her connection to rita. they're both...witches. rita WILL NOT call judy a witch though, as you might imagine LOL (on that note, maybe hermes takes on the role of grim as the witch teacher?? again, we havent really decided on this LOL)

ba'ul obviously makes most sense as a malak, since the malaks and the entelechaia are both spirit equivalents for these tales entries. (well, entelechaia become spirits--listen, you get what i mean if you've played enough tales games) and judy MUST be with ba'ul! much like she only learns how to use her nageeg after interacting with ba'ul in the novel, i think she has just enough resonance to meet ba'ul, and their connection increases it, and she refines that ability as a "witch" enough to solidify their bond through a pact. they're family!

But yeah she uses a spear to fight. Ba'ul helps her imbue it with seraphic artes to a degree, but mostly its just the spear. I went with a design similar to the Brionac, since that's her Lore Important Weapon, but uh, i haven't designated this lance with lore importance itself. maybe we'll come up with something. looking at it right now i really think i should've colored it differently but IM NOT CHANGING IT, I ALREADY POSTED TO TWITTER!!! (it may change, hell, i decided to make it kind of glow pink in the image, im not fit for weapon designs)

Ba'ul always comes first to Judy, but neither of them is particularly biased against daemons or humans, despite knowing the truth about malevolence. she's quick to befriend yuri and loves repede (who is also a daemon, i gotta put him down on paper soon) and seems understanding of people's different circumstances. but she prioritizes her own goals first, so she'll disappear at the drop of a hat if it suits her, and yuri knows better than to count on her too much...

oh yeah. ba'ul is considered a "dragon" in vesperia, but that comes with a lot of BAGGAGE in this universe, so he's not a dragon here. he, um....he just looks like that. it's fine.

[msviolacea]

So! I finished the game!

Spoiler-free tl;dr - I give it a solid 8/10. I have a few quibbles with choices here and there, but overall it's a super fun game that does a nice job of wrapping up a lot of lore that's been tossed at us for 15 years into a satisfying conclusion. The characters are engaging, the gameplay is fun, and the pacing works well. They were never going to be able to give everyone everything they wanted, but they succeeded in giving me a satisfying game, anyway, so I'm very happy.

Some spoilers under the cut! Not a full in-depth review, just some initial thoughts after finishing.

Some of the good, in no particular order:

Solas was the arrogant, maddening trickster god he needed to be. My Rook wanted to punch him square in the face for most of the game, which is exactly how it should be.

The companions! I want to hold everyone against my chest and never let them go! They're all wonderful! I want to kiss every one of them!

... if I can manage to not romance Lucanis every time. Because I love my disaster abomination fantasy Italian mob assassin husband. A lot.

The story themes resonate this week, of all weeks - the idea of powerful people wrecking the world, and the fantasy that a sufficiently motivated group of queer weirdos can be the ones to stop them.

Teia and Viago. I love them still. I seriously just stood there and listened to them poke at each other for long stretches of time.

I did figure out that they were Sixth-Sense-ing Varric pretty early on. But it was very well done, how they structured his involvement and the reveal.

I am honestly pretty impressed with how they tied the Evanuris with the "old gods" with the Titans. There's some stuff they left by the wayside from earlier games, but that was always going to happen. When it comes to the things I personally care about in the lore, they didn't drop anything I am particularly sad to see go.

Isabela! I didn't expect her to have as big a role in the game as she did, and it was wonderful! She's living her best life, running a gang of fortune hunters and also a fighting ring. She deserves it.

The Necropolis and Treviso were easily the highlights of the zone design. With honorable mention to the Rivain coast, where I would like to vacation please.

I am not the expert on this particular item, for obvious reasons, but I think Taash's gender identity story was well done. It was the character story that made me the most genuinely emotional overall, in a good way. (Mostly. See below.)

I have had Evka and Antoine for ... a little over a week (plus their story in Tevinter Nights, which didn't really resonate with me until I met them in game), and if anything happened to them, et cetera et cetera. They are a DELIGHT and I love them so much.

I loved that Davrin's whole personal quest was an in-game retelling of The Last Flight. Very nicely done.

There's more in my head, but that'll be for later after I've sorted my more in depth feelings. But for now, a few of the not-as good things:

The biggest gripe I have with the story: there was literally zero reason to fridge Taash's mom. It did nothing for the overall theme of their character story, and honestly it would have been a more interesting ending to have them coming to a complex but satisfying understanding with their mom about their identity as both non-binary and Rivaini. It was the one and only moment that made me sit there and make a face at the screen. An opportunity seriously missed.

I'm still mulling over my feelings about Solas's ultimate motivation. I think they left a lot between the lines, and I haven't yet decided if that worked for me or not. There are a lot of things to say about the reveal of the Evanuris as spirits originally, and how much they may or may not still have the single-minded focus as the simpler spirits, and I think that plays into it, but ... I'm just not quite sure yet.

As a dwarf enjoyer, I really wish we'd gotten more about Kal Sharok. Come on, don't just give us the "oh yeah, we became like the darkspawn" casually and then leave it there!

That's what I've got tonight. It's late and my brain is still buzzing a mile a minute. Don't be surprised if you see this reblogged with more thoughts tomorrow!

[hollowphobia-casual]

Arcane Issues, Yes I'm still on this (Spoilers for Arcane S2)

~Spoilers~

I'm going to immediately assume that a majority of people who are reading this have seen Arcane Season 2 Act 3 and I want to start by saying this isn't a critique of the story. In a sense. See, the issue with Arcane is that it's not a stand alone project, it's a story adapted from the League of Legends games and while most adaptation usually can change the source material with no problem, Riot games in all there wisdom decided to make Arcane CANON. Meaning that the events of Arcane are the events in league of legends. Which made sense back in season one, Arcane was popular and for the most part it followed the story beats of the characters as set forth in lore, with a few minor changes, which was fine. However, Season 02 and all it's bullshit is where things started to become a problem. The biggest a major issue being this thing.

The Arcane Anomaly, which at first doesn't seem like a big issue..., until you remember League of Legends is a magic heavy world, the arcane is their magic system and Piltover isn't the ONLY nation state in this world and not all nations follow the rules. For context, these are all the champions in the game of League of Legends.

These are all the champions in League who use SOME form of magic/arcane, or are literally made of magic.

So going by the show that Anomaly and it's effects were caused by the arcane in general, that means anyone of these people could cause the things that happened in Arcane to happen, as it's just a byproduct of magic in of itself according to the lore of the show. But lets say that this was just a freak anomaly, that it was just caused by Hextech alone and not just the Arcane. Well there are characters in League who rely or use Hextech.

And yes, some of them were featured in the show, Vi, Jinx, Cait, Jayce and Viktor, but there are some who didn't appear in the show or didn't acquire their Hextech gear. But after the events of the show, why would anyone keep using Hextech?! After what Viktor nearly did, why would anyone keep using it, how can we have characters using Hextech when any one of them could 'accidentally' create an Arcane anomaly and bring about an end of the world scenario?

Not to mention. Piltover in the lore of the games essentially RUNS on Hextech, there are many Hextech inventors, it was it's unique defining trait that set it's magic system apart from the rest of Runeterra (The name of the world the characters live in.) How after the events could they go on to do that, especially when their two experts on the field, vanished into thin air?! And one of them turned into a evil jesus. And then we have that issue, the disappearance of half the cast. Before, League of Legends looked like this.

And now we have this...

The way league always wrote about it's characters was how they actively now in the present, meaning that the characters you were playing as were currently actively doing things in the moment, however Arcane has already broken that formula. For one, Ambessa is just dead. She's Leagues newest champion and we don't need to get excited about future stories involving her because she is gone, she is fucking deceased. Heimerdinger too maybe? And I know people will say, well he's a yordle, he's immortal he'll come back. Have you not been watching Arcane they way they treat Yordles in this show contradicts everything about Yordles.

For those who don't know, Yordles are essentially the equivlant of Runeterra's fae. They are magical creatures from magical realm called Bandle City and are the most part, MYTHS. Meaning most people in Runeterra haven't seen one. Meanwhile In Runettera we've seen a Yordle sex Gimp, a Yordle protsitute, Yordle citizens and Yordle crime bosses.

Yeah, you remember Smeech? He's a fucking Yordle. So for all we know Yordles are being treated less like fae and more akin to this worlds elves. But, less ignore all that, let's say that despite EVERYTHING, we've seen in the show Yordles are still the immortal fairy people, Heimerdinger could still be alive, right? EXPECT HE GOT BLASTED BY PURE MAGIC IN AN ALTERNATIVE TIMELINE?! There are so many what if questions I dunno where to begin with that one. Like if he is alive, will he come back? Does Bandle city exist outside the time frame? Not to mention how does Heimerdinger a magical fucking being made of magic, not understand how the ARCANE WORKS!??! And let's not get me started on characters like Warwick, who in Arcane looked like this...

When he's suppose to look like this...

Which again, it's fine.., you know, maybe he's going to through some sort of rapid evolutionary change that strips away his humanity and transform him more into the beast we know him as, it's not like they'd do something completely insane like turn him into a magical robot?

...... I could keep going on about this, but this is what fucking pisses me off about Arcane Season 2, not that it's considered canon, all it had to do is tell the story of how we got to the current timeline and events of League of Legends, but instead of giving us clear answers, it went off and did it's own thing, which means we now have to wait for clarification from Riot as to what is going on and what is going to happen. Cause again, this isn't a separate universe, this isn't a separate story. These are the CANONICAL events that happened in Piltover and Zaun. Two city states that defined by their constant rivalry, now 'making peace' with a street thug on the council. This is some game of thrones Season 08 bullshit, expect, we KNOW what is meant to be happening next, we know the stories these characters are suppose to go on to do. But Riot takes a lot of time to make changes to their game and their characters and these are a lot of changes happening all at once. Does this mean Warwick's current lore and model are going to be thrown out for mecha-arcane Warick, we don't know. Is Jayce going to return to Piltover, we don't know. Who'se going to built Blitzcrank, we don't know. Where was Renata Glasc during the events of Arcane and how is her story going to play out now? WE DON'T KNOW. And I doubt it's going to be something we learn soon, as riot recently fired a large portion of their in house artists, so we don't know whats going to be happening going forward. What was meant to be a fun story for long term fans and to get people into the lore of League of Legends, has turned into a mess of retcons and confusion.

On the upside, If anyone was pro Demacia's mage genocide, I guess Arcane told them, you have every reason to be scared of mages, because any one of the could opps the planet.

[thefirstknife]

It's starting to feel like there's an implicit understanding in the community that complaining about the game is one of the main ways to engage with it, and maybe is something newer players pick up as part of the 'haha even diehard destiny players hate destiny' narrative. =\

Im happy to see the playerbase growing, but dang, I wish there'd be a bit less of 'if you love this thing you'll be passionate about criticizing it' among some of the big personalities

Yeah. Destiny always had that whole joke like "The one thing Destiny players hate the most is Destiny." I never understood it. When I mildly disliked Destiny, I stopped playing. Genuinely cannnot fathom playing a game religiously while hating it. Mindboggling. I'm also somewhat salty that a lot of people "criticising the story" and latching onto this whole vibe have never actually been fans of the story or have never really paid attention to it.

Like, it feels somewhat strange to me that suddenly every single content creator, including those that were openly NEVER into the lore and even content creators who literally only play pvp and those that openly play with voicelines and subtitles off, are suddenly great experts on how this story apparently sucks. And of course followed by a million of their fans who have until yesterday only ever cared about meta weapons for Trials, but have overnight become lore masters who understand that the story was "bad."

I know people who ARE into lore and who had issues. I also know that there's a lot of new players who were probably utterly confused, though that's to be expected when you tune into the 9th year of the franchise. I'm totally fine with that and respect people who have a different view of the campaign and how it felt to them. And of course if any new players are super confused and have no idea where to start learning more... I sympathise. Greatly. And I'm happy to help! Obviously a lot of what people are discussing right now is really complicated and draws from super specific lore that might not be easy for a new player to understand right away. It will take some time and that's okay!

But when I see the amount of people blasting the story, I'm left thinking... Really? There were so many lore enjoyers out there all this time? You're telling me that twitter user xxTrialsHunterMain69420xx understands the problems with the narrative and can talk with authority on obscure lore references and how Bungie fucked them up? This is absolutely news to me, as most players have been dissing the story for years and if they weren't dissing, they just weren't engaging with it at all.

Obviously every player has a right to say how they felt playing and how they vibed with the campaign and if they didn't vibe with it, that's fine. They didn't vibe with a lot of campaigns that I would die for, like for example Shadowkeep. But there's a distinct feeling like a lot of these people are just latching onto the hate train for no real justifiable reason of their own. Like, it's popular to shit on the campaign now and people will do it to fit in, even if they personally have never ever had any stakes in what Destiny's story is about.

They've been given not only permission, but encouragement to blast the campaign over something they barely understand and something that a lot of people reacted to out of their basic impulses. And I get it because my basic impulse was negative too. I feel like maybe a huge personality who influences the entire community shouldn't post the first thought that comes to their mind uncritically to social media. Or at least that they should feel like they can change their mind and correct that later. I feel like a lot of them would never do that now because it would mean alienating their audience. "Oh yeah I told you all that this sucks, but actually no it doesn't, just listen." Yeah, not going to happen. Not to mention that outrage brings clicks.

And of course, now the whole discourse has been completely ruined by the outrage so it's incredibly hard to find and filter who actually has decent feedback and who is just riding the hate train. Frustrating and draining.

[wufflesvetinari]

Lash is so wonderful that she is tempting me to choose cleric for my first official campaign! But playing BG3 does kinda make me feel like all the gods are just terrible, and the path of religious trauma feels all but inevitable. Are any of them not so? Is there a way to portray a more positive relationship?

ayyy thanks nonnie!! as established i really love clerics so allow me to pile some peer pressure on top of your decision pile!! go be a cleric!! (if the playstyle appeals to you etc)

it sounds like you're talking about pen-and-paper dnd, yeah? (you might be my earlier anon??) disclaimer that i'm not a 5e lore expert, but one difference ime from the bg3 experience is that bg3 is coming to you as a pre-written narrative with its own themes (such as humanoid choice in the face of manipulation, which extends to gods).

5e lore, on the other hand, is written as a bunch of open-ended hooks you/your dm can choose to engage with or not. also most gods in 5e don't have a ton of complex canon lore about being secretly evil or selfish--it's kind of bluntly "good god" "evil god" "neutral god" etc to leave you room to play and worldbuild. (other than uhhh i guess being complicit in the wall of the faithless 😬 which is dubiously canonical now anyway.) like, a god like eilistraee is going to be very easy to imagine a positive relationship with for a good-aligned cleric if that's what you're looking for. and even a god like mystra who comes off pretty bad in bg3, is like...relatively fine in canon 5e lore. i think of bg3 almost like someone's fleshed-out tabletop game where the dm has made characterization and world decisions to flesh out the lore

plus the gods do have personalities, greek god-style, which means that your cleric might, idk, overarchingly agree with their own god's goals but find bits of their dogma annoying or wrong, or otherwise relate to them with a bit of conflict (for spice!) without necessarily feeling used/betrayed. this lends itself to storytelling where a cleric might find themselves challenged by what they find on the road: the gods aren't perfect, just like, idk, your friend the wizard in your party isn't perfect

(ALSO like. if you're not married to the idea of playing an unambiguously good-aligned cleric, there's nothing stopping you from playing a character who unabashedly loves their awful god lmao. or like, a lawful neutral god like kelemvor--you could create a cleric who is so so into that very specific, harsh-but-fair moral code)

you might find the "deities by alignment" page a good way to find the overall vibe you're looking for! like i said, the lore is built out of hooks for you, so there's plenty of room to create a relationship that feels fun to play. (or, like, a non-relationship! lash has strong feelings about Being A Cleric but ilmater has never manifested for her personally)

[intern-seraph]

REASONS WHY A JEWISH MC MAKES SHALL WE DATE? OBEY ME! 10x FUNNIER (along with some notes on general jewish ideas relating to the game's themes and setting) (note: i am not an expert on judaism. i am a jew. and i looked at a lot of sources trying to piece shit together bc this is an ancient culture characterized by scholarly debate over interpretations of texts so there's very little that everyone agrees on):

judaism does not have a concrete idea of the afterlife. we especially don't have Hell (or at least, not a hell that anyone actually, like, agrees exists? the mentions i have found of something similar to heaven and hell are typically in the context of what will happen upon the resurrection of the dead?? it's really complicated but point being is that nobody fucking agrees and i doubt any jews believe in the Christian Hell. cause we are not diet christians!)

i should be allowed to wrestle with raphael in nightbringer it's culturally significant

the seven deadly sins? yeah that's a firmly christian concept. we have demons (although whether or not these demons are actual creatures or just metaphorical? it's debatable.) but all of this seven sins nonsense is not our style. demons honestly don't really take up a ton of our folklore either (they're mostly interpreted as metaphors). imagine mc at the start of the game getting introduced to the brothers as the Demonic Avatars of Sin and being just like. "wow that's wild. anyways,"

we do not have original sin in judaism. not even a scrap. in fact if you repent and/or try to make amends for your sins you're good. there's a lot of potential there for writing right? please i am BEGGING for some fics that address sin in a way that's not overwhelmingly christian i can't keep doing this shit

bathroom demon

"hey lucifer do you think [bizarre devildom food] is kosher"

solomon is there??? like, king solomon????? i'm pretty sure solomon obey me is supposed to be king solomon judaism?????? he has a pact with asmodeus which is consistent with the lore surrounding him but like what's up with that anyways??? what's with the nightbringer solomon lore drop?????? hELP???????

"oh my rabbi is gonna have a FIELD DAY with this"

[olath124]

Violet, commonly known as V. Slowly the ideas for her are taking form, even if I usually don't like to create much stuff beyond the lore given in the videogames the characters are from (So lazy xD). My rambling may probably sound crazy... I swear, they sound so logical while I'm running but once I have to write everything down it's always a mess.

Anyway, my little street kid V… Yeah, she'll always be my favorite V.

She grew up in the streets of Heywood, with Jackie and Misty (I like for them to be friends from a young age). When he joined the Valentinos they had a huge fight and she decided to leave the city to move to Seattle. She has never liked the idea of being in a gang and would rather work for herself.

She's a jack of all trades, but she's more expert in net running and stealth operations. She doesn't like to engage in danger head on she mostly avoids it and tries her best to go undetected. Growing up as a small girl in Heywood probably had something to do with that...

She cherishes her true friends, Jackie, Misty, and Viktor who have always been there for her and she's a bit wary of other new people that enter her life. The feeling that everything in Night City is transactional makes her extra cautious before opening up with others.

Later on, she'll gravitate more towards Dogtown and Barghest, doing some work for them, but she'll never establish an official affiliation (working also against them if she feels like it). As always she values her independence more than gang protection.

Her image from the editor in the game… because I can do virtual photography as well as I do real photography... So I suck badly at it xD. Ok, that's not completely true, but the only nice image of her is with Sir John…

Oh, the mandala on her neck is Misty's design (Violet can't pick up a pen and do something decent).

[basicallyjaywalker]

For the ask game >:3 ✂️❤️

🎨 I know you have OC’s but I know embarrassingly little for being a mutual this long. Hand them over rook :)

Edit: I forgot to say hi 😭 sorry I saw you mentioned OCs and literally just. mind blank got the zoomies started stimming forgot my manners. Anyways

Hello Oli :DDD

One thing I would change: I mean. I would rewrite a lot of the series but mainly I would wanna give Nya a more prominent and starring role early on. Let her have more Samurai X moments and quit putting her on the sidelines while the boys do things!!

Favorite ship? Canonically Pixane ngl. I love Jaya but Pixane is soulmate coded for me I break Jaya up at the drop of a hat for funsies I feel bad breaking up Pixane.

Do I have OCs? You're goddamn right I do I have wayyyyyy too many. I'm working on character sheets for the main ones now but until those are uploaded have a taste!

Nataly Chumsworth: Master of Love, half Serpentine, menace to society. If the name did not clue you in she's Pythor's daughter and they have. A relationship.

Roxie Andrews: Master of Peace, local stressed out mom friend, former student at Marty Oppenheimer's! Old friend of Cole's and someone i imagine Nya being besties with.

Jasmine Bucket/Julien: Master of Nature (secondary: Ice), engineer at Borg Industries, made before Bolobo I swear. Zane's half sister but neither has any clue about that yet

Jackie Fei: Master of Magic (I have a whole system set up for this), chronically tired and depressed but gets to have a glow-up, chaotic good incarnate. My favoritest little blorbo ngl

Hannah Stone: Master of Music (different from sound and again swear she was pre-S4), punk rock girl, Chen's former... student is not the right term. Embodiment of that one audio: "they got their weapon, I got cheated out of my childhood)

Kyle Stone: not an elemental master but a former member of Chen's cult kinda (born into it), instead of masking his trauma with anger like Hannah he masks it with bubbliness, chronic overprotective disease. He and Hannah aren't blood related but they're also the closest thing to family each other has

Master Twyla: Master of Light, the teacher of these fucking kids, trying her best to keep the memory of the former EMs alive. Bops her on the head this bad girl can fit soooooo much trauma she's trying to overcome in her, goddamn

Ivy Crest: Master of Wind except not fully until S5 (thanks Morro), Morro's bio daughter and Ronin's adopted daughter (bet you can't guess who she prefers), expert in forgery and shit at mechanics. She and Nya form a close bond in S5 and Nya continues to try and teach her mechanical stuff (it does not work)

Luna McCallister/Garmadon: Master of Dreams, long lost Garmadon daughter who?, big fucking nerd. I have no idea when she and Lloyd realize their related but it makes their interactions at the comic store beforehand a lot funnier (for reference: she is about 2 years older than him)

Jonathan Borg: heir to Borg Industries, curious about the supernatural elements of Ninjago, knows about something he probably shouldn't. His place is not fully figured out yet but I feel like he's gonna start wanting to prove more useful after S7 to mixed results, esp bc his sister is way cooler than him

Willow Whispernight: yeah check back later chief I am reworking her ENTIRE lore lmao. Currently also connected with nature in some way and Jasmine's step-sister

Ahahaha that isn't even all of them. it's been over a decade I am soooo normal. I do not have *checks notes* approximately 20 OCs, named and unnamed, with various places in stories and development