#It also has just now occurred to me

[cosmic-espero]

Torn on the Will/Eupha front.

[I will put the rest of the post under a read more for massive late game spoilers and lenght reasons]

On one hand she's the one major character (aside for Strohl, arguably, but we all know they don't have the balls to do that in a mainstream game, this isn't Catherine or Innocent Sin) for whom a romantic relationship with Will actually makes sense from a writing, theming and lore perspective.

Whereas Hulkenberg is unhealthily obsessed with the concept of royalty (even after her social link has been maxed out, she still has to work on her attitude, especially after Will is revealed to be pretty much the Prince's persona), and whereas Junah doesn't seem to show interest for other tribes probably on the basis that as a nidia her real form would result rather unappealing for most non-nidias, Eupha shares with Will endless curiosity and a fresh outlook on society, that with her being new to everything outside of Virga and him being almost literally a newborn.

Being respectively a mustari and an "elda" they're also both related to the ancient world and looked at as pagans and potential dissidents by the state church, thus being looked at with suspicion wherever they go. It is not a coincidence that her storyline is related to sanctism, just how I don't believe it to be a coincidence that both the seeker and summoner's supreme incarnations (namely the soul hacker and the devil summoner) are related to classic non-Persona Megaten titles.

I also personally find her rather endearing, appreciate her proactivity and like her character design quite a lot, so if I had to choose one character to romance it would probably be her.

However.

On the other hand, in my opinion the major issue with Metaphor (which is otherwise a game I really, really, really love) is the same one as the Persona games': that is, the writers can't decide whether they want to write a character with an estabilished personality or one who works as a blank slate for the player to project themselves on.

(My personal stand on it is that the latter doesn't work very well when the biggest game mechanic is the literal manifestation of a physical incarnation of their inner selves, but what do I know.)

I found this dissonance to be rather distracting while playing several Personas, especially P3 and P5, but when it comes to the dating sim side most games in that series work on the assumption that the player should be free to decide 1) whether to romance a cast member at all and 2) which member of said cast to romance, with the confidant/social link mechanic implemented from P3 on being generally used as the way to choose a love interest (with the only exception being the Persona 2 duology).

While this approach has its problems (with pre-Reload Makoto being unable to have platonic relationships with 99% of the girls he knows, for example, or P4 and P5 having some trouble integrating the presence of a love interest in their story beats), it allows the player a degree of control over the situation, and sometimes even allows for entirely unexpected writing peaks (aka best P4 girl Ai Ebihara and I will not take any criticism on this).

Meanwhile, with Metaphor they went out of their way to make it clear in interviews that there weren't going to be Persona-style romances in the game- which is not a lie, but only in the most technical sense of the word? Because there's the singular one with Eupha, that only happens if you maximize your bond with her.

(Also I think Catherina flirts with you? But at least in the italian localization it kinda comes out of nowhere in the very last bond and also goes nowhere, so there's that).

So, at this point, we have a problem: we have a clearly intended canon romance that is, however, being gatekept behind a social link system and is otherwise not very explored outside of it, while simultaneously being mandatory if you want to 100% the game.

The result ends up being, in my honest opinion, a mixture of the worst Persona has to offer with the romance department (excluding the whole Ken Amada Debackle that we shan't mention anymore): the relationship has pretty much no bearing on the story, the player has little to no control over it short of deciding to skip Eupha's bond altogether (thus removing agency from you), the chemistry between the two characters is sudden and dubious at best due to a lack of setup (adding insult to injury, the main character shows far more emotion during Alonso's social link, and bro isn't even part of the team), Will gets demoted to an entirely passive role in the entire matter since he's not given the option to refuse and even playing dumb will forcibly further the relationship (since the social link mechanic was reworked, there is no way to say the "wrong" thing or reverse/break the link), and Eupha and Edeni develop a sudden inability to take no for an answer or at the very least be more open about their intentions.

(Which I, for the record, consider a mild case of character assassination.)

To make things worse, Eupha is also the second to last companion that will join the group, her bond is locked behind a sidequest, and a couple of her social link episodes are locked behind two chunky skill checks (wisdom and eloquence, if I'm not wrong) that will slow you down a lot if you have been prioritizing the wrong things, thus making the romance aspect appear even more rushed if you for whatever reason got to it later on in the game.

So I'm just left to wonder: why?

There was absolutely no need for this to even be an issue; Persona isn't exactly famous for its flawless romances (just taking P5 into consideration I can count maybe two or three I would salvage more or less unchanged, and I wouldn't even pursue two of those for different reasons), but at least it allowed the player some wiggling room and variety to make up for that.

Even if the writers didn't feel secure in their ability to write a decent romantic subplot spanning the actual story instead of optional bonding, simply adding the option to say no (like in Persona 2) or leaving it implied and/or ambiguously requited (like in Persona 1, where there are a few characters who develop feelings either for the main character or someone else in the team as part of the plot) would have been a much better choice.

This way, the players could have filled in the blanks on their own, coming to their own conclusion as to how their romance resolves later on, thus also avoiding needing to talk about the very real political and social issues behind a mustari becoming queen/the king's lover and also the entire part where Will probably still has to deal with the trauma of pretty much being a fusion of two different entities (listen, I have a lot of Feelings and Opinions about this part of the plot).

Even Catherine, which is a puzzle game with very strong dating sim elements that determine the ending, has various "single" endings, so I'm not entirely sure why they felt the need to add this aspect to a story that according to the devs themselves was about "finding allies" for political and social aim, and not a coming of age story about high schoolers.

I'm just befuddled at this turn of events in what is otherwise a very strong product.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

you open my Super Important Documents and its just pictures of charles xavier

[whaliiwatching]

he is so. to me

closeups of my favorites <3

[air--so--sweet]

3x13 Pinned//8x06 Confessions

Joy

[codenamesazanka]

Shigaraki/Tenko wanting to destroy the false sense of peace All Might and Heroes created

.⬇️.

Shigaraki/Tenko wanting to destroy everything that lead to the existence of that house, which he conceptualizes as the embodiment of rejection and injustice in the world. Be a Hero for the Villains.

.⬇️.

AFO basically literally created that house

.⬇️.

Shigaraki/Tenko helps defeat AFO

.⬇️.

Deku telling him 'you already destroyed it' is... apparently Shigaraki/Tenko having finally gotten rid of the true cause of (his) rejection and injustice? main antagonist's big problem that represents an overarching major issue of the story/in-universe society... solved? (main antagonist's big problem that represents an overarching major issue of the story/in-universe society not actually being the problem he thought it was but now also solved?)

.⬇️.

No longer a need for there to be a Hero for the Villains, Shigaraki/Tenko dies.

.⬇️.

Heroes not to be blamed in the first place. also fuck everyone else and all other 'actual' outcasts I guess.

[sweetandglovelyart]

Knightfall in Dream Land - Page 6

Meta Knight begins his long fall to Popstar’s surface and passes by some familiar faces on the way down.

[icewindandboringhorror]

sometimes looking at like Self Help Strategies lists for the symptoms I'm having is always just like:

thing that I already do

thing I have tried 10 times

thing I already do

thing that I don't have the money to do

thing I already do

thing I've been doing since I was 10yrs old to no avail

thing that is impossible given my situation

thing that doesn't apply to me

thing that I already do

thing I have already tried

hrmm, oh wait, maybe finally- OH, yeah.. okay. thing that I already do but it was just phrased slightly differently

thing I have already done

[moldymeat]

My status on discord had been "Cat dead, Details later" with the little syringe emoji for like, 6 months, and then the other day I got a DM basically saying "I just wanted to say, I'm so sorry for your loss, the grief of a pet is so real 😕" and I told them "thanks for the condolences, but that is a movie quote, my cat is not actually dead." Then later that night I was telling my dnd group about the silly tee-hee mixup, and FOUR of the SIX people in this chat said something along the lines of "oh my god I thought your cat actually was dead but I was too scared to say anything about it!". Needless to say I am changing my status to a different reanimator quote.

[deva-arts]

Happy Birthday, Vincent! Where did all the years go?

For the first time in my life, I looked at the people surrounding me and felt nothing but mirth. Ease. Restful, ambrosian peace. It's shockingly foreign. Warms the chest. Stings the eyes. I hope this feeling lasts forever. I capture every detail, dissecting each millisecond that passes, sense by sense. The air on my skin, and the scraps of sunlight hitting me. The way the room looks, and the looks in their faces, their eyes. The different laughs and conversations, some even praising me, offering good wishes. The sweetness from foods I never would have received, and the smooth scent of a home. One that's been lived in and cared about. I want to remember it. Engrave it somewhere deep and secret, so I can always return and find the same sights, smells and sounds. If I can't have that, then I hope it lasts a little longer, at least.

+ Close-ups!

Yeah. Just a little longer.

[dragonlordofmiddleearth]

Girl what did Arthur do in the legends

He got Morgana pregnant with baby Mordred

[blujayonthewing]

I wish I had any way of knowing whether people have gotten Weirder™ about my name in recent years or if this has been happening behind the scenes the entire time

I've been going by Jay since I was 11. At the time nobody objected to or questioned this, at least not to me; I found out many years later that Jay is supposedly a "boy's name," but nobody ever said 'you can't use that as a nickname, it's a boy's name' and it went completely uncontested by anyone when I switched. Lots of kids announced some manner of name change at the start of a new school year in middle school; it was all normal and fine. My mom and, you know, grandmas and other relatives kept calling me Jessica, which was also fine! I didn't make a big family announcement or correct any relatives on this, I just wanted to differentiate myself from the half dozen other Jessicas in school.

For twenty years!! This has gone on being perfectly normal! My Real Name™ is an increasingly obscure bit of trivia I get to spring on friends who didn't realize I had one, which is always funny (my brother in law didn't believe me and demanded to see my driver's license). My mom and grandmas have largely still called me Jess, and that's also fine! It's nice, even! There's a particular intimacy there of having a name only my mother uses-- but, crucially, I have never asked her not to, or said that I don't like it. And as FAR AS I KNOW, this has all been true and fine for TWENTY YEARS.

My own feelings about it have never changed, and feel, to me, very straightforward: if I tell you that my name is Jay, and you decide that no it isn't, that is a problem. That's the rule. That's literally it. I had a high school teacher who asked on the syllabus for us to write down if we went by something other than our full name, who was nonetheless UNIQUE among all of my teachers from 6th grade onward in always and only ever calling me Jess, even though I signed all my work Jay, all the other teachers called me Jay, he literally asked whether anyone wanted to be called something else and I answered Jay, and I had him for two semesters. I met a work friend of Justin's once who asked upon introduction whether Jay was short for something, and when I told him it was short for Jessica he took it upon himself to call me Jess instead. This isn't me having a problem with any particular iteration of my name, this is just asshole behavior! I told you what my name was and you said 'no it isn't'. The problem here does not seem complex to me?

But within the last [hand wiggle] handful of years I feel like it keeps getting weirder? Apparently my dad and grandma argued about it at my wedding rehearsal-- she, dramatically, insisting 'I don't care, her name is Jessica, I'm going to call her that ;n;' and my dad angrily defensive that no it isn't, I go by Jay, that should be respected. And I'm sitting here listening to my dad relay this in utter bewilderment like. Well dad I love the energy but I have never been bothered at all if grandma calls me Jessica. I have never even once asked her not to or complained to anyone that she does. But also this is the grandma who HAS called me Jay more often than not?? My mom's mom never picked it up, but I was astonished to hear my dad's mom was acting like this was some New Dramatic Change that she Hated and not a thing she's literally already been doing for, again, twenty entire years. Why are you suddenly making it weird! Last weekend Justin's stepmom mentioned seeing my mom at the hospital where mom works, and how she said something like 'yes I'm Jessica's mom-- wait, no, Jay, she hates it when I do that' and I just?? I literally don't, the only problem now is that people who know me won't know who the fuck you're talking about

all of this and I'm just. I am literally just sitting here. why are we inventing problems out of this two decades later. what is going on

[cuteniaarts]

Digitalised + coloured + redesigned version of my Suiren and Vaatu sketch from two days ago, as promised!!

Coming up with Suiren’s design was a very long process of trying and failing because after you’ve drawn 9+ different versions of one character, the creativity starts to run a little dry, but I’m actually really proud of this one, she looks absolutely adorable <3

(Also yeah I did mostly just scribble Vaatu’s pattern because who has the energy to draw the all out accurately. Not me, that’s who, I’m chronically tired. People who draw him on the regular have my utmost respect. He’s still a funky little guy though :D)

Bonus, Raava incessantly screaming inside Suiren (and being completely ignored because Suiren is tired of her) while all this is happening:

[rosykims]

act 1 solasmancer arc is sooooooo much sexier when headcanoning that they had their first kiss during the redcliffe nightmare future scenario. solas immediately dies and then lavellan returns to the present unable to be normal about him forever <3

[edwardwonghaupepelutivrusky4th]

technically if it's not simmered in the champagne region of france it's a sparkling best boy friend

[demodraws0606]

Colorpalet writing 25ji's main story : It's really difficult to handle the sensitive topics without making it too triggering/blatant for younger readers. We should avoid mentioning suicide directly.

WxS events :

[chompe-diem]

random insane headcanon but i firmly believe albin takes exclusively cold showers.