#WE BEST BLOODBORNE

[fen--harel]

Woken up with something of a nightmare, have you?

[undefeatablesin]

INHERITANCE 🌙

[death-rebirth-senshi]

Bloodborne's glorious "fuck you we're not telling you shit" Elden Ring's traitorous "fuck you we're not telling you shit"

[doedipus]

generic fantasy concepts are kind of like instant ramen in that if you just kind of drag and drop the most boilerplate version of something into your story it's going to be boring as shit and devoid of nutritional value. and this goes doubly so for big setpiece monsters like dragons.

you gotta like, either come up with a unique thing or make enough additions and substitutions to the stock thing that it meaningfully has its own identity or it's going to suck

[fareehaandspaniards]

In case anyone was wondering, why my nickname is Fareeha AND some Spaniards, answer is right under the cut! (Since Tumblr is basically a diary, and I REALLY want to describe, tell, write down, draw and even put it in my blog) Long post ahead! Many screenshots, personal stuff, memes etc.

So you decided to read... Good :'D

It started with Dark Souls 3. The first game experience was very exciting. I spent for about 3 hours creating a character, dealing with a disgustingly made character editor, and they came out.... Simply terrible. Some chubby-cheeked femboy (I have nothing against it, even like it sometimes, but he looked really terrible) with a face like he wants to betray you right now, taking away your family castle and all your feudal possessions. What a waste of time… Also it was sad that I spent 3 hours in the game without starting it. Therefore, I deleted this character and hastily, literally in 5 minutes, created new one - I barely changed one of the in-game templates - slightly lengthened the nose (because big noses are an art); decided to take a hairstyle that would be a little feminine, but at the same time more or less practical - a bun :’D ; made a slightly more stern appearance and it turned out that he was very attractive! There was a problem with the name, but then I also took the first one that came to mind - Esteban. I took the Deprived class because I couldn’t decide who I want him to be and I also wanted to try the so-called “most difficult class,” which turned out to be the most comfortable.

During the game I fell in love with him so much exactly the way he was - and he turned out to be a little frivolous, jester, Casanova, just a handsome guy in my favorite armor of the Black Knights (those devils look INCREDIBLE and make me squeal) and funny older brother of my husband's character.

Tbh now I see that I am making a kind of a doll game out of Fromsoftware games, as it was in childhood - all my characters have their own story, relationships, preferences and strong family bonds lmaooo Why not (I won’t stop)

Esteban was the first "Spaniard". Playing with him as my avatar was incredibly fun - numerous deaths were not perceived so hard, there were LOTS of funny moments, I was scolding Esteban, amusing my husband… In general - we became close, and for a long time finishing the game I could not calm down and was talking about him too much (I genuinely don’t know how my hubbo puts up with me). I was drawing, even wrote a fanfic. And since I LITERALLY CAN’T live without a romantic story, Esteban was the first simp of Prince Lothric and a little bit of Orbeck and Fire Keeper xdd

After DS3, we started Elden Ring. There I created Miguel - also a spaniard, Wretch, cheerful, but more mischievous and feminine than Esteban. I couldn't stop changing his appearance for a very long time until I found something that suits Miguel and fully reflects his character. I really liked Gideon Ofnir, well, really, really liked, but Miguel didn’t share my interest, and I couldn’t really ship them (except for a few explicit drawings :’D). Miguel stayed with Ranni, whom I love dearly, and I started the game again, with a new character. I created a girl. She turned out to be french and received the name Fiquet, and she not only gave me inspiration to finally write a fanfic about her and Gideon, but also brought me mental satisfaction because I finally took the Sorcerer class and spent the entire game killing enemies so easily (except for Mogh and Malenia) with a few hits, without tactics, thinking or other crap. Fiquet, my girl Q_Q

I miss them, enjoy the pics of them

Hello, sir :^)

After Elden Ring we started DS1, where Ramon was created in the same way, and also Jose in DS2 (I didn’t go further than Majula, I can’t help it - I don’t like this game. The desire to continue appears only because of Jose, who is my funniest character I think)

Ramon as his is. No screenshots of Jose, he jumped of a cliff and now looks kinda bad lol...

So it became a tradition to start the game with pathetic (I mean his class xd) spaniard and continue with girl (although I have only Fiquet for now. Others are not much remarkable). That’s how Guillermo was created for playing Bloodborne! I already did absolutely everything I could in BB (I even created a female character to come to Edgar so choir boy won’t be so sad :'D), but Guillermo remains with me - kind, sweet, a little nervous, like an angel from vintage postcards (I see him that way xD), caring, kind of mother figure, confident in his rightness, responsive and sensitive, but at the same time with an impenetrable moral shield (I mean, it’s impossible in any way hurt his feelings). I brought him together with Micolash (not surprising, I guess), came up with a tragic and romantic story for them and an AU with a continuation of the plot after the squid hunter ending for a happy end, endowed him with the blessing of Kos and gave him a backstory. There is something attractive about it when a man receives the blessing of a female deity who protects women - it says a lot about him as a more feminine person on the inside than he appears on the outside.

When I imagine any cool plot with Guillermo x Micolash, I feel like

Guillermo in case if you hadn't see him already:

You know, all my oc x canon look like that

(my OCs are always sort of Sportacus for their loved ones lol And also their loved ones are almost every time evil and edgy)

With all this I want to say that my spaniards and Fiquet have probably become like children to me... I love them, I continue to write about them, they are an integral part of my perception of games, and yes, this is probably really a peculiar need to play with dolls at my age xd Maybe that's why Guillermo wears Doll's gloves, Esteban enjoyed wearing Zullie the Witch's dress and gloves (with ADORABLE manicure yknow!!!) and etc lol...

Thanks for reading! I love to tell stories (As you may guessed lol), tho it take a plenty of time to translate it. Love yall

[slightly-gay-pogohammer]

btw we're in curse of strahd without clerics thats fun

[twerkyvulture]

You reading this. I command you to tell me which Dark Souls character(s) you wish were romanceable.

[butchladymaria]

i did overall really enjoy elden ring… in hindsight though, i think the reason i didn’t get as into it was because as i played i couldn’t help but feel that it had a problem with cohesion. there’s so many beautiful areas and different stories and mechanics and themes and symbols, but at least while i was playing i felt like it was just too Much. there was a lot of breadth, but at the expense of depth. i don’t know if this is a general critique or maybe just a matter of it not being my cup of tea — i just feel that the story and game mechanics are pulled in so many different directions that it just doesn’t all work together in the end. there was a lack of cohesion, something i think open-world games run the risk of already. but where games like skyrim and breath of the wild succeeded by having a consistent throughline, i felt it was missing in elden ring. the game was absolutely stunningly gorgeous! i just wish there had been a bit more tying it all together.

i’d love to know more about other people’s experiences though!!!

[blood--king]

A few small sharp taps resonated against the large display case of the long projecting window of the king's office, a large arctic white owl was shown staring into the eyes of the monarch. Its thick plumage barely allowed one to see the well-papered and embellished letter that hung from its neck with a blue ribbon.

The owl hooted a couple of times before leaving the letter in front of the window and flying back to its origin, its work had been accomplished.

Opening the envelope imitating an antique porcelain pattern, there was a small congratulatory letter inside, with more text behind it:

"We hope wholeheartedly that your reign continues to be as prosperous as always since your coronation. We wish you a well-enjoyed day on your Anniversare and we hope that our gift is worthy of your Majesty to give it a little taste:

We present the blue wine, a quite popular drink in our territory. This drink is a mixture of red and white grapes with natural organic pigments that give it that characteristic and striking color. Regarding the aroma and flavor of this wine, we could say that it is also very similar to a white wine, since floral and fruity notes are perceived and in the mouth it is fresh, with present acidity characterized by red wine, and in several cases it is sweet, which makes it very easy to take.

However, it would be a pleasure to know your personal opinion regarding our product.

Sincerely,

Avenel dinasty."

With letters finely and carefully written to reflect pristine elegance, the text was sealed with a characteristic "ℐ" captured in golden glittering wax.

As if it had been planned, as soon as the letter was read, a greenish and golden mist with dazzling shine appeared above the desk. It took a few seconds for that magic trick to dissipate, showing off a bottle of wine decorated with some symbols that would represent the Owl clan in a black velvet fabric bag.

||No wonder why Irina is a pro at giving gifts 🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏼‍♀️✨️✨️✨️||

The king was probably the most capable vampire in the universe, he had smelled this owl's scent since it entered the walls around the castle. As soon as he heard the taps he turned his head to look at it. The pale man approached the window, he opened it and took the envelope, subsequently he raised an arm and created a bat on his hand. —Follow it. —ordered the monarch to his vampire servant, who with its superior eyes, that detect blood even inside other beings, was going to keep track of that visitor.

As soon as he read the congratulations, he couldn't help but smile at this refined greeting. He wouldn't say it but he was a man who enjoyed respect and worship. Since this letter was clearly not from his kingdom, the person who sent it had enough respect for him to call him "Majesty".

He processed to read behind to the he letter. One the first thoughts Hell had was focused on one of the very few phrases, maybe "they" just wanted to be polite, but there was also the possibility that they had some sort of gathered information about his reign, which would be incredibly rare, although the possibility of someone who had been around the year of his coronation is even lower, since it was over 10 thousand years. As he continued, he found interesting this new type of wine, however, as open minded as he was, he still would prefer his always loved red wine, though he wasn't close to taste this one. The vampire also thought that this could be the emergence of a competition, he smiled again, this could be a rather interesting matter. Nonetheless, he didn't forget the probability of some kind of fanatic of his company of wine, perhaps that's why they wanted to know his opinion.

—Now this is intriguing. —said right after reading who was this from. A dynasty he didn't know wasn't rare, after all, he belonged to the longest dynasty of the Nix in terms of time, and other civilizations could make over a hundred dynasties in only five hundred years. There has been over a thousand years since the Angel Empire fell, of course there could be new dynasties, but they are probably from another continent of this planet.

When the bottle appeared on his desk, he voiced his strongest suspicions. —Magic? Or... voodoo? —This just became more interesting, before even thinking about having a sip of this beverage, he contacted his bat with his mind, ordering to come back home as soon as the owl's owner notices his presence. The king was eager to meet this person, he covered the bottle with dark energy to keep it cold, and continued with his work.

[femboty2k]

The Great Trans Girl Exodus Commission Post

Hello once again! To make a long story short: My darling wife and I are trying very hard to be able to move from Texas to Colorado ahead of how bad legislature is getting here. We have savings and a plan but its shaping up to be a very expensive and stressful finding a place to actually move in to. Our lease here is up at the end of June so we're starting to really crack down on trying to find places to apply to. I'm making this post because we would really appreciate some extra funds to add to what we have saved to make this move possible and if its an option: comfortable. We're a pair of trans lesbians trying so very very hard to make a life for ourselves in this country that hates us. Below I've attached some basic pricing and examples of the type of pixel art I do as well as some of my writing as I'm A-Okay writing for other folks if you like my prose or brand of article jank. If you have any questions about anything here please feel free to send me a DM on here and we can talk more about what you want and what I can do for you. Thank you so much if you end up commissioning anything or even if you just share this post. Examples and pricing below the cut:

Y2K Stylized Piece: $50+ (Price can range based on piece complexity desired)

Flat colour piece w. basic detailing: $60+ (Price can range based on number of characters desired and background complexity, basic BG is included in piece)

Detailed/Low-Poly Style piece: $75+ (These ones take the longest due to the by-hand editing needed to ensure the style is cohesive or detailing is done on the whole piece. Price can range based on complexity desired.)

Pixel Chibi: $20 (Pixel Chibi pricing is locked at $20)

Emote Suite: $35 (Price covers up to 9 custom emotes sized for usage in Discord and other messaging use cases)

Doodle: $25 (A flat simple piece with a simple concept done on a small canvas)

WRITING EXAMPLES:

Fiction: Tactile Sensations, a Sci-Fi short story Article Writing: Bloodborne PXS: One of the best fanworks on the web Writing prices start at $30 and can fluctuate upwards based on piece length. Thank you so much for checking out my work and/or sharing it. We're trying to start a new life for ourselves in a safer place, and we really do appreciate any help. Thank you!

[dykeishheart]

Bloodborne is an amazing game because you are never given a diegetic choice to question your surroundings. You're a foreigner in a strange town, you're hated by everyone, you're given strange substances, and you know what you don't do? Ask any fucking questions. The beasts starting slashing and you just fucking roll with it.

A lesser game would give you a voiced protagonist, dozens of scared and confused voice lines, text prompts displaying fear and confusion and revulsion. Not Bloodborne. You kill and get killed in a horrific place with almost no semblance of realness left to it and you either roll with it like the game expects or you stop.

It's this lack of asking that is so poignant. After a while the game slips away because to a point you really do embody the character; you also just arrived here and decided to pick up a weapon without asking questions. Is it human nature to swing an axe just because it fits our hand? Do we question the means that brought us here or do we see them to their ends? This lack of choice and reflection is one of the best pieces of commentary that Bloodborne makes about systemic violence, because both we and our characters took part in it thoughtlessly.

[katyspersonal]

I absolutely agree with this. The Twitbr side of Soulsborne fandom is really dead-set on gaslighting people to think that it is "redditbros" who are the "real" scourge of the fandom, whereas here is "the most supportive tight knit community 🥺" but a LiE wiLl rEmAiN a LiE or whatever.

Honestly, them being cringe by drawing bodies of female characters inaccurately in horny fever or sounding arrogant if your headcanon didn't coincide with what Vaati/charredthermos said is like...... such a lesser issue than the toxicity of statistically average fans here! One of my favourites is how the same people who blame Redditors for bad takes on the characters (like Malenia) are the exact same people who turn around and clown on characters like Gehrman or Godrick? 🙄

But mental health topic. Ohhh boy. I sincerely have no idea what the hell like 70% of the Soulsborne Twitbr fans are even DOING in the fandom, if they are unable to withstand any sort of strong/"""scary""" mental issues, get every other person they called friend yesterday experiencecurate'd for showing any human faults and demand sanitized """content""" as they call it. You'd expect people that engage with the story that is full of insanity, despair, weird tropes, existencial horror and dark topics, that draws a lot from imagination of Lovecraftian horror and Berserk whose writers themselves were...... questionable people, let's say so, to have strong stomach and at least 2 PTSDs hfhghvnn. And yet, you get mean girls (gender neutral) that are toxic all over, starting with asking people to not ship an unhealthy/weird ship and ending with side-eyeing anyone who broke the routine of "consuming content" with their pesky emotional problems. Starting with promoting complete lack of lore knowledge and trivializing complicated characters into endless unfunny modern AU shitposrs and ending with bullying lore enthusiasts as obsessive, creepy no-lifers. Good display of how you ACTUALLY feel about autism, ADHD, depression, DID, generally trauma and loneliness and so on so on so on... you jerks.

At least, the worst thing Redditbros can tell you is that you are overthinking something or that there is no proof for your headcanon. They won't try to question whether you are 'impure' on the accounts of -isms and -phobias. They won't dig under your skin trying to figure out how much of a "no life looser" you are. They won't tell their garbage control freaks Discord server crew to "be careful" with you over one negative interaction you had when you was rude in responce to them bashing your headcanon using very vile manipulations as their bullets. They won't think less of you over a mental breakdown. They won't send you anon hates. They won't call you "weirdo" and vagueblog about you for the "wrong" take on their blorbo while having a worse take on YOUR blorbo in literally the next post. And above all, they are willing to put away dumb lore debate away to make sure you are doing alright. For them genuine pricks is exception, here it is a rule, and their pricks are arrogant, not ableist.

Honestly, shame on the "community" that claims to be sooooo feminist and queer and supportive, unlike them dreaded cishets, whereas they constantly shun or eat their own over the dumbest fucking reasons. You are not building community, you are building a CULT and purging impure members without even a dignity to do so through FAIR battle!

Mental health topic below, scroll past if you need to.

Now that I've been active on tumblr for 15 years (why do I hear clown music), and on reddit for over a year, there is one painfully big difference in how the crowd behaves towards certain topics. I see a lot of people making fun of reddit and "gamer bros" here all the time, but let me talk about something positive.

Very interesting (and to me, surprising) to see that on tumblr, if you talk about or reblog something about heavy mental health issues, such as suicide or self-harm, the girlies on here will either:

report you to tumblr, they used to terminate blogs back then if you even just reblogged a manga panel with suicide / cuts on skin in it, regardless if you used it as coping or not. Not sure if they still terminate blogs for it today, would be stupid for sure. All that does is enhances the stigma around it.

mass-unfollow you

use it against you

use it against you with your favourite character as a tool, happened earlier this week actually.

And of course, it's on multiple blogs, because during the 15 years, I've had (still have) many.

Most of the things above happened to me, though I never was terminated.

Meanwhile, on reddit, in the "gamer bro" crowd no less, since I exclusively post on gaming subreddits, if they come to visit your page looking for shitposts, and stumble upon personal posts regarding both suicide and self-harm, they will shoot you the most genuine, helpful sweet message you have seen. Complete stranges, mind you, whereas on here, even people who follow your blogs will do quite the opposite (so not entirely strangers). In over a year on reddit, I received a lot of sweet private messages and just plain comments on posts, and that has me absolutely flabbergasted and it is frankly, very moving. I did NOT expect gamer redditors of all people to be awesome like that.

Very positive experience.

[katyspersonal]

The best Bloodborne Wiki is a passion project of a single person, is about to get even better + how it can be sustained for years to come!

Hello guys! So like many of you've learned from the post with super good model view of Winter Lantern, recently, on Twitter, Meph announced ( x ) the plan to fill the wiki with very useful, very comprehensive screenshots of the models for bosses, enemies, NPCs and even cut content! The wiki has already been a huge help for lorediggers and artists, but THIS is what we will get:

This page is for Lady Maria and you can check it yourself here: ( x )! It is broken down in the categories of general close-ups of her model, then very high-quality screenshots of every attack during her boss battle and walking, and then raw model!

(I never was able to capture a good look at her using Arcane too like here, for example!)

Winter Lantern page ( x ) is using similar principle!

This is not a secret that very often in Fromsoft games, additional information can be obtained not through descriptions but through visual hints! For example, some people only learned that Winter Lantern's head is made of melted Messengers only now, after a proper look at her model! So, of course getting a proper look at every single character and creature from the game could always be helpful!

This, however, is just a recent highlight for this Bloodborne Wiki! Even prior that, it has been providing invaluable help for the fans! Examples off the top of my head: comprehensive data on what character has what items used or not, great and comprehensive hints and tutorials on upgrades and farming and builds for the players, making every bit of information on Chalice Dungeons and glyphs easily accessible, making datamined NPC sliders of all characters way more accessible and easy to grab and repeat, access to much more obscure models (like Gratia's model), full list of internal filenames and patches progress, making information from physical Bloodborne tutorial book accessible...

There are probably more things to cover that me and others found a great help in, and sometimes we might not even notice! I am sure many people could name at least one way where this wiki has been very helpful, offering raw facts and 100% valid information (and properly sourced whenever someone else helped!) without any speculating, in the most elaborate manner! We should not take it for granted because all this information, found or reshared, was compiled by just one guy out of raw passion for the game! And although this project is not profit-based and Meph is willing to commit to it and pay as much as needed to keep it living, I really still wanted to share the Ko-fi link that exists for anyone who is willing to help sponsoring it!

This is not necessary, and Meph has stated the same, but this project is not only helpful but also really hefty to sustain. The monthly support is only $3 per month, but every little bit not only helps the sustenance, but also knowing how much fans care and simply feeling their support is very significant and sometimes you don't even know how much. Heck, when Meph learned how excited people on Tumblr were about Wiki improving with full compilation of models from every angle.. the reaction was "I am so glad that people still care"! I think everyone who does their best to be useful for the fellow fans needs confirmation that they ARE, for sure, helping!

I just really wanted to get the word out anyways because honestly, none of my super elaborate theories and detailed fanart would've been possible without Meph's Wiki. and also because I am trapped in a clown country where I can't send any international money transfer so the feeling of 'do what I can't' got to me too fsdhfdhs There is no pressure or necessity, but here is the link to anyone who can help and feels the wish to! You've noticed I didn't tag Meph.... since there is no Tumblr account to tag, but again, the Twitter link is also here: ( x )!

[demilypyro]

Your streams and posts have inspired me to play through dark souls 3 again! Anyway whats your ranking of all the level up maidens in the souls games. Counting melina too of course

The Unnamed Firekeeper (Dark Souls 3)

Melina (Elden Ring)

The Emerald Herald/Shanalotte (Dark Souls 2)

The Firekeeper/Anastacia of Astora (Dark Souls 1)

Irina of Carim (Dark Souls 3)

The Doll (Bloodborne)

The Maiden in Black (Demon's Souls)

The DS3 Firekeeper wins mostly because she's very charming and she has a small amount of agency in the plot. If you give her the Firekeeper's Eyes from the hidden Untended Graves area, she becomes open to the idea of betraying her religion (epic) and snuffing out the fire entirely, and I'm always down to blaspheme with my wife. Having a firekeeper be materially relevant to one of the endings is a lot of fun, and I'm always happy to go back Firelink and see her again. I love emoting near her.

I quite like Melina. I'm pretty sure she has some of the most dialogue of any level-up girl in the series, and she has some actual agency in the plot. Unfortunately, most of that dialogue is just lore dumping, and you never really get a sense of what her deal is. She's one of few characters in Elden Ring I never fully figured out the lore of? She's Marika's daughter, I think? And she wants to do... stuff? For reasons? And unlike best girl Ranni, she never really has a cute, disarming moment where the mask slips and she's really straight with you. I dunno she's good but she could've been better.

Shanalotte from DS2 is somewhat similar to Melina, in that she has a goal of her own that she manipulates the player into completing. However this twist is pretty out of nowhere and is ultimately pretty inconsequential, because what she wants you to do is... kill bosses? And killing bosses was always the goal anyway so it's not like we weren't gonna do that without her tricking us into it. I dunno, she cute.

Whether the Firekeeper from DS1 even counts for this list is debatable, since you can level up at any bonfire, and there's even multiple firekeepers. But when she dies you can't level up at Firelink Shrine anymore, so I guess that sort of counts? Idk. She's alright. I always let her die but then go kill Lautrec and give her soul back so she can speak. She's very adorable.

Irina really is just here on a technicality. Her ability to level you up is more like an easter egg reward for getting the good ending to her questline. She's mostly just a miracle trainer. I like her though so she goes on the list. It's my house.

The Doll from Bloodborne is decently charming but there's really nothing going on behind the eyes with her. While she questions if her feelings for you are genuine or artificial, nothing ever really comes of this one way or the other, so she falls kind of flat for me. She does win some points for responding to emotes though. Idk Maria better.

Finally you can tell the Maiden in Black is sort of the prototype for all the level-up ladies to follow. A lady, chained to the hub area by duty, who can't see and has bare feet? Miyazaki really showed his whole ass right from the get-go. There's really not that much to her beyond that though. She alright.

[iyohme]

A six-tatami room, my pretty castle

A secret place nobody ought to enter (yeah)

-GHOST FOOD

I lied, have a brainworm and now i must spit it out

We know the confinement phase with the Wayne Family after the abduction, right? Right!

I raise: gamer reader with the mindset of 'Well, I get to live here for free (and I'd be a DUNCE to refuse in this economy,) so I might as well just make myself comfortable (or as comfortable as I can.)'

Dick and Tim can and will preen when you invite them to play multiplayer games. Casually ask them if they know so-and-so, then watch them either A.) listen to you yap about artifact drop rates in Genshin Impact (Tim), or B.) actively pull up their phone to google said game and immediately create an account (Dick).

With his analytical mind, Tim can and WILL enjoy Genshin's artifact farming and character building phase. Dude hates the open world exploration but is much more amenable to it if it's co-op with you, the favorite sibling. Thinks about rigging the game's code so you'll get the artifact drops you want, but decides against it because if HYV bans his account, then no more co-op exploration time with batsib :C. Dude might also enjoy indie RPGmaker games, especially ones with more complicated puzzles and mysteries.

Dick on the other hand has shit Genshin character builds. Tim bullies him for it. You build Dick's teams for him anyway because he has insane 50/50 pull luck, so who's laughing now? Prefers the open-world exploration aspect of the game with you, and his characters tend to run out of stamina and drown in the early phases lmao. Dick likes boss and domain runs; and to the trained eye, one can see that Nightwing might incorporate some of the more plausible moves of your mains into his fighting. Might also enjoy chill games like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley!

Jason in one word is a genwunner. Dude is stuck in 'there are only 151 Pokémon' mode. Call him old-fashioned, but handheld consoles are the way to go for Red Hood: compact, can be carried, and you can play with them anytime and anywhere. When you pull up an emulator and explain that "Yeah, since the game isn't sold anywhere anymore, it's like a courtesy thing in fandom I guess, to distribute it discretely. Keeps the game alive. Still a form piracy though. Please don't tell Ba--uh, Dada."

We already know: Damian likes FPS games. Probably blocked by a lot of Valorant players with how sharp his tongue is. Still the best carry of all time though--only for his favorite, blood-related sibling (you). The rest can get sniped. Greyson and Todd, mostly. Would probably enjoy the newer Resident Evil series; though if you want, he would just about play any game with you. I imagine he'd like the horror, FPS, and art intersection in the Fatal Frame series.

Harmless secret and not-really crime with the new sibling he (lovingly) bullies (but no one else should bully)? Hell yeah. Watch him run through the damn mew glitch with one hand behind his back and catch you the three legendary bird Pokémon in record time. If forced to play a newer game, Jason would enjoy Bloodborne, probably. And HADES, especially if you mention how "Wow, you look a LOT like Prince Zagreus, big brother," watch him fold like a wet rag after giving you a noogie lmao. If you bargained really well, you could get him to play Zenless Zone Zero; dude would be a Billy Main. Also probably beats your ass in Tekken, so you bribe beg Damian to step in as proxy.

Because I play Hoyogames (and because you can co-op with up to three people in Genshin), I imagine Damian would also play with you. Being a child (despite being an assassin,) he'd definitely pick the opposite of whatever player character you choose. You chose Stelle? He gets Caelus. You choose Aether? He gets Lumine. You choose Belle? He chooses Wise. It's a comforting, smile-bringing thought to him, that you are siblings even inside fictional worlds. Any playable character with a canonical sibling that you get? He's getting the other pair. It'd be cute, except his team comps get messy, so you run it through tests. (All according to his plan, heheh.)

Cass is one step ahead of everyone and was probably the one to suss out your gaming hobby. She spots your collection of Visual Novels, and puts it to good practice to watch and read with you. Would probably enjoy VNs like Doki Doki Literature Club. Probably would also play Dungeon Exploration RPGs like Momodora and Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight. Has the uncanny ability to never get lost in game dungeons. Stuck in an area? Cass is on the case!

Bruce frowns upon too much gaming, so he regulates your game hours (and has a timetable for everyone) regarding which game to play. Alfred also enforces it. So does Barbara. You do get to wheedle him into playing Pokémon Sword or Shield with a bit of begging and "Look Dada, I named my Crobat after you!" watch him soften when he googles and sees that Crobat only evolves after maximum friendship levels. He might like psychological thriller mystery pointer games that can be played in increments like Fran Bow, maybe? And battle royale games like Tekken: Bruce has a competitive streak a mile wide and will not go easy on you. Is very smug upon winning. If you get him as a proxy in Tekken, Jason will bolt because he will not be betting about staying over for dinner. The match would be rigged in Bruce's favor anyway.

Barbara on the other hand, loves hack and slash games. Get her to play HADES and compete on who has the fastest runs, and she will take up the next few hours of the game time schedule, much to her smug delight. She'd also love the atmosphere of the indie RPG Horror Ib, I think? The whole surreal, comfortable horror interspersed with time limit puzzles really does get adrenaline flowing after all. Gets very alert when playing Chilla's Art games and side-scrollers like Tsugunohi. Subtle horror is very much up her alley.

All in all, isn't this quite a comfortable life? A bit lonely perhaps, you could say, but with a family who loves you above all else and endless games, what else could you need?

Stay with them.

They'll die without you, after all.

[drenched-in-sunlight]

"Marika becomes the sum of all the Fromsoft girlies" is nice but you forgot Nashandra who actually has parallels with Marika! Recommending to check it out, she's cool!

let’s get this out of the way now… I love DS2, I think the vibe and gameplay is immaculate and I’ll defend it as a whimsical and enjoyable videogame experience till the end of time.

But my god, I hate how they handle female characters in that one 💀

In fact, I don’t like how they handle female characters in DS franchise in general. It got a bit better in Bloodborne and Sekiro and especially AC6, but overall ever since I started playing Fromsoft game in 2020, my main gripe with them is they only have 2 tropes to shoehorn their female character into: helpless victim of a system that would mangle and exploit them OR serious sword lady. And if I’m being real, it’s the main gripe I have with Elden Ring base game too?

I didn’t discuss it on tumblr because back then I were still trying to keep this blog art-focused, but when the game came out in 2022, I did express my concern on twitter that I found the female characters cast… strangely lacking. Because I went into the game expecting Ema-level of writing (literally Sekiro’s Ema is one of the best female characters Fromsoft has ever written to this day I could and have talked ppl’s ears off about her. And I’m glad she on her own is very different from Marika. That means they could at least write 2 more types of female characters now the bar is on the floor but I’ll take it and cherish what I have), but it felt like they got reset back to DS franchise with ER base game.

(This has an added layer of me being a girl born, raised and lived in a Sinosphere country that is entrenched in Confucius values just like Japan, so yes I do understand and experience firsthand the underlying culture values that shapes their writing. Hell, I live and study postgraduate in Japan for 2 years too).

But we are going off track, this is about DS2. Now, my problem with DS2 is, see, with 1 or 3, the female characters either have very little agency or no agency at all. And it just…. be like that. The male characters are somewhat the same, so it really doesn’t bother me that much. The cool, unique, not sexualized design is enough. But 2?

2 has a lot of female characters…. who either play no role in the world setting or sinister figures that charm men and bring ruins to kingdoms? What?

(Before anyone says “but Lucatiel—” Lucatiel is the beacon of light in that game, yes, but at the same time her purpose centering around her brother is… also a problem I have with the way they handle Malenia’s story. My Fromsoft experience has lore to it as well jfc)

Like, it’s just ??? to me half of those women have no agency or backstory whatsoever apart from being the Dark’s daughters that would bring doom everywhere they go??? You can say everything wrong in DS2 world is their fault and I actually wouldn’t have much to argue. Actually, it’s interesting you bring up Nashandra because I do think Nashandra has parallel in Elden Ring. But not to Marika.

Nanaya.

That’s who reminds me of Nashandra in Elden Ring. Literally the mysterious, lowkey nefarious lady and her old man husband with questionable dynamic DS2 trope 🧍‍♀️ you can actually see that in their name too.

If I have to pick a character in DS franchise specifically to make parallel to Marika, it’ll always be Gwynevere. Because I honestly think it’s amazing they took a character that has the least amount of agency they’ve ever created, and turned the core concept of her (warmth, healing spells, sunlight, mother, daughter, queen, faith) into another character with actual good writing.

That’s why I didn’t include Nashandra in my previous post. Not because I don’t know about her. It’s because I know.