#When they say elden ring is hard they mean | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ganondoodle · 5 months ago

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(more elden ring radahn thoughts)

on whats really left of him .. and his soul? general too many thoughts about him- long post and probably incoherent, but you know me, im never coherent anyway, many thoguhts, head full, quite literally

in base game, he has lost his mind we are told, and clearly he isnt like he used to be, but we really dont know the extend of it hes clearly capable of fighting rather .. controlled; its not like hes biting and clawing after you, he still uses his swords (and bow, sth he doesnt even have in dlc) and magic, we know even in this condition he held back the stars AND still fought you hard at the same time (i know undead people can still fight in elden ring, pls hear me out)

and i wonder .. how much of his mind did he really lose, obviously some since he eats people now which isnt sth he used to do, but ... we dont know how talkactive he used to be, we get one (two? i can only think of one) quotes from him in the descriptions of an item, he might have been a man of few words already, so him not talking at all isnt that good of a measure (not saying its the only measure, just wanted to mention), resorting to eating people that atack you might just be an act of desperation too

we get told he kills friend and foe alike (and im not questioning that really) but in his cutscene we see him drag along the bodies of cleanrot knights, who are under direct dommand of malenia, and by extend miquella, im guessing they kept sending them after him to finish him off; now knowing that him dying means being sent to the realm of shadow, to miquella, and NOT knowing if he wanted that, i feel that that detail has grown in importance-

when you start the fight, hes rather defensive, shooting at you almost immediately upon you entering the arena with no extra cutscene either, what he shoots at you a long ranged gravitation bolts that stop you dead in tracks with a very high stagger rate and if you are on torrent it stagger you off of it; i know it could be just tactical and bc all he knows now is to fight as best as he can BUT, you could also look at it as a defensive strategy, to keep you away, and away from him .. even though you are not told he is afraid to die and he eats people now, sure he could come over there and snack on you once he shot you enough times, but the important thing is that you as a threat to his life is eliminated AND he doesnt seem to have some sort of insatiable hunger for people that makes him charge and snap at you immediately, there could be self control there still (if i wanted to reach a little further i could also say he could be trying to keep you away from him not jsut to save himself but to save you from him too, but thats a reach and i know that)

once you get close enough he usually changes to fire a salve of arrows that fall from the sky and follows you around, also high in stagger- its only when you get too close that he pulls out his swords and charges at you

his arena is interestign as well, its a piece of land in caelid that is inaccessible (unless you can fly?) from all sides, a barren battlefield only reached through a teleporter, im not sure if it is the same place as when he fought malenia or not (wasnt that in the middle of caelid where you find the rot needle?) but i doubt anyone could have put him there against his will, so did he .. go there himself? or stay there for that matter- how quickly do you lose yourself when infected with rot? and how quickly for him, since hes a demigod? did he intentionally isolate himself there? make it harder to reach him for both friend and foe alike?

another point is that most enemies (as far as i can think of) that are infected with rot/are in caelid also deal rot damage, radahn does not, hes even really vunerable to it in fact, its an intersting detail to me bc he only uses either standard attacks or gravitational magic, given that hes been in this condition for a long time and its caelid id expect the rot to be somewhat important there, but its not

how much has he really lost his mind, is he really as mindless as jerren makes him out to be? is he trying to stay alive no matter what, isolating himself on an (almost) island and only living off what comes there, which is usually people that want to kill him, be it friend or foe, all are out for his life one way or another, could it be defensive ... desperate even? no one but him and miquella/malenia seem to know that him dying means hes put into the land of shadow, where miquella is waiting for him; (why wouldnt he tell anyone? was he not able to? was he afraid to upset the golden order by spilling it out?) could he know that would be the end of him having his own will, knowing what miquella can do to people? ... perhaps even .... having been manipulated by him before when he was less experienced and more in direct vicinity to him, to promise something he doesnt actually want?

this is a reach too but ... could he be trying to make himself unusable for miquella, theres no real cure for the rot, could he have decided to stay alive as long as he can to both destroy his own body (and soul even?) intentionally so it cant be used against his will, like a desperate act to destroy himself rather than become someones unwilling puppet? did he succeed in both somewhat but not enough to become fully worthless and unsalvageable? just how much would he have had to destroy himself for him to become useless to miquella, is there even a limit? would he have been "revived" no matter what, no matter what little was left of him?

how is he mindless, yet his soul it taken when you kill him, his body beyond repair, but his soul intact? that seems like the opposite of what he is, and you are told he is, in the base game to me (maybe hes just fallen into madness i guess, but given the soul is like .. the self, he should be mad in the dlc too then, unless miquella can just pick out the parts he likes and throw away the rest .... which isnt impossible either)

now, there could be the argument that he might have actually agreed to it, hes been a big fan of godfrey, who is a consort to marika, a god, and little more than her pawn as well, his 'young' look you see at the end of the dlc could also be connected to it, the braids i thought where a sign of miquellas influence could also be just how he looked back then, an imitation of godfreys hairstyle- and we dont know for sure he didnt used to have them even after gettign older since they could just have loosened after spending so much time in a zombie lite condition (or is it?)-- but his portrait in volcano manor doesnt seem to have them either, hes also sporting the armor you see in base game (i think) there the fact that, according to godfrey, strength is the only thing that matters and to become a consort you need to be the strongest of all to be worthy, could also be interpreted that way- though i dont if he would have wanted to replace the golden order, he was a fan and follower of it, did he even think of it the implications? did he even know? was he just young and stupid? (very possible tbh)

then theres the idea of there being less left of his soul, so in the dlc he is barely if anything at all, himself, both in body AND soul, how much was there even left after all that time in caelid, he is silent except for like two grunts he does also in base game (he has more sounds there too), completely unexpressive, with very few gravitation magic, in the second phase miquella literally snakes his arms around his neck, almost every single attack is filled with light magic, clearly coming from miquella and not him (i know bringing up leonard might seem overemphasizing his role, but in these games what information you get is very scarce so every bit you do learn is important and was written intentionally- but he stayed together with him in caelid, all his attacks involve him in one way or another, he only started to learn that magic for leonard, so radahn didnt have too abandon him as he got too large to ride him, he uses gravitation in dlc too, so it means that at the point of his life that he is recreated as he already had leonard or that that is a sign of whatever is left of his soul that comes from a much older him, and if it is, its very little) (also this is a reach too but most enemies with horses have separate health bars, he doesnt, he and leonard basically share the same health bar, literally inseperable uwu)

"theres no evidence hes mindcontrolled" people say to me. have you seen him? how he acts? or more, how he DOESNT act? that miquellas entire deal is THAT HE BEWITCHES PEOPLE, ffs he STEALS YOUR HEART if you get grabbed by him twice in the dlc fight- theres no evidence he wasnt either, you are told they had a vow, but you never know what exactly that was, when it was (in the memory of miquella wishing for radahn to be his consort you only see miquella- was it a silly wish between kids tha miquella never grew out of?), in what circumstances, you never get to hear radahn say anything about it, its completely left out, thats a little unrelieable to me! idk!

but fine, maybe he did agree to it, maybe he thought being a consort to a god would make him just as cool as godfrey, maybe he fought malenia, who was said to be undefeated, only to prove he had the strength worthy of being a consort and it backfired when malenia infected him with the rot (why then? also he doesnt look exactly thrilled about what she say to him in the trailer but that could be just me too i guess lolololol), maybe he wanted to die all along but his pride meant he couldnt just let the rot win, maybe the festival was really what he wished for and told no one what the real goal was, maybe he wasnt rotten in the first place and just acted that part so he had an excuse to die without having to fight with all his strength as even the undefeated warrior wasnt able to beat him, maybe becoming a consort to miquella was worth leaving leonard behind to him, maybe he wanted to be nothing but a pawn to a god, to be used and discarded, maybe he really believed in miquellas wish for a "gentle" world (aka all love miquella)

it makes sense, im not going to lie about that, but the other does too- and in the end, we will never know what the truth is! we will never know if that was what he wanted, or if he was manipulated even back then, i wish we could to see his part, his voice, his will, but we never will, and it doesnt matter, in the end it doesnt matter if he wanted it or not, the fact remains hes a silent frankensteins monster of miquella, expression- and personalityless, a voiceless pawn to a god that steals everyones hearts

i dont need to be "right", i like to think about things, i am in the camp of he didnt want to or decided against it, but it doesnt really matter, even if miyazaki himself went onto stage and loudly declared that yes it was all planned from the start and radahn was in on it the whole time- i still would think the other way around it, i jsut think about him alot, i want to question things instead of taking everythign i hear at face value, especially when its very strangely told from one side, i will question every little thing if i only hear one side, no matter how much sense it makes or not, it makes me suspicious

(i some of this can be attributed about purely gameplay stuff, like the change in armor so he doesnt look the same etc, but i dont care, i like to think about the implications it brings with it, intentionally or not)

and there he is in a barren battlefield, eating the remains of whoever enters his isolated cage with the intent to kill him, never succeeding, howling like a lonely old wolf at the sky, is it desperation about a fate he cannot escape, grief about what hes done or failed to do, is it a call of yearning? for freedom?

we dont know. and it doesnt matter.

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blasphemousclaw · 2 years ago

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Hello! Maybe you’ve already answered this, I’m unsure.

But how tall do you think the NPCs, or characters are in Elden Ring? It’s my first soulslike game, and I was kinda surprised by the massive height difference.

And when I say NPCs I mean like Blaidd, or the Carians, bosses etc, as some of the other NPCs seem to be around our height anyway.

Hope that makes sense.

Hi! I’ve alluded to the height of the demigods many times, but I’ve never done a proper post on it. In general, most of the bosses are significantly taller than the player (which is normal for souls games), but even the demigods who aren’t bosses are shown to be significantly tall as well (such as Ranni’s original body, and Rykard pre-snakeification if we look at his throne).

It’s hard to objectively compare all of their heights because not all of them have proper character models, but I drew a rough height chart of the Carian family with Tanith for scale, using extremely scientific means (scooting around screenshots and model comparisons in photoshop):

If Tanith (the player height) is around 5-6ft tall, then the Carian family would’ve all been around 8-10ft tall. Except for Radahn he’s built different

#elden ring #tanith #rykard #ranni #blaidd #rennala #radagon #radahn #asks #my art #i also made a post about rykard’s height somewhat recently and included some screenshots

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spectrumos · 3 months ago

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relaying a theory, and my narrative on it.

Edit: I said in this post I'd also write the narrative in a separate post, so here it is! It's also a slightly expanded and better edited version of it.

for two theory videos linked below.

This one was made pre-dlc

youtube

And this one post-dlc.

youtube

Send them both some love, they both have more to say on theory than I do.

Below is my attempt to convey both these videos and then my attempt to tell a narrativized version, which I will likely post again but separately.

"Solidified knotgrease made from a mixture of bone shards. The delightful festival is an old tradition; one old enough for the Erdtree to tacitly tolerate its endurance." Festive grease item.

made of blessed bone shards and yet it's full of flowers. odd.

You know where else is full of flowers? The shaman village of course. But where else?

Dominula!

The windmill village! Remarkably close to the Erdtree, and it contains a Godskin apostle! Why though?

Wouldn't you like to know!

Near the outskirts of Bonny village lies this giant snakeskin. Quite close to the tree and statue where you get the "O mother" gesture.

This leads to a theory that I had always believed a little bit, but the snakeskin, despite not being referenced in any descriptions or dialogue, feels quite important.

Especially because it shares a head shape with

THE GOD DEVOURING SERPENT!

and yet...

The skin near bonny village...

Is far larger than the one that ate Rykard!

So what snake is this second one?

THE GLOAM EYED QUEEN.

Now you may look at me like i'm INSANE and that's because I AM!

"Sacred sword of the Gloam-Eyed Queen who controlled the Godskin Apostles before her defeat at the hands of Maliketh.

The black flames wielded by the apostles are channeled from this sword." -Godslayer's greatsword

"A black flame incantation of the Godskin Apostles. Sweeps a wide area before the caster with black flame. Charging enhances range. The black flame could once slay gods. But when Maliketh sealed Destined Death, the true power of the black flame was lost." - Scouring Black Flame.

"Superior black flame incantation of the Godskin Apostles.

Summons a circle of black flame pillars around the caster. Charging increases the size of the circle.

The Gloam-Eyed Queen led the apostles. It is said that she was an Empyrean chosen by the Fingers." - Black flame ritual.

Chosen by the fingers, huh? This is the symbol for the blackflame incantations. It looks quite a lot like Metyr, I would think.

"Sacred cloth of the Godskin Apostles, made from supple skin sewn together.

Successive attacks restore HP.

The Gloam-Eyed Queen cradles newborn apostles swaddled in this cloth. Soon they will grow to become the death of the gods." - Godskin Swaddling Cloth.

"Robe made by sewing together patches of smooth skin. Subcutaneous fat makes it plump and soft. Worn by Godskin Nobles, known for their seven-face aprons.

Strengthens the Noble Presence incantation.

Nobles are the most ancient apostles who are said to have ASSIMILATED INHUMAN PHYSIOLOGY Not unlike the crucible, the Erdtree in its primordial form." - Godskin Noble's robe.

The Godskin noble has a snake tail! And the solo noble boss fight is in the fucking temple of Eiglay in volcano manor! Where one of the snakeskins is!

The beast eye given by Gurranq/Maliketh is a rather similar color to

You guessed it! Melina being the GEQ has always been a popular theory, given her eye color and close relation with destined death!

but the things connecting it all is this

FIRST of all. Blaidd has near identically colored eyes. Why doesn't Maliketh have gloam eyes? The one who would have them is dead... mostly.

See there's some interesting lines Blaidd has.

A part of her very being.

Additionally, in Maliketh's arena is this statue.

Marika wears rather serpentine bracelets here, and some people have pointed out there seems to be scars on her wrist. Tooth whip scars?

This is the last piece of information/evidence I'm gonna post.

Below is my headcanon and narrative.

The temptation.

Leda mentioned a temptation.

Imagine it. A girl running from the toothed whip. Into the forest, taken in by wolves. Led to the fingers, whether it's their mother or just one of the pairs.

potentially given the Elden Ring at this point.

I've been partial to the idea that Marika was the first successful ahem "jar saint" because it's cool and ironic and tragic.

She meets the wolves and fingers either before or after the jarring, if she was jarred at all.

The three wolves are the three shadows. Maliketh, Blaidd, and the baleful shadow.

But what would make Maliketh Marika's half brother?

That's just it. Maliketh is a piece of Marika! "But how would he exist before meeting Marika?" You ask? Because Maliketh is only HALF Marika! Half empyrean! Her literal shadow because he's partially her!

But how is Marika the gloam eyed queen?

She followed Metyr's orders in her ascension! She skinned her first god at the divine gate! What followed would be one of the greatest slaughters she participated in! A god hunt! The elimination of the society that ascended the gate before!

But within her grew her rage against the gods! The hornsent mutilated her people in efforts to make the divine! In efforts to reach the gods!

Within her grew her will to be free! She turned against the fingers, viewing them as simply another god to be slain, as they all deserve!

And Maliketh goes MAD. Under the control of the fingers. Just. Like. Blaidd.

He defeats Marika/GEQ, takes destined death, and slays the parts of her that the fingers no longer desire.

The Gloam Eyed Queen is dead and gone, but secretly, she left two pieces of herself behind. One, her COLD FURY, her HUNGER for REVENGE.

A hunger that could devour the very gods.

The other... We'll get to that.

What is left is a hollow, golden, and "pure" queen. Missing base parts of herself. What parts? Who knows.

But the swaddling cloth implies motherhood. The gloam eyed queen wanted to be free! Marika lost that too.

She didn't desire children anymore, they were a duty. She built a culture as the fingers desired. She warred against all who would resist her rule. The society she created adhered to the biases left within her.

A hatred of snakes, fear of her past self.

A hatred of horns, fear of her past.

A hatred of anything like the crucible.

A hatred of anything that can't be controlled.

Her first child was with Godfrey. But it was not an Empyrean. The fingers were not pleased.

Her second child was with herself. Messmer, bearing a curse from the fell god, like his father. But far worse. An all consuming flame.

A blessing from his mother's dead self, that would eventually snuff the fire out.

The fingers, and Marika, were not pleased.

She feared her son and sent him to do an act of pure evil in her stead! She abandoned him!

Radagon leaves and marries Rennala.

But he's a good father that loves his children, and he's a good husband that loves his wife? What makes him different?

He's a larger piece of her loyalty, an unconscious decision to give herself more freedom. He's a piece of duty. so as to let her take more time to search the depths of the golden order. He is their fatherhood. Their less prevalent, masculine half.

When his third child is an Empyrean, the fingers are ecstatic. But they want to assure their control. They have Radagon connect her to her own two fingers, her own shadow would be made.

But queen Marika throws the fingers for a loop, stripping Godfrey and so many others of the Grace of Gold. Sending them to war in distant lands. The only one who understands her goals at this time is herself.

The fingers call Radagon back, to lay with himself, now that they KNOW Their puppet can make another.

But Radagon's marriage to Rellana was a sacred vow. Our favorite turtle Dog pope has something to say on that topic.

The severing of the vow would have disastrous consequences.

Radagon and Marika's second union would curse their two Empyrean children. Rotting and Unceasingly-Nascent.

Time passes, the fingers are begrudgingly satisfied. Ranni plots, and on the 'night' of the eclipse, Godwyn the Golden is killed, sending Marika into a pit of despair.

Whenever Radagon is joined with her, his loyalty suppressed their thoughts of rebellion. Thoughts of her master plan.

A plan who's conditions were not yet met. But despair is quite the powerful emotion.

The ring shatters, Radagon understands. The beast emerges from them. They are imprisoned.

But in their very last moments of control... The last piece of them to ever be removed again, their last, tiny little desire for freedom, and their desire to die, is removed.

And so is born Melina, a woman with a vision of fire and death.

#elden ring #shadow of the erdtree #elden ring lore #elden ring sote #elden ring dlc #shadow of the erdtree spoilers #elden ring theory #elden posting #elden ring spoilers #gloam eyed queen #queen marika the eternal #maliketh the black blade #melina #radagon of the golden order #Youtube

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unalloyed-thoughts · 8 months ago

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Miquella, Torrent and some DLC speculation

I said that i would address this in my last post so here we go!

So all the way back in February of last year (god where the fuck did time go) the first Elden ring dlc announcement was released, and with it this fairly well documented piece of concept art, depicting Miquella riding atop our lovable and trusty spiritual steed Torrent, gazing onto the shadow tree towering yonder.

Of course this spawned many theories, one of the most well known and popular being that Miquella is torrent's former master, the very same one mentioned by Ranni that supposedly delivered the spirit calling bell onto her. Now of course this is all very interesting, as if proven true it means that Miquella did some serious planning ahead, it would also mean that Miquella would be aware of Marika's plan involving the tarnished, at least to some degree. Yet of course i have to still temper my expectations as concept art of Miquella riding torrent isnt exactly hard proof, at least not yet, the dlc announcement showed us a new cover art for the dlc and a much more fleshed out enviroment which looks pretty different from the original announcement, so i wouldnt be surprised if torrent was there for scale rather than hinting at a possible connection. Of course only time will tell...

Even so, lets assume Miquella is indeed Torrent's former master for a second. Because one of the DLC description line in the bandai page is pretty interesting...

Now why is this important? well first off i wanna get something out of the way, this line isnt exactly accurate to the original JP's text, where it says that Miquella is "awaiting the promised lord" so there is no mention of a "return" which makes more sense, now of course the lord in question would be us, the player, who is being guided by Miquella into the lands of shadow for some purpose yet unknown, but there is a chance that Miquella's hunt for a possible lord is something that has been going on for a while...

One of Elden ring's recurring themes is that of beasts following worthy lords, we see this a lot of times, Godfrey being one of the main examples, an elden lord accompanied by his regent beast Serosh. We also have placidusax, another elden lord who ruled over the beastmen. And of course we also have the shadowbound beasts that accompany and serve empyreans.

The bloodhound knights also carry on this particular themes, being knights that choose their own masters, and serve them for life. This part is important because it expands on the themes of Beasts choosing worthy lords.

Finally there is the beast champion armor, that reads: Beasts are drawn to champions, and to lords. And this armor befits a champion worthy of becoming a lord. And that is what Bernahl was. which is again more of the same theme we have been over. So where does torrent fit into all this? well when we talk to Melina she tells us that "Torrent knew our measure from the very start".

From the very beginning Torrent trusted us, he knew we were worthy of becoming lord and decided to follow us and help us achieve our goals, way before Melina truly trusted us. Torrent was our beast and we its lord. See were im going with this? If Miquella used to be Torrent's former master then i believe he was given away to look for a fitting lord, one who would help him carry out his vision. We are Miquella's promised lord. As another theme of elden ring is Lords being subservient to their god. Godfrey was loyal to Marika and carried out her will, placidusax also remained loyal to his god. So now we will become Miquella's lord and aid him in his quest.

I feel the fact that the item that summons torrent is a delicate goldwork ring is also telling of this, The lord that serves their god is usually also their consort. Much like we give ranni our ring to form our union, miquella might have given us this ring to brand us as their coming lord. It also would Make sense if Miquella was the creator of the ring, if he was torrent's former master then he knew a thing or two about spirits (because he entrusted the spirit calling bell onto ranni) and also he is described as a master craftsman, so he could have made the item that summons our spectral steed. its interesting to think about him working with Ranni as at the end of the day they have pretty different goals, one wanting to follow in his mother's footstepts and establish a new order while Ranni wanted to Make order inconcivable, removing it far away from mortal lives. Both being scheming little bastards however doesnt make it to difficult to believe that they would work together for their own personal benefit

But anyway, those are my thoughts for now, i may expand upon it later but who knows. After all this is all WILDLY speculative and likely to be proven wrong when the dlc releases, yet i have hope that maybe some of it will be true!

#elden ring #miquella #miquella the unalloyed #elden ring dlc #elden ring ranni #ranni the witch #lunar princess ranni #shadow of the erdtree #elden ring lore #elden ring miquella

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vinylshifting · 2 months ago

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ANSWERING THESE 70 QUESTIONS

(but my dr self!)

01: Do you have a good relationship with your parents?

Sure, they dont really care ehat i do so thats nice

02: Who did you last say “I love you” to?

my girlfrienddd

03: Do you regret anything?

Moving to america wahh (even though it wasnt my choice)

04: Are you insecure?

not really

05: What is your relationship status?

taken <33

06: How do you want to die?

eithee in a super cool awesome way or at my own hands /hj

07: What did you last eat?

cant remember

08: Played any sports?

i like to play hockey sometimes

09: Do you bite your nails?

nope

10: When was your last physical fight?

cant remember

11: Do you like someone?

My girlfrienndd

12: Have you ever stayed up 48 hours?

Yep

13: Do you hate anyone at the moment?

Annoying ppl at school

14: Do you miss someone?

Not really tbh

15: Have any pets?

yes! my cat elivera

16: How exactly are you feeling at the moment?

Tired

17: Ever made out in the bathroom?

Wouldnt you like to know

18: Are you scared of spiders?

Nope

19: Would you go back in time if you were given the chance?

Maybe

20: Where was the last place you snogged someone?

What does that even mean bruh

21: What are your plans for this weekend?

sleep and play elden rings

22: Do you want to have kids? How many?

23: Do you have piercings? How many?

snake bites would be cool

24: What is/are/were your best subject(s)?

Anything science or music

25: Do you miss anyone from your past?

nope, but maybe my friends from my hometown when i was little

26: What are you craving right now?

Some zaxbys

27: Have you ever broken someone’s heart?

never

28: Have you ever been cheated on?

Nope, my girlfriend is my first (and only) relationship

29: Have you made a boyfriend/girlfriend cry?

i dont think so

30: What’s irritating you right now?

School 100%

31: Does somebody love you?

My girlfriend

32: What is your favourite color?

Grey, any shade of grey

33: Do you have trust issues?

A tiny bit

34: Who/what was your last dream about?

Cant remember

35: Who was the last person you cried in front of?

My online friend

36: Do you give out second chances too easily?

Sometimes

37: Is it easier to forgive or forget?

Forget

38: Is this year the best year of your life?

I cherish every year

39: How old were you when you had your first kiss?

13??? maybe 14

40: Have you ever walked outside completely naked?

No, and never plan to

51: Favourite food?

SOUP 🔥🔥 any kind i love soup

52: Do you believe everything happens for a reason?

Yes

53: What is the last thing you did before you went to bed last night?

Probably jerk off scroll instagram reels

54: Is cheating ever okay?

No never

55: Are you mean?

I wouldnt say i am

56: How many people have you fist fought?

Idfk

57: Do you believe in true love?

Yes

58: Favourite weather?

RAIN, or cloudy days. i like the cold

59: Do you like the snow?

yes 100%

60: Do you wanna get married?

To my girlfriend yes

61: Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby?

Only when its my girlfriend

62: What makes you happy?

My friends, Alcohol, My girlfriend

63: Would you change your name?

64: Would it be hard to kiss the last person you kissed?

Nope

65: Your best friend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do?

Pepper spray, im locked in with my girl

66: Do you have a friend of the opposite sex who you can act your complete self around?

Not really

67: Who was the last person of the opposite sex you talked to?

My mom

68: Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with?

My girlfriend

69: Do you believe in soulmates?

Yes

70: Is there anyone you would die for?

My girlfriend or my friends

(feel free to take this idea too!!)

#reality shifting #shiftblr #shifters #shifting community #desired reality #shifting antis dni #shifting motivation #shifting blog #shifting stories #original dr rambles

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cerastes · 5 months ago

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ngl Shadows of the Erdtree feels like the first FromSoft experience I’ve had where the optional superboss stuff feels *less* difficult and unfun than the main story bosses in general - I have to wonder what the development of the DLC looked like from a top-down design perspective or something

The only real native-to-DLC bosses I have issues with are Death Knights (incredibly boring movesets), Commander Gaius (That Forward Charge's Active Frames Are Kinda Bullshit) and The Final Boss' Phase 2, I think everything else was fun, Midra, Metyr, Romina, Rellana, Putrescence, Avatar, Dancing Lion, Messmer, Bayle, I loved all of them. At most, I think Metyr has some dumb attacks as well, Bayle has some camera issues when up close, and Dancing Lion's Lightning Form has some pretty fucked up combinations in which it calls lightning on top of you but you can't see it because the camera is looking at it from below, rendering the lightning markers invisible, but that's about it

The bad parts were mainly tied to fighting Another Death Rite Bird, Another Ancient Dragon, stuff like that, things that were already jank in the base game. Closest to True Jank in the DLC is when you have to fight a Ghostflame Drake on extremely uneven terrain, and not really a boss, but Wicker Men/Furnace Giants are so, so, so incredibly dull to fight. Otherwise, I think bosswise the DLC goes hard.

"I have to wonder what the development of the DLC looked like from a top-down design perspective or something" -> This is a really interesting line of thought, I have to say. I personally think that they focused first and foremost on having a big area that didn't feel empty: Both the base game and the DLC, for all their virtues and flaws, undeniably have the single best open world I've seen in my life. It never feels empty. My main complaint with open world games is that, sure, you have a big world, now, do you have jack all to do in these huge swathes of digital land that you used to make sales? Usually, No, but Elden Ring definitely manages to nail this spectacularly, so I think that was their priority, at the unfortunate cost of other things. I think it also has to do with FromSoft feeling like they need to keep upping up the ante compared to previous entries and overblowing things with sensational looking fights instead of thoroughly mechanically sound fights: Malenia, for example, I think suffers from this, because she's an amazing fight right up until she uses Waterfowl, which is by no means undodgeable, but it being a lingering, persistent implication of damage+healing throughout the fight past a certain point serves to annoy more than to enrich the fight; Waterfowl is cool as hell the first time you see it, and just a bummer every time afterwards. It's a really beautiful, showy move that'll have journos and youtubers making content for it, but it gets in the way of gameplay ultimately. Now, multiply this by 50 and you have Phase 2 of the Final Boss: EVERYTHING is this big extravagant light show, no simple attacks, everything has to be a rave. To a certain degree, this happens with other bosses, too -- 80% of the bosses announce their Phase 2 with a HUGE explosion, it gets boring and old fast -- but Final Boss Phase 2 is just needlessly extra in ways that make me think they wanted to make it look good first and make it play fun a distant second.

So, yeah, I think their priority was the open world, and they nailed it, but it was such a huge undertaking that everything else kinda suffered, in particular user experience imo, in conjunction with Making The Game Escalate More almost by necessity at this point.

Mind you, please don't get me wrong, I loved the DLC, it's just that I'm talking about the flaws more, but it's important to keep in mind this is coming from someone that Enjoyed It.

#theoutofworld blog

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klysanderelias · 1 year ago

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It's always funny to me when a big-name youtuber argues vociferously that souls-like games DO have a difficulty setting, it's Playing The Game Right (leveling, build, using summons, etc), and then later on in the same video will have a fifteen minute long section complaining about how certain boss fights completely invalidate certain builds or require you to drastically alter your style of play, and i'm like... I thought you were in FAVOR of this.

And of course they're not, they just don't understand what a difficulty setting IS anymore, and that's completely fair because I think that most DEVELOPERS don't either, but it means that the criticism they make is always couched in a fundamental misunderstanding of the thing they're trying to criticise (and also usually a complete misunderstanding of where the criticism comes from).

And I want to be clear, I've beaten basically every single Dark Souls game, I beat bloodborne, I played shitloads of elden ring and the reason I didn't beat it was because I got bored, and I've done speedruns and soul level 1 runs of dark souls 3. I'm pretty much the dark souls power player that everyone expects would argue AGAINST having difficulty options.

But.

I've been playing thousands of hours of battletech, and the battletech difficulty screen has been the singlehandedly biggest argument I've had change my mind.

In the game, Battletech modifies difficulty per mission by changing the total health of enemies, changing their skills and experience levels, the usual fare of difficulty curves (although damage is never affected, thank god). But having all these granular options can dramatically change the way the game is played without simply affecting health values or hit percentages.

Toggling mech destruction and lethality means that losing a mech in a mission or having a pilot be knocked unconscious removes them permanently. They're killed, destroyed, you need to go get a new one. That's a HUGE change from the base difficulty where having a mech be completely destroyed in combat just removes the weapon components and costs a ton to repair. Likewise, changing the number of parts required to buy or salvage in order to complete a mech DRAMATICALLY changes the game - the maximum amount of parts you can get from a single mech is 3, and usually you only get 1. Needing 3 parts means that if you're lucky, you could see a brand new mech in a mission, blow its head off, and get one for free. Moving that scale up both means that rare or expensive mechs take much much longer to earn, but also that replacing mechs takes much longer (meaning that losses are even more painful).

Like, every single one of these options can dramatically affect how you play the game or change the feel of it to something much more interesting to you as a player - do you want to play a rogue-like game where you have to save and scrounge to get new mechs, and each mech and pilot is a precious resource you have to protect? or do you want to powerscale fast and constantly get new mechs and rare weapons?

And like, having extremely granular options for gameplay isn't for everyone, but then again, there are the owlcat pathfinder CRPGs that do this same thing, but have a base 'easy-normal-hard' sort of slider that automatically selects certain options, and you can adjust them if you want. If you're not interested in going through each slider you can just say 'I'd like normal please' and the game automatically makes all the selections, but you can also stop and say 'hey actually let me turn on permadeath too' and you can do that.

And I think that when people think about difficulty, they think about the most basic 'health and damage adjustments' sliders, and not ANYTHING else that actually have much more of an impact. I will hit this point to my grave that dark souls would massively benefit from difficulty options like turning off instakill effects (like curse or petrification) or removing the harsh penalty of dying when you can't get back to your bloodstain because a) that's often what drive new players off the most, and b) it doesn't fuckin' matter anyway, all you're losing is souls, the only thing it does is make you have to go grind more to make up for it.

And of course, there are always EXTRA challenge runs people come up with - nuzlocke runs of pokemon, soul level 1 runs of dark souls, hell, when I do Battletech I often add additional challenges like 'no intentional destruction of civilian buildings' or 'each mech must be assigned to a pilot and if one of them is sidelined, so is the other'

But challenge runs aren't difficulty settings, and more importantly there's no way to unchallenge run a game. You can decide to make the game harder for yourself, but you can't make the game EASIER. And when people say that you can, they're lying to you. Like yeah, there builds that are very strong in dark souls, and leveling optimally will make the game easier, but if you don't know what optimal leveling looks like, it's pointless. If you have a deep and thorough understanding of the game, and you check the messageboards, and delve through the wiki, and use a couple of exploits, the game will be easy! And if it's still too hard for you after that? Well, go fuck yourself, you just spent hours of your life doing research only to give up on the game anyway.

And the truth is, most people who argue that dark souls shouldn't have a difficulty slider are doing it out of bad faith, because they have a certain amount of ego riding on 'being good at hard game' as a character trait, and making these games more accessible frightens them because what if being good at dark souls isn't actually getting them into heaven

but also because they're somehow afraid that having extra difficulty options in the game will tempt them into choosing them? And then they won't get the 'true experience'?

Gamers are some of the most fragile people in existence that the mere option of reducing difficulty sends them into hysterics.

#dark souls #battletech #elden ring #i'm swinging at the hornet's nest I know #but I couldn't help myself #i had joseph anderson's video on elden ring in the background and I had to stop it when he said that shit #because it's so prevalent among game youtubers now #and it's the most vocal and highlighted members of the community saying it #so it's going to keep being treated like a maxim of gaming #that making games easier is terrible #and I'm just like. I'm too old for this shit. I can't spend a hundred hours on this game.#I'm not interested in having to redo this fight again #which is why I stopped playing elden ring honestly #because I kind of like spending an hour or two learning a fight #but then if the boss is reused FIVE MORE TIMES

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buriedknight · 2 months ago

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Ludwig bloodborne 🙏

ahhh unexpected! but pleasant :) hope i didn't become too rusty in bloodborne lore!

Favorite thing about them

Well, everything about Ludwig is just great: the design, the lines, the ost, the lore, the bossfight after all - he's one of my faves in Bloodborne! But for this question, i would choose insight/bestiality dichotomy in Ludwig. Usually these parameters are opposed, both in lore and in gameplay. They are opposed in Ludwig, too, but he seems to possess both and at the same time. he saw the arcane knowledge (and quite literally took it for himself) BUT ALSO he is a hunter who has become a malformed beast, roaming in a pit with his victims… i think this feaure is pretty unique to him, and this tells about him a lot.

Least favorite thing about them

As i said earlier, i like pretty much everything about Ludwig :'D but i think the thing i don't enjoy as much as the rest is fighting his second phase... it is still great and fun, i just needed to choose one.

Favorite line

Good hunter, have you seen the thread of light? Just a hair, a fleeting thing, yet I clung to it, steeped as I was in the stench of blood and beasts. I never wanted to know, what it really was. Really, I didn't.

No additional comments, this just hits hard.

BrOTP

Maria! Just two chivalric guys being pals. I think they have a lot in common and understand each other like no other, in terms of hunt and slowly gaining eldritch knowledge. They also do friendly sparrings!

OTP

I don't really ship Ludwig with anybody... I kinda get the appeal of Ludwig and Laurence as knight and lord figures but i also don't care if it is romantic or platonic, or just professional relationships, it is equally interesting for me.

nOTP

As i said, i just don't ship Ludwig with anybody... for most pairings with him i am indifferent. i like when it is beautifully drawn or interestingly described but that's it

Random headcanon

Keeping in mind the lore implications (Sword description + Guidance rune description + Tomb Prospector set/remains of clothes on Ludwig), I headcanon that he used to be among first prospectors. More than that, he formed his workshop mostly of his past buddies who agreed to abandon the tombs, at least for the first time. I also think he really liked doing the research and appreciated this period of his life very much, and became a hunter not because he wanted to change his occupation but because he felt like he MUST do it (his tragic chivalric ideals)

Unpopular opinion

I haven't interacted much with Bloodborne communtity for a while (I have interacted with the same community but mostly regarding Elden Ring because yeah but you got what I mean), but I think my opinions on Ludwig are pretty common? The only thing that comes to mind is that i enjoy fighting first phase more than second but can't say it is very rare

Song i associate with them

Mostly Ludwig's OST, sorry... it is too perfect for describing him

Alas, Fist by Fist by Powerwolf has his and his workshop's energy for me.

Favorite picture of them

This comic by Ruine. It is old but ahhhh still very very good!!

also i can't find the exact picture done by Seraphiiem (i think she hasn't uploaded it for general access?) but her Ludwig is very distinguished, look at him

#ask

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borathae · 9 months ago

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“Being a sorcerer has always been Hoseok’s dream. So when a well-known and powerful sorceress sends out letters informing the young minds of the city of an upcoming position as her apprentice, Hoseok takes fate into his own hands and applies. The only problem is that learning the arts of magic is reserved for women. He is convinced however that hard work and effort can charm the sorceress’ heart and get him the position.”

Pairing: Magic Student!Hoseok x Magic Student!Reader

Genre: Fantasy!AU, Magic School!AU, s2f2potential lovers!AU, Romance

Warnings: lots of plot, 90% of this is written from Hoseok’s POV, Queendom!Tae being the bestest friend, they’re both so adorable, the students are mean to him at first :(, except for reader heheh she is a sweetheart <3, also idk if this is important but i got inspired by Elden Ring as far as some names are concerned istfg best game <3, this will have a second part where reader’s pov plays a bigger part and the romance is gonna be bigger as well <3, for now this story is very magic & Hobi’s journey to magic centered, but also some romantic tension is present as well hngngn, istfg i love this universe

Wordcount: 6.5k of 24.3k

✴ Part Two of Two ✴

Hoseok returns to the school with new energy. Spending the days with Taehyung truly helped him see the bright side of things again. He knows that he can do it. Hoseok is motivated to find his connection.

Two weeks however pass and Hoseok still fails to find his connection. His fellow students have already managed the second step each and proved their worth, while he still struggled to connect. The motivation of once has long died out again.

It is dinner time, but Hoseok is not in the eating hall.

“Have you seen Hoseok?” Ainar asks you and Ash.

“I haven’t.”

“I haven’t either.”

“Do you believe that he is alright? He looked very sad after class today.”

“I think it really saddens him that he cannot connect to the magic”, Ash says, “poor Hoseok, I truly wish for him to find it.”

“Yes, me too”, Ainar agrees.

“I am most certain that he will. He has to. With the test coming up”, you say.

“What do you think will happen to him if he cannot connect until then?”

Nobody dares to speak, eventhough all of you share the same thought. That if Hoseok fails, it could mean that he will have to pack his belongings and leave this school. A kind heart will only prove one worthy for that long before the missing skill catches up with one. Hoseok might have the kindness a great sorcerer should posses, but if he cannot access the magic, it means that he is simply that. A kind person. Nobody dares to speak these thoughts however because you truly wanted the best for him.

Ainar moved into your room after Becca had to leave. Ash voiced her deep regrets for her behaviour in the beginning and confessed that she was too scared to stand up to Becca in fear of being excluded. Hoseok forgave her and then offered her a piece of chocolate. Ever since then, your little group has been good friends. If you weren’t practicing or studying, you spend many hours laughing and talking in your shared sitting room. You think that Hoseok has the most wonderful laugh and the most thrilling stories to tell. His absence would truly be painful and none of you want his leave.

You agree to take dinner back to your bed chamber so Hoseok wouldn’t have to go to sleep hungry. Tomorrow will be a busy day as you will have potion class with sorceress Zenith and her lectures are always very draining. Hoseok needs to eat something unless he wants to faint.

He isn’t in the shared sitting room and so you knock on your bed chamber.

“Mhm.”

You open the door, Ash and Ainar follow.

“Hoseok? We brought you dinner.”

“I am not hungry.”

Hoseok lies in his bed with the blanket pulled over his head and his back turned to the door.

“You must eat. We have sorceress Zenith tomorrow. You will suffer if you don’t eat something.”

“I am not going to class tomorrow.”

“What? Why?”

“But you love potion class”, Ash says.

“You say it always brings you joy”, Ainar insists.

“I don’t want to.”

You pull the blanket off his head. He whips around and tries to grab for it.

“Don’t. Just leave me be”, he complains.

“We worry for you.”

“Don’t you want to try the food? It is very delicious tonight”, Ainar tries.

Hoseok eyes it, then his friends. They look so worried for him. He gives up with a sigh, sitting up in his bed. He accepts the bowl of fresh fish stew and the piece of white bread with it.

“May we sit down?”

Hoseok nods his head. You sit down on his bed next to him, paying him company like this.

“You will be able to do it”, Ash says.

“Today was just the first day of the week and you still have three moons to prepare for the test. I am very positive that you will manage until then.”

“And if I won’t? We all know what this will mean. That I will lose my spot at this school. What good is a magic student who cannot even connect to his magic?”

You exchange a look with the others. One Hoseok notices. He sags his shoulders in defeat.

“Perhaps I should already pack my belongings and leave, before I embarrass myself.”

“No, don’t speak like this. You will be able to do it. I just know you will”, you insist, reaching out to touch his arm before pulling back again. You have never touched him before. It would be strange to do so now.

Hoseok doesn’t notice it as he is too busy staring sad holes into the wall.

“Please, you must at least try”, Ash insists, “we do not wish to say goodbye to you.”

“Do you truly feel this way?” Hoseok asks.

You each nod your heads.

“Oh”, he lets out and lowers his head. His cheeks feel hot, his heart light in his chest, “I didn’t think that you would”, he confesses, “thank you. I must work hard, so we do not have to say goodbye to each other then.”

“Yes, exactly. If you want to, I can help you tomorrow after class”, you offer.

“Truly?”

You nod your head, “yes truly.”

“Then, I would love this.”

“It is decided then. Now eat your stew. I think that they used the freshest fish tonight. It tastes so wonderful.”

You and Hoseok meet up after late lunch. Ash and Ainar are outside with a few other girls, practicing for the exam. Some others are occupying the library.

“Where should we go? Our chamber?” Hoseok asks.

“No, I have a better idea”, you say and wave him with you, “follow me.”

Hoseok follows you in a quick step, greeting a few students as you pass them by. You also meet Sorceress Ciri on your path.

“Where are you off to?” she asks.

“The caves. We want to practice for the exam”, you tell her.

“Be careful. Especially you”, she addresses Hoseok with it.

“I, I will”, he stutters.

“Good. Some stones may very well only turn out to be stones. Dull, lightless failures.”

Hoseok blinks in shock.

“And some may outshine all others once they’ve reached the light”, you throw back angrily and tug at Hoseok’s sleeve, “come on Hoseok, we are already running late.”

Hoseok stumbles after you with his eyes glued to Sorceress Ciri for as long as possible. The sorceress curls her lips and clicks her tongue, turning her back to him before strutting off with her nose stuck high into the sky.

“Pay her words no mind. She is a bitter old hag.”

Hoseok gasps at your harsh words.

“Forgive me, I grew up with less classes in manners”, you say, “I won’t take back what I said, however.”

Hoseok lets a small smile wash over his lips, “it is alright.”

The caves can be reached through a sturdy door. It is very important not to imagine the caves like one might imagine a typical cave. Dark, wet, cold. The glintstone caves are none of these things. They dig deep and lower into the mountain, but no corner of it is dark. Magic deep in the crystal makes them glow, illuminating the paths and stairs this way. The air is quite comfortable on the skin and leaves no wet sensation behind, carrying magical scents one might describe as sweet while others might take them in as fresh. Tables and chairs are scattered on the bigger areas where students can sit and practice. They are currently empty. And purple clouds of magic dance in the air. A waterfall is rushing in the background, its waters can be used in healing potions.

You and Hoseok choose a table surrounded by glintstone and not far from the door.

“Let me”, Hoseok offers and fixes the chair for you.

“Thank you”, you say with a quick flutter in your heart, “what a surprise.”

“Oh? Oh, forgive me. Force of habit. I am so used to fixing chairs for Taehyung.”

“It is alright. I didn’t mind.”

Hoseok sits down opposite of you, looking around the cave.

“I still cannot believe that something like this truly exists.”

��Yes, me neither”, you agree, “now, are you ready to practice?”

He nods his head vividly.

“Take out your stone.”

Hoseok obeys.

“Show me your process.”

Hoseok obeys. Just like always, he fails to lift the stone.

“As you can see, I am as far as I was on the first day”, he jokes, lifting the corners of your lips into a smile.

“I am most certain that something happened inside you. Something that perhaps needs just a little bit of help?”

“Help?”

“Please do not judge me, but I did some reading”, you say and pull out a carefully written paper, “here. You can have these notes.”

“Truly?” Hoseok accepts them gladly.

“Yes. These are only my theories and I am but a mere beginner as well, so take them with caution. But I was thinking that perhaps your own magic is simply not strong enough to find its connection with you.”

“Not strong enough you say?”

“Yes. Watch me.”

Hoseok follows you with his eyes. You reach to your side and touch the glintstone, making it glow. It feels warm and comfortable and you take this feeling to transfer it into the stone to make it float. Hoseok’s stone floats soon after, the small table follows as well.

Hoseok gasps in awe.

“You see? Perhaps you have to channel the energies in these caves and your magic will be stronger”, you say, lowering the objects again. The glow dies down, as does the warmth in your fingertips, “strong enough so that it can finally find its connection.”

“That was remarkable.”

“Thank you. Try it yourself.”

“Forgive me?” Hoseok gasps with widened eyes, “how should I do such a thing?”

“Simply try. Perhaps you need a little help to connect with your magic. Perhaps you cannot produce enough energy yet and need a strengthening from these stones.”

“So you believe that with a stronger source, I could awaken my magic inside? Like feeding a dying fire more wood?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Perhaps this could work”, Hoseok says and stands up to touch the glintstone just like you did.

It makes soft sounds, soaking the pads of his fingers with coldness. He closes his eyes, focusing on the sensation.

“Try to visualise it”, you whisper.

Hoseok imagines glowing stones and warmth in his fingers. He imagines purple haze all around him and how it soaks his fibres. He imagines his practice stone floating and how much warmer his hands would get.

He imagines, but he fails to truly put it into reality. He opens his eyes. Coldness. No glow. He drops his hand from the stone and sinks down on his chair, burying his face in his hands.

“I tried so hard”, he gets out shakily.

“Try again.”

“No, just give it up. It won’t work.”

“But it has to”, you say and touch the stone. You make it glow, “look! I, I did it for you. Keep this glow alive”, you try.

“How?”

“Touch it and try to keep it alive.”

Hoseok obeys even if his eyes seem hopeless.

“I am counting to three and then you give it life. One, two, three.”

Bright light for but a breath, sudden flickering which weakens the glow more and more until the stone is dark again.

“You did it!”

“I didn’t do anything. I failed”, Hoseok insists and pulls his hands away.

“No, you did something. The stone flickered before it died out. You kept it alive for but a moment.”

“No, I didn’t. It was simply your magic leaving it.”

“No it wasn’t. You did that.”

“Give it up, ___. I am hopeless.”

“No, you are not.”

“Why do you want my success so badly? Why can’t you just let it go?”

“Because I like you”, you blurt out.

Hoseok closes his mouth, gawking at you with widened eyes. His pulse flutters for but a moment.

“And I want your dream to become reality. I want it so very much. Not only for you, but also for my brother. You cannot give up, Hoseok please. You could change the world and make it possible so that dreamers like my brother have a chance as well.”

“But I am just a boy”, Hoseok whispers,

“You are not just a boy. You are Hoseok, you are strong and resilient and a wonderful dreamer.”

“But how should I change the world?”

“By not giving up. By believing in yourself.”

Hoseok lowers his head shyly.

“And if you cannot believe in yourself right now, believe in me and my support for you.”

Hoseok meets your gaze. Honesty, hope, admiration. He can see it in your purple eyes. You speak the truth. You really believe in him.

“Thank you”, he breathes, looking at your lips for but a moment, “for saying this.”

“I meant it. I cannot say goodbye to you, so please do not give up already.”

He smiles shyly, “I won’t.”

You retort his smile, letting your eyes run over his face. He has a birthmark on his lip. You never noticed it until now. Your mother always tells you that birthmarks show up on a person’s body where they were kissed especially much in their past life.

Hoseok lets out a shy laugh, ripping you back to reality. You look away instantly, clearing your throat loudly.

“I uhm”, you begin.

He clears his throat and looks away, turns to touch the glintstone. His cheeks feel hot. He closes his eyes and tries to imagine how his hands warm up as well.

A tickle. At the very tips of his fingers. Hoseok gasps and pulls away instinctively.

“What is it? Did you feel something?”

“No. Yes. I mean, I cannot say. My fingertips tickled.”

“Try again. Oh, this could be it!”

Hoseok touches the stone with both hands and closes his eyes. A tickle. He has to imagine a tickle which becomes warmth.

Nothing happens. He pulls away, shaking his head sadly.

“Try again.”

“I don’t think that your theory works. I am truly sorry.”

“But it has to”, you say and take his hands so you could place them on the stone.

Hoseok gasps quietly, gawking at his hands engulfed in yours. The touch goes so deep. He quite frankly, finds it a little hard to breathe all of a sudden.

You make the stone glow, keeping his hands between yours and the glowing crystal.

“Feel it? How warm it becomes?” you try, squeezing his hands, “how it is tickling your palms?”

You look at his face. His cheeks are flushed, his eyes widened slightly. It is enough to make you realise the situation you currently find yourself in. You are touching him. You crossed the line.

“Forgive me”, you say, pulling away instantly.

Hoseok keeps his hands on the stone, looking at you just as you look at him. You both miss how the stone keeps glowing, just as Hoseok doesn’t take in how warm his hands have become. The eye contact takes all your attention.

“I shouldn’t have taken your hands. Please forgive me.”

Hoseok shakes his head, “there is nothing to forgive.”

He retreats his hands. The stone finally darkens. Neither of you take it in.

“I-”, you begin.

“Young students, why are you still here?”

You never get to finish your sentence as sorceress Zenith interrupts you before you can. You and Hoseok stand up to bow at her.

“Forgive us, sorceress Zenith. We practiced for our exam”, Hoseok says.

“Hard work is honourable, but do not forget your sleep. It is late, young students. You must prepare for the night and I cannot allow you to be here any longer”, she says and waves the big set of keys around she uses to lock the caves overnight.

“We are already leaving. Forgive us”, Hoseok says and hurries away with you by his side.

You wait until you cross a corner before breaking into giggles.

“I cannot believe that we got caught by sorceress Zenith”, you snicker.

“My heart is racing. Did you see how she looked at us?” Hoseok giggles.

“Oh, we are so doomed.”

“No, do not say that. I am already doomed enough”, he chuckles.

“Forgive me, oh forgive me”, you laugh, stumbling from laughing so hard that Hoseok has to hold your sleeve for support.

You stumble into your chamber still laughing about your run in with sorceress Zenith. Ainar and Ash are already in their room.

“Do you mind if I washed myself first?” you ask him.

“Not at all. I might go to the library either way. I must read up on the theory.”

“But what if sorceress Zenith will catch you again?” you tease, stepping closer to him in a playful way.

“Then I will tell her that it was your idea”, Hoseok throws back and gives your shoulder a little poke.

You snicker, moving closer. Hoseok grins, chasing you. Your faces are mere inches away from touching.

Realisation. Hearts flutter.

You break away instantly, looking everywhere but the other person.

“I uhm, I am in the library”, Hoseok stutters.

“I understand, uh, have fun”, you say and leave for the washing chamber.

Hoseok calls your name. You look over your shoulder.

“Yes?”

“I uhm”, he clears his throat, blushing slightly. He shakes his head and looks away coyishly, “forget it. I was rambling.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll be in the library”, Hoseok says and bows deeply, “thank you for helping me.”

“I uh”, you do not get to finish you sentence before he is already gone. What did he want to tell you?

Hoseok attempts to concentrate, but his mind is racing. Thoughts about you and the unexplainable flutters you awoke in him tonight, thoughts about the tickles in his fingertips but also worries about the test and his continuous failures.

The theory you told him sounded so perfect and yet he still failed to find his connection. The good thoughts of you drown out more and more, the longer Hoseok thinks about his failures.

He doesn’t quite know how many hours he spent pondering his dark future and trying to find help in books, but his tired body lets him know that it must have been a few.

The library is dead silent. Hoseok should really be in his chambers already. Not only because the school rules say so, but also because it is way too late to still be awake. But Hoseok couldn’t sleep if he tried. Five moons passed ever since the weekend and he still hasn’t found his connection to magic. Not even practicing in the caves helped him. He feels like a failure. Perhaps Sorceress Ciri was right. Perhaps he is destined to be dull, lightless stone.

“Hoseok?”

He looks at the person having whispered his name.

“Sorceress Selen?” he gasps, scrambling to his feet to bow at her.

“Please stay comfortable”, she tells him and sits down on the chair opposite of him, “what are you still doing up?”

“Please forgive me. I didn’t notice how late it already was. I will go to my chambers right away. I promise it won’t happen again.”

“Sit, Hoseok.”

He follows her orders with a racing heart. He is scared. Will this be the night he is finally told to leave? He fumbles with his fingers nervously, trying to look into the sorceress‘ purple eyes despite his hammering heart.

“You do not seem like yourself lately. Is there something troubling you?” she however asks him with motherly concern in her voice.

Hoseok looks at his lap instantly, feeling his eyes water. It has been too long since someone spoke to him with such maternal worry in their voice. He feels too fragile tonight not to have a reaction to it.

“There is something troubling you, isn’t there?” she gasps upon seeing the tears in his eyes.

He nods his head.

“Talk to me, my young student.”

“I am scared.”

“Scared?”

He nods his head, “scared to fail tomorrow’s test. I am such a failure. I feel unworthy of your teachings. I even fail to do something as simple as lifting a stone with my mind.”

“Do not give up hope yet, my young student.”

“It all feels hopeless”, Hoseok sniffles, “what if I was never meant to learn magic? What if my dream is truly foolish? What if boys are simply not meant to possess magic? Sorcerer Argon was proof enough. I am but a foolish boy with foolish ambitions”, Hoseok says and rubs at his eyes to stop himself from truly crying.

The sorceress Selen studies his sad stature, taking a deep breath. She fixes her dress and straightens up.

“I am going to tell you a story”, she begins.

Hoseok looks at her.

“A story of a powerful sorcerer and how he managed to write history.”

“A sorcerer? There was another sorcerer?” Hoseok gasps.

“Oh yes there was.”

“So it is truly possible for boys to learn magic without losing control?”

“Oh yes it is. There was one sorcerer, who traversed these lands many, many centuries ago and who till this day is spoken about.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes. He was a powerful mage, who had incredible magic inside him. He always spoke of creating a spell so grande he will be able to leave this plain and travel to another universe.”

“This is impossible. Nobody could be that powerful. You said so yourself.”

“But he was.”

“No”, he gasps.

“Yes, yes indeed he was, dear Hoseok. Indeed he was. He worked decades on this one spell and he always spoke of leaving this universe and finding another where he will be able to create his own school of magic.”

“For boys and girls?”

“Yes indeed. For boys and girls. He spoke of it in many of his writings. And so he worked on the spell until one day he was gone. His servant had gone to the market for fresh eggs and when he returned, the mage’s office was completely cleaned out. Except for one small letter.”

“What did it say?”

“Dear Bartemo. That was his servant’s name. Dear Bartemo, if you read this letter and I am nowhere to be found, it seems that my spell was finally successful. I took my research with me. However, the estate and all its belongings are yours from this day forward. I am off to teach many young children the arts of magic. With kindest regards, Nilrem.”

“Nilrem”, Hoseok repeats, “I have read this name in scriptures long ago. I never believed this name to be important. Was he ever found? Did he return? What about his research? Is it truly lost?”

“Oh yes, sadly he took it with him. He was never seen in this realm again and Bartemo lived to eighty years of age before a fever took him. He never saw his master again, but he always spoke highly of him.”

“This is truly such a wonderful story. I thank you for telling me. Nilrem. I will remember the name and see it as motivation to grow as a sorcerer”, Hoseok lets out an excited giggle, scrunching his nose, “do you believe that he was successful? That he managed to teach magic to younglings?”

“I like to believe that he was. It is truly a shame that in this realm, it is still so frowned upon for boys to learn magic, so I truly hope that in at least another universe, Nilrem managed to make the world a fairer place.”

“Yes, yes this sounds good”, Hoseok says and nods his head, “oh, I am spilling over with sudden motivation. I need to practice my spells, yes I must. Please if you would excuse me”, he says and jumps up to hurry away.

The sorceress Selen watches him with fond eyes until the library door closes behind him. He is a student she finds herself very fond of already.

“___!” Hoseok calls your name, stumbling through the door.

You lift your head from your pillow, studying his face with sleepy eyes. He looks out of breath.

“Yes?” you croak with your voice heavy from sleep.

“Sorcerer existed in these lands!”

“What do you mean?”

Hoseok jumps onto your bed and touches your arm in excitement, shaking you in your comfortable blanket cocoon. You whine quietly, feeling oh so dizzy.

“I spoke with sorceress Selen in the library and she told me a story of a powerful sorcerer, who wandered these lands thousands of years ago. His name was Nilrem and he was so powerful that he could traverse universes.”

“Universes?” you murmur and yawn loudly, “what do you mean universes?”

“Yes, universes! He went to another universe and was never seen again. Oh ___, boys can learn magic”, Hoseok drops his head into your blanket, hugging you this way, “and they can be powerful without losing control. I can learn magic as well, it is possible.”

You tense up in shock, feeling your heart speed up in your chest. He feels very warm and comfortably heavy on your chest. Oh by Frenya, you wear but a thin sleeping gown and his head is dangerously close to your bosom. Thankfully for your own sanity of heart, Hoseok sits up again. He is too overtaken in excitement to truly realise what he has done and what he did to your poor heart in the process.

“I can learn magic as well, ___”, he says and laughs so brightly his lips form the prettiest of hearts.

“So this means that sorceress Ciri lied today”, you say.

“Yes it was a lie”, Hoseok says and sighs in relief, “I am not a failure.”

“Of course you aren’t”, you say and sit up, covering yourself with the blanket, “I always believed in you. She was very rude and wrong for talking to you like this.”

“I thank you for saying this”, Hoseok gives your upper arm a gentle rub, “I am very happy to have you as my chamber mate.”

“Oh”, you feel your cheeks heat up, lowering your eyes shyly, “I am happy as well”, you whisper.

“Now, you must excuse me. I am in the garden, practicing until I can finally lift a stone”, Hoseok says and jumps out of your bed. He slips into his shoes and gives you a smiley wave goodbye before finally disappearing out of the room.

You touch the spot on your upper arm he rubbed, then the spot on your chest his head rested upon, taking a deep breath to calm down the flutter of your heart.

He is already doing magic. Deep, deep in your chest where you pulse just doesn’t want to slow down.

Hoseok isn’t in his bed when you wake early the next morning. You leave your sleeping chambers. The door to Ainar’s and Ash’s chamber is still closed and right there on the soft seating, Hoseok is sleeping with his mouth wide open. Half of his limbs hang from the edge off the seat, his long hair does as well. His practice glintstone sits on the table. The notes you made for him lie beside it.

For but a second you let him sleep peacefully, letting your eyes wander over him. His body is still dressed in the white clothing of yesterday, his shoes are scattered by the entrance. Your eyes linger but a second on his exposed neck and how the morning sun paints streaks of golden light on his skin.

You had a difficult time falling asleep last night as your mind kept you awake with thoughts of what happened between you and him. Barely anything did if one compares it to truly big happenings, but it meant a lot to you. You touched his hands, you shared playful banter in front of the bathing chamber with him, he hugged you. You never experienced something like this before and you couldn’t quite place the feelings it awakes in your chest.

You lift your eyes upon hearing Ash open her door. She and Ainar leave their room.

“Oh? What happened to him?”

“Practice. I think he practiced all night.”

Hoseok, who wakes up from your voices, sits up. He groans loudly, touching his neck instantly.

“By Frenya, my neck”, he whines, massaging in vividly, “huh?!” he suddenly straightens up, “what time is it? Oh, the test!” he blurts out and jumps up to run out of the room.

“We still have two hours left”, you stop him before he can.

“Oh”, he stops, “really?”

“Yes, enough time for you to wash up. You look rather battered.”

“I feel battered. My neck is going to kill me”, he says and rolls it, groaning as he does.

“Did you sleep here all night?” Ainar asks.

“No. I fell asleep with the sun rising.”

“But it has only been light for an hour.”

“I know”, Hoseok says and yawns.

“Why did you stay up this long? How should you concentrate today?”

“I will make it work”, Hoseok says, furrowing his brows in conviction. He lets his eyes drift to yours, “I have a dream to fulfil.”

A smile graces your face for but a moment, before you feel too shy to keep the eye contact going. Hoseok looks to the side.

“Now if you don’t mind, I would like to wash the day away.”

“Go ahead. I already bathed last night”, Ash assures him, “Ainar and I will be in the eating hall.”

“May I accompany you?” you ask them.

“Of course.”

You leave Hoseok alone in your shared room. He picks up his practice stone and walks to his room to get new clothing so he could get dressed in the bathing chamber.

He meets you and the others in class. Like so very often, you bring breakfast because you knew that he would skip it for the sake of practicing just a little more. He eats it seated by his desk and with his nervous eyes glued to his practice stone. The swell of his eye sacs and the redness of his eyes haven’t gone down yet. He is so visibly tired in fact, that sorceress Selen asks if he was feeling alright once she enters the classroom. Sorceress Ciri is with her as well.

“I simply practiced all night”, he tells her.

“Sleep is important, my young student”, she tells him.

“I know, sorceress Selen. I will get it today.”

She nods in approval, then claps into her hands.

“Very well then, shall we get started with the tests? I am most certain that you all want to get it over with as quickly as possible. Who wants to start?”

Some students lift their hands and so the testing begins.

The test consists of two parts. One based on knowledge and the other on action. Sorceress Ciri asks each student two questions about the history of magic and then sorceress Selen asks two more questions about glintstone magic. The practical part comes last where the students have to lift their practice stone and guide it to a mug on the teacher’s desk where they will have to lower it into the mug carefully.

The other students are asked to be quiet during the testing. Some busy themselves by drawing in their books, while others read up on their notes and others listen to the testing. There are also people like Hoseok and Ash, who use the time to practice. Ash manages to lift her stone, moving it around with swirls of her finger. Soon it is her turn and then it will be your turn and then it will be his turn.

Hoseok gulps nervously and tries to concentrate on practicing. He didn’t manage to lift the stone during his nightly session. He will have to make it work or else he will fail. He knows what he needs to know, he could have answered each question the sorceresses asked his fellow students, but fails at the most crucial part. How will he be able to pass when he cannot put the knowledge into practice?

Ash returns to her seat, looking relieved. You stand up.

“Good luck”, Hoseok tells you, earning himself a sweet smile.

“Thank you.”

Hoseok listens to your testing. The questions are easy and you manage to answer them quickly and coherently. The practical part follows. You move the stone with ease, ending it by painting a circle with it before lowering it into the mug. It brings a chuckle to sorceress Selen’s lips.

“Good job, my young student”, she praises you, “please return to your seat.”

You hurry to it with a relieved grin on your lips. Ash and Ainar praise you instnaly.

“You did so well”, Hoseok says.

“Thank you”, you tell him.

“Hoseok, please come out”, sorceress Ciri tells him.

He takes a deep breath and stands up.

“Good luck. I believe in you”, you tell him.

“Good luck”, Ash says.

“You can do it”, Ainar encourages him.

Hoseok acknowledges them with a nervous smile. He can hear how much quieter the classroom became. Which means a lot, because it was already quiet. Everyone is watching him. He is aware of it. This is it. The moment which will decide if he is worthy of being a sorcerer or not.

Hoseok sits down, sweating buckets from just his palms. At least it feels like it.

“When was the first magic school founded?” sorceress Ciri asks him.

Hoseok has to think for a moment. This wasn’t in the curriculum. He isn’t surprised that she asks him a question like this.

“It depends. If we take the writings of Sorceress Sorn into consideration, it is said that the first school of magic was founded as early as 218 of the second age by a group of dragon worshippers who discovered that glintstone can be harnessed for magic, but her writings are still seen as a rather incomplete source because of the great fires nine hundred years ago. So we use the Book of History written by sorceress Cicil in 1306 of the third age as the guide. In it, it says that the first school of magic was actually founded around two thousand years later than sorceress Sorn says in her writings and that the founders weren’t dragon worshippers, but scholars who studied glintstone for many centuries.”

Sorceress Ciri scrunches her nose in distaste. She didn’t think that he could answer this question. Hoseok lifts his head proudly.

“Very good”, she presses out, “where did the practice of Mending originate from?”

“The Glass Mountains in the school of sorceress Reah.”

“What even is Mending?”

“It is the magic of healing wounds by channelling the energies of the planets and using them to mend what was broken.”

“And why do we channel energies from the planets?”

“Because they are the strongest and purest form to channel. Nothing earthen has touched these energies yet and therefore soiled them. So they can be used to safely close wounds or mend broken bones.”

“And-”

“Thank you, sorceress Ciri”, sorceress Selen interrupts her, “I believe that Hoseok has already answered enough of your questions.”

The sorceress scrunches his nose in distaste.

“Fine”, she says and looks away with an annoyed gleam in her eyes.

Hoseok sends her a victorious look then shifts his eyes to sorceress Selen.

“Now Hoseok. Given how sorceress Ciri has already asked questions about glintstone magic, I believe that it is time for you to show what you have learned.”

Hoseok gulps. Truly, for just a second his heart stopped. He looks at the stone in front of him. This is it. The moment which determines if he is worthy.

“Take your time.”

Hoseok lifts his hands and visualises how the stone floats.

Nothing.

His heart races faster.

He tries harder.

Nothing.

Whispers begin in the classroom.

Hoseok lowers his hands. This is fruitless.

“Silence”, sorceress Selen warns, then speaks to Hoseok in a motherly tone, “try again. I believe in you.”

Hoseok lifts his hands again. He closes his eyes and visualises the stone. He thinks of his dream. Of how he told Taehyung that one day he will move the stars and make flowers grow from his fingers. Of how he promised his mother that one day he will be able to grow her a garden in the cold weathers of the Snow Isles. Of how he stayed up many nights to think about his life as a sorcerer. He thinks of sorceress Ciri and all the other people who so clearly see no future in him, but he also thinks of sorceress Selen and Taehyung and the princess and his chamber mates and how they all believe in him. He thinks of you and your little brother, then imagines all the other young boys who dream a dream which seemed so unreachable to them.

He thinks about how he was once one of these boys until he managed to get a spot at a magical school and how he could be the boy who changes the future for many other dreamers.

He opens his eyes, meeting ecstatic happiness in Sorceress Selen’s eyes and surprised pride in sorceress Ciri’s eyes. He looks at his hands.

The stone is floating.

“Oh! Ah!” he exclaims and almost drops it again.

“Concentration”, sorceress Selen says.

“I-I’m doing it!” he stutters with glassy eyes, “the stone is floating!”

“How wonderful, Hoseok. Now move it.”

“I am! I am moving it! Watch me!” he exclaims and makes the stone move with swirls of his fingers. And as he moves the stone with just his mind, purple soaks the white strands of his hair until even the last inch of his long locks are painted in it.

He drops the stone in the mug, jumping up with a loud yelp of excitement.

“I did it!” he turns to the class, “I moved the stone!”

His fellow students jump up in joy, cheering with him because all they wanted was his success. They run to him, circling him with some even patting his arms in congratulatory happiness.

You are with them as well, crying tears of happiness.

“You did it”, you tell him.

“I did it.”

“And your hair. Look at your hair!”

“My hair?” Hoseok tugs it into his vision, “my hair?! It is purple?!”

“The magic has deemed you worthy”, sorceress Selen says with pearls of tears in the corner of her eyes as well. She truly rooted for her dear student.

„Very impressive, young student“, sorceress Ciri says with an respectful bow of her head.

Hoseok smiles in gratitude, before looking at you and the others.

“Hoseok! You are worthy!” you exclaim and take his hands to squeeze them excitedly, “I told you. I knew that you could do it!” “Worthy? I am worthy”, Hoseok presses out and spills tears as realisation finally sets in, “I am worthy to be a sorcerer. I did it. I am worthy.”

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siris-neon · 4 months ago

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Lately, I've been thinking about the story of the DLC, And trying to rationalize what From is going for with Miquella and what is overall going on. I wanted to just kinda put my thoughts on a post. This was originally an ask for a specific person but I wanna reach a wider group of people.

Maybe Godwyn would make sense as a Consort if the whole story and shattering was so soon after his death, when Miquella was actively mourning him and trying to find ways to bring him back from the dead, or, if that couldn't happen, then have a way for him to die for real. That's the real issue whenever I think of like people saying that it should be Godwyn, Miquella was already pivoting in one direction or the other, and it's REALLY hard to tell what happened in which order.

There's the eclipse in Castle Sol, which could theoretically bring Godwyn back, but the sun was not swallowed, meaning that it didn't happen. Then there's the Golden Epitaph which most certainly involves Miquella, but this time he wants Godwyn to fully die. So personally I have no idea if he wanted to bring Godwyn back first and THEN when that didn't work he wished for him to fully die? No idea.

I will say that the Radahn thing is definitely odd. But I might have an idea as to how it may have possibly started. The original Council of demigods shortly after the Elden Ring was shattered. Miquella and Malenia had attended that council, and so had Radahn. We don't know how long the council lasted or when it broke down, so there might have been opportunities for Miquella to decide that Radahn may have been a choice for Consort.

The ending Cutscene of the DLC might even corroborate this, as we see him kneeling in the ground right in front of one of the council thrones. This is apparently where that vow was also given. This means there might be a non-zero chance that Miquella had interacted with Radahn during the time of the Council and before things broke down.

#elden ring #sote spoilers #elden ring sote #elden ring dlc #miquella the kind #miquella the unalloyed

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lorddeathofmurdermountain · 5 months ago

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So. One of the "final bosses" for Shadow of the Erdtree got leaked. Rather, they all got leaked by name, but I only found footage of that one. And lemme tell you fellas, it fucking hurts to watch.

I love FromSoft. I love Elden Ring. The DLC looks great and I've been hyped af for it. When it comes to actual work, I'm sure it was a lot of work to make it, but... It feels lazy. I guess creatively bankrupt is more accurate. The Remembrance doesn't help at all, it only makes things worse. Obviously, glazers will shit on me for saying this, but as a fan of the involved character (well, those who know, know) it just doesn't make sense to me and feels... I don't even know. I know it's legit, but it feels like a fucking mod. The moveset doesn't even seem that impressive, the model is shockingly basic considering how many fans were waiting to see such a thing, I mean for god's sake you could mistake the silhouette for one of the base game bosses being straightened out in Blender (they slouch/crouch a bit in-game).

I'm just bitching, I KNOW I'm just bitching at this point, but this feels like getting to the end of fucking Ringed City and fighting fucking Pontiff again, or maybe Aldrich. It's like if Champion Gundyr was the final boss of the base game except now he had a few simple fire attacks. Finishing a DLC as amazing as what I've seen like that feels like an empty void in my chest. I just know fighting this boss myself is gonna suck balls, not because it's hard but because it just feels lame. I didn't even have any preconceptions about what the end would be like, I was actively trying not to assume anything at all because I really wanted to see what FromSoft was gonna cook up, and what they gave me feels like it was a mistake. Like a fucking accident. Knowing this is probably what Miyazaki had in mind this whole time confuses me. I could keep yapping on and on about this but I just can't find any words I'm satisfied with.

#elden ring #shadow of the erdtree #spoilers #kind of #i tried to be extremely vague but someone with really good deductive skills could maybe guess what's going on

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glngrbred · 5 months ago

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Hot take, Elden ring is a really good souls like, but that doesn't mean its actually a good game.

within the subgenre, souls-likes have always had really huge issues with accessibility, and i don't mean for disability alone. Elden ring especially had extremely horrible performance issues at launch, which they did eventually fix. Even then you still have to get a 400 dollar PC. Aside from that there are some strange decisions made with teaching the player, like the tutorial is just a hole that players had to point out to each other, and On my barely stable first 20 minutes, i couldn't even find (my b i guess). Obviously alot of extremely experienced gamers would be able to handle themselves super well in Elden ring even without a tutorial. But there's another issue there with accessibility.

2 last things on accessibility. The game's audio is mixed like a movie, (so barely audible or ripping out your eardrums ;-;) witch is another accessibility issue, that you have to put a lot of work in to fix. And the graphics range from maxing out the brightness, to being completely black on bad screens. obviously an issue. I'm not going to go into the issues with explanations and the general tell don't show nature of alot of souls likes, because people have already complained about the text tunnels enough

I do really appreciate the artistry and just beautiful atmosphere Elden ring has, my only issue with the graphics is the performance requirements for them. Also if you never turned the graphics all the way down, it used to cause bit lag spikes just because it wanted to i guess :")

So, my argument is that a game can be a good version of the predecessors it bases itself off of, but if it doesn't actually deliver on playability and accessibility, I really don't think its deserving of the praise it gets. here are examples of games I think are flawless Unraveled/Unraveled 2 Hades Minecraft (Java edition only [cuz bedrock is completely broken somehow???) Never alone (a cool 2 player co op platformer that me and my brother played through when we were 6 and 8 or smthn, it was incredible, and i still think its worth playing as an adult) Spelunky 2 ***Monster Hunter (except for the extremely slow RPG elements) [takes 3 months to get 1 armor set built fully :)]

So i actually have some great news for the difficulty purists, You can actually do a hardcore game well, So long as you make failure quick and readable, Make trying immediate, and Make learning a part of the design. Spelunky is not my cup of tea, i have a bad time with reaction time, but spelunky is really great, in that your goal every attempt is simply to get as far as possible. In elden ring, you have the opposite problem, where instead of completing the objective being extraordinarily hard, getting from point a to point b is tediouse, saving the game takes time, occasionally you can be attacked without knowing why, and you dont get a clear read on what went wrong, ETC. If Elden ring was only the boss fights, I would say its almost a great game. Which is why I included Monster hunter on that list, despite its insufferable grind. Also BTW spelunky 2 has four fun minigames. a requirement for any game to be truly perfect is for there to be appeal for casual gamers, and i don't think adding casual elements makes a game worse, like, ever.

Anyways, last little thing, I really dislike it when People praise games for not catering to the needs of some players. Like everyone has heard dudebros or their friends be like "It doesn't have any difficulty settings! that's so sick!" But, like, Have you ever met someone with a motor function disability, or like, just someone who doesn't play games for 30000 hours every year? Difficulty settings and the ability to control your experience are important. and this isn't about Elden ring, But if you care about being an ally you should want your games to have accessibility features, they only benefit people. and if you're so worked up about about an extra tab being in the settings window, maybe you should like, go to therapy or something.

Also Elden ring's UI is so ass it gave my design teacher a heart attack and they hired a Pe*o as our sub.

#actually autistic #disability #gaming #elden ring #If you want a good example of a really GOOD game that's also a soulslike #another crab's treasure #is exclusively an improvement on elden ring #even if there are some issues relating to the devs being a little inexperienced #long post #also final thing. fr this time. people need to leave casual gamer alone #like just let people enjoy their animal crossing and fifa (gross) but its not our place to harass people for liking “baby games” (grossest)

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felassan · 8 months ago

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I was sent a link to an ‘interview with Mark Darrah about BioWare and games’ video that I hadn’t seen before. it’s called “INTERVIEW | Former BioWare Dev Mark Darrah On Crunch, Electronic Arts, Unionization, & More" and [here is the source] link. the interview took place in 2022, so bear that in mind when listening, but it still has interesting insights and things in there. the video description reads as follows:

"Former BioWare developer Mark Darrah joins us for a talk about crunch, workplace culture, accessibility, Elden Ring, and much more." Timestamps: 1:31- Why did you get into game development? 4:12- Crunch 14:05- On Activision-Blizzard & corporate culture overtaking studio culture 15:50- Crunch continued 21:06- Toxic workplace cultures at game studios & why they’re tough to fix 29:13- Unionization in the games industry 36:36- Rising game budgets and why they’re getting bigger 48:00- Elden Ring and game budgets 52:59- Accessibility in games 1:10:38- Relationship between the creative and business sides of game development & corporate directives 1:14:43- Anthem 1:22:16- EA doesn’t understand what BioWare is 1:28:20- Indie development & being bought out by larger companies [source]

the rest of this post is under a cut due to length.

this post is just some notes and transcribed quotes of interest from the video, in case that’s of any use to anyone, for example for accessibility.

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf / 'current or recent general BioWare’

“The culture around crunch has been changing dramatically at BioWare for the last 7 or 8 years, but I would actually think that it’s maybe not the, I don’t believe that it’s the reporting [increasing reporting on crunch in the industry in recent years] that’s causing the changing culture at the studios. And the change in reporting is caused by something, there’s another cause for both of them. And I think it might be that we just have a development, people are getting more experienced, older, and I think that might be what it is. But I don’t believe that we were trying to improve crunch culture because Kotaku was talking about it or Jason Schreier wrote an article about what happened on Anthem. I don’t believe that’s the cause. I think that those are both symptoms of another cause, which is causing the change. And maybe it’s older people in game development, but actually, now that I say it out loud, maybe it’s actually the opposite. Maybe it’s Gen Z coming into the workforce with very different expectations of what work looks like that are causing the change.”

“I think BioWare may have abandoned it, but something that I was working on in sort’ve, the last couple of years at BioWare was Pile of Sand. And the idea of Pile of Sand is to focus the team on a single point or at least as small of a point as you can, and then use that focus to kind’ve cause things to come into being around that. And I know that there are people at BioWare who hate Pile of Sand, but it definitely causes Completion Urgency. In a way that nothing short of crunch or E3 has done very successfully.”

“I’d like to think that.. well. For sure BioWare’s culture today is way better than BioWare’s culture was in 1997 when I started. Or even see it like, you can even see it in the games. But, I mean, it’s not perfect, and there are people in more senior roles, or there have been people in more senior roles that are problematic, and as someone who worked to remove people who were problematic, it could be incredibly difficult to do, because usually there’s no smoking gun. Usually it’s reports or innuendo, or you know it’s, everyone kinda knows, but to actually have something actionable is really hard. And that sounds so terrible because it is terrible, because it is really hard – I’ve burned massive amounts of political capital in some cases to get rid of people who were toxic, but who were in very senior positions.” “I think what’s happened is [in the industry generally] the level of what’s being treated as acceptable has become way lower. Way less is acceptable, and that, I think, is a net good. Does that, is that how you want improvement to happen? No, this is not, you don’t want it to work this way, you want it to be a constant steady state towards better and better culture. And I think, you know, BioWare’s been trying to do that, but I think when other studios don’t do that and then a giant light gets shone on them it actually helps with other studios to say, you know, we also have to take a look at ourselves and think about what’s going on and look at our processes and our culture and our hiring practices and all of these things.”

The host asked how you go about setting that culture where you say, ‘these kinds of things aren’t okay’. “Are there techniques, rules, seminars?” Mark: “I mean, all of those things exist and, don’t get me wrong, I do think that BioWare, I do think that EA has done a better job of this than some of the other publishers and studios have done. So all of those things I do think help, but I do think that honestly the single thing that you can do that helps the most is to get someone of the group that is under-represented at a high enough position to have a voice be heard.”

The host asked about Keywords attempting to unionize recently. Mark: “I’m curious as to some of the details with the Keywords union, because back in 2020, when I was still at BioWare, which, where they’re saying like, they were forced into the office. I wonder if that was a BioWare, I don’t believe that that was actually a BioWare interaction, that it was a BioWare contract. Because at the time, at that time, early Covid days, I was trying to get into the office and it was like locked down, we couldn’t get in to the office, I couldn’t get into the office, I was the Vice President, I couldn’t get into the office. So I’m curious as to the details of that. They are contractors so it’s possible that they were working on something else and they were being forced into an office, I don’t know, it’s possible that something was happening that I’m not aware of. But that specific thing that they were talking about is, just caught me by surprise because we were actually, I was trying to violate the rules and I couldn’t even do it for myself, so.”

On the relationship between the creative and business sides of game development and corporate directives: “[direct orders from corporate], actually, it does happen. There are directive things. I mean, Joplin, the thing that was Dragon Age 4, was cancelled because it was perceived that the next Dragon Age needed to have an online component, it needed to have live service, it needed to have an online component, it needed to be live service, live service. That was, so it was like, there was essentially a decision made at a corporate level about what the game needed to be. And whether that was real or not, I don’t know, but I have my own thoughts on that front, but that’s what was said. And, but sometimes it’s even stupider stuff, like there were people that were like, ‘in DA:I, you NEED to be able to fly a dragon!’ and it was like, this was a dictate, and I judo’d that out of, into us not actually doing it. But that was a dictate that came down. So there are reviews, so with EA there are gates, so you have like numbered gates up to actually, I think there are more gates now. But basically you have a concept gate, a vision gate, a pre-production gate, a production gate, a post-production gate, and like alpha, and things like that. Some of those gates are formal gates, you have executives gather in a room and a presentation is made to them and then they say ‘I don’t like that, do something different’ and that could be anything from ‘I don’t like that your character has a frog for a head’, to ‘this entire-’, especially in the early days, ‘this entire concept is flawed, we shouldn’t make this game at all’. At EA, once things cross a certain threshold they tend to continue, but in the early days games do get cancelled because they don’t get through those gates. So they do have influence because there is, they are seeing the game during development and they are very important people who are expressing their opinions and it’s not entirely clear. I mean, I report to someone who reports to someone who is providing this feedback. So the presumption is they get to say what goes. And I guess they probably do. It’s not actually clear that they do, but the presumption is the reporting line is literally, person reports to person reports to this person who is saying this thing, I suspect they probably get to decide, if they say this needs to be a certain way, it’s gonna be a certain way. Maybe I’m wrong on that but that’s certainly what seems to be the case.”

On Anthem and why it got made: “I wasn’t on Anthem in the early days, but there was a, with some of the executive, EA’s never really understood what the heck BioWare is, but in the early days of Anthem, or let’s say, the days after ME3, there was a sentiment with some of the executives at EA that storytelling games were over. They were done. That we needed something different. So there was a lot of language that was being pushed at Casey, and at Aaryn, that was essentially to that effect, of, ‘don’t you think that the days of storytelling games are over? Maybe it’s time to do something different. And I don’t know, because I wasn’t in the room, I don’t know if that just fed into exactly the kind of game Casey wanted to make anyway, or if they just sort’ve lined up, so yeah. They weren’t, no one at EA was saying ‘Make Anthem’ or ‘Make Dylan’, which is what it was at the time, but there was pressure around, like, ‘probably if you’re making another thing and it’s not another Mass Effect, you shouldn’t just make another story-driven RPG. We don’t want another one of those, we don’t think’. So there was a push towards something different. Some of the early things that Casey was pitching were still, you know, they were multiplayer story-driven things, they were different, but yeah, there was definitely a push from corporate to do something that wasn’t ME, that wasn’t DA, it was something else.”

“It’s definitely frustrating, I did a ‘dear executive, you’re being managed’ video. As an Executive Producer, a big part of your job is managing executives so they feel like you’re listening to them even when what they’re saying is stupid, so it can be incredibly frustrating. I feel like BioWare’s left a lot of money on the table because of the purse strings that are held at the corporate level, like I feel like, porting SW:TOR to the consoles would make a ton of money for not very much investment, and it’s not been, it could’ve been done 3, 4, 5 years ago. The remasters, it’s a frankly, a miracle that they ever got made for ME. The thing that most studios within EA seem to do is they seem to do one thing at a time. Dice makes a Battlefield, then they fix it, then they make a new Battlefield. That makes corporate interaction, I think, a lot more clear [for them]. When Battlefield 4 comes out and it doesn’t do well, they’re given not just the ability, they’re given the mandate to fix it. BioWare’s always had a lot more plates spinning. But I think the consequence of that is, when something goes wrong, it means that there are a lot of potentials that could be spinning, and it means when something goes wrong, it’s less obvious what to do. When ME:A launches and has problems, unlike with Battlefield 4, EA doesn’t say, ‘fix it, I don’t care what you were gonna be doing next, fix it’, what instead happens is the resources get taken away and put onto other things. Anthem fought to have resources to fix itself, but ultimately was always fighting with Dragon Age, to be frank, for those resources, for some of them at least. I mean maybe that’s just an indication that BioWare has stubbornly held on to a structure that is incompatible with EA’s corporate culture, but I do think that having so many plates spinning means that BioWare’s always short of resources. And I think that’s given EA a lot more ability to influence what BioWare’s doing at any moment, because, like, ‘well why don’t you just put those people, we don’t want to keep trying to fix ME:A, why don’t you just put those people onto Dragon Age? Or we’ll take them away and put them onto EA Montreal.’ Whereas if you’re just one studio in Sweden or you’re Sims 4, same thing, is, they got nothing else do, I mean, they do, they absolutely have things to do, but it’s not obvious, there’s not an equal priority, there’s the next thing, which is a lower priority. Whereas at BioWare, there’s always something else they could be doing. And I think it’s been, it’s allowed EA, I think, more control over what BioWare does, maybe, than they’ve had in other studios possibly. I dunno. Probably someone from Dice is gonna angrily tell me I’m an idiot in your comments.”

Other BioWare things

“At least at EA, the executives, the corporate-level executives, the C-suite people, don’t really set culture at the individual studios. But they do control the purse-strings. And because they control the purse-strings they ultimately kind’ve do control everything. So I do think that public companies, or at least, all the public companies that I have worked for, are obsessed with short-term results. You know, ‘your game is supposed to come out in this quarter, and it should’ve come out in this quarter, and if it doesn’t come out in this quarter, it better come out in this fiscal year’. And moving across, so BioWare has a history of sliding games, but the reality is that EA, you can slide from quarter to quarter, but sliding outside of a fiscal year – it’s happened, but it’s really hard, and there are usually really terrible consequences involved in doing so. And I think what is happened to some degree is, corporate culture will eventually infect and take over the cultures of the studios, I believe. So if you look at BioWare in 2008, 2009 and 2010, it was BioWare’s culture with [inaudible] culture kind’ve on top, dictating things at a very macro level. But then if you fast forward ten more years, that EA culture, that sort’ve fiscal, that fiscal culture has sort’ve bled into BioWare’s culture to some degree. So I think actually, to some degree actually I think what EA really wants is they want studios like BioWare to be like, ‘it’s all about the art, man! We don’t care when it ships, we don’t care how many copies it’s gonna sell, we don’t care, we don’t care!’, and they provide the rigor to force that. But instead I think what’s happened, what naturally happens is, you realize ‘that this is a corporation, we need to care about profitability and release dates and all of these things’, but by doing that, that resistance has gone away. And while before, in like DA:O and ME1 [inaudible] the balance was over here, it starts to shift more towards a corporate-focused way, so I think that the thing that probably, the central, the C-suites need to do is, figure out how to give back the studios back that resistance, that willingness to say, ‘you know, the game’s not ready, it’s not gonna hit the fiscal year’. And they say they do, but they really don’t, because it’s, the culture’s just eroded away over time. It’ll be interesting to watch Respawn because it’s EA’s newest acquisition, and right now, just culturally, that resistance just there, just like BioWare in 2008, 2009, but let’s see what’s happened with Respawn in 5 or 6 years. I hope they can keep that up, but I don’t even think it’s, it’s not like ‘Evil EA’ infecting on purpose, I just think, naturally being within a bigger organization, it just happened through osmosis over time.”

“DA:O is about 7000 staff months to make, so it was a huge game at the time. Most of that was done before BioWare was owned by EA. Salaries went up dramatically, way higher than inflation after BioWare was acquired by EA, so that made a big difference. But DA:I was more staff months than DA:O by a fair amount and, so, a couple of things. The entire code base for DA:O was, I think, about two million lines of code. Frostbite is like 20 million lines of code. So that is, there is development cost of just holding that together, but things are just more complicated. As games get bigger, they get expensive.”

“When KOTOR put in voice-acting for all the conversations apart from the player. That changed the industry. At that moment it became no longer acceptable to not have voiced conversations in AAA games.” “DA:I has a horse because at the time it was seen that you had to have a horse in a fantasy RPG. I don’t think that’s true anymore, you’d get away with not having a horse today.”

“I would argue that a consistent problem of a lot of BioWare games is we try so hard to explain to you in the first three hours what’s going on, how everything works, all the mechanics, everything, we’re just dumping so much on the player that they’re overwhelmed and bored, probably bored. But also overwhelmed, if you throw too much at me you’ve actually reduced my ability to learn it, so you’ve actually made the game, in your effort to make me understand, you’ve actually made me understand less, potentially.”

“I think we made the wrong decision on DA:I. I think the crafting system in DA:I is completely inaccessible. It’s a very complicated system, there are no recipes, it’s all based on, like, combinations of different things giving you different materials and then there’s an appearance system layered on top of that which adds an additional layer of complexity. I think as a result, we have a system that is basically not engaged with by most players, by the vast majority of players, do not engage in crafting because it is inaccessible.” “Something that’s come up a couple of times in BioWare’s history is the idea of story-mode difficulty, so the ability to play through the game on essentially, you can’t lose combat. ME3 has such a difficulty, but we didn’t do that in DA:I. And the reason is not because I don’t think, given what BioWare games are, which is a lot about the interaction of different characters and engaging in the story and that, I don’t think that a story-mode difficulty is inappropriate for a BioWare game. But the problem is if you play ME3 on that difficulty, combat’s kind of awful, like it actually kind’ve makes the game, it damages the game in the process because combat is easy but fast, so it’s kind’ve just this weird morass you have to dig through. So I think when you’re thinking about accessibility, something like that, you have to think about, how does the more accessible version still allow the game to be good.” “A common example in a lot of BioWare games is puzzles. So you’d put a puzzle in, and then the game is broken and you’re going along and then the level comes together and it’s weeks or months later and then QA start playing it saying, ‘I can’t figure this puzzle out’. And you’re like, but it’s obvious in my head! Says the puzzle designer. And then you have to decide what you’re gonna do. You can pull the puzzle out completely, which has happened a lot in BioWare games, you just end up pulling it out. Or you put the answer on the wall, which you can see in tons of BioWare games, where it’s like, figure out this puzzle! Oh really? ‘Cause the answer is literally written on a giant poster right beside the puzzle, which I think just undermines the whole puzzle, what’s the point? Or you just say, forget it, we’re just gonna leave it. And the way that we’ve typically made the decision at BioWare for things like that is, if it’s on the critical path, the expectation is it should be accessible to every player, so you should be able to get through the main line of the story even if you can’t figure out any of the puzzles. So we might put a puzzle on the critical path to introduce the concept of puzzles to you, but the answer is on a poster board right beside it. If you’re off the critical path, if you’re on the optional content, then, all bets are off. If you can’t figure it out, then you can’t figure it out. But that comes from a belief that we want most people to finish the story, which I think might actually be a mis-placed belief. Maybe 2008, 2009, I had this feeling that, you know, Bethesda’s got a big problem. People don’t finish their games. You play their games and your last experience of a Bethesda game is always ‘ehh I guess I’m done’. But what I realized more recently is, actually, in a lot of ways, that’s maybe the best experience you can get from a player. Because if you think about how you experience a ME or a DA, your last experience is one of two things. Either it’s, what the fuck was that, I hate that ending, I am angry. Or, it was, that was the greatest ending I ever experienced! Now I’m disappointed that it’s over. And in both cases the actual last emotion is actually negative. It’s either a positive followed by disappointment, or it’s a negative right off the bat. I’m guilty of the obsession of, we want people to finish our games, but actually, maybe we don’t? Maybe we just want people to have their last experience not be negative and lots of positive experiences in the middle. I dunno.”

“Ray Muzyka was always certain that one of BioWare’s competitive advantages was replayability. But actually I would argue – there are people that have played DA:I thirty times, but most people, they don’t do that. Most people go through, you experience the story through a particular viewpoint, and then that’s the viewpoint. You might go and you know, make a Qunari just to see what it’s like, but what you see in the data is, if a person finishes the game, usually they finish the game once and then maybe they might have a few little ‘I played for 45 mins or an hour just to goof around’. But very rarely do you get people that are like, I played through the entire game like 10 times. It happens but it’s not common. I think replayability in these story-driven games is actually kind’ve an illusion.”

On EA not understanding what BioWare is: “I think there’s a lot of things, but I think fundamentally EA is a company that understands sports games. They understand how to make sports games which come out every year at a very high quality, monetize very well, they understand, they know how to market those, they know what production for those looks like, they know how to keep that team moving forward and proving their quality, they know how to do lots of things there. They know how to put processes in place to make the risk go down. I think when you apply those processes to shooters I think they actually work pretty well, though maybe they don’t work anymore. But I think they did work pretty well. You can kind’ve market a shooter like a sports game and it basically works. I think that one of the huge advantages that sports games have is, you already know if you like soccer or not, so I’ve already, so now I’m selling you the product, not the concept of the product. Shooters you can kinda do the same thing. You kinda know if you want a shooter or not, now I’m just selling you on this specific shooter, not the concept of shooters in general. RPGs aren’t like that, you can’t, because RPGs are so different from each other that you can’t sell me on the concept. Like, I don’t know if I just like RPGs, I need more than that to know if I can make a decision, which makes marketing them different. Also, for whatever, for a variety of reasons, RPGs are the most expensive genre you can make because they have, in theory, all the complexities of a shooter plus you have to tell an engaging, interactive story that branches on top of that, plus you need progression systems that are more complicated than your shooter on top of that. And that all needs to work together into some sort’ve combinatorial mass, to be frank. So I think that what EA wants from all their studios is they want things that can sell 10 million copies or 20 million copies, I mean that number changes. And the truth of the matter is, is, that maybe is just never BioWare. I mean, I say that, DA:I sold more than 10 million copies, but I mean, I think that what you have with BioWare is, maybe, you have the Oscar studio. Do the Oscar movies make three billion dollars? No, but they win you the awards. If you want that, do you want the studio that wins you the awards? But maybe, it makes money. I’m not saying that EA should just let BioWare lose money, that’s stupid, but do you want something that’s less profitable, but earns you acclaim? And if you do, then you need to measure in a different way. Do you want something that can build new IP? BioWare can build new IPs, and then maybe you take those IPs and you do other things with them. Not that EA has done that, and maybe EA doesn’t need to because they own like 40, 50 IPs that they’re currently not doing anything with, so. But, I mean, like building an IP is incredibly expensive, and incredibly difficult. Does EA want new IPs? Maybe, but again I don’t know that they, so what they have with BioWare is they have a company that gets into the conversation at award season, that can push culture, that can build new IPs. But, you know, be in the conversation at award season, push culture, and build new IPs, are those characteristics that EA wants or do they want ‘can sell 25 million copies and make a billion dollars’? And probably you can’t have those first three things and get that fourth thing. You can be profitable, but you’re probably not selling 25 million copies and making a billion dollars. I mean Skyrim did, but that’s. But I think honestly Skyrim just proves how hard it is. It’s the one in the RPG space that you talk about, and that’s from 2011. It’s the exception that proves the rule. That’s the RPG that was culturally relevant, relevant at awards season, but also made a ton of money.”

At the end of the interview, they had tech difficulties, so they transcribed the last segments of the audio to post for folks to read. This can be found pinned in the comments of the YouTube video.

[source and watch link]

#dragon age: dreadwolf #da4 #the dread wolf rises #dragon age 4 #bioware #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #next mass effect #sw:tor #anthem #video games #covid mention #long post #longpost #(ty for sending this link!)

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