#all of the moments we get of him in the first game DLCs house of dreams (and AWAN—haven’t played this one lol) make him. fascinating

[velvetjune]

for only showing up in the live action segments, it’s absurd how much mr door and thomas zane have consumed my thoughts. could not even begin to imagine what mr door’s role is in future games, let alone anything for zane, but the mystery only adds to the intrigue. so much of this goes to just how phenomenal the actors are—they performed every scene with intention and charisma

[rallamajoop]

Resident Evil 7 and Mia's secrets

(Oh, did you think I was done talking about Mia? Not even close! >D)

Coming into this fandom late, I was surprised that popular fanon has it that Mia never does come clean to Ethan, post-RE7. Sure, RE8 depends on Mia not having told Ethan he died in Dulvey, but that has nothing to do with her own past with the Connections (and far more to do with Ethan's own denial, but that's a whole other thing).

Myself, I’d taken it as given that the scene where Ethan learns the truth must have just happened off-screen. Because, disappointing as that omission is, the whole damn game is leading up to it.

And having replayed RE7 lately, I realised there'd be no better way to explain my take than to catalog every time the game spells out to us that Ethan knows Mia’s keeping secrets and wants answers, and that Mia herself wants to come clean.

Heck, it’s just about the very first thing we learn about them.

“Ethan... You were right. I did lie to you. I shouldn’t have, but…”

Ethan's not actually stupid, and Mia's secrecy has obviously strained their marriage for some time. And as soon as Ethan finds her, he’s asking questions.

Here, he’s mostly asking who did this to you; it's way too early for real answers. But then Eveline takes control, shit goes down, and next we see her, it’s in her recorded message from the “Mia” video tape.

“There’s so much you need to know.”

When Ethan finds Mia again under the old house, he’s angry and has every right to be, and he doesn’t pull any punches.

“I always wanted to tell you…”

But Mia’s memory’s still a mess, and Lucas interrupts. Ethan’s next chance to ask questions comes in the boat, and he wastes no time.

“You had something to do with this, didn’t you?”

Mia’s a little more defensive here, but she’s not lying about the holes in her memory. The game’s gearing up for the big reveal anyway, and the writers aren’t about to let her spoil it early.

If you choose Zoe instead of Mia, Ethan spends the boat ride asking all the same questions, only louder.

“I knew Mia was hiding something.”

But in the end, what do we get?

Whoever you choose, Ethan only gets a few brief moments with Mia after she frees him from Eveline’s mould, and no explanations are offered. But if you do pick Mia, then we end with Ethan flying away with her in the helicopter, saying only, “Mia's back and she wants to start over,” and I’m left going, wait, what? Haven’t we skipped something here?

In defence of the fanon consensus that Ethan never finds out the truth, that does seem to be the ‘canonical’ intent ‒ at least inasmuch as there's this one throwaway bit about Mia not wanting Ethan to know buried in a bonus text file only available with this one overpriced DLC for RE8. That’s it, that’s as much explicit recognition as this thing ever gets, one way or the other. And fucking hell, but that's a let down.

Even if we assume that Mia’s desire to come clean goes away once her memory comes back, why would Ethan just stop asking? He’s been asking questions the whole damn game – was clearly asking questions long before the game began! Knowing that Eveline was controlling people doesn’t explain what Mia had to do with it all. Now he’s suddenly all, ‘killed the bad guy, saved the girl, everything’s fine’? Was all that ‘a door closed’ bullshit supposed to be him accepting he’d never get answers? Why?

There are workable ways to spin Ethan never finding out. You could suggest he just accepts that Mia’s memory is gone (hell, for all we actually see of the ending, Mia genuinely might have lost her memory again after Eveline sucked her back into the mould). After all the trauma Ethan’s been through, you could also suggest he’s gone directly into denial, refusing to face anything that might threaten his ‘happy ending’ with Mia. You could even suggest that that bit with Eveline saying 'I can make him love you' is her actively wiping Ethan's suspicions away. There's some lovely, subtle horror in any of these possibilities ‒ I would genuinely love to see all of them explored in fic! But none of them actually come through in the ending we get, and that omission is the single biggest issue that makes that conclusion to RE7 unsatisfying to me.

The whole damn game has been building up to the big confrontation where Ethan finds out the truth and (eventually, if not immediately) finds a way to forgive Mia, so we can still have our happy ending. As much OTT hate as Mia gets, the game is consistent in portraying her as someone who is painfully aware of how bad she’s fucked up, regrets it, and is committed to doing everything she can to protect the man she loves from the fallout of her mistakes.

I cannot overstate how willing Mia is to die to save Ethan, from the very moment she realises she's infected. She does die to save him if you choose Zoe over her. It's so much of why I ship them do hard.

But most frustrating of all, denying Mia the chance to come clean denies her any chance to explain herself. How did she get involved with the Connections? Did she know from the outset who she was working for? Did she genuinely buy into the idea they were finding ways to win wars without losing soldiers on battlefield, that the human casualties of all their work was worth it? If not, why did she keep working there? Was she slowly frog-boiled down to the deep end, did they have dirt on her, did she fear they might kill her if she tried to leave? What excuses did she make to herself as the months or years went on?

It's possible Mia’s the kind of hypocrite who doesn’t care about the human casualties of her employer, just as long as she and hers are okay, but nothing we see from her sells me on that interpretation. And even if she ever was, it's even harder to believe she's still that person after all she's been through.

It aggravates me that the games never gave us answers, not just because I want explanations that cast Mia in a sympathetic light, but because not giving us answers leaves this huge hole in her character. I'd even take explanations that cast her in an unsympathetic light, as long as it all ties together.

It irritates me even more because, even if Capcom wasn’t up for giving Ethan and Mia the big emotional confrontation they deserved, the solution was so simple: let Ethan find Mia’s diary on his way out of the ship. The whole goddamn franchise is filled with diaries and documents where characters lay out their backstories and motivations in ludicrous detail – why does Mia never get one? Just give us a handful of entries dated over the years, laying out her own feelings and anxieties about the job she’s doing. It would’ve been so easy!

It irritates me nearly as much that, even in the few corners of this fandom sympathetic to Mia, no-one seems to be very interested in answering these questions in fic or shared headcanons (and if there are examples out there I don't know about, please do link me to them!) How much did Mia know about what she was getting into when she started working for the Connections? Was it the job she kept telling herself was just until she could find something better, only for that ‘something better’ to never come along? Did she have stains on her record that made it hard to find another job? How much of her lying was a misguided attempt to protect Ethan, and how much was simply about protecting herself? There's so much to explore here!

This is also where I mention that I've already put my money where my mouth on this one, and written up my own take on Mia's backstory, and how Ethan might have found out the truth. You don't have to agree with my version, of course ‒ I mean it when I say I'd love to see other people's ideas too. Heck, I'd even be up for versions where Ethan ultimately can't forgive her, just as long as people come at it from the angle of looking at Mia as a character, not just a one-dimensional-villain.

But of course, I'd still prefer to think about versions where these two do find a way to make it work. It takes a lot to make me ship het this hard, but these two stealth-badasses have pulled it off with style.

[dark-and-kawaii]

love knowing that you’re into bg3 like so many of us Kiwi! Did you love all the romance options or do you wish we could’ve had others because have you seen Dammon and Raphael! Glad to have you back with us btw!

AWHHHHH STOP!!!! You’re going to make me cry! It’s so good to be back on here, honestly!!! Now to answer your lovely question!!!

I was honestly happy at first but the more I played the game the more I saw the potential in adding other characters as romance options…

𝓩𝓮𝓿𝓵𝓸𝓻:

Like, I fell in love with Zevlor the moment I met him and I honestly would’ve picked him over Astarion for my first playthrough if he was an option -yeah yeah I know unpopular opinion.

But as I continued I was so confused as to why he wasn’t available for us because if you don’t go Minthara’s route then he would’ve been the perfect substitute because HELLOOOOO PALADIN!!!!

Not to mention during act two that would’ve been a perfect redemption ark for him, like there was SO MUCH POTENTIAL!!! Like he literally needed a hug after all the shit he’s been through and we weren’t able to grant him that…

He’s been with us since Act one… Up until the end he was with me. So I ask Larian, why wasn’t I allowed to travel and bed with this man!?

Grinds my gears man!!! I’m trying not to spoil too much in case someone hasn’t played yet.

𝓓𝓪𝓶𝓶𝓸𝓷:

Okay okay okay, as for Dammon…. Yeah no, I fucked up bad with him my first play through… uhhhhh he kinda died when the tieflings and I attacked the Druids 🥲 Oops. But during my second run I realized my mistake and he’s very much alive right now 😂!!!

With Dammon I don’t necessarily want him for myself, but rather for Karlach. I ship those two so damn hard it’s unreal!!! He loves her so much, you can just tell 🥹

And when he tells her she’s very touchable, I always kick my feet and giggle!!! Adorable to the max!

𝓡𝓪𝓹𝓱𝓪𝓮𝓵:

-Gods, just look at him… I love him so much UGHHH!!!-

Now as for our beautiful, smug, elegant cambion, Raphael… OOOOOF don’t get me started because the mouse would’ve pounced on the cat. I LOVE, and I do mean LOVE Raphael. Everything about him I just adore, and again SO MUCH POTENTIAL.

If you go his route there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to romance him. Like if you let Haarlep use you and you leave house of hope it indicates that Raphael is doing the nasty with Haarlep in your form once you leave. There’s clearly something there!!! So why can’t we!? I feel they left it during his ending that there might be a dlc for him, I hope, maybe… Also can we all agree that Raphael would’ve been another great villain ending with Tav???

The relationship between Tav and Raphael in game is already so interesting, and if you break into the house of hope to steal from him he looks extremely hurt that you betrayed him. Not to mention he’s like the only one who’s actually upfront with you, I don’t feel like he really hid anything unless you’re dense -no offense-.

Another thing, just because Haarlep says Raphael is bad in bed doesn’t mean he actually is. I feel a lot of individuals forget what Haarlep is 😂 sex is basically their thing.

Not to mention his little helper is basically always saying “he can’t stop talking about you.”

Plus, hold on, we can romance Mizora but not him… Nah!!!

𝓖𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓪𝓼𝓱:

A lot of people have said Gortash, which at first I didn’t really understand but that’s because I was a huge simp for Karlach and if you’ve played you know…

However the more I play and the more I read into I do understand. He could’ve used a nice redemption after everything he’s been through. He was a pawn, someone to be used, and honestly that was his whole life. So it would’ve been nice if Tav was an option for him.

I feel they could’ve had two endings for him and Tav, a good and a bad. Good being his redemption where Tav opens his eyes like what Tav did for Astarion and then the Bad obviously they rule together.

I feel Larian made a lot of great choices but I also feel they missed a lot of potential, which hopefully they continue to listen to their audience and add more routes in the future. So far they have been so one can hope. I also feel like all of these characters were left to where they could be potentially added later down the road. Fingers crossed!!!

- 𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓚𝓲𝔀𝓲

[rui-drawsbox]

hmm im curious. whats olba about :0?

Oh anon you have no idea of what you just asked-- let me get my teacher costume

AHEM

OLBA or Our Life: Beginnings & Always it's a visual novel where you can play the perfect life you never got and cry about how much you wanted it after you finish it :DD (available on Steam for pc and Itch.io for both pc/mac and android!)

You play as-- well, you (or not, you choose)! You can choose your name, last name, pronouns, appearance, personality, hobbies, everything except your family, but you wouldn't like to change them for anything after you meet them.

You start the game as an innocent 8 years old kid that meets a random guy that tells you that he just moved across the street, he also tells you about his son: Cove! who has the same age as you. This guy tries to bribe you with 20 dollars, you can accept or refuse (or run! i like that option), either way you end up in a poppy hill behind your house and find the so famous Cove! He tells (cry) you that his parents just divorced and that he miss his mom ( :c ), you can comfort him or not, but you two still will be found by both of your families and have to go home.

That's the prologue! Gameplay aspect: it consists in 3 Steps of your life: 8, 13 and 18 years old! Each Step comes with 5 Moments, where you can spend time with (mainly) cove, if you're playing the base game. Talking about base game! You can complete it in around 5 hours (that's what took me the first time i think), and it comes with a 4th Step that work as an epilogue!

There are 6 paid DLC's (and a free one that is a name pack), 3 are other 15 moments for the first 3 Steps, 1 is a wedding dlc for our lovely Cove <3 (we'll get to him in no time), and the last 2 are extra content for two characters you'll meet in your very first playthough: Derek in Step 2 and Baxter in Step 3 (you should know this one very well if you follow me lmao), each with 5 moments extra for their assigned Step and their own Step 4 where you can follow and give proper closure to their stories!

I'll try to not ramble a lot because it's something you just need to experience yourself to get it but-- i will introduce you to the love interests! (or friendship interests, you don't need to crush on anyone to have a great time)

Cove Holden! Our lovely neighbor that we see almost everyday for like 10 years! You could also call him the second main character after you, since you learn more about him and his family during all the game. He's an introvert and ocean nerd (in the cutest way possible), depending on your choices you can shape his personality/style and become best buddies, the sweetest couple or just remain neighbours that never really got along. (you'll learn to love him, platonic or not, trust me)

Another perk of the game is that no matter what you do there's not "wrong or right" (unless you feel bad for the characters, like me), your actions does have consequences but there's nothing like a "bad ending/good ending", after all it's just your life, it goes on no matter what! Unless you want to reach a specific scene you found online you'll never have to use a guide for anything.

Derek Suarez! A caring guy! mabye a little too much, he's the oldest brother of 3 and that shaped him in a way that he always feels responsible of everything😔. During his storyline you'll help him to learn how to relax and lean on other people :D!

Baxter Ward! A monochromatic gentleman, mischievous as a cat and emotionally repressed like a pressure cooker <3. Struggles a lot with making deep conections and being emotionally vulnerable, you can imagine about what goes his storyline lol.

He's my favorite, if you haven't noticed. He has that infuriating charm that only someone that unironically says "Hallelujah" has. A very dramatic route, he's a very dramatic guy, you should see how he texts in step 3 aghsdas.

Also! all the side characters are super likeable, from your family to the baker of that bakery that is metioned a few times!

ANYWAYS, in conclusion: this is a very relaxing game! If you like visual novels you should definitely give it a try, the amount of replayability this game has is insane. My recommendations for when you play are:

Try the base game first! If you like it you can buy the moments dlcs (theyre only 3$ each!), mabye the wedding dlc after that (if you want to marry cove that is, this one is 2$ btw), Derek's dlc and Baxter's dlc (5$ each) for last. Those are pretty much the release order but i that's also the order i enjoy the most!

(play this game at least 2 times trying different choices/personality, the differences are ughhhh/pos)

When you're playing for the first time you should play the moments left to right. On later playthroughs you should change the order to find new dialogues! theyre small things but omg theyre so fun

Have fun! do whatever you want, i literally said there's no bad or good ending, take advantage of it and be as foward or shy as you want, be a little shit or a literal angel! That is your life we're talking about.

[rottenbrainstuff]

BG3 - Fuck Gortash

Mild spoilers:

I took a little break from playing after binging a whole bunch, which I think is good - it’s not as good to do everything in a rush. Need time to savour it. I’m almost done now and I have to make these last moments count. I have very little left to do now - just Gortash, then House of Hope, and then the final battle, and that’s it! That’s all. I’ve been doing this run for six months now and I am almost all done.

Unpopular opinion: I think it’s good Larian is not making sequels or DLCs for bg3. They did start work on something, realized they weren’t passionate about it, and called it off. They’re going to move onto something else. How fucking amazing is that. These days the idea of sequels in general fills me with nothing but dread. IPs are just a crash grab waiting to be milked by a room of higher ups requesting the most bland and generic stories that will appeal to the broadest audience possible and cost the least to produce in order to maximize profits. I know that’s the movie situation anyways - I don’t know as much about how games work. I still think it’s fabulous that Larian realized they weren’t able to bring the amount of passion that they felt they should, and they called off the work.

I don’t really want to see more content with the characters that we have. I think their stories are interesting and self-contained and complete. I think it makes sense to end it where it ends. And I mean… it IS a fun game but I’m not so invested in the setting that I’m clamoring for more games set in this specific world. So even on that front, I feel like I don’t need more.

Plus maybe it’s my age, but I’m not used to the concept of game updates in general. I don’t expect them. When I was little, you bought a complete game and it was finished and that was what you got, period. The game is the game. It’s complete and it’s good. It’s always there for you to play again, whenever you want it. You can play the different origin plots, you can make different characters, you can make different choices and see what happens, and it’s always there for you. The fact that there won’t be any large additional DLCs doesn’t take this away from you?

So I don’t know. I feel like this is where fanworks step in now. All those little details you want to see, all those little blanks filled in, all those little extra adventures: that’s what fanworks are for. Let’s let Larian work on their next big project now.

Ok anyways, enough of that. Gortash. First you have to get back into the fortress, and all the guards attack on sight. Myeh. After all these very difficult battles, I guess it was nice to have something less hard, but it’s also no fun to feel like you’re shooting fish in a barrel. I did Iron Throne -> Foundry -> then Gortash, I wonder how things change up if you do things in a different order. After killing all the aggrod Fist in the fortress, it was neat to be able to and read all the books I couldn’t access before. Looks like things have gone significantly downhill in Baldur’s Gate recently.

As for the actual Gortash fight: Gortash gets pretty annoying pretty quickly so I cast Otto’s dance on him to keep him boogying. I love casting control spells on this dipshit that’s all about “Blah blah blah, Bane, Control, Bane, Control” well eat this, asshole. I’m a bit obsessive about collecting all the books and notes in the game to read all the lore, so I was pretty unhappy about everything getting destroyed by the constant barrage of grenades. I reloaded and focused on taking out the three grenade launchers at the beginning of the fight and we had smooth sailing. I’m glad I went through the trouble - Gortash has a journal (well, a rough draft of a stupid vain memoir) that details a bit more the plan that I (durge) was a part of, and where exactly in the timeline I was removed from that plan.

Then poor Karlach. So I do really like Neil Newbon, he did fabulous work, his big scene with Cazador was very cathartic and emotional. I think for those of us who have been badly hurt by other people, it’s not an uncommon fantasy to imagine yourself getting the same kind of brutal revenge. His scene made my oldest daughter tear up when she got to it. Me, I’m not sure, maybe I had seen too many clips online beforehand, maybe it was that it was all over so fast, I mean I definitely liked the scene a lot, and kudos to Neil and all the complicated emotions there, but the eyes stayed dry.

Karlach however - that one did make me cry. It really hit hard for me when she was talking about how unsatisfying it was. Now he’s dead but what good did that do, he’s not any more sorry about what he did. She’ll never get that closure. They took her heart and she won’t ever get it back. It’s been almost nine years now, I think? since I left my abusive husband, and that’s still something that eats me up. You can’t ever get that time back. You won’t get an apology for what happened to you, not from them, not from anyone, not from the universe in general. They probably won’t ever even ever recognize that what they did was wrong. And that’s…I don’t know. For me personally, that’s been so difficult to deal with, and to hear Karlach react the same, that hit hard. I had to pause for a moment.

Then she starts talking about her looming death. This whole time she’s been so positive, focusing on what she can do here and now, it’s admirable! But now it all catches up to her at once and she’s so, so angry. I cried. First time the game made me cry.

Fun fact - I actually legit was going to do Duke Wyll. I don’t care if the game is trying to tell me that’s the bad choice, I do honestly believe that’s a good future for Wyll, and it’s great for the city. But Karlach made me so sad here, her grief and anger at having so little time, and I reloaded back and changed my decision.

Now Karlach’s back to focusing on enjoying the moment, and asking if I will be there when she dies. Man.

Back in Baldur’s Gate, with the three netherstones in my possession, the elder brain is lashing out, and immediately, three citizens are turned into mindflayers. These mindflayers had (rather pretty) silvery white blood! Is this a new patch? Do all mindflayers have that now? I’ve killed a few now and I definitely did not see silver white blood before.

Last errand before I head down to the sewer for the final big fight: stealing my contract back from Raphael. At the start of act 3 my tav felt like his soul was disposable, but I guess all the events have left him with a desire to fight for it. Can’t wait, can’t wait!

[little-den]

A Tumblr exclusive! A little not so little description of the angsty Au/Scenario i have for Gin (OLBA MC) because i needed to share it somewhere ✨

It revived the itch to write it thanks to this poem i found in Tiktok

and it started with the time that Twt mentioned some OL reset Aus and this song a lot of time ago

A bit of context hahaha

Well in the moment i started this Au it was popular the reset theory, and what if we replayed and Cove remembers and such, but What if it was MC?

Also while playing the game there is a lot of mentions that how a couple of decisions could make it where some characters would never met.

In all of that there is two talks i like to focus, first one is in the moment Happines where Cove take us to see a play and how the MC and him would try to find each other if they have another chance in life or end up in another world.

The second one is in the Wedding DLC, Cliff talks about how his luckiest card was to move to Sunset Bird. So this raised the question "What if he wasn't that lucky and chosen other place instead?"

Now with my MC:

Gin is a wedding photographer, one of the main reasons she choose this path is beacause she highly values memories and she belives that they are an important part of what makes a person.

Finally to the point:

It's the night of Cove and Gin's wedding day and she is reflecting about the day until she falls sleep. She wakes up and see that she is in her moms house and they look younger, she is 8 years old again.

Everything she lived was a dream? No, it can't be it felt so real to be just a dream, she can remember it so clearly.

She notices is the same date that Cove and Cliff moved to Sunset Bird. She can see them again especially Cove. She goes about her day doing the closest thing to what she did the first time, planning to recreate all those moments that they had together.

The afternoon arrives and she is so excited going home hoping to see them aging just to arrive to no one in her front of her house. She thought "Maybe i just mixed up the dates, after all it was 15 years ago for me", so she repeated the same rutine all the week, just to go back and still nothing, just the same for sale sign.

She started to get worried and thought what she could do having the promise to find each other if they had another chance in life in the back of her head, until she remembered "Cliff's shop", if she could convince her moms to take her there.

But this idea had a lot of problems, first give her moms a good reason to take her there, if she could accomplish that, maybe Cove wouldn't be there, is was rare that him tagged along the first years, then what would her tell to Cliff so it wasn't weird and allowed to meet him. Worse case scenario the shop wasn't there at all.

It took her years to convince her moms to go around the area, thanks to her don't wanting to tell them about her past life, what if they don't believe her or tell her that it was just a dream, she couldn't bear the possibilities.

But she confirmed the shop existed but shyness got the better of her and couldn't talk with Cliff. Her best shot was wait for a day that Cove was there.

The way she could go more often to the store, was thanks to Elizabeth, if one of her outings with her friends was around the area, Gin would tag along and stay in the docks and Elizabeth would pick her up when she was done. This cost her obviously all of her desserts for at least one year, a small price to see Cove again.

The excuse she always used was that she liked to see the boats at the dock. Which was credible since she had a time in the past where she only wore sailor suits and nautical theme stuff.

Until one summer day when she was 15, it finally happend she encountered Cove and better yet Derek too. Two friends at the same time!, she can keep her promi It was easy to know that Derek would be the first to approach her.

She was fast friends with Derek, but it was a lot harder to aproach Cove, he acted different from what she remembered, it was a lot colder in contrast the warm boy she knew. Also it didn't help her case that she was acting as if she knew them all of their life and too friendly, so similar to his first encounter with Baxter in the past life, thing that she didn't noticed.

Derek convinced Cove somehow to spend more time with Gin, her neighborhood was more close to the beach that the one Cove was currently living and had a lot of less people around. So they started going to Sunset Bird more often.

Last point Gin's Cove is warm and between studious and mixed, and after the reset is cold and sporty.

But it's wasn't the same, Cove attitude was diferrent, as if he wasn't exactly the same person she knew, in the overall was the same but her discomfort was in the little details, how reacted in some situations, some of his likes were different, etc...

There were moments that she lived with him in her past life and in this life but the outcome was most of the time not as she remembered and wanted. Maybe with some time she could feel different and ignore these details.

With time passing the feelings of both of them slowly changed, he started to fell in love with her. He was comfortable in her presence, he felt that she knew him quite well, that she was someone he was meant to meet.

But her feelings only got worse, her memories of this time and the past started clashing. He wasn't the same guy she grew up with, the one she started dating that summer when they were 13, the one she proposed to as soon as they could legally get married.

Although they were both so similar, they were not the same person. She believes that the moments that one lives in one's life mark them. Both of them were different and it is something that weighed on Gin's mind. Also she noticed how this Cove loved her.

She liked this Cove a lot, but not to the point to love him or even to be romantically interested in him. She loved the one that was her husband, so it was a bit more painful the fact that she could not reciprocate his feelings but it was at lost of what she could do.

That's all, i even started writing it in super detail in the past but i just left it, is just like the mini introduccion

Also as a treat another OL ansgty mini story i writed and shared in twt but not here

[lavaeolus]

I beat New Vegas and its DLCs with 0 kills on Hardcore

Right, I feel like I owe you some details on this. Meet Michaela, courier and Wasteland doctor. Swearing something not entirely dissimilar to the Hippocratic Oath, she's a devout member of the Followers of the Apocalypse. And less devoutly the Brotherhood of Steel -- but she's a little concerned hijacking a robot army might've gotten her kicked out of the latter. Hasn't had the nerve to ask about it yet.

Strap yourselves in; this is going to be a long one. First, the core three rules to this playthrough:

No direct killing. Don't do anything that would increase People Killed, Creatures Killed or Total Things Killed.

No companion killing. Would make this a lot simpler if we brought one along! But I think that would be less a "no-kill" challenge and more a "companion commander" one.

No luring enemies to their death. It's hypothetically possible to just beat a guy to 1 HP and lead them to a radscorpion. But that's not very nice. Try to bypass them through means other than reducing their HP to 0 if possible.

Full disclosure that I did allow myself to use Robotics Expert and shut off machinery. I didn't really view this as destroying them, as they retain their HP and can theoretically be turned back on one day. In fact, deactivate Mobius's giant roboscorpion with the perk and he will, after a few moments, do just that.

Tackling the base game

If you follow some of my other social media, you might know this isn't my first try at a 'no-kill run'! The main difference is that in the last one I didn't really do any DLC. I did Honest Hearts and called it a day. This run was also done on Very Hard / Hardcore, which doesn't change things too dramatically but does mean we can't be quite as cavalier about rushing in and running past people. We side with Yes Man in this go-through, unlike our first run which was NCR. They share a lot of ground, though, so again: not too big of a difference.

One fun fact about New Vegas is that being able to get through without killing anyone was one of Obsidian's initial design tenets. But... that comes with a bit of a proviso. You can get through to pretty much any ending without ever having to pull out a gun (or ballistic fist, as the case may be), although there will be clunky moments from the engine being designed with the idea you'd be clearing places of enemies. Hell, you can wipe out most of the factions without ever pulling out a gun, if you help Lanius come to power and side with the Legion.

Can you get through "as a pacifist"? Well. I mean, you don't have to kill House, exactly. You can just pull him out of his tub, expose him to bacteria, and then shove him back in -- disconnected from his systems until he inevitably dies in about a year. There are a few other questionable moments, like the fact that bringing law to Primm inexplicably causes all the people in the Bison Steve to suddenly drop dead. Heart attacks, I assume.

Still, side with the right faction and your hands can come out relatively clean, and I do a few extra things to keep in spirit to the run. I don't give the Legion the Boomer howitzer parts. Our favour from the King is spent ending the violence against NCR citizens, thereby avoiding conflict with Pacer. For the Omertas, I avoid having Cachino open fire on the bosses. Instead I blow up their weapons, blackmail Clanden, and then re-enter the casino. Whereupon they ask me to hand over my weapons and I tell them to shove it, rendering the Omertas irrevocably hostile to me. (This lets me progress the NCR path a bit further, although it's not strictly necessary on an Independent run.)

While there are a handful of quests you can't do, you can complete the majority of the game and most of its quests. The only companion you can't recruit without loosening the rules a bit is Boone. With Cass, you can avoid having to help Ranger Jackson if you take the Barter or higher Speech routes. I avoid having Old Lady Gibson put down her dog for Rex, but if you're not being as extreme fixing him's just a few caps or a Barter check away.

That doesn't necessarily mean you'll get the best ending for everyone, of course. There are some factions, like the Powder Gangers and Fiends, who probably should be dealt with -- but sticking to the pacifist ethos leaves these groups in play. This is only heightened by staying Independent rather than joining the NCR, who would ultimately deal with the Powder Gangers and limit the Fiends' influence once their hold is strong enough.

Tackling the DLC

Does that ethos carry through to the DLC? Sort of. There are troublesome spots throughout, and obviously dealing with Father Elijah through stealth still involves locking him in a room without food, water or light. But I think the only direct violation of that earlier design tenet comes in Lonesome Road. Honest Hearts is actually where we get our main weapon of choice, the Compliance Regulator: a special laser pistol that does less damage but temporarily paralyses an enemy on crits. (A few similar fatigue weapons exist in the base game, but are usually trickier to take advantage of.)

But let's go through some issues:

Companions! Honest Hearts, Dead Money and Lonesome Road all have you escort companions around. If you go into Caution, companions can open fire on people. Sometimes we can just walk on and be sure they won't do much. By all means, ED-E, solo the three deathclaws while I scoot over to the next area. I'd recommend you bring a few Stealth Boys to the Divide just to help keep ED-E out of trouble. Other times we have to get creative. To complete "Prisoners of War" without anyone dying, I have to zap both a White Leg and Graham with the Compliance Regulator, paralysing them each for 10 seconds. I then have to paralyse Graham again to get to Salt-Upon-Wounds without Graham going Rambo on his minions. In all cases, you can abuse the Wait function once you're far away enough from enemies your companion might still be fighting.

Holograms. Dean doesn't want to do his part in the heist without some protection. Two options: threaten to break his legs, which is tempting, or you can activate some holograms to keep guard. Unfortunately the Ghost People have some special coding that says whenever one is permanently killed, for any reason, they should be added to your kill-count. The solution is simple but difficult to pull off. Activate the holograms, then leg it out of the area before they have the chance to murder any poor Ghost People. A gamey solution for a gamey problem.

Saving ED-E. Can't use the terminal until the robots are dead! So either nuke somewhere or trick a few robots into blowing themselves up. But this is technically optional.

Showdown with Ulysses. When I mentioned there being one violation, this is what I was referring to. The DLC ends with a big final showdown between you and the Marked Men, which doesn't progress until the Marked Men are dead. Strictly speaking, Ulysses is perfectly capable of soloing them all while you hide in a corner -- which we do. But that a high-Speech character is able to be carried by Ulysses doesn't really change that you're meant to be fighting off waves of enemies.

In the end, though, we're able to come out moreorless abiding our initial rules, some dodgy moments aside. Old World Blues is the best about it, having no real catches throughout. The enemies have pretty good Perception, so can be a little tricky to sneak past, but there's no mandatory killing. Honest Hearts is interesting in that it's clearly aware a pacifist approach is possible and actually addresses the possibility in some dialogue -- although, of course, Graham does add some complications if you're strict about it.

Dead Money and Lonesome Road? Tough stuff. If a non-combat character interests you, there's an extent I'd say go for it, but maybe just give yourself a mulligan for these two DLCs and the Graham-segment of Honest Hearts. From a roleplaying angle and outside the confines of the Pip-boy stats, it's not strictly your fault if some guy you're forced to travel with attacks someone, right? So long as you don't deliberately take advantage of it.

Video proof

I didn't record this full playthrough, but I did record the final mission and the ending of each DLC. Just so I'd have a record of having done it. The full playlist is here, but if you'd like to watch any individual one:

Base game

Honest Hearts

Dead Money

Old World Blues

Lonesome Road

I realise this isn't, like, irrefutable evidence. But if you're curious about how the ending slides play out or if there's anything special, there they are.

[cyberpunkpizzaman]

Games I’ve been Playing - Elden Ring, Fallout 3, and Breath of the Wild

It's been a while since I put together my last post about what I've been playing, but I have definitely not been idle in the intervening months. Here's what I've been up to!

All links in this post are Humble Bundle affiliate links. That means I get a small portion of any purchase made after using them. If you'd like to learn more about the Humble Bundle affiliate program, click here.

Elden Ring

I beat Elden Ring a month or so back, brute-forcing my way through the game with heavy armor and a greatsword. It's a massive game, and I feel like I've only just scratched the surface even after the many many hours I put into that run. I restarted almost immediately, playing as a mage and experimenting with glintstone sorceries. But in all honesty, I'm a bit burnt out on the game. As many discovered after an initial burst of enjoyment, the game really starts to drag after the fight with Morgott and I, like many others, was struck by an overwhelming sense of "really, there's more?" right about the time Crumbling Farum Azula popped up.

All of that said, I really enjoyed my time with Elden Ring. It was a real challenge, but I'm happy I played it. The world and the characters have intriguing depths and the moment-to-moment gameplay is tense and exciting. I just think the open world (and especially the addition of your trusty steed Torrent) breaks the tight pacing that does so much for the earlier Souls games. When most enemy groups can simply be avoided, it's often hard to tell how the game wants the player to approach situations.

Fallout 3

Playing on the Steam Deck! I first experienced Fallout 3 at a friend's house, watching him explore DC's irradiated subways on an XBox 360. Playing the game on the Deck is a wholly different experience, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. As a platform, the Deck promotes a certain kind of focus that I find incredibly compelling; multi-tasking isn't really possible, so the game takes center stage.

When I play games on PC, it's not unusual for me to have a podcast running in the background, or even a long YouTube video running on a second monitor. Playing on the Deck locks me in and focuses my attention.

I'm also having a good time with Fallout 3 itself! Much like my exploration of Oblivion last year, Fallout 3 feels like a clear first step toward the kind of multi-leveled, densely packed urban chaos we see in Fallout 4's Boston. The metro system's prominence feels more like a concession to technical limitations than anything else, with piles of rubble blocking progress along surface streets.

Tonally, the game's dialogue choices place the player at a remove from the game's world. You're encouraged to mess with the world and its characters, causing problems and drama wherever you go. You can, of course, avoid these options, but the game itself will essentially taunt you for being a good-two-shoes. It's a game that, despite the depth of its dialogue system and its world, wants you to engage with it as a game; to exert your will upon the world and its inhabitants in whatever way seems most entertaining.

Anyways, I'll likely have a longer write-up on Fallout 3 at some point in the future. I'm still fairly early in the game, and I've yet to tackle any of the DLC. More to come here.

Breath of the Wild

I have no screenshots for this one; I'll add some in the future if I can figure out how to get screenshots off the Switch

Breath of the Wild is my first Zelda game and I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it. I'm partly playing it for my wife, so she can see the story without needing to play the game herself. But I think I might have played too many open-world games. I can see the game's strength and the excellence of its execution in every mechanic; the game gives me so many tools I sometimes can't tell if a cheesed a puzzle or completed it as intended, and the world design itself is both nuanced and beautiful.

But I think I've climbed too many towers. I think I climbed too many towers by the time I beat Far Cry 3, and I'd definitely climbed too many towers by the time I beat Assassin's Creed 3. I've filled in more than my fair share of maps and I just don't know that I'm that into it these days. Skyrim's old promise of "if you see a mountain you can climb it" feels more like obligation than exploration. And knowing that each new heart means finding and completing four shrines makes me feel like I'm completing checklist items.

I think I might just not be cut out for these kinds of games right now. I'm going to beat the game and give it a fair shake, but I'm definitely flagging and I have been from the start.

[chaoslifeforme]

Please tell me more about Coco Last they sound awesome. How extra were they already as a kid?

Oh my god, I love you, thank you. And they were extra from the very beginning.

When they first met Cove, they were like finders keepers. And every month on the same day they found Cove, they'd give Cove a drawing of a white linen poppy. (Were the drawings good? No, but they did end up everywhere in Cove's room). Over the years their skills improved and they gift Baxter ink drawings for every important date, from the day of the first soiree, the date when they met the second time, the third time, their first date the first time, first date the second time... there's a lot of dates. Only Baxter's planning skills (and calendar where he writes down all these dates as Coco celebrates them) allows him to keep up. The chocolate fountain illusion cake Coco made on Miranda's birthday (that they brought to Miranda's party after the reveal), is the only one Baxter had any issues with. *He nearly had a heart attack because he woke up and discovered a chocolate fountain in his kitchen. He thought it was a nightmare.*

Spoilers for Cove step 1 dlc: When Cove ran away Coco went with, but they didn't need any of Cove's drinks or snacks. They always carried a purse around with them, and that purse was almost as big as them (might be the main reason they end up with some slight muscle definition as they get older). They have all the basic necessities in the purse. (In Coco's mind, the necessities are snacks, drinks, first aid kit, and two full disguises including wigs, contacts and outfits that fit over top of their clothes).

The minute Cove says Coco can come Coco throws on one of the disguises and insists Cove uses the other. The conversation goes a bit like this:

"What are you doing?"

"Putting on my disguise. Where's yours?"

"Why would I have a disguise?"

"Because you said you don't want people to know you're leaving. If they see you they will know, so you just have to make sure they see someone else, someone more fabulous. Did you not even bring a disguise?"

"No"

"Here, you have to use my extra one so we don't get caught"

"But there's no one around"

"Wanna bet?"

"Fine" *Pouty Cove puts the disguise on. He didn't like the wig and couldn't keep the contacts in for long. So only his clothes ended up different.. It made Coco pout for a second before remembering their disguise was an adult who doesn't pout. Yes, they did think they could pass for an adult at 8 years old, 3 feet tall, with the biggest possible child like blue eyes (the brown contacts did not make them look older) and chubby cheeks.... *

Coco also has a new, fully choreographed, victory dance for every year. Whenever they have a big win, they will break out into a full song and dance as soon as there is enough space to. Even during "Dinner" at Cove's house, when they win the card game, they actually go outside to do one, much to everyone's amusement. Cove is an excellent best friend because he becomes very efficient at clearing a stage area for Coco at a moments notice. He's so good at it, that after Coco became famous people thought he was Coco's body guard, or the one scheduling these seemingly impromptu pop performances by an Oscar winning actor.

Coco, cleared that up really quick, and their fans enjoyed the performances all the more for knowing they are victory dances.

They definitely did a dance after Baxter asked them out in "Sightseeing", though they waited until after Baxter was inside. Also, when they asked Baxter out after Scott and Jude's wedding. (Although they were a little disappointed that Baxter didn't notice that they quoted when he asked them out verbatim, without the part about things being temporary)

They also love dressing "grandly formal" all the time. They actually had to dress down for Scott and Jude's wedding. Of course, a paparazzo got a picture of Coco only looking "formal" and their fans were so worried they broke Twitter. Coco had to to a whole press release through a reputable journal that they were alright. They also explained that they knew the importance of not stealing another person's show. Same as how upstaging your costars ruins a performance, stealing the show takes it out of it's context and ruins the show. In this case, the show was the wedding of two people near and dear to their heart and they'd rather die than ruin that momentous occasion. (They may or may not have given their publicist a conniption over refusing to change their wording).

Ps. They carry four disguises in their purse now, so they are never caught by paparazzi if they don't want to be. All their friends are used to Coco putting on disguises while out with them, and Baxter thinks it's rather ingenious of them. Whenever they put on a disguise while out with him, he always asks, "What wonderful gentle person do I have the pleasure of escorting today?"

It's the only thing that ever gets Coco to break character, and even then, only sometimes. They may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but they sure are the shiniest and most skilled in the arts of performance, drawing and cake decorating.

[theconsciouscrow]

Ok, so things we can use to visualize what the first drafts of Alan Wake 2 were supposed to look like, based on these artworks:

Casey and Tim were supposed to be colleagues, and maybe Alex wasn't gonna be FBI judging by his clothes - a lawyer maybe?

Ilmo and Jaakko were going to take Thornton and Mulligan characters (based on Jaakko getting the moose head, which was Mulligan task on the final product) and would probably turn into the Huotari brothers;

The "Alan A, B and C" were going to take place just after AW1 DLC/Base Game (?) Did they thought about doing a 'direct' sequel, like - moments after AW1 ending? It would make sense to the concept of time distortion in the Dark Place. Also wood everywhere: Bird Leg Cabin?

A direct spiral; still wood everywhere: i would punch my doppelganger if i booted AW2 and had to like- reach the higher floors of an eternal Bird Leg Cabin, roguelike style;

Someone dying with a deer mask, the story taking place; Vladimir Blum clearly as an officer, but the floor looks different than Bright Falls Police Station, too polished- Big City floor. The FBI Department? The Oldest House? Also bloody footprints that i cannot resist thinking are Scratch's. Saga/Estevez bringing Alan in cause he's dangerous: him turning into the Devil there. A psycho rummaging through THE™ Government Agency - a rogue entity rummaging through The Oldest House. The Final Boss. Both of this possibilities look terrifying.

These are all me going haywire, it could literally be anything.

Alan Wake II by Oliver Ödmark #7

[piracytheorist]

FREND!! THE DLC!! I was waiting til you posted your thoughts <3 so glad you overall liked it <3 Ethan confirmed wanting to be a househusband cooking for Rose, walking her to school, singing her to sleep I'm so T_T my heart is exploded chris redfield pls go and stay gone, relentlessly trying to recruit a 16 year old who doesn't know ANYTHING about her father bc you totally fcking failed to do so in, again, 16 motherfking years - like, seriously??? she LITERALLY says " I don't know the first thing about him " chris WTF, how could you just say 'he died protecting you' ; bullied constantly, and if we go by what Eveline made her relive with the dolls, pretty damn harshly, that she can't trust people and has self-worth in the negatives (but she still fights! just like her daddy) - and the only thing we know he did is tell the teacher she isn't contagious? and she stayed there for more bulling?? what part of 'take care of her' didn't you get?? mia I'm side eyeing bc she 'hasn't seen her in ages' but we don't know how long 'ages' is, she didn't tell her anything about her dad? ahem back to gushing about my moldy babss The letter. THE LETTER. Ethan you sap. Best sap. Also I can't recall any other videogame father who tells their child 'I love you' so many times <3 <3 <3 and calls her, sweetie, sweetheart, honey and jellybean ♥♥ "You have me" don't mind me I'll just be here crying The moment he pushes Rose out of the way from Evie's attack had me just :O Trying to 1v1 Miranda without weapons... (...New Ethan pained sounds and lines and getting tossed around and impaled 👀 sorry the whump is strong in this not to mention it) (but not Rose's!! those death screams are awesome but she's bby and I don't wanna see her too hurt) and the ending ;_; ... fck it, I say it IS Ethan walking towards the car, Jellybean was able to pull the ring outta the Megamycete consciousness so why not her daddy? that's what I'm choosing to believe ♥♥♥ -laa

AAAAAHHHH I was waiting for you to come to my inbox and gush about it!!

God yeah despite my criticisms the story did a great job at completely breaking me. They went so hard for the feels and I can't help feeling grateful for that. Ethan and Rose may be badasses, yet the narrative doesn't try to show their emotional moments as an exception to the rule. It embraces their sensitive natures and shows it as part of them, along with their badassery. And I love that so much, I love that they allowed Ethan to be a total sap with his daughter. From the words he told her as "Michael", to showing her his thoughts from the house, TO THAT LETTER, to saving her, to having a tearjerker moment with her at the end! There was no shame, only love for their characters and the little but precious time they got to spend together.

Yeah uhm about Chris... I am hearing theories that Capcom wants to take it to a route where Chris has a corruption arc and just turns into a villain, and honestly, with what they gave us from this DLC? It wouldn't surprise me if they really took it there. If that interview was correct, that said that Chris took Rose out of Mia's custody - though I guess that happened before Rose started school, in her diary, up until that point, she said Mommy taught her some stuff, so she was with her for some time. And yeah it is very sus that Mia didn't tell her about Ethan? Like even if Rose was like 6 when Chris took her, that's enough to learn a few stuff about her dad. That's just part of my unanswered questions from this story. Though having Ethan say "I'm so lucky to have you both in my life" tells me Author's Intent is to not hate on Mia, and that's enough for me to think Rose reunites with her at some point and they rebuild their relationship. I mean, again, what was the point of showing Mia holding Rose in her arms as the last shot of the main game, if Rose ends up completely estranged from her?!

But yeah, Chris' behaviour is completely unforgivable. All about not telling her anything about Ethan (and don't come at me about "uwu Chris is feeling guilty and it hurts him to talk about Ethan" THAT'S NOT ROSE'S PROBLEM YET HE MADE IT ONE!), leaving her in a school where she gets constantly bullied, not building her up emotionally yet pestering her about joining his force. Like on one hand he doesn't try to make her feel okay with herself, but on the other it's not bad for him to use her powers. It's almost as if Ethan didn't die to stop someone from using Rose for their own benefit :) :) :)

Anyway as you said back to positive things

Yeah in the main game we see Ethan's determination to save Rose physically, in the DLC we see his determination to help her emotionally. He's supportive, helpful, excited for her successes, even sassy but still supportive when she's being stubborn (I mean, like father like daughter right), and then he goes full-on emotional with everything. When he asks her if she resents her father...

I don't think I've ever felt physical pain from an ellipsis before. The way he sounds so hesitant to ask that because he's afraid of what she might answer, but still wants her to be honest and talk about it since it seems to upset her so much. That he's ready to listen to her ire about him, if that is the case. It's like that ellipsis is the physical manifestation of how much his heart is breaking at this moment, fearing that his own daughter hates him because he wasn't able to be there for her. And I love, love, love that they gave him this moment. For him to ask her that so hesitantly, and for her to immediately spill her heart out about how she wished he was there. It's all emotion and feelings and it's given its proper time instead of being rushed for the sake of macho horror and shoot 'em up stuff.

And like... an entire section dedicated to what Ethan loved about his baby daughter and how he wondered what she'll be like growing up. Because all he wanted was to be there for her... and THAT FUCKING LETTER breaks me because it's all things he wanted more than anything else to do and yet he didn't get to do ;_; and reading it to her in his voice, opening up his heart to her and showing her as much of himself as he could to her! It's just all emotional build-up and connection between the two... and then! Then! He doesn't hold anything back when Eveline curses at her. "You have me" - I LOVE THAT SO MUCH ETHAN I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! If he was trying to keep up the role of Michael, at this moment he dropped it completely. Having seen how low Rose sees herself, he just openly stands by her side and supporting her when someone else tries to break her down. And then he manifests to protect her from Eveline, facing her ire himself instead. And when he tells Rose to keep going and find that crystal, he sounds so desperate yet so determined to help her even if he suffers for it... OH MY GOOOOOD T_T

And yeah the way he just run up to Miranda - who was already in her powered-up evolved form - without any weapons but his own unbreakable determination and love for his daughter... the way he gets hurt and screams in pain and all he wants is for Rose to get to safety... but Rose is her dad's daughter and cannot leave him like this. She cannot walk away without talking to him on her own terms! And he sacrifices what little power he has left to help Rose, once again pushing through pain and death to protect her from being lost and used. I wanna SCREAM. I love them both so much 😭😭

And yeah mmm btw never feel bad about mentioning whump I mean you know I'm here for it 👀👀 the way he screamed when Miranda's attack impaled him? My baby boy <3 Todd Soley giving it his all again <3 On the other hand Rose is baby and nothing should ever happen to her like, ever. It's Ethan's job to get whumped in his daughter's place <3

And then he feels he failed her because she took her powers back to go back to him and defeat Miranda... but it was all Rose. Being "normal" did not matter to her anymore, what mattered to her was to have a chance to talk to her dad for real; and the way she took her powers back and she like, became so much more powerful she could evade Miranda and absorb her attacks to hit her back, because now she had accepted them as part of herself. It was not a mistake, it was not a sacrifice; and all Ethan wanted was for her to be happy, so he's not sad for her. He's proud. And he gets to move on knowing his daughter would do anything for him in return. She started off upset and confused because she didn't know him, and she ended up reciprocating the devotion he showed towards her. I am completely ruined by this, by the way :)

And I thought that his last words being "Goodbye, Rosemary" was devastating?? Boy I was NOT ready for "I'm so proud of you. I'm so very proud of you. I love you, Rose". The way those lines are delivered will probably stay with me like, forever. It may be less than 24 hours since I watched the playthrough, but they're already up on the top of my all-time favourite lines from fictional media. Once again, it's not only shamelessly so, it's proudly emotional and openly broken. It breaks them and it breaks us. They deserved this reconnection and we deserved crying like babies over it. I love it.

And yeah in the epilogue, considering Rose's powers would grow stronger since she's accepted them and is training with them, maybe her love for her dad on the day of his birthday was strong enough to manifest him back into reality. Unless proven otherwise we choose to believe so!

Feel free to talk to me more about it, I am certainly not done screaming talking about it myself :D 💙

[laurakearney]

omfg i am a wholehearted believer in "kaitlyn should have gone with laura to the hackett house" we deserved that duo. kaitlyn would have been eyes emoji at laura as she got increasingly wolfy i just know it (me too kaitlyn). kaitlaura killing chris together dlc when??

i didn't dislike ryan but he frustrated me at times and was one of the least distinct characters for me. i feel like i would have liked him more if we saw less of him, yknow? whereas i feel the opposite about like. nick and abi, for example. i think we should redistribute a third of ryan's screentime to nick, abi, emma and kaitlyn.

and YEAH abi needed to like. do something. i feel like things just happened to her. and the other characters who things "kind of happen to" can all turn into werewolves, so at least there's that. abigail girl. what is up with that. you are so right she needed a Moment. i've seen some people compare her to ashley and like. i would say they are pretty different, but abigail needed either a werewolf moment or an "ashley not opening the door for chris" moment. let the relatively nice, shy girl lose it somehow. cmon. that's like, the whole point of making a relatively nice, shy girl in this kinda story, hello?? idk abi can get killed by werewolf nick and emma (very bisexual of her btw) but i also think that for equality's sake, werewolf abi should be able to kill nick and emma. i am going to be mourning the lack of werewolf abi in this game forever. we need werewolf abi dlc or something.

hope you don't mind me rambling in your inbox lol, i have nobody to talk to about this game

first off anon, ramble in my inbox all you want! i never get asks lol

ok second, APPALOOTLY ROBBED OF KAITLAURA!! i honestly wish it was laura's choice on who went with her of who was left in the poolhouse. would've love to see abi randomly going with her.

totally agree about ryan. like it felt like half of the things ryan did in the latter part of the game could've been done by any of the characters. i'm not saying ryan should've done nothing but once emma and abi have their "big moments" they're barely in the story anymore.

robbed of wolf abi!!! would've even loved for her to go with laura to the hackett's house. IMAGINE ABI GETTING TO KILL ONE THE HACKETTS!!! or even having the option to fully kill wolf nick or something when they see him.

[yukidragon]

Our Life Snippet - Lazy Morning Intimacy

So, who’s ready for an extra long serving of shameless fluff from the first draft of my fan novelization of Our Life: Beginnings & Always? My philosophy in writing this is if I can add some more fluffy cuddly moments, I absolutely will, and the Step 3 moment Reflection offers one such opportunity right at the very start before, well, those of you who have played this moment know what happens later.

Spoilers for those who have not played the Step 3 DLC! If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read any further! If you don’t mind spoilery stuff, well, don’t let me stop you, but I highly, highly encourage you to play through the game before reading any of this.

As always, thanks go to @gb-patch for their wonderful game and their lovely feedback for my work, as well as everyone who likes, reblogs, and comments on these clips I’m posting here. You are all awesome.  💖

...

It wasn’t often that Jamie had the chance to enjoy breakfast at the Holden house. Ever since their parents decreed that they were ‘too old’ for sleepovers, she and Cove didn’t have many opportunities to enjoy that particular meal together, which made today a rare treat. It wasn’t especially fancy fare, but it was lovely to be able to spend time with her boyfriend almost as soon as she woke up. She was glad she impulsively asked if he wanted to have breakfast with her when they exchanged their usual good morning texts.

After a pleasant meal filled with light conversation and tasty food, Cove invited Jamie to retreat to his room to relax and let the lazy morning linger before any big activities began. That was, if they didn’t just decide to take it easy for the rest of the day. Neither of them had any plans in particular, with no prior commitments with friends, family, or work to distract them from just spending the day together. It wasn’t officially a date day, per say, or at least neither of them called it that yet. So far, they just decided to do whatever came to mind while enjoying each other’s company.

Of course, the first thing that came to Jamie’s mind was to cuddle with her boyfriend. When Cove sat down onto the bed, she didn’t hesitate to take a seat beside him, leaning into him. He hummed happily in approval and looped an arm around her to pull her in even closer.

A mischievous smile tugged at her lips as a new thought came to mind, and Jamie leaned in even closer. Cove raised an eyebrow at expression, only to yelp when she unexpectedly pushed her weight into him and tipped him back onto the bed. She fell along with him, giggling as they tumbled onto the mattress

Cove let out a chuckle of his own once he recovered from his surprise. “When I said we could relax, I didn’t mean going back to bed,” he said with a wry smile. Even still, he allowed her to nudge him gently back to the headboard so that they could both lounge comfortably on the bed properly with their heads resting on the pillows side by side. 

Jamie flashed Cove a satisfied grin before she snuggled up against his side, nuzzling her cheek against his as she basked in his gentle warmth. “You also said to make myself comfortable,” she teased, her eyes sparkling playfully as she rested her arm across his chest. “I’m very comfortable like this.”

Cove felt his heartbeat quicken, and he smiled back fondly at Jamie, nuzzling her cheek in return. “Me too,” he said softly.

Though maybe he was a little too comfortable.

Cove couldn’t help but be aware of the fact that they were both lying in his bed together. A prickling of nerves rose up that he quickly did his best to tamp down to not ruin the intimate moment they were sharing. It was fine, no big deal, he told himself. They were both fully dressed, on top of the sheets, and it was broad daylight. They cuddled plenty of times like this before on sofas and the ground. Heck, this was nothing compared to when they shared a bed when they were younger.

The flickering of nervousness didn’t escape Jamie’s notice. She softened her expression and reached up to gently run her fingers through her shy boyfriend’s hair. She had intended to steal a kiss or two and see where that would take them, but she decided that could wait until later. Just enjoying this moment with Cove was enough for her.

The touch was soothing, and Cove slowly started to relax as he leaned into Jamie. The anxious air that had threatened to pull him out of the moment gradually dissipated as her comforting warmth slowly settled in. Soon, he felt at ease enough to slip his arm back around her, which she happily used as her new pillow. He couldn’t help but smile at seeing the content expression on his partner’s face as she smiled softly back at him.

A comfortable silence washed over the pair as they simply enjoyed the quiet moment of intimacy. At some point, Jamie went from stroking Cove’s hair to toying with it. His ponytail limited her in how much she could card her fingers through his hair, but there were plenty of long locks to ripple between her fingers.

It wasn’t the first time Jamie got the impulse to play with her boyfriend’s hair. Even before he was officially - or even unofficially - her boyfriend, she couldn’t help but want to run her fingers through those pretty pale green strands. When they were younger, Cove would jokingly try to avoid her hands, but always ‘failed’ to escape in the end, allowing her to have her way. Sometimes she teased him back by pretending to give up, and he would always pout adorably, which she would immediately chase away with a satisfying ruffle of his hair.

Occasionally, Jamie would go beyond playing to actual styling. She was no professional, but it was fun to wind her boyfriend’s hair into a braid or two sometimes. Cove never minded, even if the braids rarely lasted that long after she was finished making them. It also didn’t escape her notice that he would sometimes shiver or let out an adorable pleasured little mumble when she raked her fingers along his scalp. It was an enjoyable experience for both of them, and sometimes she suspected that was one of the reasons why he let his hair grow as long as he did.

Jamie had no such grand designs now. Today she simply basked in the freedom to enjoy the feeling of his soft hair sliding between her fingers as she listened to the happy noises her partner occasionally let slip.

Although much more at ease, Cove couldn’t help the small traces of nervous energy that left him with the need to do something with his hands. He ran his thumb across her shoulder with the hand that was limited by Jamie resting on the upper part of his arm. With his freer hand, he decided to return the favor she paid to him and ran his fingers through her long deep blue hair, starting with stroking back her bangs before sliding his hand down along the entire length of her hair until he reached the ends at her hips. The feeling was soft and silky, and she sighed softly at the attention.

On impulse, Cove poked one of the small buns on top of his girlfriend’s head. Space buns were her preferred hairstyle of choice nowadays, and there was something satisfying about poking them that he couldn’t quite explain. Maybe it was the feel of them, or the way the bunched up hair bounced when poked that did it, but most likely it was because of the amused looks Jamie gave him whenever he did. She wore one such expression now, and he couldn’t help but chuckle a bit before giving her bun another playful poke.

Entertained, Jamie let Cove have her way with her buns, poking and prodding them as he pleased. The potential for innuendo wasn’t lost on her, but she let it go unsaid. As fun as it would be to make him flustered by suggesting that he might enjoy playing with a different set of buns she had even more, she didn’t want to interrupt the light, playful moment.

Jamie would just save that little bit of wordplay for later, preferably when the mood was good enough that Cove might take her up on the invitation.

Despite the steamy thoughts that skirted through her mind, Jamie did her best to focus on enjoying the lazy moment between them. It was lovely to just share such casual intimacy with Cove.

Jamie wasn’t alone in trying to ignore her more hormonal urges. As much as Cove enjoyed playing with her hair, focusing on touching her as he did made it impossible for him to stop thinking about the fact that they were both lying on his bed together. He was keenly aware of the gentle warmth of her body pressed against him, how soft and inviting her pink lips looked as she smiled at him.

Eventually, Cove realized he needed something else to occupy his hands if he didn’t want to risk disrupting the peaceful moment. Shifting about a bit, he fished his cell phone out of his pocket. Although Jamie raised an eyebrow at that and at being displaced from her cozy spot when he moved around, she held no objections as he turned his phone on and busied himself with it. Instead, she simply readjusted her position to get comfortable once he was settled again.

Sifting through missed texts and emails, Cove soon managed to distract himself from the urges that ruffled his nerves and relaxed back into the moment. He spotted a number of texts he missed from his dad, and for a moment he wondered if everything was okay until he realized Cliff just sent him a bunch of images last night.

A warm smile graced his face as Cove slowly scrolled his way through the photographs, nostalgia washing over him. Each photo brought him back to the moment it was taken, allowing him to lose himself in the priceless memories he shared with his friends, family, and especially the special person he held so comfortably close at that very moment.

Some photos brought back sweet memories, others a little more on the bitter side of sweet, and then there were the funnier ones. One such silly photo seized Cove’s attention, and he couldn’t help the burst of laughter that escaped him.

The sound immediately snapped Jamie out of her relaxed stupor and brought her back to the present. She raised an eyebrow at Cove, but he failed to notice her questioning look, too preoccupied by whatever was on his phone’s screen.

“What’s so funny?” Jamie asked as she propped herself up on her arm to get a better look at his face and catch a glimpse of the phone’s screen.

Cove finally turned to look at Jamie, his eyes crinkled with mirth and a smirk playing on his lips. “Dad scanned some old photos,” he chuckled. “You know…”

Now that Jamie was no longer using his arm as a pillow, Cove was free to use it to draw a rectangle in the air. “Printed out ones,” he explained, “back from when I was little.” He waved his phone a bit with his other hand. “He texted it all to me last night, I guess. I’ve been checking them out.”

Jamie sat up completely, her dark blue eyes flying open wide. “You were looking at your kiddie photos and didn’t tell me?!” she gasped, almost scandalized at missing out on something so priceless.

Cove barely resisted the urge to chuckle, offering Jamie a bent smile as his eyes narrowed playfully. “I was gonna show you.” His gaze then slid away to his phone as his expression turned a little more hesitant. “I just wanted to look at it first to make sure there was nothing super embarrassing. You never know with my dad.”

His mouth pulled into a grimace as Cove could easily imagine all sorts of horrors his dad might have captured on film to unintentionally humiliate him until the end of time. “I mean… what if there’s a photo of me getting potty trained or something?”

Although Jamie empathized with his worries, she couldn’t help but giggle at the fraught expression Cove wore. “Yeah, that sounds like something your dad would do.”

Cove could only respond by clearing his throat nervously, his eyes skirting away from Jamie as he sat up as well. While he hadn’t come across any particularly humiliating photo of himself, he couldn’t quite shake the fear of what his dad’s well-meaning actions might have left for him to deal with this time.

Jamie offered her boyfriend a sympathetic smile before adding a slight bent to it. “Hey, how about this - if you let me look at your embarrassing baby photos, I’ll show you just as many of mine. My moms have plenty of them.”

The offer was tempting. Cove couldn’t help but wonder what sort of photos Jamie had in mind, but the price was just too steep. He merely chuckled awkwardly and shook his head as he pointedly kept his phone tilted away from her. She huffed and puffed out her cheeks in a mock pout at him for holding out on her, which elicited a genuine bout of laughter from him.

Once Cove got his mirth under control, he smiled at Jamie. “Anyway, before we forget, I was laughing ‘cause I came across a Halloween one from when I was eight. The year I was a zombie, remember?”

Jamie dropped her faux pout and nodded, her eyes lighting up eagerly. Cove shook his head at her excitement, a wry grin gracing his face as he finally offered the phone to her.

As Cove watched Jamie eagerly turn to his phone, he couldn’t help but shake his head again, this time at his kid self. “I never even liked zombies!” he said, a little baffled that he ever was so enthusiastic for such a costume. “All I wanted was to show off my new scar. And I needed to be something scary. I couldn’t be a normal person who had a scar, according to my eight-year-old mind.”

The photo displayed on the screen showed Cove from ten years in the past, and a pleasant wave of nostalgia washed over Jamie as she saw him the way he looked when they first met, minus the pink cast and plus a fair amount of makeup and fake blood. Little Cove posed for the camera with his fingers hooked like claws, his mouth open as though letting out what was probably supposed to be a fierce roar. She could easily remember the noises he made that night as he pretended to be a zombie on the hunt for brains. His hair looked even more wild and disheveled than it did after the most energetic day of play, going well with the tattered and ‘blood’ stained button up shirt he wore. His face was painted in gray down to his neck, marred with an array of fake scars that couldn’t compare to the real one on his arm.

Cove looked from Jamie to the phone and chuckled softly at the face his younger self pulled for the camera. “I was a little dork.”

Jamie eyed Cove at such self-depreciation before poking him on the nose. “You were a little cutie,” she insisted. “And now you’re a big cutie.”

Cove blinked at the playful action before blushing at the compliment. He had no words to reply to it except for a quiet, flustered chuckle as he rubbed his nose.

Jamie grinned at that reaction before turning back to the photo. As much as she enjoyed how adorable Cove looked while pretending to be a fierce monster, it was impossible to ignore the scar displayed so predominantly on his arm at that time. Her smile softened at the edges at the sight of such a large, jagged line of fresh skin that was such a deep and angry shade of red. The scar was a pale memory in the present, but back then it looked so painful, and at the time she found it hard not to worry about him and his comfort after his cast came off.

Still, Jamie refused to let that put a damper on the story and focused instead on just how much fun little Cove was having posing for the camera and remembering the way they played around with their costumes that night. She could vividly recall how she pretended to run away from him when he playfully growled that he wanted to eat her brains, and the memory made her smile grow stronger.

“Dad really wanted to be useful, as usual,” Cove said, bringing Jamie’s attention back to him in the present. Though he noticed the flicker of sadness that crossed her face and realized the reason for it, he was glad to see her perk up again just as quickly. “He came up with the idea of being an undead person. It was pretty good, huh?”

Jamie chuckled softly and nodded. “You had the best Halloween costume that year, hands down,” she said playfully. “I remember you getting lots of extra candy when adults realized the scar was real.” Her smile widened as she remembered just how jealous Lizzie had been at how much candy Cove got that year, especially since he only offered to share some of that extra candy with Jamie. “It must have been your greatest Halloween haul ever.”

Cove couldn’t help but chuckle as well as he thought back to that legendary candy haul as well. It took him a month to finish it all even with Jamie’s help.

Still, the topic of his scar brought his gaze back to the picture. Cove couldn’t help but compare the way it looked in the photo to its current appearance on his left arm. “I can’t believe how much larger my scar used to be,” he said quietly.

Jamie watched as Cove turned his focus to his arm with a soft smile on his face. He traced his fingers along the jagged line of pale flesh that remained with him even ten years on. It was an action that she had seen him do countless times, but it felt more significant in that moment.

A soft sigh escaped Cove, but his eyes and tone were playful. “Look at how tiny it is now.” He gave Jamie a look with big, pathetic eyes. “How am I gonna pretend to be tough without a big scar?”

It was a struggle for Jamie not to laugh at the expression Cove wore. “You better not do anything stupid to get a new scar,” she joked with a faux disapproving frown as she wagged a finger at him. “No matter how much you like them!”

Cove grinned back at Jamie. “I won’t.”

“Good,” Jamie said with a satisfied nod. “You’ve already got the coolest scar, no matter how small it gets.”

Cove felt his cheeks grow warm and his smile turned bashful. “Thanks.” He ducked his head away from Jamie, pleased with their joking exchange. Once again, his eyes drifted down to his scar as he continued to trace it.

“I really do like having this,” he admitted in a soft, shy voice. “Even if it is kind of little these days.”

Jamie’s expression softened as well, feeling as though Cove was sharing a big secret with her. She couldn’t help but feel happy to hear that he liked his scar despite whatever pain it must have caused him to get it. It was always wonderful whenever he opened up to her like this.

Cove glanced up at Jamie, a gentle smile gracing his lips. “I like yours, too.”

The unexpected compliment caught Jamie off guard, and heat rose in her cheeks, turning them pink. She couldn’t help but smile as she felt her chest flutter with butterflies. He never failed to think of her as well, especially since he knew that she was self-conscious of her own scars.

Unthinkingly, Jamie brought her hand up to her upper arm and traced some of the countless jagged little white lines that marred her pale skin. There were matching scars in the same place on her other arm, as well as her thighs and her chest. Unlike Cove, these scars were not the result of an accident, but her skin not being able to keep up with her sudden growth during puberty.

Back during her early teenage years when the stretch marks were fresh and an angry purplish-red, Jamie always kept them hidden. Puberty had been rough on her, dealing a blow to her self-esteem as well as her body, and being covered in so many scars left her feeling ugly even though she never once thought of Cove’s scar like that.

It took time for Jamie to accept her scars, and she knew that Cove was a big part of why. Seeing the way he took such quiet pride in his scar always made her question how she thought of hers. More than that, he always made her feel beautiful, and he was always the first to remind her  whenever she needed it. That was why she was no longer afraid to wear clothes that exposed her scars like she did now.

Jamie scooted in closer to Cove as she smiled adoringly at him, placing her hand on top of his. “Thank you, Cove.”

Cove turned back to face Jamie fully. He finally let go of his scar so that he could take her hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. He felt at peace with his scar and was happy to see the same reflected on her face as well. Their scars held such meaning to them despite coming from unhappy sources.

Jamie squeezed his hand back as she drifted even closer. “Could I touch your scar?”

Cove blinked, taken aback by the request. Usually, Jamie wasn’t shy about touching him without asking first, particularly someplace as innocent as his arm. Still, he quickly realized why she might hesitate to do that now and smiled gently at her as he nodded easily. “Yeah, that’s okay.”

Jamie gave Cove’s hand one more squeeze before letting go of it. Lightly, she pressed her fingertips against the edges of his scar. With great care, she slowly ran her thumb along the entire length of it, following the jagged angles the old wound took. The pale flesh was rough when compared to the rest of his skin, which was soft, but with goosebumps rising quickly along his arm as she stroked his scar.

The touch, so delicate and gentle, left Cove feeling a bit lightheaded. Jamie’s touch always felt wonderful and often left him feeling butterflies, but somehow the feel of her paying such careful attention to his scar was particularly powerful. A choked breath escaped him and a wobbly smile played across his face as he lost himself in the feeling.

The dizzied smile Cove wore along with the light pink of his cheeks drew Jamie in with the urge to do more. She locked eyes with him, staring deep into his aquamarine eyes as she took a hold of his arm and raised it up towards her.

A quiet gasp escaped Cove when she realized what Jamie had in mind. He couldn’t look away from her dark blue eyes as she stared so intently into him even as she placed a soft kiss on the old wound that marked him. The feeling of her lips, warm and soft, pressed so tenderly against that particular place sent shivers up his spine, and he let out a tiny squeak.

Jamie smiled against Cove’s skin as she appreciated his adorable reaction, as well as the way he looked at her with overwhelming adoration. She kissed him again and again, tracing the entire length of his scar with her lips like she did with her fingers before.

It was impossible for Cove to stay still when Jamie was showing him such affection. He reached up with his free hand to touch her arm. With his thumb, he brushed aside the edge of her open sleeve, giving him better access to the countless little white lines marking her pale skin. The texture was interesting, feeling so similar yet so different from his own scar. Because of their size and number, he found his fingers constantly alternating between soft skin and rougher tissue. It was difficult to trace any one scar from start to finish like she did for him, so instead he sought out to touch every single one.

The touch was electric, and Jamie could feel her heartbeat speed up as Cove caressed her so lovingly. “Cove…”

Cove shivered again as Jamie murmured his name against his skin, setting off sparks that made his body burn pleasantly. It urged him to lean forward, his eyes gleaming with the fire she set ablaze inside him.

Jamie raised her head and instinctively matched his movement, drawing nearer to Cove as her eyes drifted closed. She felt his lips gently meet hers, and she melted into the tender kiss. She held a little more firmly onto his arm as she fell deeper into him, feeling like she might drown in the depths of her feelings for him.

Cove all too quickly lost himself in the moment and in Jamie. It felt so wonderful, so right to be her like this, to touch and kiss her. He loved her so much that it was almost overwhelming, but knowing that she loved him as well kept him grounded.

Eventually they finally drifted apart, breathless and dazed from the kiss, their faces flushed with heat. When Jamie opened her eyes, she saw Cove gazing back at her with his mesmerizing ocean blue eyes. The look he gave her was spellbinding, filled with so much love and adoration that made her heart hammer hard against her ribcage. It told her without words that the feelings he had for her were just as immense as hers were for him.

Cove leaned in again, this time resting his forehead gently against Jamie’s. With heavy lidded eyes, he simply enjoyed gazing deeply into her blue eyes that always reminded him of the night sky. No matter how many times he saw them, they always captivated him. He could lose himself in those beautiful eyes of hers.

The feeling of his warm breath tickling her skin made Jamie shiver a little, especially the way it brushed against her lips like the ghost of a kiss. With their heads touching, his hand on her arm and hers on his, she felt entirely entwined with Cove. It felt so right.

Time ceased to have any meaning in that moment as they gazed deeply into their partner’s eyes and drank in the closeness and warmth they shared. Seconds or minutes might have passed, but neither of them cared as they lost themselves in each other.

[river-of-wine]

You know. I’ve never properly been able to articulate how the Baker family makes me feel in my art, so I’m just gonna type it down here because my Madhouse playthrough has gotten me all emotional over them again and they deserve to be talked about just as much as the lords, because they are also Mother Miranda’s victims wether she knew of their existence or not, and wether she bothered to care if she did.

This is mostly about Jack and Marguerite with some Zoe in there for flavour.

We don’t get to see a lot of Jack and Marguerite before he infection (even infected, actually, they’re only in one scene together but that isn’t really them) but what we do tells us a lot. In the Daughters DLC, they’re in a far more stressful situation that you would guess by how they’re acting. Jack has found two unconscious people in a massive shipwreck, one of which is what he believes to be a little girl, and they have that to worry about on top of the storm that has already wrecked part of their property. But Jack and Marguerite manage to keep the mood light. They know how to make each other smile, they know what jokes to tell when the time is right, they had that whole bed and breakfast plan. They’re genuinely such a sweet couple for the small amount of time we do get to see if them, and it’s very intentional that their first REAL scene together as themselves in the Daughters DLC is just them being a sweet ,arrived couple. That’s who they were.

Marguerite was the first to go (and the first to later die, interestingly enough) and Zoe finds her first after the power outage. Marguerite attacks her daughter and Jack intervenes, but even still he’s not hurting her. He could, and he could have been entirely justified in doing so, but all he does is try to hold Marguerite back and tell Zoe to get rope to presumably tie Marguerite up. Jack is a strong guy as we all know, a single stomp from him would’ve ended the game then and there if the mould hadn’t picked up where Ethan left off. Marguerite isn’t as strong as he is even after being infected, her thing isn’t brute strength as much as it is Give Birth To Bug Baby Bodyguards, so he could’ve knocked Marguerite out or caused some kind of physical harm to her to keep her under control. He didn’t, though, and I’m guessing by his line after Zoe leaves the room (“don’t you make me do something I’ll regret”) that he didn’t even try to. The madwoman with the centipede flailing out of her mouth is still his wife. Jack never wanted to hurt his family.

This is the last we and Zoe ever see of Jack before the infection with the exception of the free my family scene with him and Ethan near the end of the main game, but we do hear him resisting. While Zoe is running from him in the Daughters DLC, he’s talking to Eveline with lines like “shut up, you ain’t real!” and laughter that eventually devolves into crying. I’d argue that there’s evidence of this in the main game too. Jack has some interesting voice lines to say the least, but one of them is him telling someone to shut up through grit teeth. Ethan stays impressively silent through the chase sequences with Jack aside from his breathing, so Jack isn’t talking to him. They are the only two people in the main house, so the only other conclusion I can personally draw is that he is talking to Eveline.

Marguerite doesn’t get to make an appearance alongside her husband when he asks Ethan to free his family because she is fully dead, unlike the rest of her family who are either saved (yay Zoe!) or killed off for good in the DLCs. This doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have her own heart wrenching cutscene though! In the Daughters DLC, Marguerite will stop Zoe to give her the key and apologise, saying that she doesn’t know what’s wrong with her and begging Zoe to go as she desperately fights for control. During this interaction, Marguerite strains to tell Eveline “don’t touch her, don’t hurt my family!”

Anyway, moving in from summaries, it’s made pretty clear from these interactions that Jack and Marguerite remember what they do under Eveline’s control. They are fully conscious but unable to do anything about it. Jack actually explains this in his cutscene with Ethan, and the idea of them being entirely aware of what they’re doing but unable to stop it is just so much worse.

Jack remembers drowning Marguerite, he remembers hunting down his daughter, he remembers cutting his son’s arm off, he remembers killing Ethan.

Marguerite remembers attacking Zoe and violently threatening her in the old house, she remembers infecting Jack, she remembers kidnapping Mia.

They both remember every victim, every moulded, every murder. They couldn’t do anything to stop it, but they remember every second.

The Lord’s were victims and they were prisoners, but they had some semblance of free will. Alcina in particular really revels in how violent she can be, going through maidens like the livestock she keeps them as and delighting in how much she knows she can hurt Ethan. Donna and Moreau are exceptions here (Donna especially, Moreau will kill to impress Mother Miranda and doesn’t seem too guilty about his own Cadou experiments though I doubt he fully understood what he was doing) but Heisenberg and Alcina are really just left to their own devices until the ceremony is brought into things.

The Bakers are different. They were never supposed to be a part of this. They were just a family trying to help a little girl. Their kindness is what killed them.

I’d also like to bring up how much pain they must have been in physically as well as emotionally. Jack sounds like he’s in agony during his mutated boss battle, struggling with all of his lines and crying out for his wife. I’ll re,mid you that by now Eveline has entirely abandoned him and Marguerite as her parental figures in exchange for Mia and Ethan, since Mia is her favourite anyway and now she has a father figure to go along with him. Jack is in this weird in between state where he’s not being controlled but he’s too far gone to the infection to ever regain who he was, so his sobbing for Marguerite and his family is very real emotion slipping through.

I know it’s funny to laugh at the bug pussy jokes, I make them too, but I want to take a moment to just think about that. Marguerite’s womb is tearing through her body. Insects are crawling out of her throat and through her raw flesh. Her limbs grow to unnatural lengths. Her womb is a big hive. It’s ripping through her body. The agony that poor woman must have been in, and sounds like she is in during her boss battle, is hard to consider when she’s taking bites out of you and laying bug hives left and right, but it’s heartbreaking when you do take time to consider it.

And Zoe, the unsung hero of Resident Evil 7, had to sit back and watch it all happen. She had to watch her family slip into madness without her being able to do anything and she coped by refusing to acknowledge them as still being her family at all. It’s Joe who has to remind her that they were still her family and that they did love her deep down in their true hearts in the End of Zoe DLC when she’s finally escaped the property. Zoe is stronger than I think most of us give her credit for, she shouldn’t just be looked at as the bad ending girl because she is honestly so much more than that.

I just love the Baker family, they really deserved better.

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: April 13th, 2021

And we’re back again with more replies so soon, haha. Thank you for the asks!

Your game literally saved me this hell ass year. Thank you so much for the most perfect piece of art I've ever laid eyes on 😫 ... Do you guys have a rough idea when step 3 DLC will be released? I hope I'm not coming off as rude. I just really really love your game.

I’m sorry for the late reply on this! You might’ve already seen the answer by now, but the Step 3 DLC is coming out on the 16th. We’re almost there :D

This may be a silly question but did Jeremy's parents ever find out that Pran had lied about his age and if so, when/how? :3

Pran came clean to them after a couple of years, when he felt secure enough that it wouldn’t ruin the relationship. The Kings were a little embarrassed, the dad more than the mom, but they’re quite good at brushing past those kind of mistakes so it was all water under the bridge pretty fast.

hi! i know you’ve answered a question about alterations in the our life moments by playing them in different orders, but i was wondering if there was a canon order that the moments for each step happen in? i figure with such a customizable game the “canon” timeline for the moments is whatever order the player completes them in, for example in step 1, i like playing the runaway moment pretty early, since cove trying to run away early in summer makes more sense to me personally. thanks!

Yeah, there’s no canon order we’d insist on. Whatever you like can be the official route for you! And that’s a neat way to look at that event.

What if your character isn’t that into physical contact but still wants to be in a relationship with Cove? Would he be offended if you shy away or something along those lines?

He wouldn’t be. Cove knows how hard that can be and is very understanding. If you set his initiative to low, the game always checks to make sure if you want to be touched or not rather than assuming that you do. And if you do choose that you don’t want to, there’s no stress or drama about it. Cove will just say that’s okay!

Hellu! First off, I want to thank you all for such a wonderful game, it's been the best feel-good game I've ever stumbled upon and I can't express enough how much it has meant to me. Second, I've seen lots of people having trouble with making Cove confess before MC which makes me wonder if people will have the same problem in the dlc when you can propose to him. Is it possible to post a guide for that as well when it no longer could count as a spoiler? Again, thanks for such a beautiful game <3

I’m really happy you had such a nice time with it c:. We’ll answer questions about it on tumblr/in the discord if they come up and, if need be, we’ll find somewhere to upload a guide.

Do we get steam key from buying dlc on itch io?

I’m afraid not. That’d be unfair to those who get it on Steam. Plus, Steam isn’t super cool with giving out thousands of keys to be handed out for free on other sites anymore. They can refuse to give us the keys if they feel we’re trying to take advantage of their system.

hi! so if we reject cove's confession in step 3, can we still have MC and cove get together in step 4?

You can confess to him, yeah. But Cove won’t ever try confessing again if the MC turns him down in Step 3.

What if MC acts like someone Cove doesn't like, like Lizzie or Baxter lol

You can’t do what Lizzie or Baxter does to make Cove dislike them. You can play the game and try, but it doesn’t work out. The MC is just too compatible with Cove if you’re fond/crush/love, haha.

Hi! I absolutely love your game, I love the characters they’re all so amazing, thank you for the game haha

I was wondering if you would get the NSFW DLC no matter what Patreon level you were at, or if you would could get it at any level? :)

&

What pateron tier do we need to get the 18+ content for Our Life? It's my new favourite game, keep up the good work!

It will eventually be available at the $5 tier and anything above that! Glad you both like OL ^^

On a scale from 1 (being the worst) to 10, how well do the XOXO jerk squad including JB handle horror?

JB: 8

Everett: 5

Nate: 4

Shiloh: 10

Bae: 10

Jeremy: 8 for non-gore horror, 2 for gory horror

Pran: 9

hello!! i was wondering if any of the boys from the Jerksquad would ever wear a skirt/dress?

None of them wear skirts/dresses out of personal preference. But if there was some kind of reason where they had to do it, none would be that bothered.

How does the jerk squad feel about Christmas? 

Everett: He fucking loves it. That’s the best time of year.

Nate: Commercialized nonsense.

Shiloh: It’s wonderful! So he claims.

Bae: He likes it quite a bit, but only for the joy it brings children/family. He thinks that’s sweet but is too mature to be whipped up into a festive fervor himself.

Jeremy: It’s awful.

Pran: He hates it.

does cove have any pet allergies? yes I know this is a little weirdly specific

He doesn’t! The lucky boy isn’t allergic to any animal.

Very important question: Would Lee and a musical-theatre loving MC run around belting Into The Unknown from Frozen 2? Because I feel that they would 

Probably, haha.

This might seem like a dumb question, so I’m sorry, but with the Derek DLC are we gonna get to hang out with him in person instead of just calling him in step 3? 

The Derek DLC adds events in Step 2 and Step 4. It’s part of his story that you don’t really get to be around him in Step 3. But you don’t need to apologize for wondering!

hello! i'd like to ask if it's possible to play the android version of the game with the dlcs after buying the dlcs from steam. i wasn't expecting my android version to have my dlcs since i bought them from steam, but it had my step 2 dlc for some reason. is this a glitch or does the apk actually detect what dlcs you already have on your pc? if so, how come i don't have the step 1 dlc appearing on android? thanks!

That is some kind of glitch. It isn’t possible for the Android DLCs to be unlocked by having them on PC. Maybe in one of the old builds we accidentally didn’t lock the Step 2 DLC properly. Sorry for the confusion!

Does Derek and Baxter have canon sexualities? Will Derek still flirts with the MC regardless of their gender?

They’re both pansexual and can like the MC regardless of what gender they have.

I was wondering if Miranda had a crush on Cove in Step 3? I'm not sure why, but I got those vibes from her?

She thinks of him only as a friend. Cove isn’t her type, haha.

This is probably a dumb hope, but I hope Cliff find someone he loves after Cove is grown up and everything. Or at the very least he has someone he's very close with after Cove leaves. 

That’s a really sweet thought to have. Cliff stays single, but he’s graysexual and not-particularly romantically inclined. He only dated when he was really young ‘cause that’s what everyone did. Family and friend relationships are more important to him, and he has plenty of that in his life ^^.

Heya! I was curious if there might be a nickname system in N&F? I kind of pull an Elizabeth when I play and choose a different variation of a name like having Rosie in step one and changing it to Rose in step two, then maybe Rosetta in step three for example, but it also feels a little bit odd being scolded using my nickname hehe. That's all I was wondering about, thank you for your time and the wonderful games!

We are hoping to include the option to go by a nickname in Our Life: Now & Forever. But nothing has been programmed yet, so we can’t 100% guarantee it, haha.

Just curious, what would Liz's and Cove's relationship be if MC wasn't around? I feel like they wouldn't get along as well as they do now, especially during the first and second step 

They’d definitely have a lot of friction growing up and they’d likely avoid each other as much as possible. Once they were both older, I imagine they’d be decent neighbor acquaintances. But they still wouldn’t be nearly as close as they are with the MC bringing Cove into things.

What do the customizable eyes look like in the game? Do they look as they are in the creating avatar section? Or do they look different when actually playing the game?

That’s up to you! The doll is just meant to be a general idea. You can apply it to your imagined MC as much or as little as you prefer.

Did Cove go through a "phase" during his adolescence? I don't really wanna headcanon it so I wonder if there's anything (cringy) canon since we missed out on the ages of 14-17 hahaha

Not really, aha. 14-17 Cove is pretty recognizable to his 13 and 18 year old self.

Hello! I'm sorry to bother you, especially with all the messages you get. I was just wondering if the religious wedding venue was exclusive to a church or if there will be different religions of weddings? Also, I love this VN so much, it's so well written and every character is so amazing, thank you for making such a beautiful game.

The church is treated as a historic building rather than anything actively religious, but it’s not the only option like that. There’s a historic synagogue and stuff too! And that’s really nice of you to say <3.

How differently would it play out If MC told their moms about the 20$ deal back when it happened? 

They wouldn’t have been happy and would’ve been far more skeptical of Cliff, aha. But they wouldn’t want to keep Cove away from the MC, so it wouldn’t have been too different in the long run.  

Hello may I ask what Cove's favorite fudge/ice cream flavor would be? Its alright if its not answered 

He appreciates them all, but his top favorites would be the fruit flavored ones and the ones with nuts.

Hi! I really wanted to make mc's house in a game and tried really hard to figure out the floor plan, but I wondered if you have the floor plan of the mc's house so that i can try again with more accuracy?

Thank you a lot for this game, i loved it a lot! (my first play took me 8 hours lol)

I’m really sorry, we don’t have anything like that. But at least you can headcanon that what you did is correct and nothing can prove it wrong, haha.

Hello,I recently started playing lake of voices (I put it off for a long while since I’m usually not very good with horror) and I’m really happy I did!I’m a big fan of your games in general and lake of voices was absolutely great as well.I loved the characters and the dark setting of it,I adored the beautiful art and music and the story was great too,sometimes unsettling and sometimes very sweet.My favorite Route in the game was definitely Lu,I liked his character and was really shocked and distraught by his Route at least two times.I didn’t see the plot twist(s) coming at all!

Besides these ramblings I’ve also wanted to ask if you still remember how to get the lower two CGs on page 5?I seem to always miss them and would appreciate any help.Anyways I hope I wasn’t too much of a bother and I wish the devs a great day!:)

Thank you for all the kind words <3. You get those DLCs by going through the end of the Guide’s character path. You can use the guides on Steam to help you find it/reach the end!

—– —– —– —–

Thank you again for all of these questions :D

We released a new FAQ! It answers common questions and we’ll keep adding more to it. Please check there before sending an ask. FAQ   Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

[bri-notthecheese]

my thoughts on Iki Island:

(spoilers under the cut)

I really loved this DLC! I had nothing but high hopes for this after playing the base game last year (and three more times after that), and Sucker Punch didn’t disappoint. The whole time playing it I felt like it was only adding to my love of the characters and the stories they set up in the base game, and then all the new quests and mechanics added a lot of fresh fun on top of that! 

So where to even begin. 

The opening scene was super cool and a neat way to introduce the new shaman enemies. And despite Yuna only actually being in one scene, it was a delight to see her again. Though since I’m playing the DLC after finishing everything, I don't love the continuity of Yuna not accompanying him, but gameplay wise I knew that wasn’t going to happen anyway, but I just love when she’s with us <3

Went for my horse straight away and I was THRILLED to see that Kaze can now kill enemies and the new charge mechanic was way more fun than I was expecting and I was having too much fun with that. After Nobu, I didn’t expect to get attached the Kaze all that much (even if he continued on into a later game) but I was quickly proved wrong with this because I now kind of separate Nobu as the more gentler of the two, that was always there for me, and while Kaze is too, I like imagining Kaze is a lot younger and his aggressive personality in this really sold that and I like that it probably eases Jin’s worries a bit to see his new horse being able to fend off attacks a bit better. Plus, with his new armor, he’s even safer <3 Really fell more in love with Kaze in this, which I didn’t expect.

Met The Eagle next and had that whole encounter. I love how right away if you pay attention, you know Yuna isn’t Yuna because she’s never once addressed Jin as ‘my lord.’ I think the only time she said it was when she was talking to both him and Shimura at the lighthouse, and it wasn’t because she wanted to. But still, even knowing something was wrong, it’s cute that Jin’s mind went to her as a safe place who he’d have no problem entrusting stories and secrets to, which was obviously the Eagle’s goal. And hearing her voice warp into the Eagle’s was creepyyyy and so good <3  (my Yuna loving ass was sad to realize that was most likely the last time we’d see her, but that’s okay) That next part of the hallucination really got you feeling for Jin, and I couldn’t help but be frustrated that he’s only a child, how was he supposed to help?!?!? 

So I ignored Tenzo’s next mission and explored and pretty much completed the entire island. I got jump scared WAY too many times by her taunts, but I loved how that just added to the direness of the situation. I was obsessed with finding all the hallucinations and it just kept breaking my heart how Jin has all of this pent up guilt/heartache--with Ryuzo (he had so many I found), his father, his uncle, the Khan, Nobu :(, Masako, etc. I honestly had expected to find one regarding Taka and I’m a bit sad that I didn’t. Add those to the memories of his father and the ever-present taunting, I was going through it with Jin <3 At least you can pet the animals for him <3 The little smile he’d get every time was worth it. And the flute playing mechanic was really neat!

The first memory I got was their chat before Kazumasa’s death and honestly that got me all teary because Jin wanted so badly to hear him say he accepted him as his son, but deep down, would he have felt it? And my heart just breaks so much for Jin because as I kept going through the memories, I kept thinking how well 1) his dad sucks, but 2) both father figures kept wanting Jin to be somebody else. And it hurts that he was closer to Shimura’s way of thinking and how we even see that one time that Shimura corrects Jin, that his recitation of what honor means were his father’s words, and gets Jin to say that kindness is what honor means to him and wow. <3 <3 <3 But it hurts knowing their fate too <3 That while Shimura was more of a father to Jin than Kazumasa was, eventually, he couldn’t accept what Jin was doing in their way. Though it does hurt and make you wonder if Shimura was frightened that Jin was turning into his dad...I had that thought many times. (I loved seeing Adachi so much though omg <3 <3 <3) It was very interesting how the song Jin ends up playing for his father at the end of the memories is the ‘Jin Sakai’ theme. And then how that in turn, morphs into ‘The Way of the Ghost’ later on when in the final battle. 

It hurts that Jin had Chiyoko in his life for such a short time. I’m glad he did have Yuriko at least, but all of Jin’s memories on his mother and how she emphasized just living was so prominent, and her love of animals clearly passed to him and that gentleness too. And of instruments. Such softness, and I love that he retains that even as an adult. It makes sense that he doesn’t speak of his mother as often since he has far less experiences with her vs Kazumasa or Shimura, but it was nice to see her influence within him.  

Did this quest near the end of my exploration but I got the BIGGEST smile on my fave when I barged in the house to find the Ghost of Iki Island was Kenji <3 <3 <3 I love this dumbass so much and it was so nice to see a familiar face <3 Plus it let Jin have an actual full laugh when Kenji referred to them both as ‘tough guys’ XD His quests are always enjoyable for me and so I really loved that (though I was also Jin when he’s like “...you didn’t say goodbye.”) but I was happy to see him do the right thing at the end <3 THEN I got to duel the Viper because I diffused the situation instead and that was fun. Love that Jin explains his knowledge of negotiation was learned from all the years with Shimura <3 Also enjoyed spotting Kenji later in the Refuge XD

Really enjoyed all the side quests overall, loved all the animal sanctuaries, and the archery was a TON of fun! Getting the horse armor was neat, seeing Jin actively stop a Mythic retelling, though I was surprised there was no duel for that one. The one for the monkey armor was so creepy, following the lights in the cave, but so damn cinematic and that fight was incredible plus that amor is my new best friend. Seriously omg, the duels in this DLC felt so much beefier than the base game (I was playing on hard so that could be a reason, but the fights didn’t feel this tanky in the base) But that armor just made them a piece of cake if you’re good at perfect parries and perfect dodges <3 <3

Loved the banter and camaraderie between Jin and Tenzo throughout. And I really enjoyed Fune’s character as well! Did the next few story missions and I couldn’t help that sense of foreboding slipping in as I was getting more attached to these characters. Love that they had Kidafure Battlefield on the map but it isn’t till the mission that they tack on the ‘Village’, really hitting home what happened there. 

Maybe I should have been, but I did not see the twist with Tenzo coming at ALL! I physically gasped when he spoke the “May your death benefit all things” to that random Mongol and I was soooo tense, like Jin listen I know he was your dad but also Tenzo spared you. Which I love in the long run how he spared the Butcher’s child only to save him later in life, and Jin could save him and the island in return <3 Because ohhhhhh boy did I get emotional when Jin stopped the Eagle from landing that blow. 

But before that, HER FIGHT IS SO FUCKING COOOOOL!!!!!! SHE IS SO DAMN FAST AND SHE EASILY WIPED THE FLOOR WITH ME THE FIRST TWO TIMES. I also love her references to Khotan and that her moveset with the spear shares some similarities with him.  I tried once more in my Ghost armor (for fashion) and then I switched to the Sarugami armor and was flying through just to have that whole cutscene.

I know culture is different and obviously I can never understand that mindset, but to hear him say to Jin that they both should have died there broke my heart. What kind of a father wants his son’s death with him like that?!?!?!?! But I LOOOOOOVED ‘Honor and Ash’ playing in the background for that scene, as Jin is rejecting what his father may have thought/wanted (just like he did to Shimura with that track at the end of Act 2) and then it moved up a key just to reinforce that Jin is forgiving himself for this and letting go and again, forging his own path just as he did with his uncle. I loved that they used that piece for that pivotal moment...

...JUST TO KICK IT INTO AN EVEN HIGHER GEAR WITH JIN SAVING TENZO AND THE GHOST THEME BLARING IN WITH A KEY CHANGE TO THEN TRIUMPHANTLY FINISH OFF THE EAGLE!!!!! I WAS SO HYPED (and also hoping I wouldn’t die cuz how anti climactic would that have been?!?) but I didn’t and I really enjoyed the resolution between those two. I bowed to him after he bowed to me and I love that they even added dialogue for that if players do decide to do that <3 <3 <3 

The next quest with Fune was sweet, though it felt a little odd to do after defeating the Eagle, but it was sweet nonetheless. I have to finish up some trophy stuff, I guess there’s unseen quests that I’m sure I’ve done a few of, but I have to figure out what I missed. The dueling ring was fun, though that lady was the most difficult for me.

A few things of note:

-I like that in this DLC, you really can’t tell if it’s better to kill or spare Shimura. And how there are lines that could mean slightly different things to Jin depending on what he’s done. I’ve done both and I was on a file where he spared him, but besides a hallucination mentioning the Ghost being hunted for the rest of his days, nothing else pointed to one choice or the other.

-Though a line Jin said to Sugi threw me a bit when he said something along the lines of ‘you’ll never understand how hard it is to kill your family’ and maybe he was referencing his guilt for his father, but I’m like ?????? who else did you kill Jin??? Shimura is fine in this play through XD 

-Talking with her though, I like that Jin described himself as ‘someone who knows what it’s like to be hunted’ :((((((

-Tenzo also made reference to a friend of his being beheaded, but not finding the head till a week later, and asking Jin if he understands that and while the situation is different, I bet Jin’s mind went to Taka :( 

-Loved the subtle storytelling elements with Jin falling into his nightmares during the fight through the Gorge and his resolve disappears each time. The second time it happened, I verbally went “oh my resolve.....oh.”

-I do think Sucker Punch made a lil mistake though because I started thinking about how in Tale 8 of Masako’s quests, I’m almost certain she mentions Jin not understanding her need for revenge or something along those lines, and she talks about Shimura hunting down Kazamasu’s killer for weeks and how Jin had his closure. But uhhhhhh obviously his killer was never found? Or they killed the wrong one? And they didn’t mention it was on Iki Island and obviously didn’t have that foresight that they’d be doing this DLC since he was killed in the snow in the base game and now it was under a wisteria tree, but besides that small thing, I had no complaints! except for always wanting more Yuna

It was so great and I felt it really complemented the base game, especially in regards to everything that Jin feels guilty and responsible for, but also puts his relationship with Shimura is so many new lights that I loooove and I need to talk about more!!! If you read this far, feel free to hmu to chat about it because my best friend who played the base game at the same time I did and screamed with me about it has not played this yet and ahhhhh!!!!!!