#and i'm having so much fun with my third playthrough

[solarmidnight]

I want to finish my run in Baldur's Gate 3 for the first time, but I also want my first ever Durge run.

Fuck.

[tieflingbi]

Here's a face we haven't seen on this blog in forever!! Ellyn my baby!!! 😭💖

[snapscube]

I HAVE UPDATED THE AUTOPSY REPORT CHARACTER AND CASE RANKINGS

More thoughts below

3-2 WAS OKAY. I don't know if it was maybe down to how broken up my playthrough of it was compared some others, or if maybe it was breaking it up so much BECAUSE it wasn't hitting me as much as I wanted it to, but it really just fell a lot more flat than I had hoped by the end of it. It has a great first third/first half though! I love the DeLites, Luke Atmey has maybe my second favorite name pun so far and was initially a fun character to follow, and I was so happy to see Adrian come back even in a relatively minor role. But as I said in my previous gut reaction post I kinda just didn't vibe with the progression of the mystery. I kinda felt like a lot of the logic threads were very loose and random and Atmey turned out to not be quite as engaging of a character as I had hoped. It had the same effect as I think Glass Onion had on me where the whole point is that a character's motive is shallow and stupid and even it's though that's surprising and funny in its own right for a murder mystery setting it's not nearly as satisfying for me narratively. Also, to be honest, with the introduction setting up all these connection to Kurain Village and the Fey's and ESPECIALLY Ami's Urn I was excited to maybe get some follow-through on more of that plotline which just absolutely did NOT happen.

I have also adjusted a lot of the case rankings to get a better idea of the range of quality across the series. I was ranking a lot of cases pretty high at first but as I get more of an idea of the series' baseline quality/intrigue level they become more accurate and some cases I was being nicer too just cause I didn't know any better will get some more scrutiny.

In terms of the character rankings, I don't feel like explaining them individually. I think one or two major repositionings have happened though. Specifically I bumped up Matt Engarde quite a bit. I always thought he was a fantastic character but I was VERY ANGY at him for getting Maya kidnapped and so I didn't want to see his dumb face again so I put him in "would not spit at you" tier. But I have to admit..... I'm gonna be thinking about that reveal moment in the detention center for a long time. It's too good to not be in "love to hate you" tier.

[hawkinasock]

I ADORE YOU. MORE ABUNDANCE YANQING AND YAOSHI. PLEASE.

So, can you please learn more tell about this theory?

(You draw beautifully.)

GAAAGHHHH this was the first thing I saw in the morning omg tsym <333 dw I've got my mitts on and I'll get to cooking o7 I assume you're asking me to explain the theory? Which I'll gladly do. Very long post incoming.

Essentially, the general idea is that Yanqing is related to abundance in some way, be it simply second-hand association, or he himself being an abomination/denizen of abundance himself - I personally believe in the latter. While I've made art of Yaoshi and Yanqing in a parental dynamic, it's not something I see as a viable theory, so much as it's just a fun little crack theory. Yaoshi is more likely a passive creator than an actual loving parent. There's a bunch of different interpretations for what Yanqing is and how he came to be based on the little pieces of evidence found in canon. One piece of evidence is his blonde hair.

As far as I can tell, the only other blonde Xianzhou characters are Dan Shu and Luocha (Luocha isn't a Xianzhou native himself, but he was a part of the quest so I'm including him anyway), both directly associated with the abundance, as well as Yaoshi themselves.

Interestingly enough, Dan Shu has the same hair part as Yanqing, but that could just be chalked up to design cohesion and framing the face/mask, rather than anything meaningful.

Edit: someone pointed out to me that Dan Shu's hair was initially brown, but after joining the disciples, it turned blonde.

Edit: I somehow forgot to include Phantylia, who has blonde hair in her third phase, and even a hair part. There's also a disciple of Sanctus Medicus in a cell in the shackling prison who also has blonde hair. Every character I've found who has blonde hair is either a disciple, or canonically connected to Yaoshi

(I considered adding Hongling, the fanatic fan in the stands of the Skysplitter, but I think his hair might just be dyed, which isn't too crazy an idea for a stan. Still mentioning him though, since he's a really weird character)

If you look closely at Yanqing's clothes, there's a reoccurring vine-esc pattern on all layers of his hanfu. They can also be seen on his sword. It doesn't necessarily mean much by itself, but it's an interesting detail I and others have noticed.

However, I want to point attention to Yanqing's phone case, because it's actually super interesting, and probably the most convincing piece of evidence imo. Not only does it relay the vine motif, but that to me looks like a leaf detaching from a branch and transforming into a swallow. If the characters' phone cases are meant to reflect their personality/reference lore elements, then this is probably the most blatant in terms of potential lore.

Edit: the little decals on the camera lense are in the image of Yanqing's hair ornament, which happens to look like a pair of leaves, midribs and all.

Speaking of swallows, has anyone noticed that there's flocks of golden swallows inside the roots of the arbor? I only noticed on my second playthrough, but I haven't stopped thinking about them since. How odd is it that out of any other bird, the arbor has swallows specifically. Of course, Swallows aren't Yanqing's motif alone, as the wardance teaser silhouette's have what look like swallows in the background art, but I still think it's important to bring up, considering Yanqing is literally COVERED in them, from his ornaments, to his swallow tail-shaped coat tail, to his entire playstyle.

Low-quality ss of the swallows for reference.

Luocha also has a line about Yanqing that, setting aside any theory-crafting, seems pointless. He has nothing to say, which, if he was truly genuine, what purpose does this line even serve? I can't infer much from the delivery of the other languages, since I have no knowledge on them or their social cues, but in en, the tone is very... discreet? It's just the way he says it is very off, like he's being dishonest. Too quick; too matter-of-fact; It's artificial honesty. I hope you get what I mean lol. I can only assume the va was directed to say it that way for a reason.

A passage from Yanqing's 2nd char story reads: "It's recorded in the military annals of the Cloud Knights how Jing Yuan came to discover the young boy, stood his ground against public opinion, and incorporated him into the armed forces. However, in the family lineage column, Yanqing's lineage was relegated to the category of unknown."

From Yanqing's 4th char story: "Some speculated that he [Jing Yuan] was cultivating an heir, others claimed he only kept him around just to use this kid as a secret weapon. Jing Yuan never offered a response."

Jing Yuan is really suspicious. Like, incredibly suspicious. Even more than Luocha. Yanqing is already known to be an orphan, but the lack of clarity over the details of Jy discovering him, as well as the fact that he has no known relatives in their database is very odd. Speaking to Jing Yuan's npc in-game allows the player to inquire about Yanqing's origin, but Jing Yuan's response is far from helpful. You'd think the man who decks out his Lieutenant in protective charms and locks, and who raised the kid from, at oldest, toddler years, would be a little more eager to spurge on about stories from Yanqing's childhood, but he instead chooses to dance around the topic and make light-hearted remarks about Qingzu's furphies. Obviously, you can't and shouldn't expect to get all of a characters lore in one serving, but revealing so little definitely implies a lot more, as we've seen with Luocha.

These details are the reason why, if Yanqing does turn out to be related to the abundance, be it a spawn of the arbor, or a creation of Yaoshi themselves, I believe that at least Jing Yuan knows and is keeping it all under wraps. Maybe the whole reason Jing Yuan assigned him as his aide in the first place was to keep a close eye on him. Rather ironic a general of the hunt would risk everything to protect the thing he's sworn to destroy.

But that's just my two cents. Thank you anon for giving me a reason to spurge about this theory finally, as it's become so dear to my heart.

More art will be posted as I go along, so don't touch that dial.

[harushururu]

TALES OF GRACES F REMASTER ANYONE?????? ANYONE ELSE FIGHTING FOR THEIR LIFE WITH THE FACT THAT THEY ARE ALWAYS CONSTANTLY STUNNED??!?!?!

That aside I've been having fun. I always forget how much I love the graces cast and always re fall in love with them more with each playthrough. IM TRYING TO PLAY IT ON CHAOS BUT THE UPPED STUN AMOUNT IS INSANE I SOMETIMES HAVE TO DROP IT TO EVIL. I'm still playing through it, this third playthrough I hope to finally conquer the zhonecage to the end. ILL BE THE BEST HUBERT I CAN BE. I cant believe the remaster is my third time playing it so I guess this is my 2025 commemorative "I'm playing Tales of Graces and I love Hubert" drawing.

[pinkyjulien]

WIP Saturday 🙋‍♂️

Been slowly gettin' back into CP77 modding and wanted to do some comfy hoodie :3

First attempt was a port from Marvelous Designer

Everything was going fine, weight was decent, but trying to get the materials right was fucking my groove up

Wasn't satisfied with how it looked, the shadows were unpleasant, and couldn't find any materials that I liked - so I ended up tossing it aside (didn't delete it! Might rework in the future when I feel better about it 👀)

Instead, I decided to work from a Vanilla garment!

Pics from Khagan's Clothing Catalog

I love this hoodie and used it a lot during my PL playthrough - tho it's way too crowded for what I had in mind, a simple, comfy hoodie

Even if I was able to delete some of the additional bits, a big part of it is actually baked into the main submesh (like a lot of vanilla meshes)

After my unbuckled Aldecaldos jacket I feel more confident tackling heavy editing projects tho, so this wasn't TOO spooky 👌

First thing first, I deleted a big chunk from the left top side and kept the bottom part (to keep the assymetry and natural flow of the fabric) then I mirrored the right side and connected everything to the remaining left side

Fixing a mesh up means I also need to unwrap its UVs again - AND that means duplicating, moving and flipping the normal map to follow the new unwrapped uvs

Same with the mlmask layers, but that comes later 🧍‍♂️

The original Hoodie has a bunch of additional meshes; the sleeves and hoods variants are on a separate mesh that gets called by the OG entity

I decided to merge everything into a single mesh, easier to handle for me in the AXL structure later 🔎

Regardless, still needed to move the sleeves and hoods to match the new fixed left side (since its a mirror of the right side!)

Now that the meshes are fixed both model and UV wise, need to re-weight it from the OG garment 🤚 That concludes the 3D part

AXL side, I went with 4 different garment ent and apps to handle the 4 variants; default (hood down, long sleeves), hooded, rolled sleeves, and hooded + rolled!

A fun lil detail with this mesh is that the hood doesn't have any garment support - with this in mind I decided to use the T1 - inner torso - slots to allow us to wear vest on top of the hoodie

😫👌 Idk idk it scratch my stinky brain really good HGHFH I love it

With everything ready, t'was time to tackle the FUN part; the appearaaaaanceeeees 🤠

I first had 4 designs with 5 colors each - but it quickly turned into 6 colors each; first design being the "basic" / default one, that I named "edgewear"

Gotta keep in mind that each color has 4 mesh variants, so that's already 24 items

I then used the beloved "orange leather" vanilla hoodie with the white barghest face on it (the one I used through my PL playthrough! probably my favorite tbh) as a base for my next design, "quilted"

It has a cute skunk ass hood 🦨

And I'm currently still working on a third design inspired by Varsity Jackets, the... well gfhhg "varsity" design

All of the appearances are still Wips and might change 🧍‍♂️

and I'd like to maybe add one more BUT... that's already 74 items, I don't like having too much options hgfh but dynamic AXL makes it really easy to just go apeshit with variations

ANYWAY I felt like doing another Behind The Mod TM post :3 some of y'all like them and I like sharing my modding stuff!

[nova-volkarin-ancunin]

My Rooks from Dragon Age the Veilguard!

So, here are my Rooks. I think I'm getting better at the character creator and I'm in love with my new Rook! (They all use they/them and are non-binary!)

Firts Rook was kinda self insert and named after me: Nova "Rook" Aldwir, Veil Jumper Rogue.

Second was my cutie goth Mourn Watch mage, Kira Ingellvar.

Third, my beautiful Qunari warrior, Freja De Riva from Antivan Crows.

Fourth Rook, Hannah Thorne, Grey Warden Rogue! (I'm still yet to finish this playthrough, I just can't stop making new Rooks lmao)

And fifth Rook, Marina Laidir, Lords of Fortune rogue. (Can you guess my favorite class)

An yes, I have romanced Emmrich four times now. I can't get over him. Your honor I'm in love.

I thought I would stop playing this game after three playthroughs. But I'm still going back. I'm having so much fun!

[aus-by-fwoosh]

I'm not sure if I'm ever gonna include them in any way if I ever get around to my AU!Links meet AU, but I wanted to do my take on the CDi duo! (Wall of text with my thought process under the cut)

I haven't played those games myself, but I did watch playthroughs of the remastered versions of Wand of Gamelon and Faces of Evil. And as hilariously cursed those games are (in gameplay, animations, plot, as well as dialogues), the thing that bothers me the most about those games is that if we look at only the plot, the stories had the potential to be really good. And they just. Botched it. (I have also started to look at a playthrough of Zelda's Adventure, since I kinda want this Zelda to be the Heroine of Tolemac too because it would be fun if she could light-heartedly tease Link for having saved him more often than him saving her, but I don't yet know how to incorporate those details.)

Anyway, this is how I would tweak Zelda and Link if I was put in charge to remake those games today with as little as possible change of the things that are there already.

Personality-wise, rather than Link trying to flirt with Zelda every time he gets the chance, they're besties and Link's flirting is actually an in-joke between them where Link is mocking all the nobles trying to woo her. He is not romantically inclined at all (aroace af to put it frankly) and gets really flustered ans awkward when people are flirting with him or touchy when it's somebody he doesn't know well. The reason he was imprisoned in the mirror by that Noble Lady Alma in WoG was because he wouldn't kiss her. And rather than just brushing it off like in canon (which is just really weird and a missed opportunity imo), Zelda's "oh nothing happened" was to sooth a groggy and injured Link while the Lady Alma was escorted to a holding cell. So he has some scars from the mirror breaking and his memories of being trapped are mostly somewhat hazy but there. The scars-from-the-mirror idea was shamelessly stolen from the Koridai from @linked-maze (highly recommend y'all check it out, it's currently on hiatus but it's really good ❤), though my version's scar looks more like broken glass then glass cuts, because I want him to match (and share some trauma) with the Shadow Link (aka Flint) from my AU Four Wild Ones. Other than that he's still a hungry goof-ball who is always up for eating like a like-like and bombing dodongos.

Zelda on the other hand is as helpful to commoners and sassy to enemies as hinted in her cutscenes, and whichever of her many suitors she will eventually select one of her (not vocalized) requirement (other than being kind and competent) is that the suitor must not only be okay with Link being a third wheel, they must actually enjoy it and preferably partake in the shenanigans she and Link will cause. This is also why Ganon had her placed under a sleeping spell when he kidnapped her in FoE: The first thing she did when he took her to Koridai was to cause trouble at his fort and nearly escape.

When it comes to their designs, I wanted them to have some similarities in the silhouette, and also stand out a bit from my normal go-to options, but still contain something from the CDi designs. In Link's case, his canon design is pretty much the same as in the other early canon games, but I felt that poofy sleeves and collar would suit him. I might even make the sleeves even poofier in the future. I did plan on making his hair brown, because it was more brown in some of his cutscenes, but I settled on a darker blond that can look blond or brown depending on the light. It's also kind of a mullet cut, though his cap normally hides that detail.

And as I wanted Zelda's silhouette match Link's a bit rather than being so very 90's in style, her vest got turned into a poofy-sleeved bolero-thingy. I also find crop tops to be very uncomfortable and not quite matching my version of her, so I turned that into a short dress with shorts underneath. I also decided that early on while on her first adventure she grew sick of not only things getting stuck in her hair but also monsters trying to grab it, so she found herself a villager who was willing to cut it for her, so she sports an undercut (kinda like Colin in TP I suppose, but less of a bowl cut). As I was colouring her outfit I realized I accidentally made her clothes kinda the same shape as Purah's outfit in TotK, but that's fine, that outfit is ✨amazing✨ anyway imo lol

Not sure where in the LoZ Universe Timeline I think they fit, but among the CDi games my order of them is Faces of Evil -> Wand of Gamelon -> Zelda's Adventure

[rookinthecrownest]

Discussion about romances + expectations under the cut (I'd put it as like..mildly critical, but also coming from a place of understanding?). As usual, will tag as such so you don't have to engage/read on if you don't wish to. I always invite open discussion, just keep it respectful (as I will endeavour to do so myself).

This is going to be a bit of a ramble, so I apologize if my thoughts are not clearly laid out like they should be.

I think I've found the reason why I (and maybe others), feel that the romances in Veilguard feel a bit... idk, hollow, at times (not BAD!!! just feeling like there could be MORE). And that's because of the trap of expectations. I may also be speaking completely for myself here.

Anyway, let's rewind to 2014.

Be me, 10 years ago. You're not really a gamer, but indulge in action RPG's casually.

See a commercial for this hot new game coming out called Dragon Age: Inquisition. Be intrigued by the character designs, but know nothing about the world. Come to find out it's part of a trilogy. So naturally, you buy the first two games and play through them before playing the third.

Be amazed, and completely hooked on the characters, the lore, the world, the darker elements and themes. It becomes your favourite game series of all time.

But you had no idea that you could romance any of the companions going into the experience. And man, does it fundamentally rewire your brain chemistry to fall in love with cRPG and get ridiculously attached to your Warden/Hawke/Inquisitor.

So, you romance Alistair first because he's funny as hell, and has a really interesting story/character arc. Then you romance Zevran, and love that too - he's charming and suave and awkward and funny. Then you go onto DA2 and romance Fenris and Anders, and each of those romances pack their own emotional gut punches. Then it's finally time for DAI, and predictably, you go for Solas (a veritable slow burn that spans TWO games), Cullen, and partially (I never finished those playthroughs lol) Blackwall and Dorian.

I had no idea you could romance companions going into these games. It was a pleasant surprise! It always felt like an important part of the story, while not overshadowing the main plot. There was enough material in the codexes, the cutscenes, and party banter to make each romance feel complete and whole and awesome and nuanced.

And then, like some of you I suspect, I read an article that touted Veilguard as "The Most Romantic Bioware Game Yet", and I thought - "Wow, if they're saying this then the romances must be something else", given the quality of the previous romances you've experienced in these games!

But you get to the game - and while you're having fun, it definitely leans more into the ARPG style where romances feel a bit more pushed to the side in order to tell a certain story than the traditional Bioware/Larian RPG experience you've come to love.

Which is fine! Again, once I stopped thinking of Veilguard as a classic Bioware CRPG, and more like GOW/The Witcher, I found I was able to appreciate it a lot more for what it is. Things have to Happen A Certain Way for the narrative to work, and that's not a bad thing. DA2 was similar - it was a harrowing, personal tragedy about the Hawke family and their struggle to survive in Kirkwall.

Just like DA2, there are aspects of Veilguard that make me glad things happened the way they did. I'm not mad that Rook has so much dialogue without a ton of player input and you can't 'be evil' - because the game doesn't make sense if you can. At its core, Veilguard's narrative is centered around Regret, after all - you can't have an evil protagonist running around because Solas' Regret prison would never work (evil people don't generally tend to regret their actions...)!

Now, if you're expecting a long-winded, fully researched academic breakdown of every romance I'm sorry but that ain't happening tonight lol. This is not based in any fact, this is all opinion.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but sometimes it feels like the romances in this game (and I say this with the biggest grain of salt as I've only done Emmrich and Lucanis' - and am going through Neve's now), are just missing....something, to take them from good to great.

I loved Emmrich's romance. I thought it was very well done. I think a lot of people would agree it's one of the stronger ones in the game - doubly so if you play as a Mourn Watch Rook (you get a TON of MW specific lines going this route, it's great). His side romance with Strife if you don't get together is very cute, I enjoyed it. But as superbly well done as it was, somehow, I wouldn't even put it in my top 4 Bioware romances.

With Lucanis' romance - whatever my hangups may be about how it was handled, certain parts of his romance were done excellently (even better than some of the previous Bioware romances, I'd say). You can read more about my thoughts on his romance here which is why I'm not going into detail about it. Unlike Emmrich's, I would put it in my top 4 because I fell in love with the character that much (both in the game but really, I've loved him since Tevinter Nights), and I've grown very attached to my first Rook and him as a pairing. I've seen others share a similar sentiment on here (and I hate to say it but I agree) - sometimes it feels like I fell in love with Rookanis despite the way it was handled, not because of it. I can't say that for many other romances. While it's been fun to think up a lot of HC/write fics/make art about those abandoned concept sketches and parts where I felt the game could have showed us more of their dynamic, I can't help but feel like his (and other) romances would have immensely benefited from even 1 or 2 extra small scenes to flesh it out a bit more if they weren't going to let us freely talk to our companions.

The issue with the romances might also have something to do with the pacing of the game itself. I think Act 2 is where the pacing goes a bit awry, before picking back up in Act 3 (which is great, I love it).

Sometimes I also felt that there was a little too much reliance on codex entries and party banter to tell the story of the romance rather than showing it explicitly through cutscenes. I think that's what makes the romances feel a bit truncated at times, compared to the previous entries? Some of the romance-specific party banter was so good, it probably deserved its own cutscene. But it's also highly dependent on the party you have, and it's easy to miss/not trigger. I remember absolutely living for the cutscenes in the first three entries and I can't explain why I feel like, subjectively speaking, Veilguard just has less romance content (this may not be objective reality - I haven't compared the amount of romance specific content head to head with other games).

I also couldn't tell you why I feel DA2 doesn't suffer the same problems as DATV in terms of romance interaction - because you can't freely talk to your companions in that game either. Yet somehow, it always felt like I was getting enough of them to not notice that. I do miss being able to chat my LI's ear off and ask them questions about their life/their views/etc. like I could in DAO and DAI. I think it's a shame we can't because the companions in DATV are SO interesting. I want to ask them all a billion questions about their lives/stories/etc even if they're not my love interest. The party banter in this game is immaculate but being able to talk to them individually about this stuff would've been SO nice. I feel that I've missed out on SO MUCH of these characters just because I didn't have two of them in my party at the same time!

Anyway, I need to wrap this up.

In closing, perhaps, if I hadn't read that article about how it was going to be Bioware's most romantic game ... maybe I wouldn't feel this way? I think it sent my expectations through the stratosphere, and that's no one's fault but my own. Not Bioware, not EA, mine.

I know that this game's development cycle was a unique sort of hell that the other games didn't suffer. To go from Joplin -> Morrison -> Veilguard. To have so many of the original staff leave the team when Joplin got scrapped. To have to pivot from Live Service and then back to single person RPG. More lay-offs. It's a miracle this game got made. I'm happy I can sit around thinking about it. And I hope its successful enough that we get DA5 so we can all sit around dissecting that in 5-10 yrs time.

Don't get me wrong - I enjoy the Veilguard romances for what they are. I'm enjoying them more I play and discover additional banter/codex/etc that I missed the first time around. Like any Bioware romance, there are spots where they hit their stride, and spots where they falter a bit. When they hit their stride they knock it out of the fucking park. But when they falter, you can really feel it. Romance is hard to write! And you'll never fully please everyone.

But a small part of me wishes I'd gone in blind, and checked my own expectations a bit.

Maybe you agree, maybe you don't. Tell me about it. What was your experience with the romances? Did you also read that article and get your expectations up?

I hope this makes sense.

Kind regards good fandom folks,

Keep the discussion respectful. And please don't use this post as an excuse to just blatantly hate on the game.

-Rookie

[apostaterevolutionary]

So I touched on this a little in my veilguard review, but this is one of the topics I wanted to talk about separately. And it’s that I think I've figured out what really makes an rpg great vs just not bad for me. This is really a preference thing, cause I know there's people who are the exact opposite on this. But for me, it's about the amount of personal involvement the player character has

Like why are you, as the main character, here? Why do we care about the plot that's unfolding? Is it just cause 'well, world needs saving and I'm here', that's not very interesting to me. It's too replaceable - any sufficiently valiant person could do this (even in a chosen one narrative, this is typically true). 'Wrong place, wrong time' can be fun if done right, but it's still eh to me. I like it best when the player character has some tie to the overarching plot. I want it to be personal because that opens up so many more interesting emotions

Dragon age has examples of both of these. Origins, despite the Warden canonically being replaceable, as we know all the origins happened, it's just only one actually survived, does have this personal element imo because it has Ostagar. Different Wardens might see this differently, of course, but you arrive after just barely being saved by Duncan. Everything seems fine until the big moment and then everything goes wrong - you're betrayed, from your pov, Duncan is killed, and you wouldn't survive this third near-death experience in a row were it not for Flemeth's interference. This, in the moment, feels pretty damn personal. No matter who your warden is, Loghain acts as a personal antagonist right up until right before the end, whereas while the blight situation is mostly a 'wrong place, wrong time' situation, that personal element plus the little moments you get that reference the origin events really make it work for me. It could have more, but it has just enough to make it really good imo

Of course, DA2 is so strong on the personal motive front that arguably the personal story is actually the overarching plot and it's just occasionally a wider-impact event creeps into it lmao but that's why it's my favourite game. Inquisition, on the other hand, while yes, you have the mark and are the only one who can close the breaches, that is the only tie you have to events. The inquisitor has no motive beyond 'well, world needs saving'. If the anchor had somehow been transferable, Cassandra quite frankly would've made a more compelling protagonist because of her devotion to the Divine. She had a reason to be there beyond just 'gotta save the world'. The inquisitor doesn't, they’re really just there because they have to be (and that’s also why I think their appearance in veilguard is pretty weak imo, but people with different views of their inquisitor will disagree there)

And I'm not comparing, rather just using an example, but bg3 I think has both options. For me, durge is much more interesting than tav cause, once again, tav is just some guy (gender neutral) who happened to stumble by at the wrong time and oops, brain worm. Even the emperor would've happily discarded them for another if it served his purpose. They're just there because they're convenient. That's not as fun to me as durge, who has an actual personal reason to be involved in this, even if they don't know it at first. It starts out as the same, generic motivation of 'get rid of the brain worm, try to save world if we can' (assuming a relatively "good" playthrough lmao, but for comparison's sake) but it later becomes something that is personal. You have a VERY direct involvement in the plot and it really adds something to it for me. That's the kind of flavour I seek 🤌 🤌 🤌

And veilguard is definitely more on the inquisition side where literally any heroic person could fill in for the protagonist (and tbf, I liked it more than inquisition), when I think what really would’ve brought it over the top for me would’ve been some act 2 Personalized Horror event to happen. Easiest option would be something related to the faction, like maybe one of the recurring NPCs ends up dying in some really hardcore way. It wouldn’t be that hard to implement imo because it could be roughly the same quest, just with tweaks to fit the chosen faction. Giving Rook a personal motivation would’ve really spice things up and give the factions more depth too. If you play as a warden, I think weisshaupt may have that affect (which is why my second run will be a warden lmao), but it would be nice to have something really devastating for the character regardless of faction

(And to be perfectly honest, if we were going to lose a companion anyway, having that happen in the middle of the game might have actually been spicier and really cemented Rook’s conviction while still having the regret prison concept work imo. It would mean missing out on a companion arc, but it’s another option at least)

This would also give an opportunity to really boost the companion relationships. Like the Bad Thing happens and then you get maybe a little scene with the current love interest, or even just some dialogue with each of the companions. Something with them being the ones to comfort Rook for a change. Cause all that remains is devastating, and the bg3 act 2 redemptive durge scene is wonderful, but it’s also the aftermath that’s really tasty. And having some sort of Personalized Horror for Rook would’ve given us an opportunity to have that moment of them being vulnerable, and the companions stepping up to help them. That really would’ve made the team feel good and cemented, like they really were a strong team

And again, I know this is a personal preference thing. I have a friend who struggles whenever a game has any kind of established background at all and thinks that bg3’s tav is the absolute perfect kind of rpg protagonist and I’m sure there’s plenty of people who agree and prefer the fully blank slate. Some people do prefer to just headcanon all of this rather than have it directly in the game. And that’s fine. But for me, that personal involvement and motive is the real special sauce for rpgs and I think that’s why DA2 specifically is the one that made me insane lmao. And I think if veilguard had’ve had that bit of personalized angst, I would’ve put it an entire bracket higher than I did. It would’ve fit really well imo and idk if it was something bioware ever planned for the game, but I, for one, really would’ve loved it

[mynameisalanwake]

i stopped my most recent playthrough of DATV and restarted the series instead after i got my first letter from the Inquisitor - the only reason i'm able to go back is because i rewrote all of the Inquisitor's letters and wrote my own that reference my world state

i'm a brand new Dragon Age fan and started replaying the whole series after the first time i finished Veilguard - i'm currently on my THIRD world state but i'm struggling to finish the Veilguard playthrough for my second world state

in this world state, i have the HoF and Alistair alive & still Wardens, an Anders with a Hawke in the Fade, and while i disbanded the Inquisition, my Inquisitor is married to Mr. Ferelden Dog Lord himself. how the fuck am i supposed to believe that southern Thedas would just implode and Anders wouldn't be trying to rip through the Veil himself to find Hawke

it was a lot easier to play all the way through in my first full world state - Cousland HoF who romanced Morrigan and had the OGB (this guy doesn't have time to come around on her witchy adventures), Hawke who romanced Isabela (pirate girlfriends who don't want to be involved with this BS anymore), and an Inquisitor who romanced Dorian (i got more than just one single letter which was great!!!). the decisions i made felt appropriate for the world state set up in Veilguard, which is what i tried to do.

now that i've almost completely deviated, i feel like the hundreds of hours i put into my second world state were for nothing. if BioWare made decisions for us, i would rather they tell us than be vague about it - did the Hero of Ferelden die in the Veilguard's world state? who is the ruler of Ferelden? who went into the Fade? who rules Orlais? Veilguard feels empty because southern Thedas has no character. i would be less upset about an established world state in Veilguard than i am about the lack of an established world state. i don't care that there's no importing decisions, as long as someone's making those decisions instead of pretending they weren't important.

in my third world state, my HoF is also the QUEEN of Ferelden - if BioWare wanted to ignore that possibility, they need to grow a spine and establish it in-game. i don't even know if i'll want to do a Veilguard playthrough for this world state!!!

i really enjoyed Veilguard!!! it is a very fun game with very fun combat. the references to past games are genuinely enjoyable, like Rainier's toy griffon and the Joining Chalice, or Isabela's little joke about Kirkwall (in my second world state she DITCHED ME so that joke was even funnier). it's tied for my second favorite DA game with DA:O. BUT if we had been able to make world state choices and they ONLY impacted codex entries/missives from the South, i would've been so much happier. i don't even need extra dialogue about anything. a ten year in-world time gap, while enough time for cultures to change, is not enough time to completely forget how the past impacted those changes.

[cadaverviper]

Sega Rally Championship Review (Sega Saturn)

Originally released in Febuary 1995 for the Sega Model 2 arcade board and developed by AM3 Sega division, known almost exclusively for their high octane arcade games.

I'm sure back in 1995 this was hot shit at the time. Looking at old pictures in the arcade it definitely looks pretty cool.

I do not have access to any old arcade machines but hey who needs that when you have the Sega Saturn port! No need to go running to your local arcade your ass can stay firmly velcroed to your seat and still enjoy some good old arcade racing fun.

Via The V2 Elite Gamer you can see by thier comparison it honestly wasn't too far off. A really great port job (unlike some other arcade Saturn ports). You can tell some of the textures like the grass and road were more detailed in the arcade and I noticed while playing a significant lack of models that were present in the arcade version like the trees and some buildings and bystanders. All in all this is a perfectly reasonable way to enjoy the game.

Arigato Toyota and Mitsubishi? (I think)

Holy shit kicking up dirt so cool! (A 90s kid probably)

The game has essentially 3 modes. 2 player battle i could not try only 1 controller sowwy :3

As for the real stuff, you only have 2 options Arcade and Time Attack

Arcade mode consists of 3 count them, !!!3!!!! Maps in total, what a bargain. It's your job to get through all three and order and try to win the race. It starts with Desert, Forest and the Mountains to end it off. All three maps have there own aesthetic and surroundings so it's almost kind of jarring feeling like your moving between all of these places one after the other.

To Start off Desert i picked the first of the 2 available vehicles and went with automatic transmission, I fiddled with the manual drive and it felt like I was having to pat my head and rub my tummy while I drive, not an easy experience. Not fun. So Automatic it is. Desert is a pretty standard fair. Easy first start and the turns aren't too crazy here. The car controls in a very realistic way depending on the terrain you are driving on. At the time this was the big selling point of this game, dirt is slippery, asphalt is nice and smooth, and grass slows you down pretty dramatically. It took me a few playthroughs to get used to the controls but even then you will still find yourself bashing into walls..so is the will of the game.

After the Desert is on to the Forest. In this game every time you complete a stage it carries over what place you were in and adds a little more time. Very needed especially once you get to the third stage. As expected things ramp up a bit, harder turns and and tougher stuff to drive on. At this time I'm starting to notice how addicting this game can be. Every time i play this game i want to constantly go back into it to get a better time. Since the roads are always exactly the same you can memorize everything and always know when the next thing is coming and prepare for it.

And finally to end it off their is mountain. There is a secret last race track and vehicle but I am simply not skilled enough to get either, well maybe if i devoted more time i could get them. But for most lame brains like me this will be your last track and simply put it is ✨dummy hard✨ With some absolutely insane sharp turns that will have you slamming into the wall like a moron this is sure to give any racing game veteran a challenge. But hey at least you get to have that challenge with some absolutely beautiful scenery.

Sorry to say as of right now this is the best i could do. I'd love to hear the best times of others who have played this game and probably done much, much better than me.

Game Over jingle absolutely slaps.

The other mode is time trials which is a fantastic way to practice for the real arcade mode. And something very novel at the time is that you can race against your ghost trial to try to get a better time. There are also plenty of ways to tune your car in different ways but I cant say i noticed too much of a difference when i messed with the settings.

And thats all i can really say about the gameplay and general feel. Very addicting and something you can really sink your teeth in and strive to get better at the more you play. I definitely reccommend the game even to people like me who arent usually into racing games. There is enough unique qualities and it doesnt take up too much of your time that i can see anybody being able to get into this.

Rating: Kickin up Dirt/10

[chrysanthemumgames]

Hi! I'm having so much fun; I'm on my third playthrough since the full game dropped. When I was escorting Makaria around the garden though, I was wondering: are there pollinators in the Underworld, or does the PC's (and that of the others who work with the orchard and so on) magic skip the need for pollinators? Because I'm just thinking of the PC heading up to the mortal realm and gently coaxing some bees down to their garden and it's a very cute picture.

Magic bypasses the need for pollinators, and to some extent soil nutrition/microbiomes, even. Of course, having those things will help, so by all means for those of you interested in the gardening portion, feel free to headcanon the gradual introduction of those sorts of factors.

It's a challenge to keep things alive in the Underworld, but it can be done. Some of this may or may not be covered in some scenes in the sequel; I'm not really sure yet.

[marvelhead17]

Baldur's Gate 3 Dribble

Do any of my mutuals play? This game is absolutely addictive, especially when trying to get certain outcomes. If Marvel had come out with anything similar I would have sold my soul for it probably.

In the last week and a half I've played another 70+ hours so I have 389+ hours and do you know how many playthroughs I've completed? Just the one. Only have 36/54 achievements. Some people have played 1500 hours and said they've discovered new things along the way (whether exaggerating or because they've played since it's earlier phases, it's constantly getting patch updates and new content).

I've got another campaign going that is nearly there, but I've been into character creation again and UGH it's just so fun to do the stuff for the Emerald Grove in Act 1.

But also, there so many companions whether you romance them or not, just to do their quests sometimes. And then you can still get good and bad endings for EACH?

Lae'zel, Shadowheart, Astarion, Gale, Wyll (these first ones are the main ones that you can even play yourself and get g/b endings for), and then Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc can join you later. I don't know if the last 2 on the list are romanceable, but there are still bad characters you can have that I haven't explored yet.

Gushing about my Tavs below, and possibly spoilers for anyone who hasn't gone beyond Act 1 if you are playing, so just be aware.

In my first playthrough it was Karlach that I romanced, gods what a beautiful Devil. My character is a wood half-elf barbarian named Narriel. And she joined Karlach in Avernus when she had to return, so they look so badass in leather and everything!

Second playthrough, the beefcake and 'my heart' Halsin (no I did not do him in bear form, as tempting as it was, maybe on another run). I stuck with Narriel, (it's my fave name for a fantasy character okay?) as a wood half-elf cleric. This campaign is nearly there and I hate to see it go.

Third playthrough (I tried Astarian with another Tav but lord is that man difficult to please unless you are playing a bad guy) is with Gale. They are a non-binary wizard wood half-elf named Phoenix and they are stunning. I've just arrived in Baldur's Gate and so the final quests begin.

Fourth, I've started a Durge (Dark Urge) Playthrough, a White Dragonborn named Minerva, and it's going good so far for her (I'm not accepting The Urge, because I'm a simp for these characters and they don't like you doing bad shit). I've only completed the Grove so there is much more to go. I'm not quite sure who to romance yet, but I like that idea of Halsin saving her.

Possibly restarting Morgan's story (again, which sucks cause I played nearly 70 hours, realised Astarion was never gonna make a move based on a missing cutscene in Act 1, and now dedicated another 8 hours just to be frustrated) to go for Shadowheart instead, as being a tiefling makes it impossibly difficult for Act 1 to please Astarian without going against your own race, like damn. But also she's not that dark and Shadowheart is so easy to please, in most of my playthroughs she's tried to come on to me in the beginning, so I see how she was the most romanced.

Made a bard named Callon, he is (surprise) a wood half-elf who is starting off with the Lute. Going for Wyll the Blade of Frontiers because I watched Neil Newbon (Astarian's actor) play BG3 and invited the actor to speak about him, and it made me want to try! It's been adorable so far and I'm barely in it yet.

Made a character for fun named Nixie (based off of the All for One DnD YouTube series by Deerstalker Pictures), who is a pink tiefling sorcerer that loves casting firespells and is mischievous. We'll see where she takes us, but without that in mind I've decided to ignore her playthrough so far haha.

That leaves us with Lae'zel who I haven't decided a character for just yet, and Astarion who I need to reconsider for. As well as Minthara? I'm not sure what other companions can be romanced that aren't in the initial party, all I know is Minthara is easy for a Durge playthrough. I also think there was a possibility with Mizora? I don't know.

Send help.

[kohakurin8]

~ A Devouring Obsession ~

Dissecting the message behind the bistro horror game, Dead Plate

‼️ WARNING ‼️

This post contains spoilers for the entire game and all 4 endings. If you would like to play the game before reading, you can download it at the link below.

Being a French Waiter Sounds Fun, Right?

First of all, I'd like to start by saying I absolutely LOVE this game by @racheldrawsthis and the amazing people at Studio Investigrave. The story will permanently occupy a part of my brain, which is exactly why I'm taking the time to share my thoughts on it.

In this game, we play as a happy-go-lucky waiter named Rody, who's just started his new job at a famous 1960s French bistro, La Gueule De Saturne.

His boss is a prolific chef named Vincent Charbonneau, who's equally odd as he is talented. He stands in the back of the bistro kitchen and watches his cooks meticulously prepare his day-by-day cuisine, meanwhile Rody is mysteriously the only waiter.

It's worth noting that the "diner style" gameplay is incredibly fun and really impactful to the overall experience of the story. Even though it seems to only be particularly relevant in the first playthrough or so (however long it takes you to buy the Matches), I still absolutely love the feature.

The Difference Between Love and Obsession

Sadly enough, I've seen a lot of debate going around in the fandom and Rach's ask-box about shipping connected to the game. While I support headcanons and unique interpretations of the source material (and don't hate the ship), just as any creator should, I also cannot stress enough that this is NOT a story about Love!

The story of Dead Plate is incredibly immersive and very well written, meaning that just as in life there is very much a possibility for the events between Rody and Vince to have ended better. But the point of the story is to actually illustrate the tragedy of Obsession and how it can ruin a person.

To preface, if neither Rody nor Vince had indulged in their obsessions, things could have ended a lot better for everyone involved. But sometimes in life, tragedy strikes, and there's nothing you can do but learn to accept it. The best outcome, the happy ending, isn't always the reality.

So if any of you out there still believe that the game of Dead Plate was "shipbaiting" somehow, or if you struggle to see the differences between Love and Obsession portrayed in the story, well...

Allow me to elaborate!

The Manon Hangup

We all know Rody and Vince, whether you've played the game or just got a bit curious about it on the Internet. But, the third major character who holds the stories of these two boys together like glue is our dearly departed Manon.

Although her identity is mostly hidden until after the first ending, Manon is soon revealed to be Rody's ex-girlfriend and Vince's current girlfriend. She serves as both the object of Rody's obsession and the catalyst of Vince's obsessions — although, despite her being the story's primary victim, I can't help but feel she's also a bit guilty of Crime of Inactivity for the events which transpire.

Rody and Manon had been dating for a while, I think since even before Rody dropped out of university. He would spend all of his time and money trying to make sure she was always happy, neglecting himself to the point that Manon finally broke up with him.

And then went after a rich, famous chef almost immediately... Ya know... As normal people do...

Needless to say, Rody believes he's madly in love with Manon. He's constantly talking about how absolutely in love with her he is — about songs he wants to write for her, and things he wants to do to make her happy. And all of this definitely gives the illusion of love, but if you actually pay attention to what he says and how he acts, it's pretty obvious that Rody isn't in love at all.

Rody is obsessed with the idea of being in love...

See, when you're in love with someone, you talk about them — who they are, what they enjoy, how they make you feel, etc. But Rody never says anything like this about Manon; if he did, then we would have understood who she was better before Ending 3. Instead, everything he says about her is an "I" statement.

"I bought her gifts!"

"I want to take her to dinner!"

Yet, even when asked questions about Manon, Rody can barely answer them. The best detail we can get out of him is that she might be a little materialistic.

Rody's obsession was never about Manon, it was instead about how having a girlfriend made him feel. That's why he held onto her so hard, why you have the option to try calling her every single night, and why he simply can't even accept the fact that she broke up with him.

This likely has something to do with trauma in Rody's past, although we'll never really know. What we DO know is that Rody's behavior could have possibly been corrected if Manon had simply acted sooner in the relationship.

Why did she wait until he was so far gone to finally take action?

Why did she start dating a richer guy almost immediately?

We don't know enough about Manon to say for sure, but I suspect she may have been passively taking advantage of Rody until the guilt was too much to bear. Which in itself didn't exactly lead to her death and the ruining of three lives, but Manon still had the opportunity to stop this entire debacle before it even had a prayer of happening.

The Torment of a Chef

So now we slide over to Vincent's obsession, which is admittedly more detailed and complex than Rody's. After all, he's a trained chef in France, the capital of culinary arts! It's no doubt his job is way more high stress than you could possibly imagine.

But there's so much more to his psyche than that...

Rach has given us a lot of details about Vince, and I'm going to be referencing them quite a bit in order to properly explain the nature of his complex obsession.

Let's start with the fact that, although it isn't directly confirmed, it's been mentioned quite a lot that Vince's parents don't show him any love — this of course would be the reason why he has no idea what love actually is or what it feels like. The only thing he's probably ever loved in his life is food, which makes it all the more devastating that he lost his sense of taste when he was a small child.

Vincent spent his entire life learning how to cook perfect food, yet he despises eating and can't taste ANY of the masterpieces he cooks. That alone would be maddening.

Yet, it gets worse for him. Because Vincent doesn't understand love, that also means he doesn't understand how to put love into his dishes — the one ingredient every chef will tell you is most important in cuisine. (I should note I actually have a little bit of a background in professional food services) It's a huge insecurity for Vince, and rightfully so! Despite all of the people who praise his skill, there's always a handful that will call it "bitter" or "soulless" despite that.

But that's fine, he's fine. He's managing that insecurity. So what if he can't cook with love? Who even knows what love is anyway? He's still famous, and talented, and well renowned. He doesn't need those heartless critics.

Until he met Rody...

The two of them went to the same university, although it's pretty evident they didn't interact much back then. It's possible that Vincent's obsession with Rody started in university, watching him from afar, but that's uncertain.

What is certain is that Vince became obsessed with Rody after the ginger became a waiter at the bistro. Vincent heard Rody talk constantly about how much he loved Manon, that it started to make Vincent think... What if that was his key to cooking with love..?

Remember how Vince doesn't understand love? Well, it's important to consider that although one might not understand what love is or how to show it, that doesn't mean that they don't feel love.

Vincent is canonically gay, and also canonically obsessed with Rody. But why did he become obsessed with Rody in the first place? Usually when you latch into a person like that it isn't for some random, niche reason. So it seems highly possible that Vincent was in love with Rody.

He even did his best to show his love to Rody in the only way he knew how — by cooking.

Each night, Vince sends Rody home with "leftovers" — except, they aren't actually leftovers; they're dishes which Vince specially cooked himself specifically for Rody. He desires more than anything for Rody to enjoy his cooking, because he has no other way to show his love.

The issue with that is Rody is one of the people who expressly believes that Vince's food is soulless. Granted, he's the sort of person who would praise Burger King so honestly his opinion should be taken with a grain of salt, buuuutttt... That's not how this works.

Vince loves Rody, therefore Rody's opinion is important.

Rody "loves" Manon, therefore Vince is jealous of Manon.

I suspect this is why Vince was willing to agree to a relationship with Manon in the hopes of killing her. See, he's so obsessed with cooking "love" for Rody that if you choose to give cheese to the rat in the kitchen on Day 4, Vince cooks the rat as one of the meals for Rody.

Why? Because Rody showed it love.

It's the exact same reason that he decided to murder and cook Manon into the Grilled Hanger Steak.

I know you're going to say "But, wait! He wanted to eat Rody too!" and yeah, he does eat Rody in Ending 4. But let me impart some wisdom onto you all as to why his meticulous plan took these tragic events.

I know it's tempting to buy into the idea that Vincent intended to eat Rody all along, but consider his dialogue in Day 7 for a moment.

As he's talking to Rody, Vincent reveals his true nature — all he wanted was for Rody to eat the steak he made and taste the love he felt for Manon. He never once mentions a desire to eat people himself. Not until Rody tries to escape and Vince snaps, declaring:

"But... Maybe you ..."

It's only then that Vincent actually starts attempting to kill Rody. After all, if he really wanted to kill Rody, he wouldn't be so willing to have a conversation with him (or get mad when he couldn't escape the freezer in Ending 2)

The issue in Vincent snapped when Rody found Manon's locket in the freezer. His plan was completely ruined, and with no plan B, he lashed out. It's also worth noting that Rach confirmed Vincent is a lightweight when it comes to alcohol.

Funny how he attacks Rody with a corkscrew and you find a broken wine bottle in his office, huh?

It isn't confirmed, but I consider it highly likely that Vince was drunk on the night of Day 7.

If Vince was inebriated when Rody made him snap, it would explain his impulsive and irrational behavior. Drunken minds lead one to do all sorts of things, and it's likely that it played a role in Vince's plan shifting from making Rody taste love...

...to eating Rody in the hopes of tasting anything love for himself.

Because it isn't Rody's love of Manon that Vince thinks he'll taste. That was never how the theory worked.

It would be Vince tasting his love of Rody.

Who's the Real Villain?

Vincent might be the antagonist of our story, but that doesn't necessarily make him the villain. After all, his actions were entirely circumstantial to Rody's behavior. Which means that—

You guessed it

Our true villain is Rody.

This is something I really love that I've noticed in the 3/5 Studio Investigrave games I've played so far — the protagonist tends to be an unconventional villain.

In Rody's case, I'm sure it comes as a shock considering his himbo-puppy demeanor, but if you take a step back and look at him it's pretty obvious. Everything in the story happened because of Rody's self-sacrificing behavior.

Rody's obsession with Manon fueled Vince's obsession with him. His unwillingness to see the consequences of how he treated himself allowed it to hurt everyone around him.

If Rody could have accepted his break-up with Manon, she might not have ended up dead. If he could have reigned in his obsessions then neither of them may have ended up dead.

In a better timeline, Rody and Vince may have even been able to find love in each other.

But this isn't that story.

This is a tragedy.

A timeline where everything goes to the worst possible outcome. Where obsession devoured three lives...

Thank you all for taking the time to read all of this!

If you'd like to discuss the theories or have any questions, feel free to ask or send me a message ~

[baronvontribble]

i love the mass effect series so much

i'm on the third game and my gay little heart can't take it. good lord these games. no matter how many times i play through them the sequence from booting the game to meeting the council still HURTS

ted vanguard is fun though. y'all know me and my vanguards and honestly having him yeet himself into fights with his reinforced bones so he can punch a cerberus goon's spine out through their throat is so satisfying and so, SO him. he's still an adept in terms of skill in my brain and will be in writing, but i'm throwing a little vanguard in there like it's a playthrough of andromeda because lines between classes are arbitrary when it's biotics.

but as a question for y'all, particularly my old mass effect friends and moots and followers--what do YOU think would happen if shepard were the one injured on mars instead of the virmire survivor? thoughts? discuss! i'd like to get some opinions on this bc i don't know that i've ever seen it written out.

(and if you have seen it written out, send me links! i'd like to read them!)