#and it is the cruelest thing of all

[posletsvet]

Nothing from what I've learnt this morning is true, I'm gonna cuddle up with my cats and stay in bed all day and daydream about everyone being alive and happy

[wasyago]

oh man you're so lucky to be the chosen one, i would give everything to have what you had, you should be grateful--

[markantonys]

new posters!

[rhymaes]

The Untamed, Ep. 11 // The Untamed, Ep. 48

[camgoloud]

you ever just. become overwhelmed by a sudden out-of-nowhere wave of tenderness and affection and longing for reconnection directed towards someone to whom you no longer speak for Very Good Reasons

[spending-life-pretending]

constantly thinking about the implications of you could’ve lived for her…but you didn’t know how

[landonkirbyappreciation]

It’s really insane to think about all the ways that they perpetuated Landon’s traumas and hardships and trapped him in them.

Like after he’d grown up being abused, they not only continued to have him being abused by hurting him the whole show, but then chose to kill him and keep him dead in the end.

And after Landon had gone most of his life not being loved by anyone, after he found the person who came to love him most (and who he also loved most), they had her be the one to kill him.

And then, after Landon had been trapped in 2 other dimensions for a whole season, they trap him in another dimension again which they never allow him to escape. Where there are also monsters, after he’d been trapped in a prison world full of monsters where he had to fight for his life. Then he’s gotta be around more of them in limbo and also help them. Even though it’s a totally different situation, you’d think it would still affect him to be around monsters again after having to fight and survive them before. (Not that they ever acknowledged any of this and just had Landon acting fine with everything in limbo.)

And he’d also had to be stuck with the Necromancer for however long it was, the one who killed his brother and forced his brother to kill him, resulting in the loss of his phoenix powers and making it possible for Landon to be dead in the first place. Then Landon’s the one who has to help the Necromancer and he gets freedom and peace while Landon remains trapped in purgatory.

And when part of Landon’s trauma came from him being locked up as a child, when isolation was part of the abuse he went through, he then gets locked up in limbo and remains isolated forever. He hadn’t even wanted to be stuck in a prison world with his brother, yet they put him somewhere that’s essentially like a prison world but worse.

After so badly wanting to escape the harmful life he’d had in the foster system and to have a real home and family and to not be alone, they put Landon somewhere inescapable that is literally damaging his soul, where he is completely alone and without the people he loves and without a real home that he’d always wanted.

And adding to Landon not having a real home, there’s also the fact he’d gone place to place while in foster care, never having any real stability or consistent safe place to be. And then for half the show they trap him in one place after another, and he continues to have no sense of home or stability anywhere. He’s got no real place to go and is basically homeless while trying to survive/escape each place he gets stuck in. And the closest thing to a home they give him in the end is a bar and a dock. And along with that, Landon would have grown up with very little, he hadn’t had many belongings at the start of the show and had to be given clothes by the school because of how little he had. Then by the end, the only clothes he gets to have is one outfit, and doesn’t get to have any other belongings either.

And after being neglected and left behind his whole life, they had him being left behind in every way possible and even said that was his fate. While no one did anything to help him. After his mom had abandoned him when he was a baby, they had her abandon him again (idc if he encouraged her to find peace, it’d still be hurtful to him for his mom to agree and just leave him behind again without helping him). And then they had even Hope, the last person who would’ve given up on him, abandon him as well.

He’d literally started harming himself (in season 2) when he was alone and without Hope and Raf, saying being alone was hopeless. And then the writers made him even more alone in the end, without Hope and Raf and without any hope of being with them again. They took the very things that had made Landon s*icidal and trapped him in them forever and then claimed it was a happy ending for him.

It’s still unreal to me what they did to him and that they took his traumas and basically amplified them and had his ending revolve around them. And somehow thought that was wonderful for his character and story.

[nearisqueer]

I fear that Roger Craig smith would knock it out of the park as Jimmy mouthwashing

[n0tamused]

Yknow what screams Jien to me,,

"I do not know why the Hive chose me, but it did

And I think it always had.

The song is loud and beautiful

And I am so very afraid .

There is a wasp's nest in my attic

Perhaps it can soothe my itching soul "

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

is it a reach for me to wonder if some people have problems with Daniel because he explicitly verbalizes the exact same "I've got the power, I should make the decisions for us" attitude that Max and Alex also struggle with quite a bit, but don't express nearly as bluntly.

[waffleweirdo]

Finished Path of Radiance!

In total it took me about 40 hours and about 4 months (oops)

Long story short I really liked this game both in story and gameplay!

Now for some more rambling thoughts:

*will include spoilers*

Gameplay:

The best way that I can describe what I enjoyed about the gameplay is a good balance of information. I think there are a few other facts that could play into this (this is the fe game I went into the most blind, and difficulty). But in general I felt like there was a good balance of systems and ‘calculations’ to manage in battle. My wording here might be nonsense, but essentially there aren’t as many active effects like engage or fates that make everything overwhelming. While there aren’t as many automated tools like the later entries (I.e aggro indicators in three houses) have so I was more so forced to check possible outcomes manually. Now this probably isn’t ideal if you really want to play strategically, but I don’t! I typically play these games mostly around feel, and this method of play helped me develop a kind of sense of what would likely happen and a greater familiarity with my own and enemy units and I thought that felt cool!

Another possible contributor to this was the difficulty. It started off a bit difficult while the units were all still weak, then got pretty easy in the mid game (except daybreak!!), before getting fairly tough again around the last 6 or so chapters. Which is a curve I generally like! There were moments I would’ve liked it a little bit harder, but it was overall very satisfying! (For context I didn’t use any bonus exp until after chapter 18, and only used the majority of it around chapter 27).

Some other minor gameplay things. I thought the mechanics surrounding laguz were cool too manage! Plus they tied in really cool thematically and I felt awful attacking helpless laguz (the fact that the game made me feel awful is a good thing!). This game was the fe game that I knew the least about going in, and I managed to only ever use a guide for one chapter which I enjoyed, but I do think it means I probably missed a few recruitable characters. I’m pretty confident I missed at least three, though it might’ve been more oops… I really liked the use of bonus exp it was a cool way to still level up units that don’t necessarily earn a bunch naturally, or buff underperforming units, and as a sort of difficulty regulator. Gameplay wise my favorite unit was far and away Astrid. She snowballed so quickly! I was shocked when Titania had beaten her for most victories. I though item management was a bit tight sometimes, but not really in a good way. The fact that the shop had different stock every chapter was a bit frustrating, especially when it would remove basic iron weapons so units with only an e rank couldn’t train at all. But overall it wasn’t too big of a deal. I also didn’t realize how op forging was until the mid to late game, but that’s on me.

Characters:

Ike was BY FAR my favorite fe protagonist. His consistent attitude and personality made him a lot more interesting. Although he didn’t have the most complex character journey ever, he was still enjoyable, and always felt like an engaging character, rather than being one note. He consistently works well with the rest of the cast, and the way that he serves as an optimistic force, yet isn’t without flaws is really nice. I think he’s just a great character! I also really like that he didn’t turn out to secretly be a noble. I think this is the first fe game I’ve played with a protagonist who is not a noble, or secretly revealed to be a noble!

I feel very guilty that I never got around to using Soren much and thus didn’t get many of his supports because he was really interesting and I would’ve liked to see how he grew past his outward facade. But even so the story did a good job of depicting his growth, even if it was somewhat subtle. I also guessed that he was the spy for Daein, but nope!

Elincia was great too. She never stood out to much, but throughout the whole game she was engaging, and it was nice to see her growth. Again I didn’t get to do too many of her supports which was a bummer.

I guess this is as good a place as any to talk about supports. The way the PoR levels them up based on deployments? Very cool! Really excellent idea. The support conversations I read? I really liked them! Why. WHY is there a limit on supports? And even more so why was it so strict? Essentially what this meant was I was constantly juggling which characters I cared about the most, and if I ever found another character whose supports would be interesting? Well let’s hope I have a bunch of supports left, or I have to change my mind, or hold supports for possible future characters. It’s awful, and locked me out of probably 3/4 of the supports I was interested in. It sounds minor, but honestly really did affect my play through a lot. I care about supports and having them so limited sucks!

Jill ended up being one of my favorite characters. I was interested when she first joined us. I think my first thought was, “what is she up to?” But her story of learning the truth behind Daein’s propaganda and choosing to oppose them was really touching, and equally tragic. The dialogue where Mist offhandedly mentioned that she and Jill were about the same age… augh!! Plus Jill’s supports with Lethe were great, another reason why supports shouldn’t have bee-

I think the other character I want to highlight is Nasir. He’s one of my favorite characters for sure, and his story is really intriguing. Even learning his relationship with Ena and his ultimate motivations it still feels like there’s so much we never got to learn. Especially never having truly gotten to reconcile with Ike… it’s just really interesting. He traveled with us for so long, and always felt like a mystery, and even finally understanding him came too late… it’s just really neat.

Story:

The story of this game was interesting, the main plot thread was helping Elincia retake Crimea, which was a fairly standard though well done story. Archetypal in a sense. But largely what I cared about was the story in regards to the laguz and beorc. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just interesting to note. In that sense some moments of the plot felt largely unremarkable to me, while some moments where the two converged felt really interesting. The discovery of the truth behind the Serenes massacre and Ena’s reunion with Rajaion stand out to me. In the sense it’s sort of hard for me to reconcile my thoughts on the story. I didn’t really care much when Ashnard was killed, but the moment I understood who Rajaion was I wanted to cry. I think largely PoR’s story is a success, as there were more moments that I was interested than moments were I was disengaged, and I do generally think of the story fondly.

Having the full vision of how the conflict between laguz and beorc was depicted I think there are probably some things to critique, especially in some moments where it doesn’t feel as far reaching as it largely should. As in sometimes it feels like that racism is far too easily ‘solved’. But ultimately I think it fits PoR. PoR isn’t trying to be a story that is incredibly focused on fictional race relations. But it doesn’t shy away from including and exploring them, and out of the fire emblem games I’ve played it does by faaaaaaaarrrrr the best job. Plus it does have many really good moments that I think are genuine standouts.

As an aside, I’d also like to say that the info system is really good at adding in additional plot relevant reactions by characters, and showing the effects of your actions on civilians and the world around in such an excellent way. I can’t exactly pinpoint why, but some of my favorite moments just come from the one off interactions in it with characters you know you’ll never meet again. It’s cool!

I guess my thoughts of PoR’s story and themes come down to the fact that they are far from perfect, but ultimately succeed where it matters.

Sequel?:

I wasn’t really sure what to call this section, oops. This is the first time I’m playing Fire Emblem game that has a clear sequel! Which I know even less about going in than PoR.

Knowledge going into PoR: It has the Black Knight and Ike

Knowledge going into Radiant Dawn: It has Micaiah

So these are a collection of things I’m still wondering about which might possibly come up in the sequel? Though even if they don’t I’m satisfied with the conclusion of PoR’s story, and leaving loose ends isn’t a bad thing.

Ahem. What’s going on with Goldoa’s royalty? What’s going on with Sephiran? The apostle is a descendant of one of the warriors that fought the dark god? Is the Black Knight really dead? And most importantly Chekhov’s amulet that contains a literal dark god???!??!?!? Anyways I’m sure that will end just fine.

One of the moments that I’m most interested in was Ike’s final fight with the Black Knight. I took one look at the battle forecast and saw that Ike would immediately die, remembered Ike and Titania’s promise and booked it. Though I really wonder what might have happened if I did something different. Though honestly I’m okay just wondering.

Aaaaand yeah. That’s everything I can think to say at the moment. I liked this game a lot! I’m not quite sure how I’d rank it among the fe games that I’ve played. But I’m very excited to play Radiant Dawn and see what that has in store.

[buffyspeak]

the lightwood siblings are literally like. "what if three siblings who genuinely love and would die for each other lash out with the cruelest thing they can think to say when hurt because none of them ever learned proper emotional regulation or communication skills" and that's SO real of them. tbh.

(notably they're all pretty good at/about apologizing when it's called for)

[ban-joey]

fit of horrible sobbing so full of mucus i had to emergency strip and use my sleep shirt as a gigantic hanky. i do not feel better and have a pit in my stomach that won't leave but at least i am dealing with grief in real time for once instead of locking it away for several years however it does feel like the vault busted open and now im dealing w like. all of it at once. so that's cool

[rodolfoparras]

I BOUGHT PITCHER PLANTSSSSS

-🐁

I just googled it bc I thought it was like big house plant (I’m sorry I’m no flower expert ejdjdj) but I googled it and it looks so freaking cool?? A flesh eating plant????

[chryzuree]

hm. on the topic of chrysi being the root of all jacks’s issues & saying cruel things to him, i think she’d def compare immortality’s effects on jacks vs azure. something to the effect of “your love is always capable of icing over or draining away. so how can i choose you, when azure can be fated or turned to a vampire, and not a thing changes in how much he loves me?” <- implication that jacks, prince of hearts, does not have love at the core of his being, but rather something else. versus azure “perfect soulmate” lafaye, who is made out of his adoration for chrysi and nothing will ever, ever get in the way of that. so there.

[therealnotta]

SUDDENLY AND ABRUPTLY REMEMBERING THIS EDGY WIZARD OF OZ SHORT TV SERIES???? it was like five episodes??????? it had famous actors in it, but like, the kinda famous actors where you see them and go "oh!! oh, what were they in? i know them!" and i think zoey deschanel? or the actress that looks like her??? i have a slight problem with faces, like not huge, but enough that i get confused sometimes. you know the people im talking about tho

anyway i remember that the plot was that oz had become something of a tourist attraction, mc was dorothy's many-times-great grandchild, and everything was this like... dystopian future and guys the books COVERED this, glinda was like "whoa. ok. dorothy was fine, and the three or four other people who showed up were ok, and like... i can tolerate uncle henry and aunty em, but if we don't do something then this is going to become a dystopian tourist trap" and made oz the bermuda triangle. so.

but this was an edgy thing, so acceptable, but the tin man was the cop?? like he was this cool cop going up against this evil government?? and he was A Dude, not even tin. they called him tin man because they locked him in some freaking box and forced him to watch his wife and child die on loop???? it was an insult???? i remember pretty much nothing else about this series it was at least ten years ago and i was but a child what was that all about. he wouldn't be a cop. the second evil people showed up no they wouldn't, he has an axe and he's immortal and made of metal. go ahead, shoot him. try. he's literally just going to get back up and he's ONE guy, you think Ozma is going to lose???? HELLO?????? you enter the court of the fay now!! you're gonna WISH you were just up against the axe guy. man. an army invaded oz in the books and she made them want water and then. got them to drink from the fountain that totally and completely wipes your mind. dystopian tourist trap. smh.