#and obviously i love the game a lot

[ollypopwrites]

one of veilguards failings is that we spend so much time caring for our team (which is standard fare for a rpg just like bg3 but this game highlights the found family trope much more explicitly) but then have this huge emotional reveal about our own character that was never touched upon, confronted or hinted at in a way it would in a meaningful relationship (romantic or otherwise)

DA:2 inquisition and other rpgs let your feelings matter (i’m not gonna compare to bg3 too much cuz they are different games but similar genre) — but think about iron bull and his insistence that inky need a space where they aren’t in charge, or cullen taking inky somewhere to get away and offering her a good luck charm to keep her safe — PRAYING FOR HER SAFE RETURN — cassandra despite whatever clashes her and inky had coming together as friends and her saying “oh… that does sound like i’m blaming you” when inky gives pushback

or there is an angry monologue option for inquisitor in trespasser where the advisors all look on in horror as inky finally cracks because nothing stays fucking fixed and they believe they are going to die saving everyone who is trying to tear them and their sacrifice apart

i saw someone on tiktok (if i can find it again ill link it) say that the only way the varric reveal works is if either the writing failed to properly incorporate the character of rook into the equation of the team dynamic or we are supposed to assume that the companions don’t really care enough about rook to make sure theyre okay even with the theme of a leader taking on the brunt of everything for their team. like your leader is talking to someone that is dead and no one goes “hey are you doing okay” they’re going to lead you in a fight against a god. no. 3! 3 gods. you’re not gonna say anything??

i have to agree somewhat that because of the dynamic it feels like rook is running group therapy and is deteriorating in the meantime. even when we choose sad or angry responses no one reacts to us.

as far as i have seen (and i haven’t seen all romances yet, granted) emmerichs romance is the only one where there’s conflict and/or acknowledgment of what rook actually says to any of them that isn’t just about the companion. rook gets upset with him, he gets upset back, but the level of tension varies and rises with the dialogue choices — even if the banter after is the same, the dialogue rook said is acknowledged in the scene itself

other than that varric, and fuck even Solas, are the only ones who check on them. and idk if that’s intentional and if it is what does that mean about the team as individuals who don’t give a fuck about the person bleeding themselves dry to help them and their relationships built around them

i love the characters and the game but at some point i did feel like none of them gave a damn. even if they were the ones who pulled rook out of the fade. where was the rest of it. Where was the proof they gave a fuck,

[chloesimaginationthings]

"They call it the MANGLE" - FNAF 2 phone guy

[couchcouchcouchcouch]

HEART. LUNGS. LIVER. NERVES. HEART. LUNGS. LIVER. NERVES. HEART. LUNGS. LIVER. NERVES. HEART. LUNGS. LIVER. NERVES.

[sysig]

Blind side (Patreon)

[fascinationstreetmp3]

You did this? ...Yeah! Yeah, I did this.

[manichewitz]

why is it that 90% of criticism of the song of achilles just boils down to not accepting the conventions of romance as a genre and wanting it to simply be a different book than what it is? because seriously if you can’t get with the fact that the song of achilles is a queer romance story first and a retelling of the iliad second you’re never gonna make a criticism of it that’s interesting to me. if i wanted to read a book that was accurate to the source material then i would just read the iliad. if i wanted to read a queer romance unfolding on the backdrop of a mythical war i would read the song of achilles. if you dont understand the difference between those two things then your beef with that book is just a waste of time to me

[i-may-be-an-emu]

happy international men’s day!!

My comment on this sfth video:

(Insta link here via @letsbesharkfriends :))

I just wanted to share because yeah. This is how I feel :) they give me so much hope. And happiness. And help me to feel secure in being happy being a guy.

I love that they opened up too, it was clearly a bit of a difficult video to make, even though it’s still funny it’s also serious.

anyway :))

[front-facing-pokemon]

[keithle]

that meme about red dead redemption 2 where it's like "how women dress arthur vs how men dress arthur" is a good example of the female and male gaze i think

[theswedishpajas]

Ok but what if…

[mohntilyet]

not to mention the entire antaam fleet like 😭 that was the PERFECT moment to show off what the lords could do!!! The antaam fucked over rivain, theyve been a thorn in the whole nations side for a long time now, they would not pass up a chance for payback via full scale naval warfare so that the veilguard can do what they need to!! Sure dreadnoughts are dangerous but at this point they probably have tricks up their sleeve, thats one of the few things they have!

also wouldn't it be personal because does solas not try to blow up kont-aar because he's trying to 5d chess tevinter and the qunari into destroying each other. like. i know technically this would not be incredible widespread news because the attack was stopped, but i don't think the wonderful citizens of kont-aar would have missed the tsunami that nearly hit them and the shockwave that actually hit them. rumors go around. and i assume irian/vadis tell varric. who i think would tell isabela. who would tell the group she leads. who would care because ofc, they LIVE IN RIVAIN, and now know that solas and his followers thinks they can trade rivaini lives* to further his plans.

*while i also think there's probably a divide between kont-aar and the rest of the nation, it's one that the rivaini love to jump across and back over. an interesting comparison to be made here with most of rivain having similar sentiments towards dairsmuid and the chantry. like this is the country specifically mentioned to have a lot of citizens who follow the qun/are non-andrastian + it being MUCH more multicultural and accepting than other nations. any attack on rivain, even if it's a qunari settlement, would fan a lot of flames that solas cannot put out so the idea of trying to him taking multiple steps back because he didn't realise how intensely the qun/rivaini/lords would react is very fun for me. it would have been soo interesting for rivain to be a hub for efforts against solas because of how it's not influenced by andrastianism, how he (or his agents) specifically fucked them over, and (maddeningly for solas) also part of this resistance has spirits who willingly guide them against him. this could have even been a plot device where the door goes both ways and solas finds out rook's plans because he manages to eavesdrop through a seer or something.

and on the spirits. all the stuff where the mourn watch regularly communicates with spirits could have been done with rivain as well, and with different takes on being 'friendly' with spirits. iirc there's a spirit in the hall of valor which is so interesting but it's literally just there for flavour text. THERE'S A SPIRIT IN THE HALL OF VALOR THAT DOES NOTHING BESIDES LIKE. SAY HI. ??? bioware i would have liked to see more spirits and seers and the matriarchal pantheists you have talked about please. and also the idea of the peaceful qunari settlement being pushed to protect the country they are part of and what that means for them as qunari vs. rivaini. taash's storyline could have contributed to this . so A LOT less about choosing a side, more about how kont-aar has developed, changed, how rivain has influenced it and what it means to be qunari. not the qunari agents and fighters that we have seen, but their 'civillian' way of life in kont-aar.

complete waste not seeing any of established lore reflected in the lords of fortune or rivain because i stupidly actually thought we were going to see some kind of settlement and be introduced to a very different cultural norms.. in my beautiful mind i like to think taash is a little taken aback by how badly mages/elves/etc are treated. like they understood it was different outside of rivain (they would have been young when the dairsmuid circle annulment happened right? so they don't 'remember' it themself, they likely heard others talking about it when they're old enough to understand) but until they actually saw what was happening first hand, they had a weird dissonance about it. but what we got was a deserted beach, ties to another faction (wardens are fine!! they are great !!!! the fourth blight is interesting!!!! yet they are not the faction with a lack of info about them!!!!!) and also the hall of valor that exists as flavor text with nothing meaningful behind it besides a pub used in a few cutscenes and a minigame.

[floofery]

i think one of the many reasons omori hits so hard and one i dont see talked about a lot is the fact that everyone misses days gone by. lots of people have carefree memories of the past and the fleeting joy and innocence of young childhood and i think headspace is a great way to portray that

even if not everyone had a very traumatic event in their life that made them grow up fast or isolate themselves, nostalgia and seeing the way things were in rose tinted glasses is something that everyone experiences

and so seeing Sunny keepinghimself trapped and desperately trying to bring back the old days, grasping for what has been, even if in reality it was not entirely perfect is very relevant to humanity

[littleaipom]

Been playing Sonic Rush Adventure for the 1st time. I'm perhaps a bit invested in my faves both occupying the same screen space lol

[deoidesign]

I met the me who made different choices

[valkyurii]

useless piece of information: malenia always follows up with a grab after she breaks your guard with a kick. it is possible to roll out the way as your stamina regens fast enough on it's own, but i still thought it was pretty cool that she can do this

[florwal]

it’s so hard to get out of the “i need to be recording this gameplay or putting this save/build out to the masses.” mindset, especially when people are being rude in your inbox demanding shit and acting like you owe them something.

anyway my save files have issues and i don’t plan on fixing them for a while because like i’ve said… the amount of bugs and problems the game itself has makes it a super frustrating and stressful thing and i’d rather not spend months of my life nonstop working on something that the game will eventually break again.