#and very shy about MMOs

[metalandmagi]

Romance Anime Starter List

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sick and tired of seeing “Top ___ Best Anime of All Time” lists that are nothing but shounen. So, with "My Happy Marriage" getting a little attention from the anime community, I wanted to put together a list of some romance anime that I consider good “starters” for the genre. Because if I were just now becoming an anime fan, I’d think all there was to offer was shounen action series.

And by “starters” I mean basic stuff that’s not too…out there, and actually involves the characters getting together instead of just harems or using romance as a side plot (sorry Ouran High School Host Club and My Next Life as a Villainess). 

So if you’re new to anime and want stuff that’s not just guys beating the shit out of each other (which is also fun, don’t get me wrong), here are some basics.

Taisho Maiden Fairy Tale- When the pessimistic Tamahiko Shima loses all function in his right arm, his family sends him away to live in the mountains with the cheerful, hard working Yuzuki Tachibana…who was purchased by the Shima family to pay off her family’s debts and basically act as a caretaker/future bride for Tamahiko so they’d never have to deal with him again. It’s a more cheerful version of My Happy Marriage (without the supernatural stuff), except in this one, the guy is the one who has massive self-esteem issues and an abusive family. There are still very serious themes, but ultimately it’s not meant to make you cry every episode. I swear it’s so good, but nobody watched it!

Horimiya- A slice of life in which pretty and popular high school queen bee Hori, finds out her quiet, unassuming classmate Miyamura is hiding piercings and tattoos that could get him expelled. The two gradually find out more about each other and get together in the most realistic way I’ve seen depicted in an anime. It’s also fucking hysterical and genuinely emotional.

Recovery of an MMO Junkie- Another slice of life that focuses on two adults who meet in an MMO game without realizing they also know each other in real life. I don’t want to say much more than that. It’s adorable, and the main character is so relatable it hurts.

Love with Yamada-kun at Level 999- Speaking of MMOs, this is a newer series about Akane Kinoshita, a college first year who’s reeling from a bad break up. In an attempt to get back at her ex, she winds up meeting Akito Yamada, a popular gamer who happens to be in her guild in the MMO they both play at an IRL meetup. The two go from acquaintances to something more as they keep running into each other. Even more relatable main characters and just wholesome relationships all around.

Snow White With The Red Hair- A fantasy in which an apothecary named Shirayuki (meaning, you guessed it, “snow white”) runs away from her home in order to escape becoming the concubine of her town’s prince. While fleeing, she is rescued by Zen, the prince of a neighboring country, and she ends up becoming an herbalist to repay him. It's super cute with some genuinely swoon worthy moments and a couple that just works so well together. I have a habit of comparing this to Akatsuki no Yona, even though the two aren’t really that alike. This is more romance driven while Akatsuki no Yona is more of a serious historical fantasy with romance elements (Yona manga is amazing, but the anime barely scratches the surface, so that’s why I didn’t include it).

Sasaki to Miyano- When the shy, easily flustered Miyano meets Sasaki, a cool “delinquent” upperclassmen, the two end up bonding over manga…specifically BL manga. That’s right, Miyano is a fudanshi, but due to his small stature and somewhat feminine appearance, he’s constantly trying to convince others that he’s not interested in having his own love story where he’d be reduced to a stereotypical doe-eyed uke. But as Sasaki and Miyano spend more time together, they realize that what they have is more than friendship, and they have to come to terms with their own perception of gay relationships. This is my favorite romance of all time. It’s a slow burn, but boy is it worth it. Their relationship is so natural and realistic, just like Horimiya. Just two people hanging out and bonding over things the way people do in real life!

Given: The story of some boys in a band with trauma. Enough said. It's great. Go watch it.

Bloom Into You- Yuu Koito is a high school girl who’s been waiting her whole life for her own perfect romance to start…but when she receives a confession, she realizes she doesn’t know how to respond when she’s just not into the guy. And then she gets another confession…this time from the cool student council president Touko Nanami, who basically jumpstarts her lesbian awakening. Very cute story about how we perceive the concept of love vs actually feeling it. Also has a canonically aro/ace side character, so that’s a win for me. Another show like this is Adachi to Shimamura (but I honestly don’t remember much about it. It just didn’t stick with me as much).

Ore Monogatari- Takeo Gouda is a tall, bulky high school first year with a sensitive heart of gold. He wants nothing more than to find his own true love, but most girls are intimidated by his enormous stature, and they end up falling for his conventionally attractive friend instead. That is, until he meets the tiny, adorable Rinko Yamato. He falls in love instantly, but he’s sure she’s interested in his best friend like everyone else, so he vows to help get them together, even though his heart is breaking. Peak himbo behavior. Pure of heart, dumb of ass.

Yuri on Ice- Yes it’s the gay figure skating anime everyone knows. And yes it’s a fucking romance, okay? I will die on this hill. The romance between Viktor and Yuri is just as important as the plot!

Kaguya-sama Love Is War- Two insanely smart high school students both have a crush on the other, but since they’re…you know…high schoolers, neither of them wants to admit it first. So they come up with increasingly convoluted plans to get the other to confess first. This will go down as one of the best of all time. It’s a hilarious yet poignant modern classic.

Fruits Basket- I’ve talked about it before and I’ll talk about it again. A romance “comedy” that slowly morphs into a drama about a girl named Tohru who finds herself living with the mysterious Sohma family after her mother dies. Little does she know, the Sohmas are the victims of a  (somewhat silly, but ultimately tragic) curse that she must fight to break. Even though I’m more into it for the family drama, the romance is still top tier and plays an important role in the story. This is my second favorite anime of all time, and it’s a classic for a reason. If anyone hasn’t watched it yet, GO WATCH IT! IT WILL RIP YOU TO SHREDS!

And now for some honorable mentions that didn't quite fit into the regular list:

Ride Your Wave- A movie about a surfer who falls in love with a firefighter……and I’m not going to say any more than that. Go into it blind. If you like stuff like Your Name, this is a good one to watch.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun- A comedy about a high school girl who finds out the upperclassman she has a crush on is actually a shoujo manga artist, and no matter how she tries to confess to him, he just never gets it.

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague- A slow burn slice of life that focuses on a guy with ice powers who has a crush on his coworker. That’s it. That’s the show. When I say slow, I mean SLOW. It’s perfectly cute and fluffy, but my god does it take forever to get anywhere with these two.

Skip to Loafer- A high strung, small town girl decides to go to high school in Tokyo, where she meets a variety of classmates, including the laid back Sousuke Shima. The unlikely pair become friends, and soon enough, she starts to feel something more than friendship. The only reason I didn’t include it in the main list is because they don’t get together by the end of the first season, but it’s still really cute (also canonically trans character for the win!?)

So that’s my starter list. And no, I didn’t include Toradora, even though it’s a classic. I know it’s blasphemous, but I like it more as a comedy than a romance. It kinda lost me with the ending. But anyway, maybe someone will find something they like. Or maybe you'll just want to roast me and my picks 😅

[astrxealis]

thinkin about that one casual lgbtq+ representation in ffxiv aaaa all the way in arr !! that is so <3 to me. gay lil couple in one of the side quests for a dungeon thing (?) and they talk a bit about not being accepted by those around them. smth like that. but not because they’re gay. it’s because they’re in a mixed race relationship (hyur and miqo'te)

[spoopydeboop]

Hello, and welcome to…

Pointless Palia Head-Cannons!

This is a segment where my hyper-focused and obsessive brain will shower you all with all of the pointless very important head-cannons I have about the MMO Palia and its many NPCs!

Today’s topic is:

Which Palia NPCs can sing well and which ones simply cannot carry a tune?

Now, in the words of the famous Italian plumber, “Here we go!” (List below the cut!)

NPCs are listed in alphabetical order.

• Ashura - Absolutely yes, but in a very deep, sea-shanty / Gaelic tune way. He’s not the most technically sound, but his voice is very gruff and soothing. Absolutely sang his son lullabies every night.

• Auni - No, I’m sorry. Convinced that he cannot carry a tune AT ALL but thinks he can. Sings loudly with zero inhibition whatsoever. Gotta give him credit there!

• Badruu - We know this man was in a traveling Bard group, so he’s musically inclined for sure. I feel like he would have been killer backup and filler vocals and he can harmonize beautifully.

• Caleri - Doesn’t believe in fun, jovial activities like singing. (Elouisa informs you later that her sister can in fact not carry a tune at all.)

• Chayne - Absolutely. He’s naturally musically inclined, but part of his spiritual training involved learning to lead chants and hymns. Bass level vocals, v soothing.

• Delaila - Not at all. Where do you think Auni gets it? Part of what entranced her about Badruu in the beginning was his musical abilities. She’ll still sing along with a group and put her all into it though!

• Einar - The concept of producing a vocal stimulation to create a pleasing melodic sound is lost to the robot. But if it’s your Oneness, he respects it.

• Elouisa - Cannot sing, but definitely played clarinet in high school and was first chair!

• Eshe - No way. Cruella de Vil type vibes. She definitely was classically trained on the piano, but doesn’t often exercise the skill.

• Hassain - Can absolutely carry a tune and harmonize well! Definitely low baritone or higher bass in range. Can harmonize with higher ranges very well!

• Hekla - Her Jina often sings to herself as she works, but the ability and desire to produce a series of melodies is not within her rune programming.

• Hodari - Not the biggest fan of singing, but has a decent voice that comes off pleasantly gruff and southern. I imagine if Pedro Pascal’s ‘Joel’ from The Last of Us sang a slower, more reserved tune. (My other example was the dad cow from Back at the Barnyard that sings “I Won’t Back Down”… Let me know if that woulda been better or worse.)

• Jel - Definitely took vocal lessons with his sisters. Has a very pleasant and airy singing voice that is very technically sound.

• Jina - Doesn’t really sing much except for to herself. Massive stage fright on this one! Hekla says that her Jina seems happy when she sings, and that’s what matters.

• Kenji - Honestly? 100%, yes. Maybe like a broadway or an operatic voice. Doesn’t sing much but I imagine it would sound really jolly if he was a jollier guy.

• Kenyatta - YES! Doesn’t sing because she thinks it’s ‘lame’ (she gives me massive ‘too cool for school’ vibes) but has a delightful and powerful singing voice (kinda like the wolf Porsha Crystal played by Halsey in Sing 2.)

• Nai’O - Yes absolutely. Got his talent from his dad! He’s very shy when put on the spot though, so he doesn’t sing in front of people often — mostly when he works in the field with his animals by himself.

• Najuma - Not at all! But it’s okay because Najuma has zero desire to, haha. Kid is happy to be tinkering!

• Reth - On god, YES. Man has a beautiful and casual singing voice with a little rasp around the edges. Sings to himself while he cooks or gets really focused on something. I’m thinking “Feelin’ Good” by Michael Bublé, but maybe bit more rough around the edges.

• Sifuu - Not much of a singer, but I know our Muscle Mommy definitely has a few war chants or something up her sleeve! Lady can keep a beat for sure.

• Tamala - Thinks she can, but makes it way too sultry. You heard me. There’s such a thing as too much!

• Tish - Yes! Absolutely. She seems like she would 100% have like a Mandy Moore or Kristen Bell vibe. Very Disney Princess-esque!

• Zeki - Okay, honestly I think yes — but not in a conventional way. Kind of like Ashura; I think he would be great at singing like traditional Grimalkin shanties or folk-songs. Not very practiced, but he’s got spirit!

OKAY FINALLY DONE! I plan to do a lot more of these! Let me know if you have any suggestions!

[pyreo]

I've never thought about this in the 11 years I've played but I just realised gw2 must look.. pretty zany to outsiders? It didn't even occur to me. I'm really glad it's in a low fantasy setting that allows for pretty much anything and I think it's inkeeping with the focus on player creativity in an MMO to have that kind of range.

Like I know the overall aesthetic can get wacky but because that's so fitting for a multiplayer game... it's never occured to me that anything looks odd.

Like, here's a screenshot of me, someone's bird, and some lovely folks from the last pride march

Like real pride marches, being over the top and loud is the point. We have the tools to do that, even in regular gameplay. I think it's fascinating that nothing about this feels out of place. Magic in this universe does practically anything you want it to. Technology varies from nonexistent to far beyond real life. There's a massive range but everything feels kind of.... justified?

Some people will wear fantasy armour and keep everything on a theme. Some people are going to group transform into giant frogs and some people are going to cosplay as Johnny Bravo. It happens. The game doesn't mind. It doesn't shy away from people being incredibly weird. I remember the devs recalling a decision they had to make about letting players jump on top of a plot-important table where NPCs sat for serious discussions. The decision was they they shouldn't stop people from doing that if they wanted to.

The openness of the setting means these are all things that could exist. People reanimate corpses here for the hell of it. The weapons are magic and can be literally anything. The mounts are all creatures that have been tamed, or vehicles someone could have invented. Even the living plushie mounts are lore-compliant because... magic.

But on top of this, this game has one of the most sincere stories of anything I've ever played? Whether it's to your taste or not, I don't think you could deny how much care goes into it. From terminal conditions to villains having tantrums over childish insecurities to symbolic anticapitalism to racial superiority rallies, it has treated its topics with dead-solid respect. It does not undercut its serious moments - but it allows you the privilege if you'd like.

Maybe it's the balance of being so immersed in that that's stopped me from thinking any of this looks silly. The players can be silly, sure. Maybe there's a kind of game-and-player suspension of disbelief. We tell our story, and you have your freedom, and for the most part they won't intersect (except for the infamous Wynne cutscene).

In the MMO space there's other ways to approach this. You've got ESO which holds back very tightly to its high fantasy setting. That's for people with different tastes who don't want anything aesthetic-breaking in their game, and they have to cut back the player freedom to get it while trying to introduce a steady stream of new armours that can't be too interesting. They have magic, but don't go too far. It also means you get deals begging you to come to the cash shop to buy, like, rags. Fun rags for your character!

Then inbetween those two there's 'your name has to be lore compliant but fuck it, flying convertible'

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

Alright, looks like my dearest blorbo lost, so here's my long anticipated post mortem propaganda post for her and the 15 dollar game bundle that blew me away. For decency's sake, i'm sealing the meat of this post behind a read more, so as to not accidentally colour of the skies everyone who follows this tourney. (Or at least i'm going to try to. Tumblr is weird, and apologies if it does not work.)

One fateful day, I purchased the Bundle For Ukraine from itch.io. While I was initially put off by the seemingly bargain bin quality of most of the games, I ultimately decided it was worth it. I donated, got the games, and perused through them for anything eye catching. I found Celeste, Zeroranger, a couple of cute tools…

And a little game called Crosscode.

I was… intrigued. I'd saw this game once or twice before, and I was curious. Figuring that it couldn't hurt to try it, I downloaded the game and started it up.

Crosscode turned out to be a very good game.

And most of that was because of the main character:

Lea.

In summary, Crosscode is an action rpg game made by Radical Fish and released fully on pc in 2018, with console ports later. It follows the story of Lea, a woman who wakes up inside a futuristic MMO set on a moon in a distant galaxy, where players physically control avatars made out of a high tech substance known as Instant Matter (think hard light holograms, and that's pretty much it.), as she's guided by a programmer in order to recover her lost memories. I can go on and on about just how amazing the game is: how the plot takes a turn from "generic mmo isekai esque" to if someone decided to adapt one of the better black mirror episodes into an action rpg, how polished the combat and puzzles are, and how incredible the music is, but that's not what the main purpose of this tourney is. It's to tell you just how good of a character Lea is.

Lea is the main protagonist/player character, a rather shy woman with a real competitive spirit and a cheeky attitude, once she warms up to someone. A major part of her character is due to a major glitch in her avatar's voice module, she's mute (aside from a couple of hardcoded words her programmer friend could put in). "A silent protagonist?" you may ask me. "Like, a player avatar that is deliberately left without any strong characterisation as to allow nearly anyone to insert themselves into?" Nope! Instead of being a blank slate for projection, Lea expresses an incredible amount of character through simply inflection and facial expression.

This is only a PART of her spritesheet! Only a smidge, and i'm not even getting into the special sprites she has for certain story events.

Throughout the story, Lea has to tackle difficulties with not being able to communicate as well with players and NPCs, along with typical mmo difficulties, all while she unravels the dark mysteries of what's really going on behind the scenes of Crossworlds...

Despite her difficulties, she's always treated with respect by the game's narrative, which can be seen with the many interactions between her and the surrounding cast (all mainly expressed through her many sprites).

A few of my favourite moments of hers include:

Annoying her programmer friend:

Her reaction to her horns:

Her absolute freak out at being held by a five year old:

Her absolutely intending to get into more antics after a certain sidequest:

And if you need any more motivation to play this amazing game, here's the special reactions she gets when you turn on the New Game Plus cheat that gives you insane damage with every hit:

Yes, the devs made specific sprites just for when you play new game plus with a certain cheat.

Please, do yourself a favour and play Crosscode. It's like twenty bucks on steam without a sale. It's what Sword Art Online would be if it didn't completely suck. It's disability culture. It's the world's best single player MMO. It's a Black Mirror's White Christmas episode adapted into a video game.

And most of all... it has Lea.

Wow. Well unfortunately it seems that read more does not work in asks.

[mikaru-shiran]

Guess I have an Angelsona now??? Anyways his name is Elias and his fluffy head neither respects the comb nor the law of gravity!!!

Anyways, some tidbits about Elias:

1. His sweater is an extension of his body. Please do not remove. Yes he wears them even if it's hot out.

2. Closeted fudanshi with shelves full of BL, occassional josei and shoujo... And keeps the real kinky stash under his bed, next to his toys.

3. May or may not have jacked off to said stash.

4. Very close to Violet and Moth. Joins Violet in MMO raids sometimes, even.

5. About 164-ish cm (5'3")

6. Sees Haruko as kind of "He's just like me frfr" and also "2D Fictional Crush"

7. Needy Virgin. Very much wants Ren/Redacted but too shy to be forward so he goes a very roundabout way. Makes him easy to tease.

8. Sees Teo as that difficult uni friend that you can't quite break off from lest it destroys the whole group's dynamic. So he just bears with it.

—

14 Days With You (c) cutiesai at itch.io

[anneapocalypse]

Thoughts Before Endwalker

As I'm about to start Endwalker, I thought it was high time I actually write up some closing thoughts on Shadowbringers, and since I really haven't done this for any of the other expansions, this has turned into a general "thoughts so far" kind of post! And also long. This is not any kind of an essay, just a big long thoughts dump. Spoilers for everything through the end of the Shadowbringers patches.

And I trust I don't have to say this to my own followers at least, but just for the record: please do not tell me anything about Endwalker here, even if you think it's minor, even if you want to hint at something I'll like. I know very little and I'm looking forward to watching it all unfold.

How it started!

It's been a year and change since I started playing this game in the fall of 2022. I didn't actually expect to play very far (I only picked it up in the first place because I was helping a friend set it up! I swore I would never play an MMO! I hated multiplayer games!) and I certainly didn't ever expect to get as deep into it as I have! ARR is very handholdy for new players, which was exactly what I needed to enjoy playing and keep playing. I love the story and the characters and the world and while I do enjoy the solo aspects of the game very much, I've also ended up really actively enjoying playing with other people! I enjoy dungeons. I enjoy raids. I run roulettes more or less every day. Free Company life hasn't always been smooth sailing (long story I won't get into here), but it's also brought me a lot of fun times and some new friends, as well as seeing me step into an active leadership role and not hate it. Who am I? 😂 I don't know! It's not that I've never tried to step out of my comfort zone before when it comes to games and hobbies, it's just that most of those experiences haven't been good and I've ultimately walked away from them. I don't know why this has been different, but it has. It's challenged me to tackle and let go of a lot of old insecurities, which I'm glad for (and grateful to friends who've been patient with me along the way). It's also just been a really good time, and continues to be.

How it's gone! (ARR through Stormblood)

So here I am, in 2024, about to start the last current expansion! Shadowbringers is easily my favorite expansion thus far, but I have really enjoyed the whole ride.

I enjoyed all of ARR, because while I don't think it has the strongest writing and certainly not the strongest characterization, it's really more a very long introduction to the world and its major players and conflicts, and while slow-moving, it does serve that function, and for someone brand-new to MMOs like me, slow was okay. It gave me time to get my bearings and learn the game.

I did really love Heavensward. It hits on several aspects of Fantasy Politics that I enjoy (generations-long war, class politics, structural reform), and postwar Ishgard, while maybe still a little rosy, still doesn't shy away from the growing pains of social change. Also the dragons were cool. I loved Haurchefant a lot, and was heartbroken by his death even as I knew it was coming; I also wouldn't change it. I think his death was meaningful and the natural culmination of his character. A Knight lives to serve. I think Haurchefant was always going to go out sacrificing himself for someone else. If it hadn't been the Vault, it would have been somewhere else. He was a delight and I miss him dearly, but it was a good narrative beat and one I wouldn't change.

Ysayle, on the other hand, I really don't think needed to die. She undergoes a fascinating character arc in Heavensward which I think the writing really drops the ball on at the end. Ideally, I think Ysayle coming to terms with her missteps while continuing to fight for what she believes in would be fantastic. She could have been a meaningful figure in Ishgard's reforms, and she would have made a great Scion. Her death also simply isn't treated with the same reverence as Haurchefant's, and I think that's sad. Heavensward has a bit of a Women Problem, in that it really doesn't give us a lot of female characters who are central to the plot, in contrast to a lot of great and memorable male characters. And the one who is most central dies with a lot less fanfare than WoL BFF Haurchefant. (And I'm not knocking Haurchefant, whom I love dearly, or Aymeric or Estinien! The imbalance is just very noticeable and I wish it wasn't so.)

Stormblood tends to get a bad rap among FFXIV's expansions. It's so common to hear people say it's their least favorite, it wasn't as good as Heavensward, etc. It came up recently in a server I'm in, where a newer player said they were having a bit of content fatigue after Heavensward, and having heard that Stormblood wasn't very good, they were considering buying a story skip. Other responses were, not outright negative, but mostly lukewarm, and I felt like I was the only one who really came out for Stormblood's story. First of all, I don't agree that it's not as good as Heavensward! I grant you that not everyone is as enamored of Fantasy Politics as I am, but as mentioned above, Heavensward is also very political, so I don't really think that's the big difference. Stormblood is maybe a bit grittier in its depiction of war, and that's something I like about it; it's really about the horrors of imperialism and the cost of resistance, and it doesn't pull its punches on that.

Ironically where it does pull its punches is with character deaths, heroes and villains alike. It does feel a little like someone thought they might have hit us too hard in Heavensward, given that we haven't had a lot of major character deaths stick since. I'm not complaining about Gosetsu's return, as I liked him very much and was very happy he lived. I will grumble a little about Zenos, though I'll go easy because I know a lot of people like him. 😛 He just doesn't do much for me. Yotsuyu was a great villain, and I was really dubious when they brought her back, but was pleasantly surprised with how her story ended, to the point that I'm willing to eat a lot of what I said about memory loss as a plot device. They did well with it, and her ultimate death did feel appropriate. Yotsuyu was never going to have a redemption arc, because she didn't want to be redeemed.

It was very refreshing in Stormblood to have more female characters taking essential roles in the plot. Colorism issues aside, I do really like Lyse as a character, and I also loved seeing Yugiri and Alisaie taking prominent roles, especially Alisaie who really hadn't gotten to be in the main plot much before. Rolling around with the three of them was a blast. Raubahn is also a favorite of mine, so seeing him play a major role in Ala Mhigo's liberation and get some character development was excellent. I'm happy that he's stayed involved with the Resistance in the time since.

I also just think Stormblood's new areas are absolutely beautiful. Kugane and the Azim Steppe are particular faves, but I just think they did a great job with the environments and I loved exploring them, including the underwater bits! Eorzea and Ishgard are so European-inspired, and I really enjoyed seeing Asian cultural influences in a fantasy setting. It is after all a Japanese game!

Just this week I finished the reconstruction of the Doman Enclave. As a player who's joined the game more recently, it's always bittersweet to learn about game elements that were temporal and are now lost to time, like the evolution of Mor Dhona during the ARR patches, or the Ishgardian Restoration in the Firmament. I can go hang out in the Firmament and craft and do fêtes and custom deliveries, but I'll never get to see the Firmament being built. It was done when I got there, which for me was after completing 3.3, very soon after completing the main story of Heavensward. The Doman Enclave goes in the other direction. It is a solo experience by necessity, but it's an experience that every new player can have: making their donations every week and watching the Enclave grow. Such things are always a trade-off for an MMO, but between the two, I would definitely choose the one that doesn't lock new players out of the experience.

And to give one last shout-out to Stormblood, I think it's pretty essential setup for what's happening when Shadowbringers begins. It's not just that the Scions are dropping like flies, it's that this is happening on the brink of a full-scale Garlean invasion. Said invasion is also critical to the bad future that G'raha is ultimately trying to prevent. The state and history of Garlemald is inextricably tied to the Ascians who are tied up in all of this. Stormblood is arguably more important to the events of Shadowbringers than Heavensward is, though Heavensward is also not unimportant, both with the continued presence of Estinien (reluctantly so if we believe him 😉), and with the involvement of Tiamat in the Shadowbringers patches. It's all connected!

How it's going! (Shadowbringers)

Urianger is, unsurprisingly, a big part of why I love Shadowbringers so much, as he gets some wonderful character development there and actually gets to be in the plot! But it's not only him—I like how character-driven Shadowbringers is overall, how much the major characters are driving the story and not merely reacting to events. ARR was largely driven by the world itself; the expansions are where the story starts to become character-driven. The driving forces of Heavensward's are much bigger than the main characters, but Haurchefant and Ysayle and Aymeric and Estinien bring a personal face to the conflict and a reason for us to be invested in it. Stormblood's emotional core is Lyse, Yugiri, Gosetsu, and their collective drive to liberate their homelands from Garlean occupation.

Shadowbringers, to me, really brought all of that home. It's not only character-driven but it brings a much more personal touch, I think, to the Scions themselves, with the major players being characters we've known since ARR but now get to know in a deeper way. I've always liked Y'shtola as a character but never felt I really connected with her, and Shadowbringers changed that, even as her story in Shadowbringers is in many ways about her isolation from the others, her (sometimes justified) mistrust and the way she closes herself off even to the people closest to her. Yet there is a deep caring beneath Y'shtola's prickliness as well, which we see in her leadership of the Night's Blessed, the new family she is willing to risk her life for. She's complex and difficult, sometimes angry and stubborn, and we all know I love that in a fictional woman. I really gained a deeper appreciation for her as a character here.

I've said my piece on Minfilia already, so I'll try not to repeat myself too much. I will say that Thancred is the main character I have the hardest time with in Shadowbringers. I appreciated the additional character development given to him at first, but as the story made Minfilia's death more and more all about him to the exclusion of everyone else, the more I started to kind of resent it. It really gets under my skin how he treats Ryne for like, the entire time until Minfilia Prime's final departure. The narrative kind of treats it like oh, he just has a hard time expressing how he really feels! and honestly I don't fully agree with that framing. I think Thancred's cold and harsh attitude toward Ryne does reflect how he really feels at that time—namely, he's angry and lonely and upset for valid reasons, but he's taking them out on a teenager who's fully dependent on him for her survival, to the point that she admits she thinks he hates her. His legitimate pain doesn't justify that to me, and it really kinda chaps my ass how everyone just agrees that he's the one with the most claim to call Ryne family, when Urianger was far kinder, gentler, and more comforting to Ryne than Thancred ever was. And Urianger was in pain too. He also regrets what happened to Minfilia, and his part in it. He was carrying a terrible secret that he couldn't tell his closest friends, which put one of those friends' life in danger. He just owned his feelings, instead of taking them out on a scared kid. I know my bias is obvious, and I swear I don't hate Thancred 😛 but I really didn't like his behavior here and I wasn't really satisfied with the way the narrative handled it.

Probably my least favorite part of Shadowbringers was Vauthry. I just do not like "fat" as shorthand for "evil" and I think there could have been better ways to design him that didn't fall back on that trope. Even Dulia-Chai, a very lovable character in the end whomst we stan, does fall into some fatphobic tropes, and it's unfortunate that in a game without much body diversity (not to single out FFXIV, that's a problem for games generally), we only got fat character models as signifiers for "rich person" (yeah, I get that "fat cat" is the joke, it's just not a good joke) and "repulsive, evil abomination." No love!

On a lighter note, the return of G'raha Tia as the Crystal Exarch was simply wonderful. G'raha was very cute and fun during the Crystal Tower story but his presence was quite short-lived, so we didn't fully get to know him then. I think it's pretty easy to guess that it's him under the hood; he has a distinctive voice and lip shape and also the tower is right there. So the question becomes why he is hiding his identity, what his true motives are, and that's all intriguing! The fact that his plan hinges on his pretending to be the villain at the end and he utterly fails at convincing anyone is… deeply charming. But one of the things I love most about him is the kindness he extends to the people of Norvrandt. Even though his primary mission is the salvation of the Source, he gets attached to these people, offers up the resources of the Crystal Tower freely to improve their lives, helps build a home and sanctuary, fights for the First and becomes deeply invested in their survival as well. He has a huge heart, and I love him. I'm delighted that he gets to return and join the Scions at the end, and it's already been a lot of fun to have him along on the patch quests.

And of course, Urianger my love. 💜 He really shines in this story and every scene with him was a delight, even when I was climbing the walls needing to know what he was hiding. He gets so much good character development in Shadowbringers I could go on for hours about it, but I did especially love the Echo scene where you see G'raha asking him to lie—and you see how much he doesn't want to do it. Urianger's really been on a long arc ever since Moenbryda's death, and I don't think that arc is over yet, but my biggest worry for him as the cracks started to form in his story was that we'd find he hadn't changed, and was lying here for the same reasons he did in the Heavensward patches, and as easily. And that's not the case at all. He hated doing it before, and he really doesn't want to do it again, but G'raha's reasoning is just too strong for him to refuse. I brought it up recently but I think Shadowbringers reveals an Urianger who despite his long isolation really doesn't want to be alone, and does want his friends' understanding and approval and their trust. The look he gives the Warrior of Light if they say they trust him, and then the way he submits himself to their judgment when things go wrong while begging to be allowed to help fix things… god. I love him. And I'll stop there for now, since I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say about him in the future. ;)

Emet-Selch is a fascinating villain, certainly the most interesting Ascian we've seen so far, and the one who finally turns what have been fairly two-dimensional powerful bad guys into a truly motivated and complex faction. My favorite villains are always the ones who believe they're the hero, and there are a lot of parallels between Emet-Selch and Solas from Dragon Age: Inquisition which will be obvious to anyone who's played both games. FFXIV being a more linear story afford the player a lot less choice in how they respond to their villains true motives and history, but there's definitely still an expectation that we will sympathize somewhat with Emet-Selch, and recognize the tragedy of what happened to his people.

Ardbert's ghost, too, was a welcome addition to the story. Between his presence and the role quests (which were 100% worth doing in their entirety), I felt like we finally got to actually know the Warriors of Darkness against which we briefly clashed back in the Heavensward patches, and I really felt the pathos of their story, all they fought for and lost, but also their friendship and how they cared for one another.

Shadowbringers is beautiful in so many ways. The design of the Crystarium is gorgeous. Il Mheg is probably my favorite location in the game so far. Eulmore is a fascinating dark mirror of Limsa Lominsa. The way the game takes the idea of "a world being swallowed by light" and interprets that visually is so stunning. The sky over Lakeland arrests you immediately upon arrival, and the crystallization of the Flood of Light where it was halted at the edged of Amh Araeng is a chilling reminder of how much the First has already lost. The music has also been a highlight for me! I really adore the Shadowbringers music, and it has prompted me to go about collecting orchestrion rolls more deliberately than I had before.

The more I sit and write about how much I loved this expansion, the more I think of, so while I could definitely go on, I think I'll wrap it up there. 🙂

Onward to Endwalker. I'm not making any predictions this time, because I have done my absolute damnedest to stay unspoiled for this one and I know very little about what's coming other than what the locations are, what's been revealed in the Shadowbringers patches, and that it's the end of the big story arc we've been on since ARR. I'm extremely excited.

[mysterycharacterflowers]

Round 1; A bouquet of bleeding hearts and dandelions Vs A bouquet of plastic lemon balm, thyme, hyacinths and anemone flowers, with a single real orange rose in the middle, wrapped in light blue cellophane

If you know who they are, or are pretty sure of it, please don't tell until this poll has ended!

First, let's talk about the bouquet of bleeding hearts and dandelions

Why these flowers were chosen: bleeding hearts due to the fact she died young and is represented by them a lot in the series and dandelions because she was part of a group related to dandelions Description: they were shown to be very anxious and shy but wanting to befriend the protagonist, so they went around to look for the protagonist, but instead ended up meeting their demise when somebody murdered them. their older brother starts spiraling trying to find out what happened to them

Check their post here

Now, let's talk about the bouquet of plastic lemon balm, thyme, hyacinths and anemone flowers, with a single real orange rose in the middle, wrapped in light blue cellophane

Meaning and why these plants were chosen: The lemon balm represents sympathy, which is a major theme in the game is how she is showed it by others despite her "unusual" circumstances and disability, and how it ties into her character arc as she connects with others and forms lasting relationships. Thyme flowers represent courage and strength, representing the pure horrors she had to endure on her journey and how she powered through, despite it all, for the sake of herself and other beings like her. Hyacinths represent sport, games, and play, relating to not only the circumstances of her existence inside a giant semi-digital mmo, but to her own highly competitive nature, always striving towards challenges and having a smug sense of satisfaction from beating them. Anemone flowers represent forsaken things, representing the shady and highly unethical circumstances of her creation, as a prototype for a computing discovery that would have massive ramifications for society as a whole, which is unfortunately put to use in torturing for personal information. It also represents the situations she faces, where she is torn from her new friends suddenly and trapped in a scrapped expansion DLC for the mmo she resides in, which has been converted into a place for facilitating the highly unethical experiments. The plastic qualities of the flowers represent her own artificial nature. The real orange rose alludes to mainly the fact that her virtues (represented by an orange rose, which means desire and enthusiasm) are completely real despite her circumstances as an ai. The orange of the rose is also the hair colour of her best friend, who is "real" unlike her, being a mmo player who formed a bond with her. The blue cellophane matches her hair colour, and is also an artificial material Description: This character is a woman who wakes up one day in a massive, futuristic VR MMO with no memories of her past self, and so must join forces with a programmer to play through the game and recover them. Unfortunately, due to a bug in her player avatar, she's been rendered non-verbal, except for a few choice words hard coded in by the programmer to help her. With his guidance, she must slowly recover her memories, keep her mostly unauthorised existence in the game a secret, and deal with her new situation. All the while in the background, dark secrets and sinister machinations involving the proprietary tech that makes the game possible are coming to a head, and she finds herself wrapped up in the centre of it... and she may just find out something shocking about herself in the process. Personally, I adore her for her cheeky nature, with a deeply caring side for those dear to her, and how much personality of hers is shown just through her expressions. Despite her lack of words, each bit of dialogue and expression is carefully crafted to show what she's feeling at any given moment, and any opinions she may have, to make a character absolutely overflowing with personality who perfectly bounces off others in any scene. (Some of my personal favourite scenes are the ones where after a certain sidequest, she's told by her programmer friend that she shouldn't be messing around with glitches again, and she makes an "innocent" whistling gesture that tells you she TOTALLY wants to do it again, and the story scene where "Why" is added to her vocabulary and the first thing she does with it is to annoy her programmer friend by repeatedly asking it, with an increasingly smug and satisfied expression as she gets under his skin.)

Check their post here

[yayeetisin]

Okay,so here's my first experience with a big MMORPG

as a very shy and anxious person I usually avoid games like that- but after trying a chill mmo game I wanted to give a shot to FFXIV online

So when I first started the game I wanted my WoL to be a bunny- and so Sunny was born

Took me a while but I learned how to use glamours!(thanks to a friend who patiently explained it to me!)

And kept playing on-

Kinda want to get my hands on everything-And so she went from a caster to a Bard,after another friend told me about it-

But I wasn't really clicking with her- I wanted to also play a kitty

and once I had the chance I changed her race

so now I have *this* Sunny

My little menace of a bard

WHO CAN FINALLY WEAR HATS

That's all.

Thanks for reading

I like my kitty cat

[lesbiansforboromir]

Hi! Sorry to bother you, but will alot of LOTRO content overhauling how players interact with Harad and Umbar coming out in general I was wondering, do you think that in future expansions they'll ever address or fix "anything" about the Druedain? I genuinely find them interesting and definitely more deserving than what they got and it does seem the game writers are slowly inching to fix what wad damaged in the pace by giving nuance

WELL... I would say they are certainly putting effort into doing that. They always have chosen to try and give sidelined communities more agency and identity and nuance, it's in the nature of a large MMO that needs a lot of content for each area to do so, and the Druedain you meet in both Anorien and Mordor have vastly more to them than the original text ever allows. You get a lot of interactions with them and their life style, marriages, perspectives, histories and how they remember things, there's more personal connection with them. BUT LIKE... I'm not sure how much one can rehabilitate the concept of broken-english-speaking grass-skirt-wearing 'wild men', and LOTRO doesn't interact with the fact that the rohirrim hunted them for sport at all. Which is not surprising, it would be very difficult to keep us emotionally invested in characters who might have hunted people for sport, but given it's a part of the original Drughu narrative it still means we are leaving those aspects behind rather than addressing them. To be honest the Drughu, as like a blindlingly clear representation of tolkien's idea of indigineity, likely south american indigineity, are such a massive topic that I don't feel capable of even conceptualising what addressing them would even mean or look like. But as it is, LOTRO is not shying away from including them or giving them narratives of their own.

[hawkepockets]

Hey! I've never played (or, never for more than an hour and not enjoyed it haha) a MMORPG, but your GW2 posting has me very interested o: Do you think it's good for a shy beginner? Is there much single-person content or a good community for casual group play? Ty!

yeah i do think it’s beginner friendly !! granted i’ve been playing the thing for 10 years so i don’t know firsthand what the new player experience is like these days, but i do know the game has made a lot of adjustments over the years to accommodate new players, introducing mechanics more gradually and making things easier to navigate.

there’s no subscription, the base game is free, & there’s no content a casual player would encounter that necessitates getting in a voice chat with people if ur shy — although collaboration with other players will come up organically, as gw2 is built on an xp sharing system (helping another player take down an enemy rewards u both, so kill stealing isn’t possible) & the heart of the game is its open world group events, where strangers will gather to complete objectives or kill bosses, then scatter again to explore and follow their own interests. you definitely don’t have to type in chat ever, but you will probably find that u want to ! group content is like laser tag for forming low-stakes casual bonds with ppl fast

the main story takes place in easily soloable private instances u can do by yourself no question, though u always have the option to bring in a party of friends or join a guild and ask for help there <- highly recommend this for learning the ropes & finding casual group play opportunities !

the 1 caution i give ppl who ask about getting into gw2 is that the story writing gets really good after the base game, in the transition from living world season 2 (a mini dlc, more or less) into the first big expansion, “heart of thorns.” the story expansions (3 big expacs, 5 smaller dlc “seasons”) do add up in cost, $100 USD in total. that should be the ONLY thing you spend real money on in this game (cosmetics can all be got with in-game currency, crafting, or achievement grinds, and there’s no pay-to-win features), and you should definitely hold off until you’ve played the free base game & are sure you like it, but i think everyone should be warned about that in advance. the base game is good too, it was just written in 2012 and is a little bit vintage/unpolished/frankly jank in places. ack……. but i love her

i’ve tried other mmos and not cared for them, but guildwars is special to me and i rly do recommend it. if u try it out and want an oldie player to show u around, please don’t be nervous to dm me !! i’ve tagged along with new players before, i find it super fun :-D

[lilsqueaks]

Reggresor!Joe Headcanons - !

Anooother batch of hcs.. sorry for the spam heeh.. no cws apply this time. alot shorter than the last one!

Hcs under read more.

🦖 I see him regressing to the 5-8 age range. Maybe a bittt older. Mostly involuntary.

🦖 cann be a grumpy kiddo. Very quick to getting angry and frustrated easily. prone to stop feet and flap and throw things when getting fussy! Usally the others are always there to walk him through and calm him down though!

🦖 will always insist that he doesn't need help and is a big kid!! Even if Steph is fully carrying him around - very.. kicky.. flails and punches a lot!! Lots of happy yelling! Hes just excited!

🦖 very active kiddo. Playground and park trips are his fav way to get his energy out. Hes especially competitive.. very look at how high i can swing! Watch me use the monkey bars!

🦖 regression is a good way for him to connect with his mother Bendy. Since they both regress.. bendy is able to have someone to play with and regress safely! Of cours steph and putty are always there to make sure Bendy is safe (if anything triggers her.) He doesn't find it strange at all (and he'll beat up anyone who thinks it is!)

🦖 absolutely loves dinosaurs. And anything having to do with them, when their a bit too little to read so they just stare at the cool dinosaur pictures in books. The BIGGEST collection of dino toys and merch ever.

🦖 other than dinos.. big fan of toy trucks.. especially the really big construction work and garbage disposal ones!

🦖 plays rough! knock things down! wrestles! sometimes it goes a bit too far and he has to be reminded to play nice

🦖 lil gamer baby. Not especially coordinated when small so he usually has some on over his shoulder explaining the rules gently to him and helping on the really tricky levels! Probably would play sandbox and mmo games.

🦖 like i said n the last one.. he n orel usally play together . their styles are very different! but they bond over one thing.. grabbing a camera and making homemade videos with their toys! hes super impressed with the stories orel can come up with! not that he'll every say this out loud though

🦖 gets a bit afraid of the dark when small.. so they decorate his room with some cool nightlights and glow in the dark stickers sometimes needs his older sis to sit on the edge of the bed and talk to him till he falls asleep again

🦖 fidgets! bites! sucks his thumb! he'll usually carry around a fidget cub in his back pocket and wears a chewy necklace just in case

🦖 not ashamed about his regression at all.. but theres one thing hes shy about ... and its that he still keeps his old blankie from when he was a bab.. ONLY bendy and his sister know abt this one though. very protective abt it. carrys it around when hes feeling little

[newhorizonsxiv]

OC Tag Game

Favorite OC: Lyneth is always going to be my main and my babygirl. Her head is fun to be in mostly because she’s an eternal optimist and can put me in a better mood just by trying to see her perspective on a situation.

Oldest OC: The rough idea for the character that eventually became Corafel has been in my head for years before I ever started RPing in any MMO so she’s probably technically the oldest in those terms. In terms of character age that prize goes to my twin bunnies, Alethea and Ren, simply by virtue of Viera having weird aging rules.

Newest OC: Oh hey! It’s the bunny twins again. So new, in fact, that I haven’t yet had a chance to do any RP on them, Someday...

Meanest OC: This is probably a toss up between Ilthus and Shihan. Ilthus is a superficially charming leech who will absolutely use people for as long as they continue to let him but puts on a very likable facade and only ever insults you in a backhanded compliment sort of way. Shihan is giving and honorable and dutiful to a fault but the pressure of that sometimes builds to a breaking point and harsh words spill out which he generally regrets moments later. tldr; Shihan says mean things while his actions are invariably kind, Ilthus does mean things while his tongue drips honey. Ilthus probably wins this one.

Softest OC: Cora. Even moreso than Lyneth and I didn’t even know that was possible but Lyneth at least has that hunter’s edge. She has a little bite. She can and has killed. She knows the rough edges of the world even if she tries to smooth them for as many people as she can. Cora has none of that. She’s still living in a fairytale bubble that has yet to be burst and I don’t think she has it in her to hurt a little ladybug even if it just aggroed onto her. 

Most Aloof/Standoffish OC: This title goes to Vachir Kha, my Xaela. He’s not aloof so much as he is painfully shy and afraid of embarrassing himself with his lack of Eorzean cultural knowledge. 

Dumbest (Affectionate) OC: Gonna have to go with Susuvi on this one. Because she thinks she knows everything and will share her highly valuable and informed opinions with you about exactly how you should be doing any and everything whether you want her to or not. With the stars and cards to back her up. Or her interpretation of the stars and cards anyroad. Funny how those always seem to agree with her thoughts on any matter, isn’t it?

Dumbest (Derogatory) OC: Oh god, Ilthus. Hands down. This boy. He just. He has no emotional intelligence to speak of. And he does not learn from his mistakes in this regard. Ever.

Smartest OC: Poor Ghislain. He should have been a scholar. Far and away the most book smart of my characters and the most dedicated to seeking out new learning on any topic he can find even as he plays the himbo to further his cover story.

Horniest OC: Ilthus. With Cora as a close second though she’s more prone to schoolgirl crushes than outright lust. Still.. roughly every third thought in the girl’s head involves smooching whichever handsome man she’s currently swooning over. That probably counts.

OC You'd Bang: If I had to pick just one... Shihan. Because he’s pretty. And also like.. the platonic ideal of a service top. 

OC You'd Be Best Friends With IRL: Lyneth. For all of the reasons that she’s my favorite and also she can bake. And I can.. enjoy other people’s baking. A lot.

[lotrojourney]

1, 10, 30, 39?

LOTRO ask game!

(I’m going to do both 38 and 39 because I have A LOT of opinions on the soundtrack, you have been warned.)

1 - How did you first get into LotRO? Do you remember when you started playing?

Aw man, I remember I started playing in the summer of 2014 when I’d just turned 13 and had no idea how MMOs worked but loved Tolkien to bits. I don’t remember exactly how I found out about LOTRO, but I’m pretty sure it’s just the fact that I like games and I like Tolkien that led me to it by chance on an internet search. My first character was a Burglar? A Hunter? Named Bronvien who never made it out alive from the server closures in Snowbourn. I’ve kept her there since out of posterity and remembrance, but maybe I’ll transfer her to Crickhollow or Landroval when transfers are open again, or remake her entirely. 

10 - Do you have any favorite reputation faction(s)?

Anything Rangers-related has my heart, they’ve been there since the beginning and continue to be a huge part of the game, so I make it a point to get to max rep with them whenever I can. A few other factions that are especially memorable to me the most are the Riders of Stangard, Men of Dunland, the Wilderfolk and the Grey Mountains Expedition!

30 - Do you take a lot of screenshots? (have any to show off?)

Absolutely, have these from some of my favourite outfit photoshoots! (Also going to shamelessly plug my outfit blog that’s going to be updated with new outfits very soon!)

38 - Do you have any favorite soundtracks from around the game?

Buckle up kiddos, y’all are about to hear some OPINIONS.

First off, I need to write a disclaimer, because absolutely nothing will ever top the Riders of Rohan and Helm’s Deep soundtrack for me, so anything from those two expansions are immediately off the table, but I’m still going share one favourite track from each of those regardless so you know where I’m coming from.

So to start, here are my two favourite tracks from Riders of Rohan and Helm’s Deep:

Riders of Rohan - Roaming Free I feel like if I had to pick one track that encapsulates Rohan, this is THE track. The chorus!!! The strings!!! I love everything about this so much and this reason I spend so much time in Rohan, even at level cap.

Helm’s Deep - Across the Divide On the other end of the spectrum, we have something more somber and foreboding. This one just tugs at my heart strings so much, and knowing what’s about to go down in Helm’s Deep makes it all the more oh-so-deliciously-tragic.

Anyway, there’s a lot of tracks that I love, but since so many of them are pretty well-known and beloved (like this dreamy track from Evendim), I’m going to talk about the tracks that I always stop to listen to and don’t think get enough attention:

Siege of Mirkwood - Gathbúrz A lowkey number that is only played in very specific parts of Southern Mirkwood. A hauntingly beautiful and dark track that ebbs and flows and keeps you on your toes as you approach Dol Guldur. I can listen to this one for days. I once accidentally put this on my phone speaker during class but it was so quiet and understated I didn’t notice it for a good half an hour.

Rise of Isengard - Nan Curunír variation Such a strong and memorable piece! The moment the trumpet and drums came in, I was hooked. It’s mysterious and menacing, but at the same time very grounded. It lets you know that it’s there and doesn’t shy away from being bold without being obnoxious.

Minas Morgul - The Sons of Isildur A gentle but powerful track that really captures the former glory of the Kings of Gondor. It’s been quite a while since we’ve had something so soft but so regal. This one’s not in a hurry, and carries with it a certain weight and grandiose amplified by the soft drums in the background. I have a lot of feelings about Minas Morgul and it shows.

Where Dragons Dwell - Memories of Tharrazhâr I don’t think I’ve heard a more beautiful track since Riders of Rohan, Bill Champagne really hit it out of the park with this one. There’s hope and desperation in equal measure in this track, it’s a whole journey rolled into five minutes and forty-two seconds. I remember playing through the expansion back in April 2020 in the middle of the pandemic and just being awed by the music and how well it fit Ered Mithrin and the writing.

And now with some honourable mentions:

Riders of Rohan - LOTRO Legacy This one holds so many memories for me, it was the menu music when I first started playing. It used to catch me off guard with how LOUD it was but now that it’s gone, I miss it dearly whenever I’m not running around in the Gap of Rohan. 

Mines of Moria - We Cannot Get Out Whenever I get tired of Moria, this one picks me right back up. This one’s like a gulp of fresh air and a glass of cold water when you’ve been underground for way too long.

Shadows of Angmar - Prancing Pony variation A delightful little jig that warms my heart, this is the one I keep in my Breeland houses.

39 - Are there any soundtracks you particularly dislike?

All of the following should not be taken as seriously as my “soundtracks that I like” essay review. I’ve had plenty of “girl why do you hate fun” discussions about the game with my best friend of 13 years and counting who also plays LOTRO, in which the soundtrack was brought up plenty of times. There may be some hot takes.

Shadows of Angmar - The Dunedain I actually like this track a lot, but the thing is this only plays in short bursts in so many “save the Rangers” and “fight by the Rangers” instances that it’s left somewhat of a bad taste in my mouth. It’s like only having the smallest crumb from the crust of your favourite pie. I LIKE this track. A LOT. But it’s just never played in full enough for me to appreciate it while playing the game, so I ended up listening to it outside of the game. No, seriously, I have it saved in my music folder so I can listen to it offline.

Pretty much everything that plays in Gondor EXCEPT THIS BELFALAS TRACK To me, every single track (except that one track) in Gondor feels...garish, gaudy, and intrusive. Everything is just too much and over-elaborate for me to enjoy. I’m also willing to give this Dol Amroth track a pass, but it’s on thin ice.

Shadows of Angmar - War Pipes I liked this track, until I didn’t. Incidentally, I also hate doing the Trouble in Tuckborough instance because I keep getting turned around in the dark in the godawful urban planning of The Shire. It’s not very fun trying to find your way around Tuckborough in the dark with bagpipes blasting in your ears. If it weren’t for Trouble in Tuckborough, I’d like this track more.

Elf music in general, unless there’s harps A very controversial take, but I can’t stand the cacophony of high-pitched flutes and vocals and shrill strings. I do enjoy the tracks where the harp is the dominant instrument though, like this one. I think it’s the amount of back and forth with Elrond in Volume 1 of the Epic that’s worn out Elf music for me.

[oncetherenowhere]

It's currently 3:12 AM, and I've been awake for around 45 minutes. This puts me in the fortuitous position of being able to play some swtor before work.

I've been playing as my Jedi character, but made a Sith last night for the hell of it. I'll post a bit more about them when I'm less shy.

Regardless, I'm having fun. I'm very, VERY new to MMOs. This year, I tried WoW for the first time, too. There sure is a lot of information.

[eldritchsurveys]

1146.

Do you have a large dog? If not, are you afraid of them? >> I don't have a dog at all but I'm not afraid of large ones

Has anyone ever told you that they loved you, and you didn’t say it back? >> all the time, because I don't think that's something one says unless they genuinely want to say it and not just because someone else said it first

Who is your favorite photographer? >> I'd never considered having one before but the other day I discovered the work of David Uzochukwu and my god every photo is just so stunning

Were you shy in high school? >> I don't think "shy" is the right word

Did the last guy/girl you kissed have any piercings? .

Do you actually love your parents? >> I do not

Do you know anyone autistic? >> I know about a gazillion autistic people including myself

Do you like your girlfriend’s/boyfriend’s parents? >> I definitely do not like my spouse's mother. gonna beat her with hammers (the father is alright)

Do you like Polaroid photography? >> sure

Who was the last family member of yours that died? .

Do you have any gay family members? .

Would you be upset if you caught your boyfriend looking at porn? >> I can't imagine being upset about this. that's the total opposite of how my value system works

What is your favorite type of cat? >> personality-wise, calico. appearance-wise, Abyssinian

Who of the opposite sex has seen you at your worst? .

Were you raised by someone other than your parents? >> was not

What’s the last chore you did? >> showered

What is your favorite jungle animal? >> oh man I don't even know

Is your father injured? .

Are you part Native American? >> I am not culturally Native American and frankly that's the only thing that matters

What are your pets’ names? . Have you ever worked two jobs? >> for a very short period of time when I was 16 and didn't know any better (and couldn't advocate for myself anyway)

What are the names of all the dogs you’ve ever owned? .

Would you ever get a face tattoo? >> I can't imagine anything I'd want on my face, is the thing

Who in life have you felt the strongest need to protect? >> well, myself, obviously

What is the cruelest thing a person has ever said to you? >> oh, there's been... there's been some things. I think it's best if I didn't dwell on them for the sake of a survey answer

Who have you most feared in your life? >> I was pretty afraid of my father, for sure

What is your strongest reason for your opinion on abortion? >> my feelings about bodily autonomy

What one natural thing would you most like to see? >> the sky at a Dark Sky Park since I live in a country where true darkness is something most of us have to travel and spend money to see

Do you like the game Tetris? >> meh

What’s the most rebellious thing you’ve ever done? .

Have you ever wanted to be a model? >> I wanted to be a Suicide Girl back in the day but that was it

Do you like your name how it’s spelled? >> sure

Who was your first online friend? >> no idea Your last ex: how did you two get together? >> through Xanga, actually Does your mom dye her hair? .

What’s the best kind of video game? (Adventure, shooting, etc) >> I enjoy narrative-heavy single-player RPGs with customisable player characters the most. and MMOs

Do you know anyone who has road rage? >> not anyone I've been in a car with

Have you ever had a controlling boyfriend/girlfriend? >> I have

Have you ever tried to break up anyone because YOU liked the guy/girl? >> haven't

Do you draw fanart of anything? >> I have

What was the last music video you watched? Did you like it? >> I don't remember anymore but I probably did like it

What’s a condition you have that you haven’t been officially diagnosed with? >> autism

Which one of your parents do you think is smarter? .

Have you ever supported anyone’s Kickstarter? If so, what was it? >> I supported the crowdfunding for Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire

What band has the power to make you cry by splitting up? >> I don't think I'm that invested in bands staying together anymore. like even if my favourite band broke up right now I'd be gutted but not to the point of tears

Would you feel funny if you kissed somebody of the same sex? >> lol. lmao Can grills be sexy on a guy? .

What’s your favorite comic book/graphic novel? >> Alan Moore's Promethea

Do you prefer original or sour Skittles? >> sour 1000%

Do you find it easy to pass the time or do you get really bored? >> I find it easy to pass time as long as I have things to do that I enjoy doing...

Have you ever been in a Catholic confessional? >> I don't think so Who was the last non-relative you rode in a vehicle with? >> Sparrow

What was the title of the last song you listened to? >> Nancy Boy Who is the lead singer of your favorite band? >> Manuel Gagneux

Do you expect to be married in the next 2 years? >> I certainly don't expect to be getting a divorce but I allow that stranger things have happened

Have you ever had an allergic reaction to an insect? >> I haven't Who IMed you on Facebook last? >> Lauren

Is there an item that you bought on a whim, but now consider it a crucial part of your life and you would or have purchased it again? >> this lil Squishable I got at the Love's gas station in Lansing, it just has such good vibes for me. like when I look at it I remember how much joy it sparked when I saw it in the store and how I was like "fuck it. I'm gettin a him" and now I have this cute lil alien orb in my bed. it truly is the little things lmao

What flags do you have in your room, if any? >> I have a lil rainbow Pride flag with a Baphomet on it :p

What was the last thing you ate? >> tortellini with andouille sausage & mushroom and some kind of cream sauce, and a slice of garlic texas toast

What kind of natural disaster is most common where you live? >> blizzards and related phenomena, but even those aren't that common anymore in these strange climate times

Do you or your parents rake your yard? .

If you’re not straight, who was the first person you came out to? >> oh I have no idea, I didn't make a big thing of it

What do you think of the ‘Healthy At Every Size’ movement/philosophy? >> I'm into it

Where did you meet the last person you swapped numbers with? .

Who was the last person to add you as a friend on Facebook? >> Adam from the Death Cafe