#as always the problem is not within the character but the plot holes in the story itself

[team7-headquarter]

I'm kinda curious about the period of time when Minato was Hokage, because there's so much you could say about Konoha depending on it. It could be that I don't remember what the manga says about it too, but anyway.

We know that before Minato was Hokage, the discrimination towards jinchuurikis was high. We know it from Kushina's story. After Minato, the jinchuurikis discrimination was not exactly as bad as it could have been (and the bar is soooo low) in physical terms, but the level of sheer isolation was ridiculous. Sure, Kushina had guards and she lived in a tower with a perimeter drawn around it, one that she couldn't surpass. The difference is that Kushina knew why she was being isolated, there was someone willing to teach her about it right from the start, a family member even if distant, someone with the same experience.

All Naruto knew is that he was unwanted. He had no family, no one was willing to guide him. No, not even Iruka. I'm talking about before in the manga, before Iruka realized how much Naruto needed him and did something about it.

If that was before and after, how was it during the time Minato was Hokage?

Did Minato push for Kushina to become Hokage? Was the idea rejected? Did he get angry? It was her dream after all. Or did they realize it would be impossible so they pushed Minato to go for it? Were they sad about the idea of Kushina having to live her dream through Minato, because they wouldn't let her go for it? When did Kushina give up and change her goal in life?

Did Minato tell anyone about his plan on how to get rid of the jinchuuriki discrimination? Did he talk about it with Kushina? We know that they planned Naruto's birth and tried to make it as safe as possible. When the time to seal Kurama within Naruto came, they both knew how Konoha would treat Naruto. Minato wanted Naruto to be viewed as the son of a hero, but his wishes were thrown aside as soon as his body was cold enough.

With no law to protect the jinchuuriki of the kyubi, I wonder how bold the people of Konoha were in their discrimination against Kushina while Minato was Hokage. Times were different, Minato was highly respected and feared, but how many times did he have to tell someone to mind their words? How many times did he catch Kushina avoiding a certain restaurant or a street? Did he ever feel a slight of resentment against his home for the way they treated his wife? His pregnant wife?

Were there rumors of the child being a monster for being the son of a jinchuuriki? It could be that some Konoha parents telling their kids to not play with the little Uzumaki/Namikaze was a thing before Naruto was even born?

From what I've seen, Konoha has no gentleness for kids of prestigious lineages. Being a child of a powerful shinobi makes your life worse, in fact. A million times over: it happened to Sasuke, to Neji, it happened to Kakashi in the generation before them, it happened to Itachi in the in-between.

I don't think that being the son of the hokage would have saved Naruto for being mistreated by the village. Not when his mother was a jinchuuriki.

It just makes me wonder, you know?

In the time he had, how did Minato try to change things to protect his family?

Was it a matter of needing more time? Or there wasn't a plan at all?

[fixyourwritinghabits]

What do I do when the characters have chosen to go somewhere that makes sense, but leads absolutely nowhere?

I know exactly what you mean, and fixing it is certainly not impossible. It's pretty natural, especially if you're a pantser, to have your characters end up in a situation that wipes out all the tension. (It's easy to fall into this as a plotter too, so beware.) What you need to do is turn up the pressure in the plot, both externally and internally.

Possible Problem 1: Your Characters Are Too Comfortable. If your characters don't have enough internal conflict going on, they might just not want to move forward with the plot. This is a really easy hole to fall into (for all the stereotypes of writers tormenting their characters, I find it's much harder not to pull punches, especially with the first draft). Drive up that internal conflict within the characters and with each other. Laying down a subplot about an unrequited crush or a secret identity that implodes right when your characters feel safe can help get them going again. An argument between characters that causes them to do something reckless might be the catalyst you need.

Possible Problem 2: Not Enough Plot Tension. If your characters have lost steam, they may be in the wrong place. You may need to ramp up the danger by backtracking in the plot to lay down more external pressure to keep the characters going. A ticking clock fueled by the need to cure a deadly disease, a looming threat that's on their heels. If your characters still end up in a spot that too easily solves their problems, cut them off from getting there! The pass collapses, forcing them through the shadowy woods instead.

Possible Problem 3: You Don't Have the Next Plot Point Lined Up. If you're pantsing and are stuck (or if your outline isn't working), sometimes you just gotta take a moment to figure out where your characters actually need to be next and jump to that point. Sometimes writing out the next big scene will help you figure out how to build the connective tissue between them. Sometimes you will write "fix this later" and curse your past self into oblivion. We've all been there.

Possible Problem 4: You Might Just Need a (Short) Break. Truly stuck? Inspiration often strikes when you take your mind off the issue. Go for a walk, play a video game, try not to think of your writing issue for a couple of days. You'll likely realize the solution in the middle of doing something else.

Now, all of these techniques are for writing a story or a novel. If you're plotting out a game, you may just need to drop a Big Bad in the middle of things to force your characters into action. (Hell, you may need to do that for your novel too.) The most important thing is that no matter how clunkily you fix it, you can always go back and smooth over those rough parts with the power of hindsight.

[youvebeengalindafied]

I love every iteration of the trio relationships of Wicked they’re all so insane in their own unique way.

Like you have the all-but-canon Galinda/Elphaba, which is basically the plot of the musical. Two girls whose fates are intertwined, but whose faults are not in their stars but themselves. Elphaba always walking forward and Glinda always trying desperately, fearfully to keep up. Two very different people who cannot change who they are and the roles that their world leads them to take because of their perspectives…but who also see the best in each other that even the audience sometimes doesn’t see. Ever-trusting, ever-loving, a stronger bond than all the powers of the world. And Glinda, who is so very afraid of losing, desperately begs in the end to die for Elphaba - to sacrifice herself for once - and Elphaba demands that she LIVE instead. Recognizing that she can do everything Elphaba couldn’t, because they are BOTH FLAWED CHARACTERS IN COMPLEMENTARY WAYS AHHHHH-

And then you have the canon Elphaba/Fiyero, which on the surface/in Act 1 seems like a pretty standard-issue romance plot. But then Act 2 hits and you realize that no….Fiyero is just as absolutely wild as Elphaba is and is the only one really matching her energy. He dedicates his life to finding her and helping her cause. He actively criticizes the wizard and Morrible when even Glinda dares not. He runs away with Elphaba and she allows him to come knowing that it’ll probably kill them both. He straight up dies to save both of the girls, because he sees their lives and powers as more important than his own. Then his death precipitates the rest of the story, because it’s the one love she ever had that wasn’t conditioned. Wasn’t limited. And Elphaba saw through him from the start: She watched as he jumped to rescue the Lion cub when even she didn’t know what to do. And she goes back for him in Act 2, trusting him to come. “It wasn’t like that.” “But it was.” BUT IT ALWAYS WAS

And then you have Glinda and Fiyero, which I have already written entire ESSAYS on here about. Two people who are too perfect together - who know each other TOO well. They love each other very much: Fiyero pleads with Glinda to run away with him, tells Elphaba that they’ll find Glinda again and make up with her, and his last words are him begging for her forgiveness. And she’s using all of her political power to protect him, to save him from himself. But he’s too much like Elphaba, and he criticizes Glinda, telling her what she already knows about herself: she’s a power-hungry sycophant. They still love each other anyways. The problem is the giant gaping hole in the middle of their relationship where a young green woman used to be.

AND THEN

AND T H E N

YOU HAVE THE ABSOLUTE DEVASTATION THAT IS THE TRIO TOGETHER.

Fiyero’s borderline irrational obsession with Elphaba! Elphaba’s borderline irrational obsession with Glinda! Glinda trying desperately to be more like Fiyero - somebody brave enough to take the leap!

The hole in any pairing within the trio where a third core component of their relationship/friendship used to be! The bittersweet tragedy of a thing that can never be! The way they all complete each other but can never be together because who they are and the world they’re in won’t allow it!!

Elphaba’s overwhelming compassion that destroys her life! Fiyero’s plans and genre-savviness that lets him save them at his own peril! Glinda’s courage in the end to be Glinda the Good! The heart, the brains, and the nerve!!!

“I miss her too, Fiyero” / “Someday, you and Glinda will make up. and we’ll all-“ / “He loves her…” “Glinda, I’m so sorry” GOD.

Idk what they put into these three characters but I am THERE FOR IT BABY.

[howtofightwrite]

I love picking at plot holes like scabs so i want my fight scenes to be as realistic as possible. However. There’s a creature in my head that says a buster sword is SICK AS HELL. What modifications would it need to be even remotely wieldable while still keeping its central appeal (huge sword big blade cool and sexy) intact?

You’ve made a mistake. You mistook suspension of disbelief for realism. This is a common problem that gets in the way of a lot of fantasy and sci-fi authors. So, don’t worry. It isn’t just you. However, realism vs believability is where your hangup is. Stories don’t need to be realistic to be believable.

The quick and dirty (and possibly unhelpful) answer is to create a world that justifies your buster sword, not a buster sword that’s trying to justify itself in a world that doesn’t want it. You step back from the sword itself and away from a world where reality dictates that it’s too heavy, too clumsy, too slow, and ask yourself: “in what type of world does this thing make sense?” And there’s about a billion different ways to create that.

The hangup with the realistic argument is that all of fiction is a lie. Good or bad, that’s what stories are. They can be very compelling, addicting, manipulative, feel incredibly good, and still be fake. The goal of a creator isn’t just to create stories that are believable, but for your audience to want to believe in them. Storytelling is always a joint venture between you and your reader. You are the salesperson asking your audience to come along for the ride. To keep their attention, you’ve got to spin up a good yarn. Build trust. The world has to feel right, but it doesn’t have to be right. Reasonable, not right. The goal is to take a cool idea and work backwards to how your society got here so that when seen from an outside perspective, the choice ultimately looks like a reasonable conclusion given the surrounding context. One of the better ways to build your reasonable conclusions is by studying the history of technological invention from the beginning to the midpoint rather than starting with the end point—the results.

History is full of weird, wacky, wild attempts and failures at creation. You’re not the first person to look at a human sized sword and wonder if it could, in fact, hit good. Or, really, better than swords that currently exist. Or, fulfill a battlefield role the sword was currently not occupying. Or, as we like to say, have real battlefield applications. The Claymore, the Zwhihander, the Zhanmadao are all real weapons that saw real, if not necessarily extensive, use. Like all weapons, they were specialized tools meant for particular battlefield uses. In this case, mainly as anti-cavalry support.

Ask yourself, why? Not just, why would I want it? Ask, why would I use it?

What actual purpose does the big cool blade serve beyond looking big and cool? What function does it fill on the battlefield? Why use the big cool blade instead of other weapons? What does it do better? What are some offsets which might account for the massive size? Technology? Superhuman enhancements, mystical or otherwise? Gravitic fields? Magic? Why is the big cool blade better suited to ensuring a character’s survival? What advantages does it provide? What is its practical value to warriors within your setting?

The initial defensive reaction is that we don’t need a reason because we have the Rule of Cool. That could be the reason, but I challenge you to go deeper. Go deeper than, “this was the weapon my character was trained to use.” The followup question is: why were they trained to use it?

In the real world, we can answer these questions both from a personal and from a larger social perspective. We may not be able to answer whether we’d use a gun, but we understand why humanity developed guns, why we use guns, and the purpose they serve both for personal protection and in their military applications. The answers don’t necessarily need to be good or smart. What matters is that an answer exists to feed your audience. When your reader starts struggling to believe, they begin to ask questions, they pick at the fabric of the narrative trying to figure out why their mind has rejected the story they were previously enjoying. What we, the writer, want to create is a chain of logic underpinning the narrative and its world. This way, when questions are asked, a reasonable answer is ready and waiting. While we won’t win over everyone, trust that your audience wants to believe. Trust that they’re smart enough to figure it out without being spoon fed. That way, you won’t fall into the trap of infodumping.

Worldbuilding always involves a lot more happening under the surface than ever makes it onto the page. Your characters will be the ones to demonstrate and act on the internal logic that’s been created for them without needing a billion questions to lead us from Point A to Point B.

If we look at human history in a wide view, we find that weapons are a fairly steady march forward that matches a civilization’s technological growth. We keep what works and discards what doesn’t. The crossbow replaced the bow as the main form of artillery in martial combat, but we still kept the bow. The bow still had practical applications. Guns eventually replaced the crossbow just like they replaced the sword, but it actually took a very long time. We had functional firearms in the Middle Ages.

Ease of Use

Ease of Training

Lethality

From a military standpoint, these are the three most important aspects for widespread adoption of any weapon. Easy to use. Easy to train. Lethal. The longer it takes to train a soldier on a weapon the more time your army is losing out on using that soldier and the more effective the weapon needs to be in order to justify its expense. Why give your soldier a big cool sword if they’ll never get close enough to reach the forward line to make the assault? Why have them use the big cool sword if operating the laser cannon is more efficient, effective, and keeps them alive longer? In the coldness of battlefield calculus, it’s often better to have cheap, efficient units rather than more expensive ones that might be more lethal but take longer to produce. No matter how good they are, you’re eventually going to lose them. Therefore, easy replaceability becomes a factor.

If you can answer those questions (and the myriad of other similar ones) you won’t just have a weapon, you’ll have a world. You’ll have more than a justification, you’ll have battlefield strategy, tactics, and a greater understanding of how the average layman characters in your setting beyond your main character approach warfare and possibly a technological history. You might even have several functional armies.

Ultimately, this is a game of value versus cost. Most settings that use big cool swords sacrifice ease of use and ease of training to amp up lethality. The weapon having a specialized function or only being usable by a specialized unit helps if that unit’s battlefield effectiveness is justified. Or, you could just have a weird technological outlier where its effectiveness doesn’t quite justify its cost even if the individual warrior is effective. A good example of this is in shounen anime where one character has a specialty that no one else has, a really cool, effective weapon that never appears anywhere else, because the length of training, high skill floor, and finicky nature of its use make it difficult to justify widespread adoption.

The danger is assuming there’s a right answer. There isn’t one. The value in learning the rules of real world violence is so you can break them. This way you can tell the difference between the vital rules necessary for suspending disbelief and don’t accidentally break the ones you needed to keep your audience invested.

-Michi

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[utilitycaster]

Here’s my C3 hot take: I think Matt just messed up. I think att just didn’t do a good job DMing this one, and I’m sad but I don’t think the players could have solved the problems entirely on their own. The lack of a session zero makes no sense, but more to the point I think Matt just has to much Catholic Trauma tm to have told this story. His blind spot to religion v. Personal worship in his world building is to big to stick this one. His excitement about the culmination of these narratives after 9 years made him play story beats to close to his chest looking to surprise and shock his players, and also, because he was so tied to it, he didn’t pivot, or change the story to guide the players through. The pacing, especially at the beginning feels like he was entirely to excited to get to the clever plot.

Honestly… and this makes me sad, a lot of the issues feel like he sort of started believing his own mythology. I am so happy for him to be self confident but this all feels like a story guided by someone who thinks their terribly clever and so don’t have to rely on the same level of hard work, collaboration, prep, planning etc. of previous works (and also wanted to be novel, I just think of their original campaign announcement where they said “anything might happen” and sigh a little).

My bit of hope? That’s a really easy thing to come back from! I hope they reflect and improve going forward!

p.s. this isn’t to say the others couldn’t have made things BETTER, they could have, for sure.

Hi anon,

I disagree with most of this. Most crucially, this is not the form of campaign I think would come of Catholic religious trauma. Matt's mentioned he was raised nominally Catholic but he's also mentioned his parents were artists, hippies, and D&D players, and he seems to be on pretty good terms with them. I think this is a vast overstep on your part that came from basically nowhere, especially since the logical outcome of a Catholic Trauma campaign would in fact be one that actually did portray Vasselheim as a vast controlling force within the world regulating the worship of the gods across it. A pretty massive hole in the worldbuilding, at least as this campaign demands we see it, is that we really haven't seen religion as an oppressive force except in one highly specific case, and even that was spearheaded by mortals and not the gods and is indistinguishable from a purely political land grab. Like, the blind spot you mention is actually a sign that he was not raised particularly religious; someone who was raised strictly Catholic would be extremely aware of religion as a highly organized hierarchy with clear rules and a vast worldwide network and not "a few missionaries who didn't kill anyone or even forcibly convert anyone, Vasselheim seen as a good meeting spot for a worldwide conference, and Ludinus's grievances are all highly personal." Like, the Catholic Trauma version of Exandria has Vasselheim at war with the Empire for their banning of half of the prime deities, or going full Inquisition/Crusade on Hearthdell.

I want to be clear: when I accuse fans of projecting religious trauma it's because they outright have said shit like "I always like when a narrative kills the gods bc I'm a white southerner who was raised Christian". I do not say it just because they are affiliated with a specific religious denomination.

I also don't think the issue is so much believing his own mythology as much as the one major correct thing you said, which is the lack of not just a session zero but a heavy hand in character development, coupled with a very specific plot he wanted for this campaign. Campaign 1 worked because he tailored a campaign heavily to the interests and stories of the characters, and built a world around them. Campaign 2 similarly allowed for that same give-and-take; characters like Trent and Uk'otoa and Marion and the Gentleman came from the backstories the players came up with. Some of the players' ideas were changed as part of that heavier hand in character creation. The guidance for that campaign (morally gray and complex) was actually accurate, and when the characters took a sharp turn away from the planned story, Matt was able to pivot quite gracefully.

The problem really is that it's clear Matt had a very developed vision of this campaign and didn't realize that the characters of Bells Hells largely failed to fit within it. I don't think hard work wasn't done (I think there was in fact a TON of prep that we haven't seen, eg, I 100% believe Matt has an extensive amount of work done on Otohan, Ozo Cruth, Marquet, the Apex War, etc that Bells Hells simply did not see); I think, in fact, that like three hours of work that probably would have resulted in scrapping or drastically changing the characters to fit the intended story would have fixed the vast majority of problems here. It is only, frankly, because the characters are such a bad fit that the issues we're talking about (little establishment of organized religion vs. personal practice) even became issues! But it's literally that - it's not realizing that even a longform campaign can live or die on character creation. It might even be that too much prep was done ahead of time and he was too unwilling to abandon it.

[zahri-melitor]

Chip Zdarsky’s Batman retrospective:

Generally, I really enjoyed this run. It definitely had its ups and its downs, but I honestly think I would rate it as one of the most internally consistent and balanced Batman runs since Rebirth. It’s competing primarily with James Tynion IV’s run for me, and on balance I think Zdarsky pulled off using a broader character set effectively, while Tynion instead added more memorable characters to the lore (Minhkhoa Khan was legitimately a solid addition to the lore that I expect will have impacts going forward; Alexis Kaye is less convincing, but she’s at least a very clear fill for a narrative hole that had developed).

In terms of what I think worked for me in Zdarsky’s run, I would say that the scale felt about right. Failsafe, The Bat-Man of Gotham and the backup The Toy-Box, The Gotham War and Dark Prisons genuinely charted a coherent Zur-En-Arrh narrative supported with Brother Eye/OMAC backstory. It was hooked solidly into Infinite Crisis and the lore used by Morrison’s Batman run for ZEA. I was never confused about what was being referenced and where Zdarsky was pulling story from, while still managing to fake me out on some aspects (the ZEA!Robin costume looming in the background there).

Structurally, I was impressed with the plotting. For a break-him-down-and-build-him-back-up run, Zdarsky avoided a bunch of the pitfalls I’ve seen other writers fall into. There was always a clear route out that he’d left in the face of getting cancelled to wind up the story altogether within each story arc. The only really dark leave-off point was probably Mindbomb; everything else finished in places where a slight change to the last few pages could have handed the book off to someone else in a pretty clean slate state. And that really impressed me, given how much the story involved Putting Bruce Through It.

Bruce had an open mental breakdown through the run which I think partly contributed to people’s mixed reactions to the story. Bruce was going off the rails, but the reason he was going off the rails was his own fault because he’s spent so many years pulling so many different complex psychological experiments on his mind. It’s the attack of personal hubris, and it’s frequently satisfying for me when Bruce falls into it. Because that internal fight for Bruce was so much of the story arc for him and he was his own main villain, I didn’t really mind how much of the plot was just putting Bruce in situations and watching him react badly.

In terms of other characters: absolutely the best writing Tim’s had since 2010ish. Zdarsky clearly gets and likes Tim’s motivations, and clearly enjoyed using him as the main supporting character. I deeply enjoyed that Barbara solely appeared as Oracle the entire way through this story, and was useful as Oracle in her classic manner. There was not a single moment where she suggested she might need to get into costume; instead she was busy dispatching people to do her bidding while getting her own stuff done. I also really appreciated the amount of Dick we got in the story: he was there every time something major was going down, but he also very obviously was based in Bludhaven, not Gotham. It’s the right balance; Dick should be there for everything major and for Bruce having problems, but he also shouldn’t be turning up for piddly stuff when there is a roster of other characters based in the city and available.

In terms of Damian: personally I really enjoyed the way the story gave Damian’s uglier personality traits an airing and let him fail in ways where he was still clearly trying to help and do the right thing. The Damian we had here was steadfastly committed to being loyal to his father, but also prickly and defensive if anyone suggested he was approaching it in the wrong way. And in a story that was essentially Damian’s first team story where he was back in Gotham after his 2 and half years spent off on tropical islands to find himself, I appreciated the contrast between the way Damian shows loyalty and the way Tim shows loyalty, the discussions of their separate conceptions of what it means to be Robin, and that Damian got the chance to go over a few bumps as he reintegrated (especially given that simultaneously Joshua Williamson was busy pretending not a single other member of the family existed). I get why people who are huge Damian fans wouldn’t have enjoyed it, but I didn’t think it was bad characterisation; I just think it was less coddling and non-Damian-centred characterisation. It was fully in tune with ways I’ve seen Damian react in plenty of stories over the years.

In terms of Jason: everyone’s going to hate me for saying this, but I think Zdarsky enjoys Jason the same way that Winick enjoys Jason: fun to prod about but also without ever losing sight of the fact that Red Hood as characterised is and was angry and violent with a tendency to overreact, all the way back to his Robin days. (Yes. Even in the 1980s. Starlin wrote it in there) He was a criminal in preboot and that still has repercussions on his character to the present day. And Zdarsky wants to poke the toy and see him suffer. I did find it quite noticeable (and personally in tune with my tastes) that a lot of the framing for group stories kept putting Dick, Tim and Damian together to bounce off each other, while Jason’s plotlines were isolated from the other three and more focused directly on Bruce. I think things got patched up fairly decently, with about as much apology as you can expect between Bruce and Jason; I also fully know people are going to be holding parts of this against Bruce forever because they love holding grudges that the characters don’t.

What I really wish the story had had: we really needed the extra issue that looks like it got cut out of Dark Prisons to get the story completed prior to Absolute Power. It was just too rushed in places, and some things clearly got sacrificed to make the story fit. I also feel that there was more to the Vandal Savage plot that Zdarsky never got around to using; there was a lot of lurking and not a lot of payoff of things. I assume it was intended for the story arc we never got to finish out his third year.

Also in terms of tidying up the narrative to hand the book over: I think Christopher Nakano’s death wasn’t actually necessary and the whole Koyuki Nakano and Jim Gordon plotline could easily have been skipped over. I suspect the intention was for a mix of the Vandal Savage plot that never really arrived and to clear the board so that whoever took over the book could stick in whatever Mayor and Police Commissioner that they desired.

All in all: I think it’s a story that reads well in trade, has plenty of things to dig into and obsess over. It definitely benefits from a bit of fresh air away from people microanalysing and complaining about things that get resolved in the next issue.

[stqr-grl]

╭﹕💜｡♡・touch tank

୨୧⸝⸝﹕synopsis — there’s just something about sharing such intimate moments with you that makes reo so weak in the knees.﹐

୨୧⸝⸝﹕warnings — f!reader, mutual pining[?, questionable at best], fwb, petnames[love, angel, pretty, etc.], reo being down bad[as per usual], porn with little to no plot, couch sex, intimate + unprotected sex, praise, oral[f!receiving], fingering, dry humping, little bit of cum eating. all characters are 18+, mdni!﹐

୨୧⸝⸝﹕wc — 1k.﹐

୨୧⸝⸝﹕notes — i need a reo soo bad HELLO.﹐

upon first arrival you’d questioned if it was really a good idea to cancel the plans you had with your friends for what was probably just gonna be a quick hookup with reo but he promised it’d only be a movie tonight so you agreed, besides you knew this is where you’d rather be than anywhere else in this moment.

splayed out in the couch, limbs tangled with his as you shared quick, wet kisses as his greedy hands traveled your body trying to feel every part of you that he could gain access too while a movie that had be long forgotten played aimlessly in the background.

the feeling of his lips against yours always feeling so intoxicating, his lips moving in such a gentle dance with yours as you ran your hands through his purple locks of hair, trying to use it as leverage to print him closer than what he already was.

a sigh leaves his pink and puffy lips as he parts from you, large hands holding your waist against his as you languidly grind against his. “love,” the nickname always makes your heart swell with something so inexplicable especially with that voice groggy voice, “we don’t have to go any further than this.”

your eyes open with such a dreamy looked captured within then and the sight alone makes reo’s heart stop as he takes your pretty features in, not missing a single change in your expression.

“no, i want too– can we keep going, please?” you can feel the way his breath hitches slightly at your request before he dives into you for another series of kisses, theses ones being much more drawn out as his hand moves to cup your face.

nights like these with reo are usually a bit more rushed than this — always hurried to have your bare skin flush against his as hands grasped at the plush of your body, more than ready to take you but tonight felt different than all those other nights.

things were so slow and almost borderline passionate, the slow, wet kisses and his thumb rubbing gentle circles into the exposed skin of your waist while the other pushed your shirt up and over your head.

his pink, kiss swollen lips pull away from yours, those lilac eyes of his lingering your body taking in every possible feature that he could have missed any other time he’s had you like this. you look absolutely stunning like this; atop of of him, chest heaving slightly as the look of lust took over your eyes.

it almost makes you feel shy, the way he’s sitting here and admiring you before shifting you from his and onto the opposite side of the couch and onto your back, climbing atop of you.

“god, y’so pretty,” —he places another kiss to your lips as he discarded your shorts and anything else underneath— “so perfect.” he mumbles, slipping himself between your thighs and pressing a kiss to your heat, making you whine.

“reo, you’re teasing,” you mutter, attempting to squirm in your spot beneath him as he molds his hands into your thighs with and amount of force that would leave little bruises in the morning.

“‘m sorry princess, y’gotta work w’me for a second.” he whispers, spreading your sticky folds and using the flat of his tongue to lick a line up your cunt, wasting no time to practically start drinking your juices, ripping a moan of his name from you easily.

he groans at the taste of you, the vibrations making you whimper and pull at his hair to bring him closer. “sound so pretty when you moan for me like that.” he groans, tongue running circles around your hole as he used two fingers to push into your gummy walls that have no problem clamping down on his thick digits.

god to finally be able to take you properly in this moment felt like a blessing to the man, having you calling his name with such a pleased look in your face was just heavenly.

sure, he’d seen you in this sense plenty of times before but it felt oh so different this time — neither of you just being here for the sex like usual, but here for the company of each other.

“oh fuckk, reo–” you gasp, chest heaving as your eyes roll ever so slightly, “i need more, please– need you to make me cum,” you cry, his hips bucked into the cushion of the couch beneath him at your pleads.

he happily obliges to your request, quickening the pace of his fingers and sucking your sensitive bundle of nerves into his mouth, a loud cry erupting from your chest as you arch off the couch, babbling for more as he happily gives with almost little to no thought of himself in the moment- only you and your pleasure being on the forefront of his mind.

his eyes peer up at you, admiring the pure bliss on your face, your expression alone could have him cum on the cum on the spot — a needy noise escaping his lips as he ruts into the cushions once but his fingers and tongue never falter, desperate to bring you to the high that your crave so badly.

“so fucking perfect, princess, wanna feel this pretty pussy cum around my fingers,” he fought back the series of whimpers that threatened to spill from his lips as he spoke, feeling your fingers clamp around his fingers.

“shit! like that, keep doing that–!” you blurt, eyes crossed, feeling that tight knot inside you coming close to snapping. “keep going, please, you’re doing such a good job for me– shit!” you squeak, at the sudden wave of release that washes over you, body freezing with a slight shake.

it’s not too long after that a whiney groan leaves his lips, a sticky white substance staining his boxers and leaving a forming wet patch in its wake but he pays little to no mind of it, instead focusing on the little white trail slipping from your cunt.

reo wastes no time using his tongue to push into your sensitive hole, collecting any cum that hadn’t gotten on his fingers, graciously swallowing it before pulling away from you, holding his two digits in front of your agape mouth.

“here, have a taste angel.”

2023 ©stqr-grl.

[writingquestionsanswered]

How do I decide on a setting for my story? I've come up with a character conflict but not sure what kind of setting it would fit. I also still have holes in the conflict, like how it happened, who the character actually is and how their life is. Any tips on how to approach all of this? How to make it all connect?

Guide: Finding a Setting to Go with Conflict

A Word About Conflict

When talking about plot, "conflict" refers to a problem that must be resolved. More specifically, it's a problem that must be resolved by your character, but there are obstacles they must overcome along the way.

There are two types of conflict in plot: internal and external.

Internal conflict refers to a problem within the character's heart and mind. Some examples would be an inability to trust others, lacking a sense of belonging, or shouldering an unnecessary burden of guilt.

External conflict refers to a problem in the characters situation, life, or world. Some examples would be a murder mystery, a natural disaster, or trying to find a buried treasure.

Plots can be "character-driven," meaning they are driven entirely by internal conflict, "plot-driven," meaning they are driven entirely by external conflict, or they can be both. Many stories these days are both, meaning that the characters are driven partly by internal conflict (and a need for change) while they tackle the external conflict.

How to Figure Out a Setting

1 - Examine the conflict for clues. Some conflict ideas are really general like "I want my character to solve a murder mystery." Well, that could be set pretty much anywhere. Other conflict ideas are more specific, like, "I want my character to learn to trust again after a contentious divorce." That's probably going to be a more contemporary story, so you would be looking at a more modern, real world setting.

2 - What settings appeal to you? If you're looking at a more general conflict that doesn't have requirements related to time or place, look instead at the settings that interest you the most. Do you want to write a story set in Victorian England? Or maybe the Wild West? Or maybe far-future on a space station near Mars? When the sky's the limit, you can afford to indulge your interests.

3 - What genres are you most familiar with? If you still find yourself unsure, consider the settings of genres you're most familiar with. For example, if you read a lot of YA fantasy, you have a pretty good grasp on imaginary magical worlds, to that might be a setting you consider.

4 - Develop your character further. Although setting often informs character, it's also okay to flesh out the character first and see where that leads you. Sometimes a setting becomes apparent just based on the needs of your character or what you imagine for them.

5 - Use a setting generator. If all else fails, there are quite a few great setting generators that will help you come up with a setting. You can also try a random place/location generator.

6 - Where have you always wanted to go? If someone handed you a crystal and said, "You can use this to travel to any time and place, real or imaginary," where would you choose to go? Might that be a fun setting to try for your story?

Stay tuned for part two where I tackle the other part of your question!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[dutchdread]

A small rant

I've noticed that a lot of places that discuss the LTD are less focussed on analyzing and explaining final fantasy VII, and more focussed on throwing insults at either the characters, or the people who support them. I think I've done a fairly good job at making sure this place stays relatively matter-of-fact, and despite believing that "Cloti" is the only interpretation of the story that makes sense I am usually pretty positive about Aerith as a person, and more importantly, as a character. My stance tends to be that the only version of Aerith I think is fundamentally unlikable is the one presented by Cleriths. So permit me to slightly backtrack on that as I ask:

Am I the only one getting sick of Aeriths character?

And I don't mean "the only Cloti supporter who is sick of Aerith", I mean isn't the general fanbase of the game getting sick of her?

I ask this because I was watching the new Rebirth trailer, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes during the scenes where Aerith sings, or where it tries to survival-bait the viewer. In FFVII Aeriths death plays only a small part in the grand scheme of things. It neither prevents nor causes holy, holy was summoned before she died and is actually held back by the will of Sephiroth, which is the bulk of the external plot. And it doesn't cause Clouds mental break, which was an inevitable outcome of his history with Tifa, Sephiroth, and Nibleheim.

So why does the trailer make it feel like Final Fantasy VII is the story of Aeriths potential death? I thought the point of Aeriths death was that it comes suddenly and unexpectedly, without a large fan-fare, leaving nothing but a hole in its wake. I thought the point was to show a death that wasn't like "in hollywood". So why does her death now get it's own musical accompaniment and stage play?

Aerith was once a normal girl with a big destiny, one that she was as unsure of as any of us, she was just a person, just like us, with maybe a hint of something more. She got angry, she could be petty, she could be clueless. In another words, she was human.

But what is she now?

Aerith is now Jesus and Mary all in one. Fans got so upset at her death that Square-enix felt the need to include her in everything and every time Aerith became a bit less human, and a bit more idolized, until in remake she became a walking, talking, deus ex machina. In advent children she was presented as almost angelic, giving guidance to lost souls both good and bad and healing the children. But it was still ok because most of it was centered around Clouds psyche. The problem isn't with Aeriths death having importance to Cloud. The problem is square-enix trying to milk Aeriths death for all it's worth, making it into a soulless spectacle.

Aeriths death is now the horror monster that loses its terror once you see it. It's everywhere and everything has to revolve around it and because of it it's no longer a good story, but cheap emotional manipulation.

Within the remake Aerith is no longer the playful and innocent GIRL she once was. She's Gandalf the white, come back from the dead to pass down quests and wisdom from up on high. Step aside Cloud, this is Aeriths story, all you other side-characters are only here for back-up. Aerith is now a self-insert fan-fiction character. She has no flaws, everyone loves her, her death is more important than those of other people, the universe, time, and destiny will all bend to make sure the Mary-godessue doesn't die. Because everything has to revolve around her you know? So yeah, of course Aerith can sing! Who cares that there was never before any indication of this. Sure, Tifa will probably get to play the piano, but here is the thing….Tifa being able to play the piano has actually always been a part of the game! Since when is Aerith suddenly a broadway performer? Probably since the same time that she became a picasso at random wall art.

Years of fan obsession have deified away everything that once made Aerith interesting. The grand story of Final Fantasy VII, the quest to save the planet, and the internal heroes journey about accepting the past and the true self. Clouds backstory and struggles, it's all overshadowed by the once irrelevant plotpoint of "will Aerith die?".

Like with Sephiroth, fan obsession has caused square-enix to destroy all sense of mystery, magic, and restraint in order to "give fans what they want", even if it ruins the product.

While I think the cheap spectacle of hyper focussing the marketing and potentially early game around Aeriths death have already essentially poisoned the remake, making it into a mere shadow of what it could have been, I still believe that Square-enix has enough integrity left to actually kill her and move focus back on what actually matters. But I have to say, at this point it's not even just because I want the story of FFVII to be protected and experienced as it should be. But also because I am just getting sick and tired of what Aerith has become, and would now consider Sephiroth stabbing her as a mercy killing for what's left of her character.

[adorawasright]

i love how ppl will use the argument "why are you still hating on the show? it's been years, just get over it".

except i think many of us took a lot of time to realize the glaring problems within spop. it took me months to "wake up", and i'm sure others who follow my blog or the spop crit tag must have taken even more time to change their minds.

i mean, isn't that a natural process? at the time you watch a piece of media, you might love it. but then the hype dies down and when you revisit it, it sucks. take avengers: endgame for example. i remember a lot of ppl praising the film when it first released, but nowadays i rarely see any positivity online, i mainly see fans (or ex-fans) being disappointed and angry that the mcu's quality dropped significantly. besides endgame just being a trainwreck of plot holes that killed ppl's favorite characters.

like hell, sometimes you revisit your favorite childhood cartoon and you realize there are so many wrong things with it that you never realized before. you know what that's called? growth. i'm pretty sure we've all felt this way about any piece of media. and it's so funny that diehard fans will shame us for criticizing it, as if all of us have been hating on the media since it released.

(some spop crits have always known the show had issues, but not everyone has. including me. and that's more common than spop stans think.)

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

What do you think of yuya and the other zarc boys

Aghhhhhhhh I can't remember any of my opinions on Arc V anymore but I'll do my best to answer this and keep it brief.

Yuya, within canon, is the one and only Yugioh protagonist I found disappointing. His arc had potential that I felt wasn't fully realized and his quirks, while charming at first, became grading to me on rewatches of the series. I enjoy him in fan works though (my friend in particular writes a really fun Yuya). And him with Yuzu is a cute ship, probably still my favourite Arc V ship.

Yuto is the only Z-Arc counterpart I can confidently say I still like. He's like a beta Yusaku and while I like Yusaku more, I like Yuto for similar reasons: I like seeing such a jaded serious character with a backstory to back up that behaviour. He's a decent spirit guide in the Xyz arc, deserved more screentime, and him with Ruri is just precious. His friendship with Shun is nice too. Really my only complaint with Yuto is that I would've liked more of him.

Yugo... I can't really remember how I feel about him honestly. I didn't find him or the fusion joke they always tell with him particularly funny but I don't outright dislike him. Him with Rin is also an okay ship, could've used more screentime though. He's just. Fine.

And potentially my hottest take is that I straight up dislike Yuri. He's like the epitome of the problems I have with Yuga Goha from Sevens but done EVEN WORSE somehow. Yuri and Yuga Goha are both built up as a great villain in their respective series then just completely swept under the rug by a completely different villain with less build up and then ultimately given a hasty redemption. Except with Yuga Goha, I personally can believe his redemption because his backstory and motive are made far clearer and said redemption actually happens onscreen, unlike Yuri who's seemingly just forgotten and nullified by being merged with Yuya. It really feels like Yuri was just a plot device for the Z-Arc story and nothing more. Such a huge letdown that it makes me so uninterested in him and his episodes in hindsight because they just feel so useless and oftentimes aren't even entertaining enough for me to make up for that. Also his duel with Asuka legitimately pisses me off but that's not as much on Yuri as it is on the writers so I don't hold that against him.

Side note: Another friend of mine's version of Yuri also makes more sense and fills in a lot of canon's holes. Always love it when fans can take a character I don't particularly like and make them at least more interesting then they were in canon. Keep up the good work!

Also, I know this wasn't asked, but I'll talk about Z-Arc real quick as well. I genuinely like the version of him we get in those brief flashbacks and I think his story is really interesting. I like THAT Z-Arc a lot as a character, it's just his final boss duel and the way he's characterized there and then shoved into a de-aged baby Layra that pisses me off. But the emotional conclusion to his arc is one I still find lovely despite that latter thing: Yuya finally understanding him, which was all Z-Arc really wanted, was just a really nice scene and continues to be a bright spot in the final season of Arc V for me.

[helluvabossrewrite45]

Hey. I've seen some of your rewrite of Helluva Boss scenes and I really like them. I enjoy how you fixed the issues with the writing and how incredibly spectacular your writing of the improved dialogue within the scenes are.

Honestly, I feel inspired by your work. I have an idea for my own Helluva Boss rewrite where I not only fix issues the show has (ex. tonal shifts, inconsistencies & plot holes, worldbuilding issues, etc), but also integrate my HB OCs into my rewrite (ex. my main HB OC Alice Lola (Ally for short), who is an assassin at I.M.P. and an aspiring writer).

I was wondering if I could ask you this: do you have any advice & tips you could give for who have an idea for starting an HB rewrite, or a rewrite in general? I ask out of curiosity as an aspiring writer myself.

Feel free to respond back when you get the chance. Thank you and have a wonderful day/afternoon/night. Keep up the great work! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 🤗💕❤️🧡💛💚💙💜💖💕🤗

Thank you, im glad you enjoy my rewrites and of course, I can offer up some advice for rewrites;

I think one of the best things in writing a rewrite is that you can use these minor details the piece your rewriting has and use them to you advantage. For example, I noticed that Octavia listens to music whenever she hears her parents arguing or at the dinner table where her parents would be and probably would have at least some awkward tension so from rewriting seeing stars, I use that minor detail to highlight her character and her arc of using music or the moon festival to ignore her problems even though it clearly doesn't help. It also contrast with Loona in my rewrite ignoring her problems that she later acknowledges and the two would open up, closing the character arcs in a nice neat bow. Another would be that Millie is often depicted as either moxxie's wife or a murder machine and from the little time we see with her and her family, I rewrote millie growing up having to be in her sisters shadow and just wanting to be her own person instead as inferior or someone's tool. This would establish why she has a rivalry with her sister while also giving her more character for her to be explored (which we should've gotten from harvest moon tbh), Any details you find in helluva can be a tool for you to explore whether it be for the characters, world etc...

Something that even I learned is that when rewriting, you gotta plan what your gonna do with the characters, with the worldbuilding you establish, with all of these plots/ideas your rewriting. Most of the problems helluva has is because vivziepop didnt plan the show out until season 2 rolled around and if we wanna rewrite the show to be better, we ourselves cant make the same mistakes. If you already started the rewrite however, i suggest you look back on the rewrite your already doing for as much as you can to remember in order to not fall into the same mistake the show itself has

When planning an oc into rewrites, I think the main thing is to ask what are they doing here, what purpose do they serve to the plot and what is their character overall (their motive, personality, character arc, likes, dislikes, relationship with the characters, how they bounce off to the other characters etc...)

As another aspiring writer who has a lot of original stories in the works (there's even an original story inspired by helluva boss and some of my rewrite ideas for it), I think its important to approach criticism as a helpful tool rather than an insult. Especially when its rewrites. I always want whatever I'm writing to at least be of decent quality and is regularly curious of how people would react to my original stories still in the works so receiving it and even given criticism for it can help, you know? Since you have an established audience and them offering criticism can be your tool that you can use to improve. It should be noted though that their is a difference between criticism and personal bias/subjectivity. For example, if someone wanted to point out a plot hole or a mistake in your work, that's criticism you can use. But if someone just tells you to go touch grass for your rewrite or something like that, then its not criticism, that's personal bias/opinion they have of rewrites in general so it offers nothing you can use to improve it.

That's all I got so far, I hope this helps!

[enasalenaste]

importing that long rambling speech about nem (rook) from the other day because it's got too much good character insight to lose

everything i want to draw and/or have drawn about nem is them looking haunted and making scary direct eye contact with the viewer but they're so like. outwardly amiable and calm (in a Friendly Diplomat way that really just boils down to like. polite. guarded. emotionally nonreactive in conflict. this is a dubiously positive trait) that you'd never know they're engulfed in an all consuming rage a non-insignificant of the time. they expend so much effort tying their emotions to various anchor points (to avoid the volatility/lack of discipline they've been taught to associate with getting possessed by fucking demons #magetrauma) that they come across as like. dispassionate and passive to the point of inertia. but in reality they get violent impulses so strongly and often that it's a genuinely insane feat of self control that they don't fucking lose it at multiple points in the plot (the closest they come to fully losing their shit is during the blood of arlathan quest for obvious reasons. and that's meant to be a notable departure from their norm because it's visible enough to be noticed and commented upon. [some of] their companions' reactions to this end up being a point of contention for reasons that are also obvious i hope)

like this isn't to be mistaken for being a pushover, they're intensely bullheaded when they have a concrete goal, it's just that they're so good at deescalating/redirecting conflict and twisting it to their advantage that they only resort to physical violence when attacked first or unable to manufacture an alternative. they were seeeriously pushing the limits of their self control talking down the first warden at weisshaupt cause if he hadn't backed down when he did they might've actually fucking killed his ass chimpstyle in spite of the (considerable) consequences. of course the lesson they learned from this was "resort to violence Before you lose control so you can at least bear the consequences of your actions with dignity" lol

i have a lot of gripes about the writing in general but i did like all the bits where you can relate to other characters about anger and etc cause nem gets to "break character" [as perceived by their companions] and instead of choosing the options that are like nooo haha just be niceys and bottle it up because conflict is bad :) they get to very calmly and reasonably be like can you feel your heart burning. can you feel the struggle within. use your anger as a tool and a weapon. the force of your rage can pierce any barrier if you learn to wield it with enough precision. and everyone's just like holy fuck dude??

TLDR their rage is a central part of their character but mostly visible from the outside through its conspicuous absence

they're also soooo much more morally ambiguous than they come across and it catches the rest of the cast off guard so badly and so often. it's not quite cognitive dissonance cause they're more or less aware of when they're being hypocritical and contradictory to their values, they're just like. well we have other problems. that's not my business right now. etc. (this is not always a good thing lol)

half of this characterization is me taking the largely hashtag unproblematic character template and injecting some nuance into it, the other half was existing character traits from when i tried to play through dai with them 10 years ago which was a square peg round hole situation lol. they fit this narrative a LOT better which is probably a major reason why i still enjoyed the game despite the [gestures vaguely] idk the plot is annoyingly frictionless as far as the pc and companions go so i have to create my own conflict. given that the events of the game take place over, like, MAYBE 5 months, i don't think it's unreasonable to say none of these people end up knowing rook very well in any way that matters. like their job is to be the unifying+driving force of the initiative and they don't Have to be anything other than an adaptable and tenacious to do that. it helps to be a charismatic Symbol to these people to inspire their cooperation but it's not Necessary to form lasting, meaningful interpersonal bonds with them outside this specific goal. is this making sense. so i think [the start of] any conflict between them is going to begin with their companions' perceptions of them vs the reality

but also some of these relationships (not romantic i mean the interpersonal sense) do come out the other side of this conflict stronger. obviously they do end up caring about these people to some degree because i don't think you can spend months fighting beside/living with someone and not at least form a fondness for them. i just don't think they'd subscribe to the whole Cozy Found Family thing lmao. i will say they do end up genuinely caring for/keeping up with neve, lucanis, and emmrich, at least. they probably check on the others every so often. bellara is the closest to ''''found family'''' you can expect but in the like. coworker u treat like a sister while on the clock way lmao

also lucanis is the only one who learns to recognize the 'this bitch is .05 seconds from getting vaporized' kubrick stare and is probably singlehandedly responsible for several people not getting vaporized, unbeknownst to anyone but him and rook. i haven't decided if they stay together in any major capacity after it's over, but nem does actually really care for him and is on the fast track to falling in love with him for real. they just mesh well i think. maybe they'll work something out.

as for nem they most likely try to fly under the radar and avoid (gag) special commendations and recognition and shit. they probably just go back to being a veil jumper like a week later and fuck off into arlathan when approached for comment. (they should've been a diplomat or a tactician. they have the disposition for it. unfortunately they have nothing but disdain for hierarchy <3)

basically this

(^ excerpt from something i'm not likely to ever post in full, just a character study through various povs as an exercise. i do this with most of my characters in some capacity cause it's fun <3)

[mybg3notebook]

Just wanted to let you know that Gale has several radically different endings depending on the choices you make. The power-mad wizard stereotype that you're concerned about is indeed one possible ending, but it's considered one of the "bad" endings. There are other possible endings that I think you would be happy with. I hope that assuages your concerns enough that you will eventually play the full game and pick up your Gale character analysis series again.

Hello. Thank you for letting me know. Unfortunately, I have a massive disappointment with the game (I finished it already a couple of months ago, but I only felt disdain and playing it to the end was a chore more than fun), specially with act 3, and the several plot holes, lore inconsistencies, and even inconsistencies within the same game (you are told things in Act1 that never are reflected in Act3).

Many of these things removed my intentions in continuing this blog with analysis of lore and characters:

The rush in most quests, specially in Act3

The abandonment of the development of chars except for only one, the favourite of Larian that was never favourite in the community according Larian statistics (during EA and release, it's obvious in the infographics they shared even though they concealed it, lol),

The dumbing down of many quests and stories,

The rewriting of chars in the last moment that, although it makes them better than in EA, they clearly were abandoned mid-way (aka Wyll),

The rewriting of chars and stories that makes them immensely stupid or without sense, like Cazador's (the data mining content around him during EA was several times more interesting and complex than the cartoonish, silly, evil character we had in the final product)

Karlach (amazing char that can't be more rushed in its current state). She also suffers from this “stupidity” oversimplification because having archdruids among our companions (or wizards that may know archwizards) would allow us to deal with her problem in many other ways (but who cares about lore? Larian clearly doesn't),

Halsin, added in the last moment, made resources get split in a char that was not fully developed and feels wasted potential while also taking the place of another that had some kind of work done during EA (Helia) but clearly had to be thrown to the rubbish entirely in order to put Halsin in her place,

The useless and nonsense creation of concepts that were never part of the vast lore of Forgotten Realms and they had no real needs to create them for this plot (aka, the ridiculous crown or the wtf "Karsite" weave),

Mystra herself, presented as a god that can't see the future (who due to her rank she can), so it's very stupid to show her as whimsical as Lolth and command the destruction of one of her Chosen just like that (premature explosion), when she values her Chosen and their utility; after all, her chosen ones have a divine part of herself. She is still a Goddess who sees mortal life in a different lens, but I felt she was presented in the oversimplification of "she is a bitch". All her complexity just thrown to the rubbish, like so many other concepts in this game.

The ridiculous lack of consistency of the character the Emperor with himself by the end of the game in some paths,

The bizarre and unnecessary creation of a lot of lore about Orpheus and a "githyanki resistance" when you always had in the lore the Githzerai,

The lack of any consequences of your character in act 3. For example, drows can be absolutely fine walking around Baldur's Gate, treated as if they were humans, when everyone knows that drows are part of the Absolute lines (even Larian created that piece of lore in Ketheric's room explaining how they were recruiting Drow warriors tired of Lolth). The privileged power that a drow Tav had in the goblin camp in act 1 should have been contrasted with a difficulty to walk through Baldur's Gate. This was even a promised consequence told by Sven in an interview that, clearly, was not implemented.

The general lack of reactivity of the companions to the events in act 3, except for the favourite one.

The cut content (which is immensely richer and more interesting than the oversimplified version of what they left)

The list goes on and on, but you can read the official forums for more details and discussions.

I don't know. Maybe the game should have been "The Dark Urge and The Vampire in Baldur's Gate" alone, and leave it at that, so people who were not interested in those things could buy another game. Honestly, I'm deeply disappointed with the game to the point I decided not to play it again until they do a Definitive Edition, like they had to do with DOS2 (which ALSO had a terrible last act with numberless lose-ends and quests without resolution), and make a decent coherent act3 (hoping they will do it, since in Definitive Edition DOS2 was an improvement but not a fix, truly). Compare Act 1 quality with Act 3, and, at least in my case, I feel a bit scammed.

So far, this blog will remain here, but it will be mostly inactive, since I lost any interest in this game, and now I am playing other things. I feel this game would have been a gem but ended up being too messy for whimsical decisions. The excuse of time and resources are not valid for Larian in this case: after all we were always told that the game was going to be released when it was going to be ready, and we ended up with an EA of a full game, with a lot of valuable cut content, inconsistency lore, inconsistency in characters, and 60% of the act 3 bugged.

I'm sorry for the negativity of this post, I truly wanted to love this game, but felt a deep disappointment that, I hope, a definitive edition of it may fix in the future, eventually.

Thank you again for reading what was done during EA.

@dragonagitator, believe me, part of my disappointment also comes from Larian's deaf ears when it comes to feedback. During EA I sent them a lot of feedback, and it was barely addressed. The only one that I saw was the incorporation of lgbt npcs in the world to see them integrated in Faerun, and not just the isolated (and potential) queer!Tav. Check the official forums and you will see a lot of these feedbacks that were made even in EA, and were not taken care of.

A lot of people warned Larian since EA about making the same mistakes they did in DOS2, of making companions like "beast" (with almost no content), of unbalancing content between Larian's faves and the other companions, and did they care? No. A lot of feedback about Karlach's writing and ending was sent, and what was the solution? None. Karlach stays in her precarious story as usual. The lack of reactivity of companions in act 3 is also a well known feedback. So far, no solutions on that topic either. The list is too long, honestly, and when it comes to lore it's even worse. They sold a game, promoting it to be a thing that is not.

[wack-ashimself]

Liking the first season of 'Torchwood' BUT...

See, I knew of the show 10 years ago. Watched some of it. Hated it. Forgot about it. But was watching like top 10 most shocking tv deaths (or something like that) and they had season 4 (did NOT know they had that many) of 'Torchwood' on there, saying how the latter two seasons were SOLID AF compared to the first 2 seasons.

And I am getting into it. On the 1st season finale. But I gotta say this show has so many plot holes (record setting for just 1 fucking season), and characters who make the wrong call EVERY TIME, you wonder...who am I supposed to cheer for? Cuz, by the numbers, Torchwood has hurt far more than it helped so far.

The lead-she cheated on her boyfriend (with EASE. It felt weird how easy it was for her being in a committed relationship), drugged him, erased his memory, lied to him, and then (Spoilers) got him killed. Also thru negligence, released an alien that killed a BUNCH of dudes.

The butler-he literally chanced cyber men taking over the world, and got an innocent genius doctor killed, cuz he was too much of a COWARD to let his clearly dying gf go.

Tech lady-She reads everyone's deepest darkest thoughts, then got mad when Jack sent an alien who had been murdering for centuries into the sun. She's not bad, per say, more...neutral. She's harmed the least, for sure. That's such a low bar, tho...

Captain Jack-The original reason I watched the show. I LOVED his character on Dr Who. But...this is not him. Not the same guy. Not the free spirited, happy, goofy, witty, always ready, near-god. No. This is an immortal having a mid mid mid life crisis cuz he's lived so long and WANTS to die. Seriously, cuz of his shit, and the lead's, this is like a partial drama. I will say, tho, he has had to make some TOUGH calls which did not make him well liked, but I respected him cuz you knew, deep down, it had to be done, and no one else was gonna do it*.

The doctor-In the finale I am on, he was fired. And I hope his character dies. I fucking hate him. I hate his face, his voice, his actions, his brain; everything. He convinces the noobie to cheat with him, after he basically mouth rapes her. He's angry ALL the time, yells at people thinking he's a genius when he's like the 3rd smartest. He 'falls in love' with a women, tries to demand her to stay, and gets all pity party after ONE WEEK WITH HER. Can you fall madly in love in a week? Sure. But suicidal and a threat to others cuz 'you're sad'? Go fuck yourself, you bitch. Oh, and he basically openly chooses to chance ending the world NOT because he wants to save his team mates (tho he claims that) but because he's tired of being a bitch to the time tear (or whatever the fuck they call it).

So...WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU CHEERING FOR? Jack is the only semi cool character, and he's still kinda an ass. They're ALL kinda...selfish, short sighted, fuckers.

But I will finish this series. Because, storywise, the themes and plots they got going, are HIGHLY original and almost always have 1-3 good twists I don't see coming. You don't understand: I have been exposed to so much media, I can predict most things I see within a short period of time (even whole movies from trailers). I'm SO good (or writing is THAT predictable) I actually can, based on context, guess, WORD FOR WORD some lines. Sometimes in real time. Not usually. But not too far off, either.

*I will say, the call the writers/show/characters are supposed to hate was Jack giving the child to the faeries. NO. GREAT call. Best call you could make. Every other call would have sucked. See-the girl was fucking evil. Sociopath. Straight up. Like the faeries. She hated everyone. Talked to no one, but the faeries. She was borderline evil. And the faeries straight up said if you don't give us the kid, we will kill en mass, starting with HER ENTIRE SCHOOL. And the girl WANTED to go. So...where's the problem giving up the kid? Her mom's sad? Who gives a shit. You just saved TONS of lives, an evil fucking kid is gone, and the fairies disappeared. Only one who really lose was the mom. Her long time boyfriend (he was an ass) and her kid: BOTH GONE, SAME DAY. That is cruel, but long run, genuinely, it's even best for her. Her boyfriend was abusing her kid behind her back, and her kid was cheering on the torture of kids. It's a win-win-win. Fuck you for trying to make me feel bad for him giving up the kid. She wanted to go, and I wanted her to go. Fuck her.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Jackpot! (2024)

I don’t like criticizing premises. The movie’s “got to happen”, so picking away at the rules of a fantasy or science fiction realm and asking the movie details about backstories or events that took place before the action even begins doesn’t add to the conversation. This brings us to Jackpot!. If the premise HAD worked, this could’ve been an action comedy with some fresh ideas. Unfortunately, it doesn’t pan out and the weak setup proves no one sat down to make sure they were making the best movie possible, they just figured things would sort themselves out at some point during the filming.

By 2030, California has created the Grand Lottery. Now, every month, a lucky ticket winner wins big - and in the process, the financially desperate state generates some much-needed revenue. There’s a catch, however. You have to survive until sundown to claim your prize and whoever kills you before then gets your money. When Katie Kim (Awkwafina) accidentally enters the lottery and wins, the whole city is after her. Soon after the news breaks, she’s approached by Noel Cassidy (John Cena), who offers to protect her in exchange for ten percent of her prize.

Let's address that setup. I understand California wanting to make money by selling lottery tickets but what does that have to do with allowing anyone to murder the winner? Wouldn’t it discourage people from entering the lottery? We’re also told you can’t kill them with guns or bullets, which seems like a plot-demanded ruling rather than a logical one. Basically, if people COULD use guns, this movie would be over in minutes. Anyway, the opening text card says “Some people call it dystopian. But those people are no fun.” which feels like a half-hearted attempt to squelch some much-deserved criticisms if you ask me. I think even Jackpot! knows its premise doesn't make sense.

That rickety foundation wouldn’t be the end of the world if the rest was terrific. The thing is, Jackpot! is quite funny at first. Awkwafina is a talented actress and comedienne, as is John Cena, who can handle the stunts no problem. You'll be laughing until you realize a problem with the dialogue: no one in this movie has a distinct voice. Everyone makes the same kind of jokes as everyone else. There isn’t a straight man (or woman in this story) because everyone is always making wildly inappropriate comments about pop culture, their surroundings or people all the time. After a while, none of the dialogue surprises you because it’s constant and always “the same”. It feels like director Paul Feig is falling back on his old technique of letting everyone say whatever they want and including all of it whether it matches their character or not. More than once, characters deliberately put their lives on the line for the sake of a gag. The best example is a scene (prominently featured in the trailer) that has Katie donning an extremely elaborate makeup disguise that transforms her into an old man. There is no way anyone could recognize her… but she takes it off minutes later! Is she afraid for her life, or looking forward to the next wacky scenario she’ll find herself in?

The logical problems continue until the final act when we're introduced to a villain. You read that correctly. The premise is that everyone wants to kill Katie but for some reason, we need a bad guy too. The way this villain (who you can see coming a mile away but I won’t reveal) plans on getting away with what they’re doing just pokes more holes in the film’s logic and makes you start asking questions you were never meant to ask like, “Does anyone care about all these new, murderous billionaires living in California?"

The dopiest thing about Jackpot! is that the Purge franchise has a similar premise but handles it so much more intelligently. Yes, the first installment wastes its potential and creates profoundly idiotic protagonists that are practically begging to be killed… but at least within the movie people understand the danger of being targeted by maniacs who want to kill you. The script of Jackpot! (or whatever loose blueprint was given to the actors) is weak and it doesn't do anything smart with its central idea. The laughs get more derivative the further along we get and the second Simu Liu enters the frame, you can predict everything all the way to the end of the movie. If you choose to watch Jackpot! despite this review, you might as well stick around for the end credits, which contain several gags. (September 1, 2024)