#at least a paragon of her kind is one of the best written quests of the game?? super atmospheric. i'll never forget how i felt going into -
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my confession is that i actually love the deep roads and tolerate the fade segments in origins. where are my fellow brecilian forest haters.
#harper.txt#the constant back and forth between east and west and losing your way just to get to the temple#and then the temple sucks too!! and the main quest is boring as hell too#at least a paragon of her kind is one of the best written quests of the game?? super atmospheric. i'll never forget how i felt going into -#the dead trenches for the first time!!
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Overall Rating: ★★
Ship of Magic. Book One of The Liveship Traders Trilogy. Forth Robin Hobb book I’ve read. And bane of my life for the past six months.
Let me put this out there now: I adored the Farseer Trilogy. I binged those books in about two weeks at the start of this year, and they broke me in the best way possible. I took a month or so to recover after reading Assassin’s Quest, but I was hyped to get started on the next book.
I started this book in April. I only finished it Halloween night. It’s been a long, long and difficult road. One that I can’t really sum-up as I usually do in my reviews. So it’s all or nothing, guys!
I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on this book - whether you agree with me or not! It’s a strange book for me, because I really didn’t expect not to like it, so I’m curious as to what others think!
So let’s get into it.
NOT SPOILER FREE!
Writing Style: ★★★
I have a love-hate relationship with Robin Hobb’s writing style. When I first started Assassin’s Apprentice, it took me a good few days to try and get into the book. She is another one of those very wordy authors who I felt said a lot more than she needed to, in a much higher level language than she needed to. That’s not to say I don’t like that writing style, I actually quite enjoy it, but I have to be in the right mindset for it. However, I did so, and the style (thankfully) is consistent through this series so far.
Ship of Magic, like the Farseer books, took me some time to get into. Especially with the fantasy-heavy language used in the first chapter of the book. It took me a handful of tries before I could manage the style again.
I love the style. It’s rich, it’s vibrant, it’s full of exposition and imagery and just some really wonderful literary techniques and language. But I hate when I first pick up the book and remember I have to get ready for it. It’s not a style I can read when I’m tired or lazy, I have to be fully invested. So, love-hate.
Characters: ★
Oh boy, here we go.
I’m a character-driven reader. You can have the most fantastic, original, exciting, intriguing plot in the universe but I will not get on bored with it if I don’t like the characters. And this is where Ship of Magic was ruined for me, to be honest. This is what pulls down all those stars for the overall rating.
I hated the characters.
Now, stay with me.
Kyle was an incredible character. He is the most vile, most disgusting character I have read in my entire life. I hated him to the point where at the end of the book, I was shaking with fury at him. Even just typing about him now is filling me with such stress and anxiety and hatred that I’m tensing up. He is one of the best written villains I have read, perhaps ever. And I thought Regal was bad in the Farseer books.
Every other character though? The ones I’m meant to like? They just... fell flat. They weren’t one-dimensional by any means, I just didn’t find myself liking any of them. There are a multitude of characters in Ship of Fools, that we follow who might be called a main character or a protagonist: Althea, Brashen, Wintrow, Kennit, and the three Vestrit women to a lesser extent. Some were primarily good, some were primarily bad, but none jumped out to me. I didn’t feel connected to any of these characters. Worse than that, they all kind of annoyed me.
Althea and Brashen, I will say, I can stand. If the book focused entirely on them, maybe they would have grown on me just that little bit more to make all the difference. I like them, but they’re both kinda frustrating at times. For me, I was only reading it to see if they got together in the end, as it seemed pretty obvious from the start that was where it was going. (Spoiler: they did, I’m on board with it, they’re kinda cute). But I just didn’t really care. I will say I was most invested in the story when they were at the forefront, but it wasn’t enough. They’re characters develop seemingly the least out of all the characters, which is a shame, because they’re the only ones I was even slightly interested in.
Kennit? To be honest, I don’t remember most of his plot. I know the gist of it, but it wasn’t that exciting, I wasn’t that invested. It just all sort of happened. His goal is cliche, but would be a little more interesting if I knew more about him. Maybe I just missed it, but to me he just seemed greedy and a kinda grumpy and... meh.
The Vestrit’s in Bingtown: Ronica, Keffria, and Malta. All three were so incredibly frustrating, and so much drama could have been set aside if they’d just talked? Seriously. Just talk. And don’t even get me started on Malta.
Ah, Wintrow. At the start of the book, he was the only character I was intrigued by. I wish I hadn’t been.
Before I start, just to put this out there: I have a major soft spot for suffering characters. I often just ache and wish for them to get a chance to sit down and cry and get a hug off someone.
Wintrow sits down and cries a lot. A lot. And yeah, it’s realistic for a young boy, but this kid is so infuriating that I didn’t even know what to do with myself. He is a complete pain throughout the whole book, doesn’t actually do anything that major for the plot, now I think about it, and then at the very end his character does this massive 180 out of nowhere? I get what Hobb was trying to do, but I might have liked Wintrow a little more in the end if he’d grown in a believable way at least? Not as suddenly and violently as he did?
Quick note on some of the other very important characters. The liveships.
Vivacia: Whiny and annoying. I get she’s new and young and stuff is happening to her but come on, she was emotional and unbearable even before the slaves were put on, and I refuse to believe it was all Wintrow’s emotions shaking her up.
Ophelia: The true queen of this book. I want far more focus on her please, I love her.
Paragon: LITERALLY THE ONLY THING IN THIS ENTIRE BOOK I CARE ABOUT. AND IT’S THE ONE CHARACTER WHO LITERALLY DIDN’T EVEN MOVE FOR THE WHOLE 838 PAGES.
Okay, I’m calm again... on we go.
Plot: ★★★
It was fine. I’m not going to spend too long on this, because I think a lot of my opinions on the plot are tainted by my feelings about the characters. It was predictable a lot of the time, which doesn’t make it bad. A few points got me interested. If I take away all the mayhem of character 180s, the ending was good and strong. But the reason this book took me six months to finish? I just didn’t want to pick it up. I didn’t feel inclined to. There was no point where I put the book down and was thinking about where it was going from there. When I put this book down, it just stopped existing to me. And that rarely happens.
World-Building: ★★★★
So much potential. I love Hobb’s world building. I practically drool thinking about the world I read about in the Farseer trilogy, it was just fantastic and beautiful and so intricate and exciting! This had elements of it, I could see that. Wizardwood? Liveships? Rain Wilds? Those kinds of things sound amazing - I adore the idea of the ships coming to life. But, because of that big old character section, it fell flat. I’m not faulting the world-building for that though, because I have hope that the next two books go into more depth into it all.
Ability To Make Ellen Hate Reading: ★★★★★★
I’m not even kidding. This book sucked the fun out of reading for me, and I’m so sad about that. In the past six months, I’ve only read two other books. Nevermoor, because I had to read it for work (loved it). And The Book of Dust, because it’s from my all-time favourite series (loved it). I just didn’t want to read, and it was mostly because I felt guilty picking up another book whilst I hadn’t finished this one.
After I finished this book, I picked up a new one (review on that coming very soon). I finished it in 4 hours. I literally forgot how easy it is to read because of this book.
What’s Next?
I don’t usually need this on the end of my reviews, but I kind of have to here.
The Robin Hobb books were recommended to me by a close friend. I say again: I loved the Farseer trilogy so much. I’d also been warned that out of the trilogies in this world, The Liveship Traders were her least favourite, and she guessed that I might not like them much. I really want to keep reading this world, and I love reading a complete series. I have been told it is not necessary to read this trilogy to read the others, but it will merely help me understand and appreciate certain elements of the other books. I am on the fence about picking up the next book. I have it on my shelf, but I hate the fact that I’m dreading facing it.
I’m stubborn. I don’t like dropping books without finishing them, which is why I forced myself through this one. So I’m asking y’all’s advice. If you’ve read these books, do you think I should keep at it with Liveships, or give in now and move on? I’d love to hear what you think!
I am so sorry this review is just words on a page at this point, but I had a lot of feelings and I needed to get them out.
#review#book review#ellenreviews#i dont even want to tag this book#if i had liked the characters i think i would have really enjoyed this#but i didn't#so i didn't
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✾ your favourite da:o main quest, ➽ your favourite da2 location, ღ your favourite da:i banter, and ☾ some positivity for an original character roleplay blog!
✾ your favourite da:o main quest
paragon of her kind!
da:o shines above the others in one thing imo and that’s dwarf lore. da2 and da:i have their share of interesting dwarf lore, but da:o is for dwarves what da:i is for elves imo in that they have the best lore and quests. everyone can fight me, the deep roads in this game are fine.
the outcome is likely the greyest option in the game. the landsmeet is a close second, but i tend to argue that ousting anora is morally kinda shitty, especially if you put yourself on the throne in her stead. no matter what, though, you get two pretty fair monarchs with relatively similar flaws. both end up ordering a crackdown on the alienage if shianni is named bann and murdered nor make any headway on circle independence, etc, although this partially seems a result of the epilogues/boons in da:o seemingly written for a game that might not get a sequel, but i digress.
the point i’m trying to make is that bhelen and harrowmont are two very different choices. you get someone who upholds the status quo, albeit a very shitty status quo or you get someone more progressive who is by all accounts a tyrant. and even so, that progressivism is incredibly flawed, putting swords in the hands of casteless to prove themselves, etc, but it’s still something.
i tend towards bhelen with my dwarven wardens and harrowmont with non-dwarves, favouring bhelen if only b/c i think harrowmont’s conservativism would lead to orzammar’s doom.
beyond that, the politics in dusttown, the provings, discovering what happened to branka, the fucking broodmother bit? it’s arguably the most involved main quest in the game and i can never bring myself to leave it to last, usually playing it after the circle and before the forest which are my least favourites.
➽ your favourite da2 location
i already talked about sundermount the last time i reblogged this meme sooo– lowtown?
for all the complaints about same-y level design in da2 (and they do have merit) the architecture in kirkwall is interesting when you get into its history. lowtown especially is ugly, tight and cramped, and there isn’t a single plant to be seen besides the alienage. you can see its history as a slave city in lowtown, the doors that serve to conveniently railroad us during main quests having a historical use is a cool detail.
the very architecture of the city is a tool of oppression that’s still being used today, and there was some interesting worldbuilding put into designing it.
ღ your favourite da:i banter
i was going over some cole banter for a post i wrote the other day when i came across this one, set in the hissing wastes
Sera: (Teases.) I know what you diiid...! You two, in the loft.Blackwall: Uh, h-how did you--?Sera: Just do. 'Cause I know things.Blackwall: (Whispers.) Could we not speak so loudly about these things that you know?Sera: Too late for that. You're the one scaring horses, getting hay up your nooks. Crannies.Blackwall: (Sighs.)
i don’t have a lot to say about this one compared to other answers i had for this question, and tbh i could pick out almost every banter in the game and talk about what i like about it.
i mostly just like it b/c someone is calling blackwall out for bedding the inquisitor in a barn.
☾ some positivity for an original character roleplay blog!
i’m sending love to @youriinquisitorialness for having such choice meta. i’ve followed rachel’s lavellan for a while now and i’ve never failed to be impressed by her prose and her headcanons. this goes for her mai blog too tbh, but given i’ve been following theria for the longest she’s special 2 me.
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The Second Generation
Back to Dragonlance, and it's time to advance the plot. Unfortunately, I don't have the Legends trilogy so we have to skip Raistlin's entire quest for godhood, Kitiara's death, and Caramon's workout montage. Pity.
Instead we get to skip ahead to the next generation of heroes. Sort of.
It's five separate stories, in no particular order: three of the stories serve primarily as character introductions, one is an apocryphal romance set before the original dragonlance novels, and the last is a madcap adventure starring three of the new heroes.
Kitiara's Son
A woman shows up at Caramon and Tika's tavern in Solace with a wild tale of how Caramon's evil older sister Kitiara seduced their mutual friend and paragon of chaste virtue Sturm mostly for shits and giggles but forgot her birth control.
This isn't the apocryphal romance.
Steel Brightblade is real, and he's his parent's son. He has Sturm's honor, courage, and integrity and Kitiara's wits, ambition, and skill. And he uses all of those traits to their fullest as a member of the evil goddess Takhisis's new knightly order. Caramon and Tanis do their best to save him, but saving a true believer from themselves is easier said than done.
The Legacy
We're back to Caramon's family again for story two. This time it's to meet his three sons, Tanin, Sturm, and Palin. Tanin and Sturm take after their father, although they're a bit more concerned with honor and glory than Caramon ever was. Palin, on the other hand, takes after his uncle. Which is why every living male Majere is sitting in the Tower of Wayreth when the story opens.
The mages say they're trying to keep Raistlin from stealing Palin's body to resurect himself. The truth is that they're trying to trick an overprotective father into letting his magically gifted son take the Test. The truthier truth is that is isn't a good idea to toy with the most powerful magic user in history, even if you think all you're doing is creating an illusion.
Palin passes his Test and his test of character, and he gets a nifty new glowing stick as a souvenier. A glowing stick that is one of the most iconic magical artifacts on Krynn and could only have been given to him by Raistlin himself.
"Wanna Bet"
In almost any fantasy setting, almost every tavern that serves a multi-raciel clientelle comes with an engraved plaque that says "Do not try to outdrink the dwarf". Palin doesn't need to read that sign. Unfortunately, his brothers are the sort of young men who take good advice as a challenge.
It wouldn't be a major Dragonlance adventure without a deity wandering around in the flesh. Reorx, as Dougan Redhammer, is a nice change from Fizban. But... he isn't quite so farsighted.
Reorx created the tinker gnomes on purpose. The dwarves and the kender were and accident. But all three races are Reorx's children through and through. And it shows.
Plotwise this is the most important story in the book. And it's far and away the silliest. Palin’s the central character, and we get to see both his wits and his insecurities on display. More than any other character in the book, Palin’s kind of a study on what it’s like to be both very talented and nearly crippled by the knowledge of how thoroughly overshadowed you are by the one person you can’t stop comparing yourself too.
Raistlin's Daughter
Raistlin wasn't exactly known for his womanizing ways. In part, that was because he was cursed to see anyone he looked at as though they had been aged hundreds of years. But the simple truth was that by the time he became an adult, Raistlin didn't have room inside for any real human connections beyond the one with his brother that he resented so much.
It'd take some convoluted circumstances to get Raistlin into a situation where he'd be likely to get a woman pregnant. Magic and curses and an impossibly beautiful woman from an ageless and mythical race add up to convoluted and then some even before adding in the whole 'we have to huddle together for warmth, naked' thing.
It's no wonder the story starts off with a note from Caramon saying that he doesn't believe it.
The Sacrifice
Back in the Chronicles, Tanis was known for his wisdom and written as being unable to bring that wisdom to bear in her personal relationships. It's no exaggeration to say that Tanis's poor handling of his romantic life was central to the fate of the world during the War of the Lance.
Is it any surprise that his poor handling of fatherhood becomes central to the fate of the elven nations and by extension the world?
By contrast, Laurana was pretty much pure distilled awesome except for a bad habit of walking into traps. So is it any wonder that after he lets himself get tricked into becoming a puppet-king, her son shows signs of making the forces of evil thoroughly regret his coronation?
I’m always confused about how elven aging work. Even now, Laurana is barely considered an adult by elven standards, and she’s roughly a century old. Gilthas is 16 when this story happens, and he’s indistinguishable in maturity from a human 16-year-old. So do elves physiologically mature at more or less exactly the same rate as humans, and it’s just cultural that they aren’t considered adults until they’re at least several times as old as they were when they hit puberty? Or is it a brain chemistry thing, like how they say that our brains don’t finish maturing until our mid-twenties. That sort of matches how Laurana herself is written in the Chronicles.
That last idea is truly horrific. I remember being a teenager. Can you imagine how much it would suck to mentally and emotionally be a teenager for eighty years?
Final Thoughts
It's a good collection, and the stories almost all do a good job of setting the stage for what's coming. But that’s also the flaw. This is a collection of introductory and stage-setting stories, so it’s hard to fairly judge it on its own. That said, every story in here was a good read and only The Sacrifice bogged down even a little for me.
There's one thing that really bothers me though. The 29 page preview of The Dragons of Summer Flame comes with a truly brutal spoiler.
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‘bout to die
I finished Assassin’s Fate and I need to blurt a few thingsout right now because I am LITERALLY on the fuckin brink, this book has ruined my LIFE I have loved Fitz and the Fool since I was 14 years old. Fitz especially, and I literally can’t stand this.
Firstly, the second that Bee became a POV in Fool’s Assassin I knew with the WORST kind of certainty that Fitz would die in some way or another in this trilogy, which became even clearer when he was finally allowed to ‘step out of the shadows’ and be given his true legacy in Fool’s Quest. So I was, in a way, prepared for his death to be a thing that happened, but I still just cannot abide the way that it did happen. I knew the ending, whatever it was, would be at least as bittersweet as all the other ROTE books. The ‘sweet’ in this one though, just is not there. The way it’s written, there is no closure or catharsis for Fitz and the Fool and worst of all (yes, worst of all), there is no closure or catharsis for Fitz and Bee. None. That absolutely broke my heart beyond what any other book has ever done to me. Because along with that, Fitz’s ‘death’ is prolonged and absolutely horrific, and as a READER you are forced to endure his death TWICE. The last thing we know he ever feels is “I was dying. And I had never been enough for anything.” His final thought for himself. Before that last conversation with Nighteyes. It’s so cruel and so utterly unnecessary I can’t stand it.
First of all, Fitz and the Fool. I am among the people who hoped that this trilogy would mend and bring closure to their relationship and maybe give them a life together for at least a short time. I knew upon re-reading the Tawny Man books that they would never, ever become romantic partners in this trilogy, then Fool’s Assassin made me hope again that they actually might. The painfully obvious fact that Fitz has deep feelings of love for the Fool and needs him in a way that goes far beyond ‘platonic’ is more fore-fronted than ever in that book and it’s excruciating, not least because he is never ever allowed a moment to admit it to himself, maybe not even at the very end when they merge. But we will never know.
Their characterisation in Assassin’s Fate is absolutely heartbreaking. In every prior book, their relationship is developed meaningfully in beautiful, deeply moving character driven scenes, but in this their final book, Hobb just uses ‘Amber’ to bring their relationship to a meaningless stalemate by less than 1/3 in. It goes nowhere. She goes so far as to have Fitz perceive 'his’ Fool and Amber as two wholly different and seperate people, one of whom he loves and trusts and the other he distrusts and deeply dislikes. I will never understand why she chose to use Amber as a barrier and conflict between them in that way, it makes no sense and Fitz’s characterisation suffers for it. The Fool’s also does, though not as much.
It’s also frustrating that she chose to make their final book one that they spend the bulk of stuck on a ship, in situations in which they have zero agency and are literally just spectators to the events going on around them. Hobb was always brilliant at avoiding this problem in her previous Fitz books, keeping the scope of them brilliantly focused in the 1st person narrative, but for this big finale she brings together characters from all the other Elderlings books, to the point that it is so sprawling that it doesn’t feel like a Fitz book at all. The result of that aspect is not satisfying in comparison to any of her other books. And yes the ROTE is certainly bigger than just Fitz but he has always been the heart of it. Absolutely the heart of it.
And unfortunately once they enter Clerres, all the characters simply start to feel empty. I honestly wish Althea, Brashen and Wintrow had not even appeared in this book. That’s the worst thing about all of it, and why this ending is so deeply upsetting and unsatisfying for me. Fitz and the Fool and Bee simply become nuts (to use some of Hobb’s own imagery) being carried passively along on this current of events she wants to happen in order to get them to this specific event in the quarry. The character-driven writing that has made all her previous books so compelling isn’t there. Fitz’s ‘fate’ in the quarry does not feel natural or inevitable, it feels rushed and contrived because all I could think of while reading it were the DOZENS of gentler and kinder and more satisfying ways he could have been brought to this conclusion. and that is the worst possible feeling the conclusion of a book can have, and one that NONE of her other books have ever suffered from.
Her choice to force Fitz straight into the quarry and his ‘death’ right after Clerres and giving him and Bee less than one day together and not one single moment for redemption or healing before being parted forever is....after everything Bee endured....after enduring Fitz’s continuous agonising and grief for her....it is so cruel. :/ it FEELS so cruel because it was so utterly unnecessary. There is absolutely no conceivable reason Fitz could not have been allowed to return to Buck with everyone and have YEARS with Bee and the Fool before making his inevitable way back to the quarry, and his fate.
Then there is Bee. This trilogy should not have been called “Fitz and the Fool”. Even though you finally learn the Fool’s history, this trilogy is not about them, it is about Fitz and Bee, and my heart is even more broken by what was denied them. I came to love Bee as deeply as Fitz almost as soon as she became a POV. This is Bee’s trilogy, and it becomes irrevocably so when Hobb made the final two mini-chapters of the book, the end of Fitz’s life, something that is simply witnessed by Bee, something that is framed as simply another nexus that all the remaining pieces disperse from as Bee sets out from this event onto her next chapter. We get no final afterword or closing thoughts from Fitz. That just...broke me. The fact that we don’t even experience Fitz and the Fool’s final merging and subsequent ‘passing’ through Fitz’s eyes is beyond excruciating and made it feel so horribly empty. The one, tiny bit of catharsis she could have given them, she chose not to. I will never understand why she made the choice to write it that way and it will haunt my heart forever.
I’ve never been inconsolable after reading a book before but here I am lol. I’ve never cried so much reading a book in my life. I also gotta say though, it speaks to what a magnificent writer Robin Hobb is that this is still one of the best pieces of fantasy writing you will ever read and there is basically no other writer who is a match for her voice. I just wish that this ending could have been more in the realm of soft and melancholy rather than harrowing and life-ruining.
I absolutely loved the first two books, Fool’s Assassin and Fool’s Quest were both absolutely beautiful and harrowing and bittersweet and deeply moving and I practically screamed when Fitz met Paragon in Assassin’s Fate (a moment that is second only to when Bee kills Symphe and Dwalia), this trilogy has, overall been the biggest ‘ride’ of any of her trilogies since The Liveship Traders so I am just...so gutted that she did Fitz like that in the end.
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MEA liveblog part 2
Spoilers!
Havarl
So, the planets with Remnant technology are the planned Habitats? If so, why didn't anyone comment on that? That we're following the Remnant map but finding our "golden worlds"? Wait, Havarl wasn't even on the map -- Jaal pointed us to it.
Come on, even aliens in another galaxy are misogynists?
Why are the memory prompts scattered all over the cluster? What are they?
I really don't like the amount of cover and a giant-ass turret.
God, the Vault is just breathtaking! I'm glad the low settings don't get in the way (unlike faces)
Died several times trying to fight all these Remnant... Turns out I just had to survive long enough to use a console. I should pay more attention to quest markers...
Aaaand the viability jumps to 73! Nice.
Can't access the chest. I guess I should have killed all the Remnant in the room to lift the forcefield?
Whoa! I can feel the fresh air.
"This curious memory transfer--" "Reincarnation" Um. Ummm. This sounds terribly familiar to our heroine's personal story... Memory transfer you say?
Hmm, I should visit the monks to see a new view from above. I'm lazy though... Oh look, I can just climb high on this roof instead!
Not only the sky, but the entire map is clear! Incredible. Now I can go back to the Tempest with clear conscience, too.
Tempest
So I assume if you went to Voeld first, the lady would be on Havarl? Why do we need her to access the vault, btw, I forgot?
So, one of the "golden worlds" was inhabited -- a home planet, no less! Why is Aya's vault "special" but Havarl's just a means to an end? Why didn't people try to set course to Havarl before, since it was one of the planned destinations?
"At a price?" What? The Roekaar (or whatever they're spelled) hated Ryder way before she earned the resistance leader's trust.
I'm not sure I've mentioned this before, but we did have to fight and kill natives to one of the planets we'd planned to colonize... And since turns out Jaal knows their leader, that means we're going to change their minds because of course who could oppose us once they knew us, we're the best.
Yes, I'm going to be sympathetic to him, and yes "I want peace" instead of "They need to be stopped"
With Peebee, there's a heart option just called "Flirting" which I assumed was a glitched duplicate of a previous heart option just called "Flirting". It's not. But it's just as awkward.
Aw, Vetra and Drack talking about younger family members...
Saved and tried to flirt with Suvi just to hear the dialogue. But you know, I kinda want to keep that awkward "wanna talk about science"...
Oh right, I still need to do "Lost sister"... But I'm pretty tired of Havarl. And Jaal's quest will weigh me down... Let's pretend I'm halfway towards Aya now.
I'm gonna go check Eos before continuing the main quest.
Eos
Bradley has surprisingly emotional dialogue about all our loved ones back home being dead for 600 years.
Oh, and he advised me to be compassionate of the "pirates" because they're going through the same thing? Wow.
It's lucky I went to check Cora's LM first! Because the initial conversation sent me straight to Voeld. All roads lead to it! Main plot, Peebee's mission, Cora's mission. Good, let's go.
Btw, remember how I praised the lack of urgency that let me explore in peace? Well this mission kind of ruined it. This is a rescue operation! I felt guilty for sidetracking.
Voeld
And Voeld is Habitat-6. Of course.
Oh thank god there's a heater, I thought I was doing something wrong.
She's praising Efra so much... Is he going to become a bad guy?
Wait, so when I was talking to the Resistance for the past 30 minutes it wasn't a part of the main story? Who do I need then?
Oh, here they are, very unnoticeable, before the entrance.
The Kett base has weirdly nice weather! Not that I'm asking for an environmental hazard during a priority mission...
"Killing your allies is a lousy plan" Hmm, I heard there'll be a hard choice soon, I guess this is it. And since this is a priority mission, I won't be able to save right before it...
"Stasis pod school" Well yeah, haven't you heard of indoctrination?
"Chosen for what, exactly" To become kett, oh my god, haven't you played the original trilogy Drack
Oh look, 25+ hours into the game we see a dramatic reveal of what was immediately obvious from the publicity pictures of kett and angara. Like I mean even if we didn't have the OT where this happened to literally every species starting with the protheans, the faces are a dead giveaway. And of course Ryder has to play dumb and can't figure it out
Oh, she's surprised! Seriously, has no angara ever looked kett in the face and thought "hey, they look familiar"?
And Jaal's shocked too. For fuck's sake, writers.
Is the Moshae that woman we've seen in the trailer, standing with Ryder in a vault? She'll survive whatever I do, then.
Did this thing just sync-kill me
How many times can you recast your stupid orb, this is just boring
I'm glad cover can protect me from this Nova/Dark Spere :D
Well this was one of the hardest boss battles of my life. And I can't save afterwards. Guess I'll have to live with whatever decision I'm about to make.
Wait, he isn't dead! Ascendant surprise!
Oh, that's a she. Ok.
(She's beautiful btw. Looks more turian than angaran, actually.)
Well, that was an easy Paragon decision. They never backfire anyway. I took the interrupt though.
Just as someone said "We're ready for extraction," a fiend grabbed and sync-killed me. Of course...
BTW it's dumb that the game invites you to hold the platform in the end. It's an extraction wave! Why camp in the LZ?!
Oh dear, am I happy to finally save!
That last left dialogue option was dumb. "My people have travelled so far" -- well nobody forced them to! Moshae was right to chastise Ryder after that. And of course, without saves, I can't go back and redo it.
Tempest
So, the kett are like Borg, too.
The angara are open and free with their feelings? They act exactly the same as all other species we've seen!
Okay, I don't care about Jaal's feelings about the plot that's so badly written, but it gave Ryder the opportunity to say something touching about her own family.
Hmm, do I click the "friend" option or not? I don't give a shit about him personally, but...
Okay, I clicked... Abort abort abort! It's basically a flirt option. Dammit, mark your shit correctly!!
And finally, the lack of quick saves creates a real problem... Good luck finding the save I need and redoing this conversation. I tried but it didn't restart.
Vetra: "I cannot help thinking that asari reproduction and kett exaltation are similar in a lot of ways" IS SHE IN THE GAME JUST TO VOICE ALL MY OBSERVATIONS??
Restarting again, the first left-handed option is weird. "I may seem tough, but I have a good shoulder". Tough? This peaceloving kiddo??
Yaaay, I redid it. When talking about family, left options, everything else -- right. That's my way of talking in general. Casual options are dumb and/or rude, emotional options are unbearably sappy.
Why is "I like it when you flirt" still not greyed out???
I hate to be militaristic, but the AVP/cryo capsule bonuses for military are the most useful...
Kallo, Suvi... I've visited Prodromos like three times already... I know that the radiation levels are better and there's more to explore... Why does the game not track these things?!
So um... are the Nomad mods installed automatically?
My mom studied biotics? AI scientist father, biotic scientist mother -- no wonder I'm a nerdy Sentinel!
"I won't run out on you", say I to Vetra even though she's only my second choice after Peebee
Nah, you know what, I'm not going to talk to her until I decide if I want Peebee or not. Don't want to lead Vetra on, it's cruel.
The conversation with Cora sounds like it takes place at least a week after that mission. Come on, writers, you know that players interested in the story talk to everyone right after major events!
Oh, I need to have an opinion about dad. This is stressful.
That second flirt option in the armor is -- well, "Did I say put your shirt on" doesn't sound good, especially considering I'm his boss...
Wait, so what did Liam requisition?
Btw of course this scene is where mom walked in the room lmao
Me: “I don’t think my Ryder is attracted to men at all, she only flirted with a man once and it was pretty platonic” Liam: *takes shirt off* Me: “Okay, fine, she likes men a little bit”
And I can only imagine how bitter mlm players are about this scene...
Voeld
Died twice and now stuck on loading again. Screw this, I'm going to multiplayer
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