#at least i got through one video

[dixiedingo]

Tried to start chloe tings uhhhh 2021 weight loss challenge after my usual elliptical workout cause I'm hitting "the wall" now and I almost threw up bc my body isn't used to hiit let's gooo

[rambles-about-minecraft-ocs]

one of my favorite things about zedaph is that on a server full of people that find strange and oft-overlooked minecraft mechanics or rare events and then see just how far they can push them in the name of spectacle or efficiency or world-breaking, zed is over here finding these mechanics in order to do the weirdest things he can think of in as entertaining a manner as possible

like i 100% have faith in zedaph's theoretical ability to be just as efficient or spectacular or world-breaking. if he wanted to do that stuff, i trust that he absolutely could. but thats so far from being his priority. instead, hes going to spend around a week of irl time focused entirely on eventually having the good luck to spawn in something insanely rare so that he can convert it into something even rarer, the result of which being something that 99% of the server reacts with complete and utter shock that it even exists in the first place, just because its zany and funny and he wanted to. and i love that

[biblically-accurate-dca]

various redraws of tsams thumbnails

[lizzybeeee]

DATV is overly reliant on Supplemental Media - especially if you are a returning player

TL;DR: Supplemental material should not be required reading in order to understand what's going on in the main game -> it's additional material that enhances what we were given. If what we were given is lacking and unable to coherently tell us a story, then the writers and those in charge did not prioritize what was important.

Not a take that's unique to Dragon Age, but one that is very relevant when talking about DATV. I've made a few posts about plot/story points that either make no sense or have been dropped entirely in the lead up from DAI to DATV. Every now and then I get a few comments or messages about how certain points I made were addressed in supplemental material released in the lead up to this games release.

This isn't a call out post, by the way! But it's frustrating, to me, that this games writing is so lacking that my understanding is being inhibited because I can't remember details from a book I read two years ago - not to mention various podcasts, comics, and short stories. My understanding of a video game in a video game series should not be reliant on additional/optional content.

DATV is a weird game in that it is absolutely a 'soft/scorched earth' reboot while also marketing itself as a continuation to what was set up in Inquisition and Trespasser. Personally, I think that if you are up to number 4 in a game series, one with a continuous story-line, it should be expected that new players won't be able to catch up to everything -> it's the game developers job to make the world and story intriguing enough that the new players will go back to previous games in the series and fill in the blanks themselves.

Veilguard, as a sequel, is overly reliant on content that comes from outside the games themselves (including DLC's) if you want to make sense of the world and story. Trespasser left us with an epilogue that set up some plot points for the next game: Solas & the Veil, the Elven Rebellion, and War with the Qun - plot points that have been built up since the time of Origins. But when we get into DATV two of these points have been dropped and resolved, off-screen.

There are more questions, but these are the ones that bothered me the most while playing the game:

What happened to the Agents of Fen'harel/ Elven Rebellion? -> answered in a cursed reddit AMA.

What happened to the Qunari following Trespasser -> addressed in Tevinter Nights, and a codex entry you can pick up (optional).

Why is Skyhold infested with demons? -> mentioned in Tevinter Nights.

How did the Dalish go from worshiping their own pantheon to knowing they are false gods? (specifically those we meet in the Veil Jumpers) -> mentioned in the Missing comic series.

What's up with Nevarra's Royals? -> Tevinter Nights addresses that there is a power struggle in the Pentaghast family and the role of the Mortalitasi in making it worse - though it does not address the whole 'mage puppeting a corpse' issue and all the implications it has.

This is a video game series -> the bulk of the information required for me to understand the story and its relation to previous entries needs to be included in the final game version. I am playing a video game and not attending a uni class - I should not need to have a required reading list in order to understand what the fuck is going on. I should definitely not need to go onto a reddit AMA to understand what happened in-game, either.

What makes this stand out the most is that DAI was very successful in tying in previous games, DLC's, movies, and books! Inquisition did a great job in getting you up to speed on the events of the previous games early on, providing personalization if you played those games, and giving the player the opportunity to inquire into these events.

Hiding away the answers in additional material or a codex entry that may be missed is not good game design or good writing. DAI didn't assume that you had bought and played the Legacy DLC -> it made certain you experienced the conversation with Varric and Hawke if you wanted to proceed in the game. It didn't hide away imperative information in codex entries - it had characters talk about it in scripted scenes and encourage the player to ask more. You would actively need to avoid interacting with characters for you to not experience this information in DAI.

Leliana talks about her role during the Blight, her calling by the Maker, and her relationship with Dorothea/Justinia -> DAO and Leliana's Song DLC.

Cullen talks about his time as a templar at Kinloch & Kirkwall -> DAO and DA2.

Cassandra speaks about her history, investigation into Hawke, and the Seekers -> Dawn of the Seeker movie, DA2, & Asunder novel.

Varric talks about Hawke, Kirkwall, and Corypheous -> DA2 and Legacy DLC.

Cole talks about how he discovered he was a 'demon' - it leads to further conversations about Rhys, Evangeline, and Lord-Seeker Lambert -> Asunder novel.

Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts -> the game literally continues what the Masked Empire novel sets up, the Orlesian Civil War. The game does a decent job of telling us about the players (Celene, Gaspard, Briala etc...) and the reasoning behind the conflict through dialogue, the ability to explore the battlefields, quests, ambient dialogue, etc... The book is not required reading - though it greatly adds to the complexity of the characters, motivations, and political intrigue!

I never once, playing DA2 or DAI, felt penalized or like my experience was lacking because I had not engaged with supplemental material or DLC's. I got into Dragon Age when I was in high school, it wasn't until I graduated and began working after that I had the disposable income available for experiencing the extra material. I cannot say that for DATV - If you have played Inquisition and go into DATV straight from that you will, absolutely, be confused about how we got from A to B.

Which is especially strange to me!? Why is it that new players will be less confused than those that are returning players? It's like the game is actively punishing you for playing and caring about previous games in the series.

Supplemental media is bought because the main product has earned your investment, love, or interest. Not everyone has the income available to buy it with their own money - especially if you live outside the US and have to pay additional shipping costs. Not everyone has the ability to buy or 'obtain' the digital versions either. My understanding of the main story of a video game in a video game series should not require additional monetary investment into other mediums.

The game itself should be enough and DATV is not enough.

[juustozzi]

for the Sports Anime Olympics week, day 3... Ina11 Superpesis AU!

pesäpallo (a mix of baseball and a local game "kuningaspallo" from late 1800s) is the national sport of Finland, and Superpesis is the highest national league here. ig started suggesting me superpesis videos a while ago, so when the prompts were up for the week, I instantly knew what I wanted to draw for the AU!

my own knowledge is mostly based on playing pesis in elementary school gym lessons, but it's said to be paced faster than baseball, and apparently the pro players dive a lot? and home runs require a bit more tactic since you can't just blast off the ball with all your strenght.

ngl, the outifts look a bit simple to my own eye since all the superpesis outfits have a lot of ad logos which I was too lazy to draw.. but it was fun turning the soccer outfits into pesis uniforms!

and now the main reason for this AU: among the pesis videos I've seen, there's a specific place with the best videos: a stadium/play field in the west called "island field" where a river parts and goes past two sides of the small island the field is on. knowing that 1) there are no fences around the field, 2) if the ball hits in on the first bouce it basically won't be out no matter how far it goes, and 3) they have cameras set specifically to the river... it tells a lot what sometimes happens there:

here is the og video (and you can also find other cool clips on that account if you want to see pesis in action! they post mainly official league stuff, but the video side is partly curated for curious people)

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A post shared by Superpesis (@superpesis)

[dragon-subway]

so my present for christmas this year was a pc (my first one ever!!!!!), specifcally going half an half on the payments and its running super well, just has some bits like bluetooth n wifi that need to be handled externally (wifi works semi ok bc it has the driver but not the usb it needs to properly work) since its refurbished from a super old model (they stopped in either 2013 or 2017 i dont remember off the top of my head) BUT the main reason i got this was so i could do stuff like blender and drawing and animation on it with less worries about space and functionality (blender makes my laptop flicker after a while for example) so really really looking forward to starting on things

[juuheizou]

did my loveless ace self really just sink three hours of my life into a fucking dating sim?

[itsalwaysdark]

i think itis funny in the past when i would list my interests as if i post abt them i donot post abt the shit im into rly Mainly bc im not rly Into Into anything anymore i occasionally watch or read or play something but i dont do fandom stuff rly much.... just sometimes i get brainworms

[thedrotter]

sweet sweet re:kinder community... I would like to ask y'all how you came upon the game and your experiences with it because i wanna know. im genuinely so curious to hear about other people's experiences and little opinions about this game because of how wild the game is (/pos) I'd love to hear it. do ramble to me about it

[artandsomethingcreated]

I have made a THING! It is a music video to Owl City's song Fireflies!

It is mostly footage I have randomly taken over the years playing Sky children. It was so much fun going through the recordings, so many good memories! And sadly so many friends I dont see any more.

I am really proud of this :D

I hope yall like it too!

[idolsummons]

y'all my bass skills are goin 2 waste. i gotta learn how to use mine as a video game controller b/c it would be very cool and funny

[sysig]

Still normal don’t even worry about it (Patreon)

[quibbs126]

Honestly, I really want a game where there’s a story, but there’s no dialogue between any characters, and the only way to figure out the story is through things like item descriptions, details in the character design and backgrounds, and leitmotifs in the music

I’m sure games like this already exist, but I still would love to see one.

Or heck, I’d make one myself, only I don’t know how to program a game or what the story’d be

[ppulverse]

.

[sortanonymous]

Listening to Nick Crowley is weird because I always get invested by the storytelling, but I always get so worried about the stories told, that I tend to just look up how the story ends. It's basically hearing the tension in the first minute or two and just going, "Alright, how bad is this one just so I don't have a heart attack."

And in all honesty, I'm so much more shocked on the occasion that they have a happy ending.

[kakusu-shipping]

I'm very normal about Piranha Plants on Parade you can trust me with your country's most valuable resource I won't feed it to my Dinosaur Creature to see if it'll make him sing trust me.