#bc he’s not been in the quest so

[euthymiya]

I’m starting to realize my problem with moc is that I probably could 36 star it if I actually knew how to play outside of auto play

[speremint]

Finished veilguard and have many thoughts but none of my friends are done yet. I will probably do a second playthrough at some point just to do emmrich’s romance, but man…. Very torn on the game.

[thefabelmans2022]

did you ever notice how merry doesn't actually volunteer for the quest? pippin is the one who assumes he and merry will go, gandalf vouches for them both, but merry doesn't say a word for the entire encounter. it's a stark difference from his insistence on going with frodo in the conspiracy chapter, and i think it's because he's totally lost his confidence. in the beginning, he's very confident and fully believes he'll be able to lead the group through the old forest to bree with no trouble, and then they all almost die twice basically immediately. notice that when they get to bree, he refuses to go to the prancing pony with the others, deciding instead to stay in their room alone? and then of course he gets attacked by nazgul, which definitely doesn't help matters. i think by the time they get to Rivendell, he no longer believes himself capable of helping frodo. he'll do it, obviously, if frodo or gandalf or elrond or pippin ask him to, but i think he's at a point where he no longer believes he'll be any good.

[a-lonely-dunedain]

ok question! related to this post by @gwynbleiddyn that I see resonated with the folks here on lotro tumblr:

the devs have given you permission to add 1 (one) quest of your design into the game, specifically doing something fun/low-stakes with one or more Rangers post-war. What are you doing and with which Ranger(s)?

I'll go first: (under the cut bc it got longer than intended)

Corunir has been enlisted to help do repairs in the lower circles of Minas Tirith. And by "enlisted" I mean "Corunir Does Not Know How to Take A Break and needs to be constantly helping people, so he showed up wouldn't leave until the foreman gave him something to do"

Now, as this quest would have to be located in Minas Tirith Midsummer, the foreman is not particularly comfortable saddling this war-hero with busywork when he should be celebrating the end of the war he helped bring about! nevermind that that's what literally every other quest in midsummer is making the PC do shh don't worry about it

ANYWAY, he's got a plan, but he needs your help with it. Around dusk, he wants you to tell Corunir that there's some repairs that need done on the top of the wall at east side of the 2rd circle, which coincidentally just so happens to be where the best view of the fireworks they're setting off at the gates is. Also be sure to bring along this plate of snacks and some comfy pillows to sit on.

so when Corunir gets up there he's like "that's weird, I don't see any damage up here-" and then he sees the fireworks starting to go off, that you brought snacks, and puts two and two together and is like "oh darn, it looks like I've been tricked into watching a fireworks show, you devious trickster you (affectionate)"

so you guys get to hang out and watch the fireworks for a bit, and afterwards Corunir laughs at the fact that you literally had to trick him into relaxing and having a good time. Perhaps you have a point, he should allow himself some time to actually enjoy the peace they fought so hard for. He recalls Radanir had proposed the Rangers should do a pub-crawl later, and now thinks he should take him up on the offer. (and, of course, the PC should be allowed to join in, but alas I'm only allowed to add One quest as per my own rules lol)

[dazais-guardian-angel]

kinda wild to me that one of the most compelling aspects of both Chuuya and Kunikida's characters to me, that I never really see talked about, is how they're heavily set on a doomed crash course towards complete and utter destruction, and how I am so, so worried for them both.....

[stardustdiiving]

How evil is arlecchino and what is she cooking

As of 4.2, I’m really curious what they’re planning with Arlecchino as a character, especially as a villain/antagonist/morally dubious character, and how far/which direction they may go with that

Intuitively my impression is we’ll see her do something way more “villainous” than she presents herself as being for majority of Fontaine’s AQ in front of us right—(which isn’t a surprise given that, you know, Arlecchino nor the House of Hearth have never been presented as 110% ethical LOL) but I find myself not being in complete agreement with most analysis or speculation threads I see about Arlecchino’s morality and the like, level of sinister people seem to ascribe to her.

Idk how to put it, especially in regards to her children I do agree they are not a wholesome found family, that Arlecchino is not above pulling strings or using them for her own ulterior motives, but I kind of hesitate on the idea she only cares about the Hearth children as a means to the end/things she can control and there’s nothing else going on with her characterization wise there. I’m not saying that impression seems remotely unreasonable or unfounded, but just that it feels there’s something intentionally missing in how we are supposed to conceptualize her as a person

My main reasoning for this hunch is the fact they have not elaborated on Arlecchino and the previous Knave—who Arlecchino is stated to have taken over the position from by force. The extra tidbits I think about are that 1) Arlecchino was previously an orphan in the Hearth 2) the previous Knave is described as way, way crueler to the children of than Heart than Arlecchino was from when she took control of the House

Often, people’s major indicators that the House of the Hearth is kind of super fucked up are the NPCs we meet in world quests who are part of it and clearly suffering. But one thing I haven’t ever seen people mention w this that i think is a very interesting detail is, in The Very Special Fortune Slip Inazuma worldquest, where we stop this House of Hearth guy (Efim Snezhevich) from manufacturing tension between Watasumi/the Shogunate to restart the war with his other Hearth subordinates, at the end of the quest we get this dialogue that reveals he had been acting under the previous Knave’s directives:

It’s also mentioned he’s employing this plan in an attempt to “rebuild the prestige of the Knave” following Signora’s death, iirc? Now, see, the dialogue itself says that this is “assuming our captive is telling the truth” so who knows what’s really going on, but I find this a really odd/interesting thing to highlight. I’m a bit fuzzy on other world quests with Hearth members, and am not saying none of them were acting and subsequently being treated poorly by our Arlecchino, but like, this gives me a lot of questions especially when paired with implications this previous Knave seemed to be way worse

Like, what drove Arlecchino to take over? How unexpected and controversial was this within the House? Assuming the above information is all true it definitely says something this guy went rogue and acted on what the previous Knave would want and didn’t think our Arlecchino would greenlight it, which does feel consistent with the previous Knave being described as basically worse & crueler than our Arlecchino. It also makes me question how much house of hearth things we’ve seen outside the main story are the work of our Arlecchino or if there’s a bigger divide of loyalty. Heck, I could be wrong but it doesn’t even seem like we know if the previous Knave is dead or not

This isn’t me saying Arlecchino couldn’t possibly be treating hearth children worse than she wants us to know, especially ones who aren’t her “favorites” the way the fontaine trio seem to be, but I really don’t feel sure about making a solid conclusion of her exact level of malice the way ppl r generally understanding it rn when it feels there’s going to be more about her. Just the idea of she, as a Hearth child, clashed with the previous leader who was known for being cruel, overtook their position and took on less harsh methods of leading that made at least some members with more power/possible closer proximity to the previous Knave go rogue and try to commit atrocities in the previous Knave’s name…I feel this leaves a lot of room to suggest there’s more going on with how Arlecchino is as a person

I don’t mind if she’s just very evil and deceptive bc if she totally had me fall for thinking she was less evil than she actually was that’s fun tbh. But I feel people suggest that’s all her character could be with no degree of like, “sympatheticness” or deep grey morality and that if her character did go there it would be automatically poor writing and genshin walking back on making a truly evil woman when IDK. I feel you can claim at this point they have left it open ended and it’s never been completely confirmed she’s pure evil. Also sometimes I just get a hunch and feel cautiously confident in Genshin executing certain characters well. Not all characters, just certain ones. Especially given Fontaine’s character writing being very good and a character like Lyney feeling very solid to me when any development with Arlecchino would likely involve him and his siblings as well, I honestly feel open to the idea of Arlecchino being satisfyingly written to be both villainous/morally dubious but “sympathetic/likable as a person” in ways outside of just her ruthlessness if that makes sense

If I’m wrong/they drop the ball with it more than I anticipate I’ll eat my hat but I am pretty excited about her character and which way they decide to go with it. I will say the only potential impression I have of where they’ll go with her has been wondering if it will go in a “cycles of abuse” direction—I’d be surprised if they ever elaborated on Arlecchino’s character especially in how she feels about things and her also growing up as an exploited child of the hearth wasn’t relevant

[loumauve]

a little more disorganised exploring

[pandorashearts]

nintendo het baiting w sidon and his fiancee only to pull the gayest shit ive seen in a While by having sidon renew his vows w link (they got married at the end of ruta’s quest in botw. obviously. clearly.) and giving him a power that lets him ‘stay by his side forever’. i see you husbands i am so glad your marriage is thriving. good for them. good for them. they also both have two hands for anyone who wants to pull any nonsense im js. there is room for yona she just has to understand link has held sidon’s heart for years first.

[pinacoladamatata]

I'm still so mad about the Wyll rewrite actually

[puppppppppy]

i think the reason why im so drawn to spirit tracks and pkmn scarvi is that having the legendary/princess as a companion rather than a goal that marks the games completion makes me feel satisfied the way i would after helping a friend

my brother always teases me about how I still havent finished botw after almost 7 years bc "id rather be out picking flowers" which i wont say is untrue. and yes i know Zeldas been holding off ganon for 100 years, yes i can get some sort of idea what her relationship with link was like by recalling memories and going through her diary. ive always loved botw for its unique storytelling and setting which makes it stand out, because it lets you get to know who you're saving.

but because theyre memories, it only works if theres something for the player to investigate that already happened. its retroactive (but effective nonetheless)

on the other hand, spirit tracks does something similar but instead of having the player try to piece together memories and interpret them as a spectator, you actually have an opportunity to get to know zelda yourself by talking to her and working together. besides making it a gameplay mechanic, giving the player control over how they interact with zelda makes it so much more personable.

and I find that making the goal feel personal instead of an obligation gives me more of a reason to work towards it. I know what kind of person botw zelda was but as the player, shes still very much a stranger to me. but spirit tracks zelda? thats my friend!!!! she invited me to go to the beach after we get her body back!!! i dont want to whip her to make her move faster thats mean :(

you know how hostage negotiators are trained to introduce themselves and get to know the person theyre negotiating with because its harder to hurt someone when you know what their favorite food is? its kinda like that, because it feels like im helping a friend than being told or led to do smth

and although i havent played scarvi myself, i feel an attachment to koraidon and miraidon even just watching playthrough clips because its like!! thats my weird scaly dog!! it loves sandwiches and we're friends!!! you know!!!!!!

[daseiins]

Hi I love strange, sad conjurers SO much can you tell me more about Dorian please<3

YES ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!!!

Dorian’s a total nepo baby who got into Ravenwood because his parents are rich from producing weapons for the Marleybone army and it only kind of shows

He’s got the worst rbf and very rarely talks to people unless they speak to him first, which is super convenient because he works in the Wizard City library to have access to the good textbooks

His boyfriend Lance is his exact opposite in every way—a loud, energetic and friendly storm wizard that everyone seems to know about—but they make it work, especially when they’re fighting together

I also think he rides horses with his two younger sisters. His parents definitely have a ranch property in Avalon or Wallaru or something

Speaking of his little sisters, as the scion of bartleby he’s constantly telling them *not* to be like him. Post graduation his only advice to his sisters going to Ravenwood was to take more classes so Ambrose can’t send you on “extracurricular adventures”

I think him and Cyrus get along well after Dorian grows out of the Gifted Kid Anxiety™️ and they definitely have tea and talk shit together

[pianapplez]

Been watching cunk on earth but I’ve also had pjo brainrot for the last 4 months so

[basaltdelta]

I just finished full metal alchemist and im literally not normal at all. I havent drawn fanart in so long but im about to crack and do it anyways

I need something Alphonse centric, like, im obsessed with living your formative years in a suit of armor and how much that ingrains into you and your habits in a way that I can't find anything focusing on. Do you think he still ducks under doorways too much? do you think he reaches for things and misses or misjudges how large his hand will be? Like how used is he to just Letting Himself bump into things, or vice versa- being extremely careful not to break anything.

I'm Extremely Transgender so maybe its the transhumanism love in me talking when I wonder these things

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

I did read the recent chapter, sorry for the bad question- I was worried I might’ve been misreading or missing some of it- so (no spoilers!) I was hoping to go over it. Sorry, again. I didn’t phrase it very well, and one of the things I was questioning was like. Them bringing up how willing he was to go to the library, how he brought up drowning-

I wanted to check to see if my conclusion I reached with them thinking he was possibly suicidal was just. Me misreading it. Badly.

While the temptation to ask about their direct thoughts because I’m nosy is there- I had not intended it, or asking for spoilers. Once again I am sorry.

oh nonono no worries, you did nothing wrong, i was mostly just confused hahah your question does make sense with that in mind!

as for their thoughts then, with no spoilers, guizhong did have like a flash of a thought that he might be because y'know xiao did say the man offered to literally kill himself. but she was more like wait what? is he-? no. no that makes no sense, i've never gotten the vibes- but then again you never know, do you? and then xiao did say no, he didn't think he was. so ultimately neither came out that convo thinking zhongli was suicidal, but they DID take away that he's oddly apathetic about his mortality what with the library and the 'casual about his own drowning' situation. so like-

i wouldn't say they think he's suicidal? more like they're pretty sure he's not, but at the same time, if he isn't, then what the fuck is going on there like why is he so unbothered. so they're more like... confused, on how he treats his mortality like it's any other random topic

they're basically in shock about zhongli's 'when the door opens its time to leave' mentality lmao

as for the other things, on the childe situation none of them actually think he was married to the man, guizhong just said that as a joke. they're just wondering if it's possible he might've known him before, and maybe even liked him back then, too

and for qiqi, they've got no clue. xiao might know zhongli didn't know what a phone or a motorbike was called, and while that does raise some questions in his mind, zhongli did also say he was a machine tester and he does also not seem to (outwardly) struggle with any tech. so xiao (and the others) don't know that he's not from a modern reality, hence xiao thinking zhongli might've seen a photo of qiqi. i mean photos do exist in teyvat but y'know what i mean.

[bayofwolves]

how did abeke take care of her braids when the team was on a mission is what i want to know

[annamaryllis]

I would like to know exactly how luke asking annabeth to run away with him went down.