#because of course i’m a completionist

[kerto-p]

i’ve downloaded the scans for the next doujin ima translate but…. someone needs to pull me away from persona 3 reload…..

[brekkie-e]

I think the reason that the lack of multi-dimensional relationships within the party, and for Tav, is eating away at me so much recently is because it’s significantly affecting BG3’s replayableness for me. It’s a huge game, and I’m ever guilty of taking a completionist approach. Now, there are many branching narratives in BG3 which means there’s endless new content to explore by taking different approaches. Personally though, that’s not quite enough of a reason for me to want to keep revisiting a story. I don’t feel compelled to replay hundreds of hours worth of content just to see what happens to Sazza if you rescue her in Act 1 instead of leaving her in the cage. But if I’m invested in a story and the characters in it- I will replay a game 10,000 times just to rewatch my oc become ride or die besties and trauma bond with their companion. Thinking of Liara’s relationship with an unromanced Sheperd in ME3. Tali declaring herself Tali’zorah vas Normandy?? Gut wrenching. Garrus taking you out on a friend date and making fun of your go to catch phrase in the process? Iconic. Varric writing Cassandra a book to bury the hatchet between them? Unforgettable. Solas and Varric co-parenting a kid together? Can’t get enough of it. Those are the interactions that keep me coming back to replay a game over and over again. Seeing the effect my character has on the lives of their friends, and the effect their friends has on them. Absolutely, I adore the romance aspects of these kinds of rpg’s. It is also a reason I will replay a game. But I don’t want to replay a game as massive as BG3 if the only real significant connection my character develops during it is with their love interest. There’s too many hours that have to be invested to just be playing for a couple of scenes with their boo.

Same goes for trying different romances! If I want to try out the game taking a different approach, and exploring a different character’s romance- I’m dedicating a significant amount of time just to get a handful of scenes over the course of the entire game that focus on an emotional connection for my character. If replaying the game with a different oc meant that I could explore their friend dynamics differently as well? Heck yeah. But as it stands, it just feels like you pick your romance option and then have to stand awkwardly while you’re surrounded by acquaintances who want to bang you.

[one-squash-one-end]

An unhinged recap of Ronan's homosexuality

Hi! This once again belongs to my big Raven Cycle analysis, click here for the masterpost.

Again, there's not much room for speculation here, but i had to write it for completionist purposes. I apologize for certain metaphores used, for the most part when I was writing this I was going through it (brain was fried).

Here u go (also spoilers for Greywaren)

d) Ronan Lynch

Next to Adam, Ronan is the only other canonically queer person in the Gangsey. A flaming homosexual with a car fetish (because there was something unbelievably sexy about cars at night). Ronan is the original Be Gay, Do Crime. (Adam is the Be Crime, Do Gay to that.)

You get the gist; he is seriously involved with one guy but used to have some bits of self discovery (not only on the topic of his sexuality) with another, which ended because that guy kidnapped his brother because despite being gay, Ronan unbelievably was not into him. I’m sorry, I really do not want to dissect the entirety of Pynch in here, that would go way too far and I bet there are so many people who could do and have done this better than I ever could, so I’ll stick to elaborating some more on how we find out that he is gay, considering I think he doesn’t say the word until Call Down The Hawk.

In the first book, Ronan does not get a pov, maybe because Maggie needed some more time to figure out how to make a character subtly and thirst over another character in a secret and homosexual way. Still we get some small hints, based on conversations with other characters, or just his behavior in general.

Gansey: “From now on I need all of us to be straight with one another” Ronan: “I’m always straight” Adam: “oh man that’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told” This, of course, is legendary. Ronan is gay, he jokes about it, Adam knows it. I genuinely cannot tell whether Ronan had come out to his friends, whether he just did it through jokes like this etc. If the latter is the case, I honestly doubt that Gansey would have known, as oblivious as he is.

We also have the case study of Declan and his Ashleys. Ronan seems to despise the heterosexual standards that his brother portrays, but it is not clear whether that’s because of heterosexuality, or because of Declan, because let’s be honest, in book one, Ronan would hate, absolutely hate, anyone Declan dates out of principle, because Declan’s just a bitch, or a manwhore, as Gansey would say.

Then it gradually all becomes very much obvious in The Dream Thieves. We got the parallels with religion, his nightmares (his night horrors/self-hate maybe being because of internalized homophobia?) and of course the secrets. The secrets you keep from yourself, the very obvious metaphor. Plus Kavinsky literally calls him the f-slur. You will very easily pick up on that if you’re not as oblivious as I was when I first read the book (I was in my Declan Lynch era with a tummy-ache ok?), but it is explicitly resolved in the epilogue. There is no more room left for ambiguity, thank you Maggie for ending the queer speculation yourself, within the book.

Then there’s gender, of course there’s gender. Gender is like Tad Carruthers, just always materializing out of nowhere, especially when you just want to stay away from it because it’s fake and a massive bitch.

Ronan definitely identifies as male, but if you look at this a certain way he is somehow trans or defies the entire concept of gender either way, considering he is a supernatural being, spirit, entity, that was just socialized as a boy. Ronan is like Cabeswater, or Lindenmere, which both don’t have a gender, obviously, they are forests. The Greywaren is often referred to as an “it”, which makes sense when people don’t know the Greywaren is human, but something about the entire thing smells very trans rights to me. Also that eldritch horror, not quite human at all,  jumble of dark matter thing in Greywaren was just so gender of him.

Ronan would wear a crop top, there’s no doubt to me.

[febuwhump]

leap year edition

Q: what is febuwhump?

A: febuwhump is a prompt challenge during february, in which creators try to fill one prompt a day, as guided by the official prompt list, in whatever creative way they wish

Q: what is whump?

A: it’s when you put a character in emotional or physical hurt. can be to any extent

Q: do i HAVE to create whump?

A: i’m not gonna come to your home and make you create whump, no. ‘whump’ is in the title of the event and it’s a whump-centric challenge but if that’s not inspiring to you or going to help you be creative then forget it and do what works best for you. challenge yourself how you want to and let febuwhump be the guide, not the law

Q: how do i win febuwhump?

A: officially, you can become a completionist by producing or posting 29 unique whump-themed works over the 29 days of february. you do not have to aim to win febuwhump if you don’t want to, and if you are not aiming to win, you do not have to follow all the rules, because at that point who cares

Q: can the 29 unique works be chapters to one fic?

A: yes

Q: can the 29 unique works be in any order?

A: no, please follow the day order as given to the best of your ability

Q: can the 29 unique works actually be less than 29 unique works because i blend a bunch of prompts together for one day or something else along these lines that directly contradicts the explained definition of febuwhump?

A: no

Q: can i complete febuwhump in tandem with other events?

A: yeah like what do i care, of course you can

Q: how do i inform you that i have won?

A: there will be a google forms link made available during the month of february. you have until march 3rd to fill it in

Q: how do i prove that i’ve won?

A: you don’t have to. this is an honour system and if you fill out the form, i will believe you. however, there will be a completionist badge you can use to post with your masterlist to show everyone else that you’ve won

Q: what are the exact requirements for the hall of fame?

A: the exact requirements are as follows:

you must have completed 29 sections/chapters/works/projects etc. inspired by 29 unique prompts and posted/produced them over the 29 days of february

you may combine prompts so long as there are still 29 unique prompts for 29 sections/works

this means that you can combine a core prompt and an alt prompt

or two core prompts, so long as an alt prompt replaces one of them

you must inform the blog by the 3rd of march that you completed febuwhump or your name will not feature in the hall of fame.

Q: am i allowed to–

A: you can do literally whatever you want, in any medium you want

Q: even–

A: yes even that

Q: what about–

A: that too

Q: really? anything at all?

A: if you want to win, follow the rules as explained. if you don’t actually care, do whatever you want. i will not stop you. i am not your mother

Q: can you give me extra ideas for prompts?

A: no! i’ve provided 39 prompts already, so i’m not really in the position to be creating extra lists for specific tropes right now. if you need help with specific prompts (such as not understanding what one means or could possibly involve/be in reference to) then i’ll do my best to help - but i’m only one person and i don’t really have the time or effort to be giving extra ideas right now

Q: how do i add my fics to the archiveofourown.org collection?

A: the ao3 collection will be open from february 1st to compile all ao3 works. you do not have to have completed all 29 days of febuwhump to submit - any and all febuwhump works are welcome there, but the cut off date is march 5th - the collection will be closed from then.

you can add fics as you’re posting or after they’ve been posted by using the ‘collection’ bar on the creation page. all you have to do is type in the name of the collection: febuwhump_2024. do not wait for the drop down menu, it will not show the name. press post and it will be included in the collection.

febuwhump 2021 collection can be accessed here

febuwhump 2022 collection can be accessed here

febuwhump 2023 collection can be accessed here

febuwhump 2024 collection can be accessed here

Q: i have literally any other question

A: check the rules and previous posts and asks and if your specific question isn’t answered, feel free to send an ask. if it has been answered before, and especially recently, i will not answer. please go looking, thanks

[quailheart-fr]

Ever since I joined Flight Rising back in June of 2014, my biggest goal became to complete the Bestiary. Call it the completionist in me who loves to Catch Them All, I prioritized this over anything else in the game.

But, because of the Boolean, Kickstarter Familiars, and rapid price increase of the Sprites and Downtime Familiars, I gave up on the idea that I would ever have a truly “complete” bestiary, instead wanting to go for literally everything else. And I came pretty close several times, but always held back by something, usually the two big bosses of the Golem Workshop.

Then, Flight Rising added HER. Fiona. A new Trading Post NPC who would give new recolors of familiars as rewards for Awakening their default counterparts, and the ability to bond with 8 randomly selected familiars a day... including familiars you don’t own; in fact, familiars you don’t own have an increased chance of popping up.

With this update, they also changed the Bestiary and made it so any Awakened Familiar, owned or not, will be colored in. Owning it would add a star background, but on the bestiary itself, it considers them as “Discovered”.

So of course, I had a new goal, which was to have a filled out Bestiary, every Familiar “Discovered”, with every entry colored in. This dream started to become a reality for me when the very first familiar I don’t own Awakened, and it was, of all things, Boolean. I eventually Awakened all the familiars I don’t believe I will ever own, including the expensive Bosses which gave me Fiona’s recolor.

Just recently, near the end of last year, I decided to go on a shopping spree and buy familiars from recent Venue Updates, and try my best to bond with Familiars every day to get the Fiona Recolors I didn’t own. It didn’t take long before the Regal Bladebearer became the very final Familiar I needed, keeping my Bestiary with a Undiscovered Tab of (1).

It got closer and closer. I really hoped they wouldn’t drop a new Venue Update. I wanted to just once see Undiscovered (0) in my Bestiary. And, on Wednesday, I Awakened my Bladed Boa. But I still had two more days to go for the Serrated Snake. And today, I finally did it. I Awakened it, grabbed my Regal Bladebearer from Fiona and, according to the game itself, have a filled out Bestiary, and have completed my long-term goal of this site from the last 9 Years.

I’m so in shock that I actually don’t know what I want to do next in this game. I don’t know if I want to bother saving for the Workshop Bosses or just finally focus on my Dragons for once. This is incredible to me.

[heyclickadee]

Tech’s Alive, Part 7: Potential Visual Symbolism (cw warning for more discussions of character death)

Okay, so, several things before I start off. One, this isn’t really anything new. This is just about the blaster hole in the train car window and the “wings” that seem to appear in the clouds as Tech falls. Pretty much everyone’s pointed out the second of those things already (including me, in a post I wrote a couple of days after “Plan 99″ aired, when I really was still in denial and grasping at anything I could to prove to myself that Tech was alive), and I’m pretty sure I saw someone post about the first one, too, but I haven’t been able to find it. But these two things do a kind of neat thing if you take them together, so I figured I may as well write another one of these.

Second, I actually really want to write a post about foreshadowing and all the times Tech was connected to survival or got into a deadly situation and inexplicably got out of it alive this season, but I sort of want to do a full season two watch-through before writing it. Unfortunately, I’m kind of a filthy completionist and can’t just start with season two, and I just barely restarted season one, so it’s going to be a hot minute before I get to it.

And three, I guess--this is kind of me going back to standing in front of a conspiracy board and gesturing at it with a tin foil hat in hand. 

But! Anyway! 

In the moment where Tech falls, we get not one, but two little pieces of potential visual symbolism which may indicate Tech’s survival. The first of these is, of course, the part in the clouds on either side of Tech, which resembles nothing so much as a pair of black wings jutting out from his shoulders. 

Now, this is a visual motif connected to making life out of death, survival, and freedom that was introduced back in “The Outpost” with the ice vulture and Crosshair, but I’m not sure it doesn’t apply to Tech, too. Tech, like Crosshair, is repeatedly connected to the idea of survival over the course of the season. I’ve been mulling over a whole post about this, but this season sees the two of them undergo parallel (still ongoing) arcs in which they have to reevaluate their own self-image as soldiers, and both of them, in the moments they’re each linked to the ice vulture imagery, ends up making a definitive, sacrificial choice very likely to get them killed, for the sake of someone else. For Crosshair, that’s the choice to refuse to go along with the Empire and kill Nolan as vengeance for Mayday; for Tech, that’s shooting the connection on the rail car and allowing himself to fall so that the others could get away. Neither of them completely expects to walk away from those choices. The difference in the end result (so far) is that we’ve already seen that Crosshair survived, even if surviving is brutal at the moment. We’re sort of just waiting to see that with Tech. 

Furthermore, even though Crosshair is definitely THE ice vulture--I’m not going to argue that point--I’m going to come back to Mayday’s use of the plural when he talks about them: “Vicious creatures, but you have to admire ‘em. They find a way to survive.”  

Mayday’s use of the plural here is actually kind of striking, because I think we only ever see one ice vulture over the course of that entire episode. It’s a large, solitary creature, covering a wide territory, and it could be the same one Mayday’s seen the entire time he was stationed at Barton-5. But the use of the plural (and the way that things work) means that there are others elsewhere, so that even though Crosshair is the character most clearly connected to them and especially to the one we actually see on screen, Tech could potentially be another one. 

Because here’s the other thing; Crosshair and Tech don’t just have parallel arcs. They’re actually a lot alike, in a lot of ways. They’re both brilliant, calculating, ruthless in the sense that they can both see the most direct way to get something done, whether it’s moral (usually Crosshair) or safe (usually Tech); they can both come across to people who don’t know them well as standoffish or even cold, but they both love very deeply and affectionately, in their own ways, and would give anything for the people they love, whatever the cost to themselves; they’re both incredibly sarcastic and refuse to sugarcoat things; and they both deal with everything very privately. They’re not exactly the same, of course. Tech is a chatterbox (a lot of the time) while Crosshair hardly ever speaks, and Crosshair spends every second on screen EMOTING EVERYWHERE ALL the TIME, while Tech’s facial expressions are much subtler. Everything Crosshair knows has made him cynical and bitter, while everything Tech knows has made him curious and kind. And, of course, Crosshair is incredibly pragmatic and usually not thinking about the morality of any given situation; Tech is pragmatic as well, but usually refuses to set morality aside. (And that’s all honestly way oversimplifying it BUT this is getting a little long.) But they are enough alike that I think the ice vulture connection can apply to Tech, too(1), and that the apparent visual connection in this moment in “Plan 99″ isn’t totally off base. Meaning that the, “They find a way to survive,” bit could and probably does apply to him(2). 

The second bit of visual symbolism in this scene is actually the blaster hole that Tech himself put through the window of the train car when he shot the connection hinge. If, say, the S&P department told the Bad Batch production team that they absolutely couldn’t show Tech’s body on screen or use any equivalents, like a crushed helmet or a body bag, or if the production team really did just want to use the goggles instead of anything more definitive, a really clean visual way they could have solidified Tech’s death would have been to have that blaster hole pass over Tech, either over his head or his chest, and then stay centered on him as he fell. It would be a sort of visual shorthand saying that Tech’s shot--the shot that cut the connection hinge--would also ultimately be the shot that killed him, or lead to his death at the very least. And we do actually see the blaster hole in the shot where Tech falls. It comes fairly close to him, but 

it just barely grazes his left hand. Not over his head, not centered over his chest as he’s falling, just momentarily passing the end of a limb(3).  (Aaaaaand the tin foil hat really starts to come out).

Now, not every single thing we see on screen is deliberate. Sometimes there are animation mistakes, and there are certainly concessions to budget. But the animation mistakes we tend to see are usually of a certain kind. Take, for example, Echo’s kama randomly appearing and disappearing from shot to shot in “Cornered,” or Hunter’s scarf doing the same during either “Pabu” or “Tipping Point.” Usually what’s happened there is either someone keying or turning the visibility of that piece of geometry off while they’re animating the character, and then forgetting to turn it back on again, and no one catching it until after the shot gets back from render. And there are rendering and compositing errors; I think there’s one shot from season one where you can actually see Tech’s goggles through his head, which was probably either a problem with render layers in maya or later on in compositing. And errors like that are usually not enough of a reason to re-render a scene. Rendering is expensive in terms of computer power and takes a good long while, especially if you’re rendering using arnold (which I think Lucasfilm Animation does--they don’t use redshift, as far as I know, but I could be totally wrong). 

Stuff like this, however--where Tech is in this shot in relation to everything else--is usually more about staging and layout, something that’s usually decided back in the storyboard phase and solidified during animatics. And given just how much happens in the background of this show, the staging on The Bad Batch is usually pretty deliberate. It doesn’t mean that the blaster hole missing Tech is 100% on purpose, but it does make it far more likely that it is. Same goes for the black wings in the clouds. 

Now, of course, even if the staging is deliberate, which I think it is, that doesn’t necessarily mean that either of these visual cues are meant to symbolize anything. I’m mostly just saying that they could and that that’s a possible way to read the scene. Taken together, these two visual cues could potentially be signaling that Tech will ultimately find a way to survive (like the ice vulture), so even though he might come very close to death, and may even brush it for a moment, it's going to pass him by (like the blaster hole).

1: Okay, you know what? It’s all of them. Crosshair’s THE ice vulture, but the “Vicious creatures, but you have to admire ‘em,” is all of them. After seeing what they can do when they’re not holding back in “The Summit,” “vicious creatures” absolutely applies to all of them, as far as I’m concerned.  

2: Also, I’m sorry, but the silhouette of the ice vulture looks like the Marauder and when I think of the Marauder, I think of the whole batch, sure, but I especially think of Tech.  

3: More fodder for the “Tech comes back, but definitely not unscathed” theories? Maybe. 

[mishaloveclub]

here’s the very first scene in my rewrite of desert duo’s time in third life because i do not have a completionist bone in my body and i may never end up posting or even finishing the whole thing

(first 700 words of guilty, not remorseful)

The explosion leaves behind remnants of fibre and vines, a sizable crater, and the sickly smell of singed skin.

A dreadful silence weighs heavy upon those who had witnessed it, had witnessed lively green eyes grow dull as Scar’s body slumped amidst the upturned dirt and smoke. They all stare in shock at the aftermath, exchanging uncertain glances as Grian remains frozen, blinking rapidly, eyes unfocused.

A shocked laugh, almost winded, forces its way up from Grian’s throat.

He has taken a life, lured a man to his death, and all he can do is laugh.

The air only remains still for a moment longer before everyone else finds themselves laughing too, unable to help themselves.

It’s an entirely absurd situation. One moment, Grian had a creeper hot on his tail, pressing a finger to his lips as he met Etho’s eye with a cheeky grin, and the next, Scar’s body was laid burnt and lifeless in a ditch.

Grian watches Scar’s fallen body flicker as it regenerates, vanishing from the crater and leaving nothing but a flattened patch of earth in its wake. It’s only then that the guilt rushes in, pushing aside any amusement as Grian realises the gravity of what exactly he has done.

He has stolen the life of a man who has offered him nothing but friendship and kindness. Torn it from his giving hands with a maniacal grin and the audacity to claim it as ‘a joke’.

The chatter dulls down as Scar reappears at the village outskirts and it seems that no one knows quite what to expect from him: anger, possibly. Or a sense of betrayal or revenge. Grian would even understand tears, grieving the life that had been so cruelly taken from him.

And yet Scar does nothing but smile at Grian with wary eyes, eyes that now shine a striking golden colour.

“Scar, I’m so sorry.” The apology bubbles up from Grian’s chest, voice softened with laughter as he takes a careful step towards Scar.

He makes no move to step away, a shocked laugh of his own escaping his lips, breathless yet forgiving, “I know you didn’t mean to.”

Grian’s smile drops at that, mouth falling agape as Scar’s attention is almost immediately drawn away from him.

Because Scar doesn’t know that. He doesn’t know what Grian’s intentions had been - good or bad - and yet he believes wholeheartedly in his innocence. It’s a level of trust that Grian truly does not think he deserves.

Conversation continues amidst the rest of the onlookers, Scar brushing off any implication of hard feelings, lighthearted jokes being made as the panic is pushed aside. Grian, however, has grown quiet, watching Scar laugh and jest as he always does, as though the guilt that has settled in Grian’s stomach isn’t threatening to consume him from the inside out.

Scar catches his eye after an excruciating minute, his lips tugging into a frown as he approaches, “Grian, it’s okay-”

“Let me talk to you for a moment,” Grian interrupts, his voice soft as he takes a gentle hold of Scar’s forearm.

He begins to tug Scar away from the crowd, to which he is happy to comply, following after Grian as they reach a more secluded area where their conversation will be out of the prying eyes and ears of the others.

“Scar, I’m so, so sorry.” Grian whispers, carefully scanning Scar’s face, his fingers still wrapped loosely around his arm.

“I already told you: it’s fine.” Scar chuckles, a well-meaning attempt to lighten the mood.

Grian takes in a long, calculated breath and in a spur-of-the-moment decision, entirely unplanned, he drops to one knee and bows his head in front of Scar, his next words altering the course of his time in this world forever.

“I took your first life, so I therefore owe you mine.”

Scar blinks at him, bewildered, “What?”

Grian lifts his gaze to look up at Scar, unsure of how else to prove his sincerity.

“I feel awful for what I’ve done, accidental or not, I killed you, Scar… So I vow my first life to you. I am in your service and at your side, “ There’s a momentary pause, “if you’ll have me.”

A slow, understanding smile paints itself on Scar’s lips, “So you’ll dig the sand… With me?”

“I’ll do anything you want me to do.”

And so it begins.

[7classyantiquestores]

I made the (possibly questionable, considering proximity to the Elden Ring DLC) decision to start playing through Inquisition again, just to get my memory refreshed before Veilguard comes out (further questionable because I rarely buy games on launch anyways but whatever lol).

Long and the short of it, I decided to just focus on the main story this time (instead of clearing the majority of the side content like my first time), and I am stunned how much better the story and overall experience is. Like, there is so much bloat in this game that could have been cut out, leaving more time and budget for the core game.

It’s a pretty transformative experience, because I borderline hated this game the first time. I pressed to the end, because I’m completionist to a fault, but I found myself entirely unable to understand what people liked about it. The story felt stale and scattered, the main quests felt like an afterthought (and were often too easy due to my being overlevel), and the bulk of work (ie side quests) my Inquisitor did was boring, repetitive, and poorly justified within the context of the story.

But by ignoring any quest that the main plot doesn’t put me in the direct path of, I’m actually kind of getting it this time, which is crazy to me. I also played a character that was more tailored to the story (a human Faithful rather than a diplomatic but ultimately agnostic dwarf), which is also helping. I think they clearly had a kind of story they wanted to tell, but nearly destroyed it (to my eyes anyways) by weighing it down it with unnecessary extra content. But there’s some really good stuff in there, if you sweep away all the bloat. It’s still not a perfect game, of course. But no game is perfect, and I do really think the things I have gripes with would have been given a bit more love if the team didn’t be stuck with the impossible task of turning a tight story-driven tactics-based RPG into a huge open-world action RPG. I really hope that BioWare learns from this (and from their stumbles with Andromeda and Anthem, not to mention), and return to form with Veilguard. Tight, focused, narrative-driven RPG. Not being everything to everyone, just doing a couple things very well. This is what BioWare has always been good at, and above everything else (including my precious logic-based tactics system lol), that’s what I hope to see them do in Veilguard.

TLDR; if you ever bounced off Inquisition but feel the urge to try again with the approaching release of Veilguard, I recommend giving it a shot, with the following advice: 1) Ignore everything in the game that didn’t come up along the path of a main quest, unless it actually sound narratively significant (sorry farmer with the missing druffalo, I’ve got a world to save). 2) Beyond that, I advise trying a human or elf PC, and be either Faithful (meaning to believe in Andraste, not necessarily fully embracing the Herald title if you don’t want to) or else be really into the Dalish stuff (mainly if you’re an elf). That’ll make your character actually feel meaningfully integrated in the main story. It’s made a big difference for me, anyways.

[gutterballgt]

So I did a thing.

A weird and expensive thing. Let me explain.

No. There is too much. Let me sum up.

I’ve always wanted to go to a big fandom conference, just once. I know it’s too much (not to mention too expensive) to ever go again, but I always wanted to go the once. Experience all the things. ComicCon San Diego was my dream con, but I knew that one was out of reach. And all the local ones (I live in the middle, where there’s practically nothing) are small-time and not worth the money unless you’re just REALLY into the thing you’re going to see. Like Pacific Rim, which had no cons anywhere even remotely near here.

So I figured it was a bucket list tick that might never get checked off. No big, right?

Fast forward to Season 14 of Supernatural. I heard they were finally ending the series in the 15th season and thought, “Hey, they’re actually getting to wrap it up right instead of being cancelled. Maybe I should finally watch it.”

Yes. I didn’t start watching Supernatural until the last season was in the works. Sue me. Those TV bastards have burned me too many times on too many cut-off series, okay?

So I started watching and then... COVID hit. They stopped filming. The bastards got me anyway, dammit.

And then, after they started filming again, I found out how the show actually ended and balked. HARD. I’d already watched enough to know who was my favorite lead character, and I was not pleased. What was even the point? Why did I start this, anyway?

So I struggled through Season 7 (my least favorite except for all the Dick jokes and the introduction of Charlie), enjoyed the Mark of Cain and Demon!Dean and, of course, Rowena, etc. etc. But by about Season 13 or so, it started being so unrelentingly grim that I eventually stopped watching about halfway through 14. Especially knowing how it ended, I was just burnt out. Couldn’t do it.

Fast forward again to earlier this year. I’ve had a lot of big changes this year, as I mentioned a while ago. New job, new house, new insurance (which meant running out of my meds because it didn’t kick in fast enough to cover the gap, which meant me having a very bad month in there somewhere). In all the hubbub, I got to wondering about that last season of Supernatural.

I’m not a completionist. I’m really not. But I hate leaving something I’ve invested so much time in unfinished. I wasn’t a superfan or anything, but I do like the characters and the monster-of-the-week format and most of the overarching storylines, etc. It’s solid entertainment, and one hell of an accomplishment to have lasted that long and still have such a huge fandom.

So I went back to the beginning and started over. And this time, I got all the way through.

I won’t talk about the ending. It is what it is.

But because I just watched it again, my Instagram feed has been filled with Supernatural ads and posts, and I saw that there’s a Supernatural con in Austin, TX in August 2024.

Austin isn’t THAT far away. It’s the closest one all year, anyway. Driving distance, even.

And there was a sale on all ticket purchases before the weekend.

And I’ve always wanted to go to a con.

So I slept on it, then did the thing. I bought a ticket to go to a Supernatural con in 2024. I’M GOING TO A CON. FINALLY.

I’m trying not to be too excited too fast. It’s a long way off. Over a year. And I’ll have to miss the July writer’s con next year because I don’t want to take off too much time at the new job, even though I’ll have been there over a year by then.

But I’m still pretty stoked. I’m going to a con.

It’s not Pacific Rim, but it’ll do.

[wordsandrobots]

Have I obligated myself to have a ‘take’ on Witch From Mercury? I mean, I’ve posted pieces concerning every main Gundam anime thing I’ve watched except Cucuruz Doan's Island (because I have nothing to *say* about Cucuruz Doan's Island except that hearing Lucian Dodge voice Amuro is a *trip* for an Iron-Blooded Oprhans’ fan, let me tell you). In my own head at least, this creates the completionist urge to note something down now G-Witch is over. And hey, I believe in exorcising nagging thoughts so why not? Spoilers and unfavourable opinions ahead. In fact, I’m going to use a cut because this show seems popular around here and  I’m not monster enough to rain on anyone’s parade about it.

It’d be nice to say, ‘basically fine for what it is but not my thing’. The problem is, I’m not sure I can say that, having found it so unbearably messy to watch. It could be my peculiar brain wiring that makes it frustrating to have a story constantly introduce stuff that neither goes anywhere nor coheres especially well with itself if you stop and think about it for five minutes. But it does feel like this would have been vastly improved by cutting something -- anything -- to make some room for thrust of the main plot.

I have a specific beef with the lack of characterisation for A(Eri)al. We are *told* how much Suletta cares for her and how crucial that relationship is through the first season, and of course it’s vital to the struggles and resolution of season two. But it’s hard to point to an example prior to Suletta’s little vision-quest-slash-being-dumped escapade where they interact in a meaningful fashion. It seems extremely one-sided and I’m not sure how intentional that is. This loops around to a complaint about sloppy world-building (a school is the perfect setting to introduce concepts to be later expanded or subverted and the show resolutely Does Not Do That), but is a more significant matter since we’re talking about emotional beats. You know, the things that actually drive a story along.

And look, anything that gets me saying ‘show don’t tell’ has already stretched my patience thin. But it would have been so simple to have included more moments of Suletta pouring her heart out to her Gundam -- with the interface responding in some inscrutable fashion -- I find it genuinely baffling that didn’t happen in place of, I dunno, the Jeturk family drama.

Oh, speaking of which, second beef: if you are placed in the situation where you need to displace a bunch of ‘traditional Gundam story beats’ on to a pseudo-rival/protagonist character, maybe consider . . . just not hitting those beats? (I know, this is a long-running franchise, this is how it goes, executive meddling etc. That doesn’t make it less irritating to have it all culminate in an out-of-nowhere fencing match in reference to a 40-year-old fight scene when the objectively correct way of resolving a plot about arbitrary and unfair systems of rules is with rock-paper-scissors.)

It’s a shame there’s the germ of a neat idea in that concept of displacement, because Guel feels like the part that could have been most easily jettisoned to create space. The Elans have emotional heft as an explicit parallel to Suletta, Elan-5′s relationship with Norea being a vital example of the ‘love me, flaws and all’ refrain at the heart of the story. But Lauda and Guel having a barney in the middle of finale feels egregious and like it only exists to get an extra Gundam into play (an entirely arbitrary requirement). Though I suppose the fact I barely remembered to mention Shaddiq here also speaks to something else that didn’t really resonate or seem to go anywhere in particular.

Here is where you can fill in for yourself the long list of complaints about the show raising issues it doesn’t care about doing justice to. War-profiteering, the traumatising effects of violence, possibilities of future medical technology, corporate influence on geopolitics, social inequality, refugee crises, yadda yadda yadda. G-Witch doesn’t have anything to say about any of these things. It’s a family drama and that really is fine, if that’s the story it wants to tell. It’s about the doings of the privileged (those literally raised on high) and their tribulations are the focus over and above harm to anyone else. It is what it is. I could whine for days about this stuff, but it’s no worse than you’d find in many pieces of comparable media. Cherish the exceptions.

To say something nice, lest you think all I have are complaints, this show is beautifully animated throughout (I did find the action inside the data-storm hard to follow, owing to the lighting choices, but I think that’s a me thing) and very well directed. The mecha designs are solid, even if we were robbed of more touches like the rocket broomstick. For all my above grouching, Felsi coming out of nowhere with a fire-extinguisher was a fantastic, knowing way to halt Guel and Lauda’s fratricide arc. And I need to stress, the central story about Suleta, Miorine, Eri, Prospera and Delling really is fine. Not my thing and I’m way past the demographic, but on its own terms, it’s fine.

It’s just stuck in the middle of a distracting mess of half-baked concepts, meaningless call-backs and a cast suitable for an anime twice as long. It’s tempting to pin everything on that last part, to hypothesise this was going to be or should have been 50 episodes, not 24. I’m inclined to take the opposite track. I think there is a perfectly functional 24-episode story here that got stuffed with far too many moving parts for its own good.

Right, done. Where does that leave the final ‘in my opinion’ ranking? Starting from the bottom (by the way, I’m now at the ‘I flatly refuse to watch Victory Gundam’ stage so just write that one off entirely):

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (2011) [The one I actively hate]

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991) [Dull]

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (1991) [Slightly less dull]

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002) [Uninteresting]

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988) [Mean-spirited]

Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway (2021) [I intensely dislike the fight scenes]

Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island (2022) [I honestly forgot to add this]

Mobile Suit Gundam (compilation movies; 1979) [Deserves smarter call-backs]

Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989) [Good for what it is]

Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (2015) [Also good for what it is]

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Destiny (2004) [Frustrating]

Mobile Suit Gundam 00/Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer (2007/2010) [Bonkers, politically aggravating]

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985) [Interesting]

Mobile Suit Gundam: Unicorn (2010) [Well-made]

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986) [Fun but janky]

Mobile Suit Gundam the Witch from Mercury (2022) [See above]

Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994) [Delightfully committed to the bit]

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing/Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (1995/1997) [big for a reason]

Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight AXIS (2017) [Nicely done]

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2015) [Best-case scenario for fannishness]

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (2018) [Surprisingly enjoyable]

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (1996) [Bags of fun]

Gundam Reconguista in G (2014) [Pretty popcorn]

After War Gundam X (1996) [Genuinely a lot cleverer than it looks]

Turn A Gundam (1999) [Deliriously smart]

B

I

G

G

A

P

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (2015) [Actively excellent]

[chappell-roans]

The concept of an adult lady with a baby’s brain having tons of sex was uncomfortable to me

(Poor Things spoilers ahead, I’m sure.)

I’ve seen people say this and like put it that way, fair enough! Of course. It IS. But I ask a couple things. When has Yorgos Lanthimos ever made a movie with the goal of making anyone comfortable? The Killing of a Sacred Deer was one of the more uncomfortable movies I’ve ever watched, easily. The Lobster to an extent, too. I don’t think I dare touch Dogtooth, I won’t be a completionist, I guess. I actually think this bizarre movie is him at his most normal and… warm and human and caring? Also that is… kind of the point? I also think we see that she is growing everyday, she’s learning words and how to be a functioning autonomous woman, something she wasn’t in her past life. And sex is part of that, which I thought was kind of great. And she’s never apologetic. She wants what she wants and it’s clear when she doesn’t enjoy something. And she tells men. And they don’t like it. Like they like her when she’s a doll and not when she has ideas or feelings other than what they want to program her with. Like men were clearly taking advantage of her (Mark Ruffalo the entire fucking time) because of her state. And it’s fucked up. But she grows up. And drops them.

And she’d rather fucking die than give up her autonomy or pleasure. Like I think we’re to assume her brain was growing the whole time lol. I totally get not being able to get past it but I do think the way people treat her character is weird. In the real world, not the movie. (Well, there too, but that’s men.) But yeah like it’s very clear that men are constantly taking advantage of her but that she is also taking control and learning and losing her idealism but not her zest or lust for life and IDK I LOVED THE MOVIE.

[anglaoshi]

SDC fan's guide to Algger- Part 1

Sadly, Algger didn’t make it to the SDC finals. I’m sure his performance would have been bizarre and overproduced, since the finals always are, but I still would have liked to see it. As befitting his stature, he battled valiantly to the end, delivering one last surprise (krump???). I respect Algger’s indomitable spirit. Considering the SDC trajectories of his close collaborators and Hello Dance comrades, Derek and ZIV, this was as foreseeable as it is regrettable. 

SDC is a notoriously uncharitable venue for both choreographers and jazz dancers, so I’m proud of Algger for making it as far as he did! I’m so glad his talents will be shared with a wider audience because of his participation on the program. I am a bit disappointed that we never got to see the full force of Algger’s choreographic skills– perhaps his introduction dance ‘I am AngAng’ was the closest we have– but there were several very beautiful, entertaining, and successful pieces presented nonetheless. It was a delight to see Algger interact creatively with a new set of dancers, choreographers, and aesthetic sensibilities. 

The show didn’t properly appreciate Algger’s allure. But you do, don’t you, dear reader? If you liked Algger on SDC, I have compiled this handy guide to some of his other incredible choreographies. 

Slow Down → Worth It

If you loved the first group piece Algger performed alongside his Hello Dance and O-Dog comrades: You have excellent taste. This technique of matching his characteristically madcap choreography with a slower tempo of song is something that Algger has kept coming back to over the course of his career, usually to excellent effect. Most recent was his surprisingly thrilling Worth It choreography, which is all the more exciting against the languid backdrop of the music.

2022 has been such a year of revival for Algger, he’s really coming into his potential. Lucky for us! I will write thousands of words about Worth It someday, but for now, I’ll just mention that it’s a top 5 all-time best Algger piece. Everyone should see it, repeatedly, but especially if you liked his Slow Down choreography, in which he plays with some similar ideas, including elements of animation and contemporary dance. 

Close viewers will also notice several moves that appeared in Lonely Warrior, though interpreted differently, which is lovely and fascinating to watch.

Dong was also incredible in this performance. He’s really great, and he deserved much more screentime on SDC! He features in Hello Dance’s most popular video on Youtube, with Jen.

Dong has an entrancingly silky, tactile texture to his dance, which contrasts beautifully with Algger’s molten and untouchable style when they perform together. You should watch this handsome Dong choreography (featuring Algger, ZIV, and Derek!) to really experience his majesty.

I am AngAng → Remix (2019)

This introductory choreography is full of quintessential Algger features: fast tempo, thick with sound effects, lip sync, threat, and campy flirtation. If this iconic performance drew you in, you have to see Algger’s other most famous choreography, an edgy homage to his influences and collaborators, the dance/pop group Tokyo Gegegay.

There are several similar moves between the two choreographies, though the Tokyo Gegegay remix is much older, so one can also appreciate Algger’s evolution as a choreographer and dancer.

There are clawed hand details, animation-style movements, extraordinarily fast musicality, and just a touch of that bizarre sexiness that makes Yibo’s face go:

The face of a man who's feeling very heterosexual, probably

For completionists, you should really also watch this iteration of the same “I am AngAng” choreography, which is the stronger version, I think. It has more power, it’s cleaner, and the vibe overall is just better. 

Dans la maison (Thème) -> 不屑完美

I always love an Algger-ZIV joint. The two of them have such perfectly complementary aesthetic sensibilities. Horny pansexual imp + gothic gender mystery is a top-tier combination wherever it arises, and these two do it well. Of course, this performance was a bit toned down for the SDC audience and production sensibility. It was ZIV who delivered my favorite moment of the trio with Algger, ZIV, and Siwen: I love his fluttery arm wave, so delicate and light.

One of the best moments of the season, really! If you liked this collab but were hoping for a bit more charge, watch this trio dance with Algger, ZIV, and Derek. It’s sillier, bigger, more conceptually varied, and, of course, gayer. The interweaving of Algger’s ineffable details with ZIV’s long, languid power is very good in this performance. There’s also a charming group design that takes some of the same ideas of the SDC piece in a different direction.

Legend of the Demon Cat -> Black Cat

If this was your favorite of Algger’s performances on SDC: Why? Seriously, this choreography was such a heartbreak to watch. Kyoka and Algger are two of the most impressive dancers alive right now, but this collaboration was ass. Maybe you just want to see Algger dance like a cat some more? In that case, here’s a cute little cat dance.

Bonus: my favorite Kyoka battle, with her partner Maika. She’s so cool.

Les Twins are extraordinary here as well– it’s just a great battle all around.

That's where I'll leave it for part 1! Stay tuned for recs based on the rest of Algger's SDC performances, or whichever ones I feel like, in the future! I do take requests, also. :)

[masonscig]

anTiquity thursday (sorry i hopped on the train late)

i wasn’t tagged buuuuuut i just picked up an old role-swap au type of fic wip that i wrote.... 5k words on and then just abandoned it for a year and a half LMAO

context here is that mason is a human, a mechanic born and raised in wayhaven, and sofía is a visitor (and vampire) he’s trying to pipe. crazy dreams, crazy villain, crazy love story. also farah and tina are there and are dating :-)

✩✩✩

(this is the first few lines)

Laycott’s is home.

He knows the place like the back of his hand. The tear in the soft pleather in the booth closest to the sticky “employee-only” toilet, the pool table propped up by folded cardboard squares, the broken shelves in the supply closet that just won’t sit quite right (his fault, of course).

He’s been in every corner, in every seat, in every brand of liquor. 

Strangers are few and far between, especially in a small town like Wayhaven.

So when she walks through the doors and straight up to the counter with bright eyes and a gentle smile, Mason’s gut instinct is to ask for her name.

He’s nothing if but a completionist.

✩

(this is some of the last few lines i have that takes place a few days later even tho it’s also alcohol-related KMDFKMD)

“What?” He chuckles, pushing himself forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “What’s so funny?” “I don’t mean this in a rude way at all, Mason, but was that supposed to impress me?” She’s laughing so he can barely make out what she’s saying, but he definitely zeroed in on the way she said Mason (with a huge grin on her face).

“It’s my party trick.”

“You’ve gotta have something better than that.” She’s still giggling behind her hand, unimpressed by his lame talent. 

“Tough crowd,” he smiles over the lip of the bottle, tipping it back.

“Not tough, just a woman who’s seen it all.”

✩✩✩

i’m tagging some of my friends to dredge up old twc wips because i love to torture my pals for fics <3

@losingface, @veeples, @possumgeist, @natesewell, @agentdumortain, @raleighcarrera and anyone else that wants to look into ur wip graveyard :-)

[bloody-wonder]

Hello!! Talk to me about your books of the year. What did you love? What did you hate? x

thank you for the ask! :D i’m gonna use it as an opportunity for my annual book ranking post and final wrap up📚

so this year i was a good little series finisher - not only did i manage to finish or catch up with some of the series i started a long time ago (nightrunner, the locked tomb, simon snow and wayward children), i also binge read several series in the course of the year and two of those ended up being my absolute favorite books of 2022 - the queen’s thief and the murderbot diaries🤴🏾🤖🥰 (the covers of the king of attolia and network effect stand for the entire respective series. the society of gentlemen, the will darling books by kj charles and heartstopper are each represented by only one book as well). i wanted to rank more creatively this time but at the end of the day i think i enjoyed the books within each tier the same amount lol 

this was a weird reading year for me bc the direct result of deciding to prioritize the series i knew i enjoyed over starting some new ones was that while i liked most of what i read overall (my average rating according to goodreads was 3.9 which is pretty high), nothing really blew my mind :( i’m a completionist so finishing a series felt very satisfying every time, however i also realized that i need one or two books that hijack my life and become my entire personality for the year to count as a success reading-wise😅

last year i challenged myself to read more classics but managed to read only about six which is a shame, especially considering that i seem to have read lots of romance books which i didn’t even like🤦‍♀️ on the one hand i failed bc classics are so complex and intimidating and my overworked brain craves instant gratification, but on the other it was also bc i wanted to hit 1000 read books on goodreads and prioritized shorter and easier books because of this. well, i learned my lesson - there will be no romance binging and number chasing in 2023, only intellectualism and delayed gratification🧐

i succeeded in reading books in languages other than english somewhat more - but only bc i, perversely, read kj charles in french translation😂🙈 i also did lots of re-reading (the re-reads aren’t included in the tier ranking list) and buddy reading which is a superior way of experiencing books and i strongly recommend it to everyone😊

[reenvisiongame]

Side Stories + About Liza

Time to talk about a new storytelling feature, as well as a certain shopkeeper!

Development on the shop system is still going steady! In fact, if all goes well, I have plans on showing that off in depth in the coming weeks. Being a solo developer, though, my attention must remain split across many fields, one of which being the writing department (especially important, as this is a story-driven game). This leads me to something that I don’t think I’ve really mentioned before...

In ReEnvision, there’s times where the story takes a break. This is usually done to create the illusion of time passing, as well as give the player some downtime to enjoy the world at their own pace. Stop and smell the roses, all that. These breaks are called “free times” (or “free periods”, I use the terms interchangeably). During these free times, one of the ways to end them is by completing a “side story”. As the name suggests, these are basically just story-driven side quests you can do. Think of how confidants work in the Persona series, it’s similar to that, but shorter!

During these side stories, you get some lovely time to spend with one of the 9 characters who have one. Establish a bond with them. Treat them kindly and by the end of the story, maybe you’ll get a reward! Who knows?

Of course, because this is ReEnvision, there’s still a bit of a challenge to this. You see, you don’t have endless breaks. This game has 3 different routes, and different amounts of free periods are available during them. In the true/neutral routes, you have 22-24 free times. In the bad route (also called the “erased” route), you only have 12.

Now, this doesn’t sound so bad... Except every side story takes up an entire free period. Most of them are also multi-parters, and some ALSO have prerequisites, so there’s a good chance you won’t be able to complete all of them in a single run solely because you messed up the order they’re loosely done in.

The best order to do them in is... Never told to you! So there’s some fun trial and error to do as well. These free periods are also spread across every chapter, so I hope you’re good at time management, too.

Don’t stress too hard, though! Completing every side story isn’t a requirement to beat the game. Feel free to only do the ones you want (as long as they’re unlocked, of course). You don’t even have to do any of them, if you don’t want to! I wrote the main storyline under the assumption that there will be at least ONE person who ignores every single free period, so although it’s suggested you take advantage of them, you won’t be lost in the story if you decide not to.

However, I do have plans on adding steam achievements, and completing every side story will be a requirement for a few of them. So... Have fun with that :)

ANYWAY, enough about the suffering of future completionists, let’s talk Liza!

My attention this month has been split between the shop system, which uses Liza as a test subject, and Liza’s side story, which has 3 parts to it. This month has felt like a Liza Appreciation Month™ because of it. It’s about to turn into two months, though, as although my time developing the shop system will finally be ending soon, my time with Liza isn’t done yet!

In April, I will begin developing a boss fight for the game, just to see how I should go about making them in the future. I didn’t feel like making a new set of sprites just to test this with the game’s very first boss, so I decided to make use of one of the bosses that are already in the game at the moment. Can you guess who it is?

That’s right, Liza! She’s not only the game’s main shopkeeper, but also the second boss of the entire game.

This boss fight will probably take a while to develop, largely because sprites take forever to create. But when Liza’s finally in action on the arena, I’m sure it’ll be super fun to see! This year is the year that development finally starts getting exciting, and we’re only just starting >:D

[kyndaris]

Blessed Mother

The Diablo series has always had a soft spot in my heart ever since I played the second game back when I was 12 at the behest of a few school friends. Yes, it was MA15+ and I probably shouldn’t have been playing it at that age but I managed to convince my father to buy me it, one of a thousand cherished memories that I had with him, because I was already hooked on Blizzard’s other games: Warcraft and Starcraft. So began my descent into the terrifying world of Sanctuary and humanity’s quest to purge the evils that stalk its land.

Unlike its other major franchises, Diablo is an action role-playing game. Or, ARPG for short. But for many, it’s known as the one game that helps most people develop repetitive strain injury (RSI) because of the constant clicking that goes throughout the gameplay.

Diablo IV continues in this vein as very little of the core gameplay has changed. The playable character moves around by clicking the mouse to a specific spot on the map. The playable character attacks by clicking on enemies. Occasionally, one can mix it up with a variety of other skills by pressing something on the number pad.

That is, of course, if you play Diablo IV on the computer. The controls might be a little different on consoles but I’ve always found that the best way to play isometric click-heavy ARPGs on computer.

Besides, I didn’t get a heavy-duty PC just to write my stories. I mean, yes, that is the primary purpose but not the sole reason. I do use it occasionally to play video games that seem best suited for the PC. Why, just recently, I even bought an external SSD to possibly install Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield because these games require an SSD. And while my PC does have an SSD installed, since I bought my PC about five years ago, the storage on it is only about 256GB with quite a bit of it taken up by...well...normal PC function.

How was I supposed to know that game development would go towards SSD? I’m not a TECH expert with a pulse on the ground when it comes to new technology although my work colleagues think differently.

Anyways, back to the game at hand: Diablo IV.

While I was excited to re-enter the world of Sanctuary following the events of Diablo III and the interesting premise promised by the trailers regarding Lilith, it is my personal opinion that opening up the world only served to damage the game. While some might enjoy having an open world to explore, I personally found the countless cellars and dungeons repetitive. With level scaling and how quickly I managed to level up to 50, much of Diablo IV felt much the same. Especially when I’d unlocked all the skills that could fill my skill hotbar.

True, I could have respecced my character but there wasn’t much need for it with my storm wolf druid. It was an effective DPS machine and with the added ability to fortify at the end, I was essentially unkillable in the lower world tiers. Especially when I began to be level past the recommend threshold.

Open worlds, it must be said, used to be one of my favourite game builds. However, as worlds have become larger with needless collectibles to fill out the world, they have also become some of my most hated elements because I’m a compulsive explorer - always desperate to check out the next nook or cranny in case of side quests or something interesting. Diablo IV proved infuriating in this respect as it had so many side quests but no way to track the ones you’d completed except with a ?/45 on the world map. This made knowing which side quests I’d completed difficult to keep track of and figure out which ones I was still missing.

For a completionist such as myself, it was a nightmare. 

Even as I attempted to get most of the blue exclamation marks that I could find. It doesn’t help that they also only appear if you’re in that particular segment of the map, which makes it even harder to mop out unless I decided to hop between fast travel portals.

Despite this, I can see why the developers decided to go for an open world. After all, Diablo end-game (at least from 3 onwards) has always been about collecting the best gear and becoming stronger than you were before. Slap on live-service with battlepass and it’s a winning formula to become an endless grind quest. 

A part of me almost wanted to shake the developers and have them turn the franchise into a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) for it appears to be the direction that the franchise is going. Should it go down this route, I’d also be happy for it to ditch the isometric focus on the ground. 

Alternatively, Activision Blizzard, you could also scale it back down. At least for the story segments and have it opened up afterwards. I much prefer the more compact nature of Diablo II, where I was free to explore the map of the immediate area, kill all the enemies it contained and be awed by the majesty of how large the world COULD be rather than be faced with all the open space and respawning enemies. Which, also, only seem to attack the playable character rather than have any real conflict amongst themselves.

Are you honestly telling me that the demons and the snake cultists wouldn’t fight each other or the hellspawn-esque willdlife?

Honestly, I pity the people still alive on Sanctuary. It’s clear that they can get nothing done without being mobbed by an endless amount of bandits, goatmen, cultists and demons.

Yes, it works from a gameplay perspective but it SUCKS from a world-building perspective. The people of Sanctuary might as well give up and succumb to the end if all they have to look forward to is being eaten alive by cannibals that are just outside their gates.

Now, most of my readers, and friends, would know that I love myself a good story. And Diablo IV delivered it, especially at the start. Lilith’s arrival in Sanctuary was suitably chilling and the prologue with the people at Nevesk laid the ground work for what I had hoped would be an interesting throughline of the greyness that encompasses real-life morality and perhaps have the playable character struggle with the implications of ingesting Lilith’s blood.

But did we get any of that?

No. No, we didn’t.

The playable character serves as a patsy to link up the other main characters: Lorath, Donan and Nyrelle. It is never explained why the playable character is so strong, tearing through demons left, right and centre as they traipse through Estuar (the eastern continent of Sanctuary). Or how they seem able to resist the influence of Lilith’s blood in their veins. Even Lorath is amazed at their mental fortitude but it’s never truly explored. I never see my character waver in their convictions although there is a scene where they confess to Nyrelle that they have flaws.

WHERE ARE THESE FLAWS? All that the playable character does is help out those that need it and shout defiance at the demons of Hell.

I would have preferred a story with more player choice and to see us grapple with the consequences of our actions. Instead, most of the major decisions were made by other characters and the player character was simply along for the ride as the hired muscle. 

It would have been far more interesting to me if we could have chosen to follow Lilith rather than stop her and allow Mephisto to do what he will upon Sanctuary. I mean, with that ending, there is little doubt in my mind that the world will be drenched in Hatred. A rather frightening prospect although it’s no different to the world we live in today. And while we fight amongst ourselves, the world as we know it steps ever closer to the edge with climate change wreaking havoc.

Let it be known that our current civilisation was laid low by our own hubris and the fact that we had grown fat and indolent on greed that thinking to change our ways to ensure our own survival came second to materialistic objects.

But enough of the doom and gloom! Diablo IV! 

Personally, while I am fascinated with the lore of the Diablo franchise, this recent game left me wanting. I would have much preferred a more engaging story where the playable character didn’t sit on the sidelines as the other characters decided the fate of the world. In fact, I’d have rather a slow-burn corruption story where we step off the path of the lawful good and accept the lesser-evil to save Sanctuary.

Or perhaps have us turn away from the Light entirely and fight against the Heavens for their callous disregard of humans.

At this point, I probably have a corruption kink. 

Wait. What are you doing?

No. Don’t look at that!

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Okay, yes. Voldemort x Hermione Granger and Voldermort x Harry Potter are a few of the things that I like to peruse on the odd occasion. No, I won’t explain myself.

All right. Where were we? Ah, right. BALANCE!

For all its talk of balance, Diablo IV very much likes to paint things in black and white. Lilith, the Mother of Sanctuary, has an evil plan to cull the weak. As such, we must stop her even if it would open us up to the Greater Evils. Elias, because he brought the Mother back, is also evil despite his intention to save Sanctuary because of the ongoing threat.

As for the Angels, well, they’ve all apparently abandoned humanity. They might not have voted to destroy Sanctuary but they are doing nothing to combat the threat of the Greater Evils in the world. 

Tyrael, a mainstay of the last two games, is absent in Diablo IV and its difficult to understand why.

In any case, if Activision Blizzard ever saw fit to paint out a little more of the world, I would have liked to play a game where the playable character deals with the corruption of the Zakarum by Mephisto. 

Or maybe if we finally saw a few demons turn to the light. 

Why is it that angels can fall but demons remain forever in the depths of Hell?

Despite quite a few gripes regarding Diablo IV, I still enjoyed the majority of the game. My only wish was that it was more concise without so many open-world shenanigans thrown in to elongate the longevity of the game. Yes, there will be  a large group of people that will enjoy the end-game portion of it, but for those that thrive on story, the open world proves to be detrimental to one’s enjoyment. Especially when the world is so utterly grim. 

And I think the wider question that needs to be asked is if Sanctuary ought to be saved or not.