#besides it would not be a human narrator design to me if it didn't have wrinkles

[mars-ipan]

let’s be honest it was only a matter of time before i babygirlified an old man

closeups and (many) design notes under the cut :)

ok design notes time (these r mainly for the narrator bc. well. stanley has an actual physical appearance):

- while thinking of how to design the narrator i got the idea that he took one of the models in the audience for the ending where stanley gives a speech and edited it to make his “human” form

- because of this i wanted to include a bunch of little things that he “got wrong” during the process of mimicking a human. most of them get ironed out when stanley points out how weird they are but some of them stay

- to name a couple, his teeth are all flat- no canines or molars. also his little headset + glasses have nothing that actually attach them to his head. they just Are There. not to mention his interesting fashion sense of tie + turtleneck + blazer (he defends this choice no matter how much stanley laughs at him). he’s just weird enough to be slightly uncanny- it’s an imitation, not the real thing

- since i’m indecisive as hell he’s a bit of a shapeshifter. he actually doesn’t use his physical model in-game a lot and tends to just show up in things. shadows, reflective surfaces, screens, etc. even more often than that he’s just his voice

- bc he plays the guitar in the out of bounds ending i am now convinced that he can play many instruments. that little piano in the memory zone before the first review? yeah he’s there playing that in-game he’s just not visible to you

- designing his hair was SO DIFFICULT i literally went searching thru the tag for inspo and i liked so many different things. after a struggle (you can see a slicked-back attempt in the shadow idea doodle) i eventually decided on the style shown in his main drawing. every time i draw it i fight so hard to make it distinct from miles edgeworth. to make this easier the cowlicks aren’t too pronounced and the larger bang is more of a fringe. it still sometimes looks like miles edgeworth whoops

- some of my favorite fanon design things are the Line™ tie the square glasses and the little gay ass highlight so i knew i had to include them. those were my only definite choices going into this

- once again bc i’m indecisive the narrator can scale his model up or down as he pleases. he prefers to be bigger than stanley but stanley complains that it “makes his proportions weird” because he’s “short-coded” so sometimes he goes to a more human size.

- the narrator being stout just makes sense to me it’s correct in my soul (i actually think i drew him too skinny in most of these. i just didn’t wanna redraw shit bc i am tired but if/when i draw him again he will be less skinny)

- i wanted to work with shape language a lot because the narrator’s whole character is a voice- i wanted to make sure i captured the vibe of some stuffy old writer who has an undeniable silly streak. so he is squares and circles (his tie is the only triangle save for maybe the hair)

- for similar reasons stanley is squares and triangles. felt right

- speaking of stanley his soul patch is a goatee now bc i hate soul patches with a boiling passion. so now it’s a goatee

- i also gave him a little beauty mark by his right eye. i don’t know why i just knew in my heart that it was correct

- stanley uses asl and not bsl because i want to learn asl sososososo bad and this just might be the thing to get me to actually do it. he can project his thoughts to the narrator but he doesn’t like it so he almost always signs

[liketwoswansinbalance]

Do you think Rhian and Rafal are identical or fraternal? I've been having this question forever. Some think they are fraternal ( because of the covers ) but they are not accurate, and some identical because of how they are described in the books.

Me personally I feel like they are identical, but that's just my opinion, others may feel differently.

I've seen some even do identical and fraternal fanart, which is amazing by the way.

But I want know your opinion and what/how you feel about the twin description.

I feel like we didn't really get their looks described properly, only hair color, eyes and that's about it.

Also how tall do you think they are?.

I already think they are a certain height, but others may disagree.

They are described as ' Tall ' but have no specific height.

Thank you for your time.

My stance is that I see them as fraternal in coloring but identical in facial structure, features, and overall physique and stature.

With the fanart, most of it that I've seen has been fraternal, especially with their complexions and hair. I suspect that a decent portion of the identical art might've existed before the publication of Rise, given that the ghost's human appearance (before he became a ghost swan) looked like Rafal's, so the prevailing assumption at the time could've been that the twins were identical, until the prequels' covers and descriptions overturned that.

And once, we only had the singular illustration of them together in book one, prior to the prequels, to go off of. Though, given the identity twist in Fall, I would say the representation of the twins in that sculpture in Evil's mural could've been unreliable. Who knows if "Rafal" (Rhian) "revised" history and modeled both sculptures after Rafal's face (albeit with his own blue eyes) instead of himself, so the two would match. Maybe, he liked symmetry in design. Besides, he probably wanted the image of his own likeness to fade from the Woods' collective consciousness.

Also, I observed something new! There are sea-green flames, which are quite similar imagery to Rhian's blue dragon flame.

I'm not really going into massive depth about eye color, but I do have some thoughts. Although Rafal's eyes were green in Fall, which I feel like must be the exception, not the rule as a descriptor for him, I usually picture him with light, sky or ice blue eyes, and there is a chance that his green eyes were just an error or a minor plot hole. (Additionally, there have been different variations of blue hues in the series by this point, like "ice," "sky," and the deeper "sapphire," so honestly, I'm willing to overlook the potential green error, and just attribute these changes in which particular blue his eyes are to the lighting of the environment, Rafal's mood, or even the mood of the narration itself and which pov the description is from.)

If both brothers had blue eyes, even distinct shades of blue for each, one deeper and warmer, originally, and the other colder and lighter, I wouldn't have minded, and the books could've retained an iota more consistency, even with the identity twist, given that both the living School Master and the ghost had blue eyes in the main series, which directly contradicted Fall.

I'm not sure if I have an exact height in mind for them. I could say 6' 1" though. With "Rafal" in the main series, I pictured him as at least a head or more taller than Sophie, who is short. I think Soman confirmed her height as 5" 3' given that he once said she was "Madonna short" on TikTok, so we could conclude approximately 5" 3' with a quick search. However, we don't know if this is with or without heels, so she could be taller with them on.

Also, Soman confirmed Tedros was 5’ 9.5" or 5’ 10", so I feel like Rhian and Rafal definitely have to be taller than that. Was there ever a moment in TLEA where Rafal was described as taller than Tedros?

How tall do you think they are? Does anyone else have a different view on all of this?

[11queensupreme11]

oohh how about the powerscaling? since the pjo gods are a lot stronger than the ror ones, besides the semi immortality of the rors, are you giving them the same powers? sorry for the many questions 😅 separating 3 different canon, myths ror and pjo, are just a bit confusing

im not a powerscaler but lemme just tell you this

I haaaaaated how the ror gods were not very... god-like?? like, first of all, why is their blood RED? where is the ICHOR??? second of all, WHY WERE THEIR POWERS SO LIMITED??

It seems to me that every character was designed to only have one ability, even the gods. adam had his mimicry, zeus had his weird form stuff, etc etc. the gods didn't even use any of their actual powers from their actual domains (like poseidon not using water, hades not controlling the dead, zeus not using lightning etc)

i def like the way rick wrote the gods cuz not only were they powerful, but they were actually GODLY compared to the ror verse.

but on the other hand, the ror gods have those crazy ass feats that you only ever see in shonen and seinen animes.

for example, adam and zeus' speed feats. those guys were moving so fast that the other gods couldn't even see it. according to the manga, adam surpassed a move that surpassed time, i don't think any character in pjo can do that. hell, even the ror humans are more physically enhanced compared to the demigods in rick's books.

(but another thing that irks me is how inconsistent the manga was with the gods. the narrator goes on about how powerful the gods are, and how this god and that god can destroy planets, etc. but then... they say shiva's dance can burn the universe, but it was like a lil fireball against raiden smh 🙄)

anime/manga speed feats, strength feats, durability feats, etc. almost always beats any physical feats written in books because mangaka's looove to make characters so ridiculously OP lmaooo. in the pjo books, the characters' abilities are very underwhelming if you compare it to the physical feats in the anime/manga like i mentioned above

one thing that really screws the pjo gods over is that they need demigods to keep themselves in existence. belief is a very important thing for the gods. they need demigods not only to do their dirty work, but they need their belief too. in the first book, the western civilization thing chiron mentioned is also hella important. they need to keep the 'heart of the western civilization' alive so they can stay alive, else they'd fade away like previous gods have

meanwhile, the ror gods do not need that. yes they are susceptible to death (they need a divine weapon tho, so killing them won't be simple), but they don't require humans or demigods to believe in them. it's shown in their genocidal nature. they can destroy all of humanity and nothing will happen to them, meanwhile if pjo gods destroyed all of humanity, they would fade away because there's nothing to keep them alive

in my fic, i will make the ror gods seem more godly (cuz they're supposed to be fucking GODS for fucks sake omg 😤).

rn, the one thing the pjo gods have over them is that their immortality is actually, you know, legit. they cannot die, only fade away. but the one thing that ror gods have over them is that they do not need humanity to keep their existence, it's why they can destroy them over and over again.

[sailorgundam308]

This up there is Alexena, my first/original Tav in BG3. She is a strong barbarian skull-bashing human lady with a breezy haircut.

When I started playing BG3 I knew NOTHING of the story or Early Access. What I knew was that I had played BG1 and 2 decades ago (or watched my older brother play, in case of BG1), and was beside myself to learn Baldur's Gate was getting a third game. I'm not a gamer, I only play few titles that appeal to me, but I watched the Panel from Hell live and saw the bear scene… and I pre-ordered the game immediately. :V

Anyways, back to Alexena. She is not a "new" character. I play as Alexena in any medieval-ish fantasy game I get my hands into that allows me to make either a barbarian woman or a paladin. I also played her for years in D&D. I always name them Alexena because, well, my name is Alexandra, and motherfucking XENA. THE Xena. Sounds funny and I've been doing it for decades. So I repeated it in BG3.

I didn't know about the characters, about Astarion or Karlach (besides just laughing at the bear sex), or the premise of the story. So I went in blind, and BOY HOWDEE it was a wild ride. I left Gale stuck in the stone, so he didn't exist in my play (oops - but to my defense, the narrator said it looked dangerous…). I made decisions as I would if I could freely do so irl - meaning I was alternating between nice and absolute douchebagery, depending on my mood and how the characters came across to me at the time. I killed what annoyed me, and defended those I liked. As a barbarian, I was having A BLAST. I'm not an experienced or technical player, I just wanna bonk shit to death and growl epically while doing it. It's my happy place.

I ended up meeting Karlach only after I did the entire goblin camp, south map and underdark. I genuinely opened the HUGEST GRIN when I talked to her. She was brash, foul-mouthed, muscular, flirty and an all-around BADASS. She was what Alexena wanted to be when she grew up. I'm not crazy about tieflings design-wise, but Karlach was KARLACH. I didn't bring her with me all the time, then, but everytime I did I was laughing from any and everything she said or did. She is THAT charismatic.

I romanced Astarion (cause looks and because he suddenly hit on me before the party). So, you know, ez fun. Later on I did some smooching with Wyll too, and Astarion called me out on it so I did the right thing and ended things with the Blade. In my mind I had already decided that I'd let the companions do their own thing - it made sense for Alexena's personality. So, in the end, I let Astarion ascend, eventhough I knew I would break up with him soon after.

That is a funny thing. I am not, and was never into the whole vampire aesthetic. I even refused to play Vampire (a ttrpg) and instead joined a D&D group back in high school. It's just not my thing. I'm more the big-ass warhammer, large pauldrons, teeth smashing kinda girl. So I was surprised with myself, truly, that I really got into Astarion as the game progressed (and I was very whatever about him at first, just went with the flow).

He grew on me immensely (his story arch is great and I love me some angst), but I did NOT want to be a vampire. I wanted to continue to be a human woman, who would grow old and die. That was my tragedy - the fact that a human life is one of the briefest in the lore. And in my logic, it made no sense to ask Astarion to NOT ascend for my sake, or whatever, when I'd die in a blink and he'd live alone. Kinda selfish, in my view. Also, the thing was that the Ascension promised to quench his vampiric hunger (which in DnD lore is so horrible it drives vampires to madness), and allow him to be in the sun. Alexena would end a relationship even if she was in love if it was the best to do. Coincidentally I learned that when I refused to be bitten, Astarion also thought the same and so we broke up anyway.

Which takes me back to Karlach. Her breakdown after Gortash BROKE ME. I took a no shit 1 month+ break from my run after that scene. I was devastated - and honestly mad at Larian for just leaving her story like that (still am). In the end I swallowed my disappointment and rushed the end fight just to get the game over with. Alexena decided to go with her, with this impossibly amazing woman that was as strong as herself. So off she went with her to Avernus, with her friend. Two badass barbarian women raging and smacking the shit out of devils and demons.

The end was disappointing overall, and, to be honest, after Karlach's quest journal said "we did all we could for her", I tried a Karlach Origin run cause I was sure I'd missed something. I was okay with the separation from Astarion because it made sense, role-playing wise, for me to break up with him. But the Karlach thing just threw me off the last half of the experience.

BUT HEY. That's Alexena, my alter ego in fantasy games :3

[anotherfandomtrash]

Hello there! I'm here with some tsp reference sheet because I wanted to make one for a while. Besides that I also wanted to share some of things about the designs and maybe some headcanons, if you're interested:

Stanley is just very tired and probably dead inside

Mariella is short

The Narrator and Curator are not humans but they have the power to appear as ones. Their human looks depend from how the person who they're accompanying is imagining them (kinda like squip)

So Stanley here imagen the Narrator as kinda old white annoying British man, nothing new here

But his irises can change into different things depending on his mood

The Curator doesn't follow anyone so, technically, she would not have a human look, but I just said "fuck it! Experiment time!". She might not fit with the rest of the cast, but I still like how she turned out

432 is just disintegrated out of this universe. So then the Curator still can appear as human, 432 is just not exist as a human anymore and not because I'm lazy

The bucket is perfect

And here are my beloved unhuman designs! These would be implied then the game is breaking itself and shows how the things are truly look like, including characters:

Stanley in this state is not Stanley but the player themself

Mariella doesn't know that she is in a game, so to represent what she only have half of her face open, the rest of her is like a puppet who doesn't understand what it's being controlled by someone

The Curator's look is inspired by the general vibe I have from the museum ending. She is in control of things so she have this straight geometric look to indicate that. She can change her shape, but prefers to stay in this one shape

The Narrator can also change shapes and does it more frequently than the Curator and mostly because of his emotions, but in a normal state he has this humanoid shape.

His glasses can change into different things, too, depending on his mood

The Adventure Line™ is working as the tie for the Narrator but it™ is still sentient and can do whatever it™ wants

432 still has their human parts but their head is nowhere to be found since they lost it. Instead they communicate with us through text which they learned how to control

And I couldn't not made their slider into a tie

Also I gave them pencils because me sorry for them

The bucket is...wait. Is it really a bucket- So here it is! Hope you like it and that I didn't make any major grammar mistakes. Have a good day!

[under-lore]

Where do you think Mt. Ebott is on Earth? Most seem to consider somewhere in the United States or Canada as the most probable answer, though that makes sense considering the majority of the fan base is from their and Toby himself is an american (also Hometown in Deltarune is pretty obviously supposed to invoke the image of Everytown, America).

That said, I'm pretty sure the medieval weapons used by the humans in the intro don't line up with what indigenous Americans had access to.

So maybe somewhere in Europe? Would fit with the vaguely medieval esthetic of thr Underground, and Asgore's theme being a reference to the german King in the Mountain motif.

A very tricky question !

Indeed, Undertale seems to be throwing hints into every direction at once. The name "Frisk" comes from Scandinavia whilst "Chara" exists in Irish and Greek. The narrator references the USDA (US department of agriculture), the underground references medieval Europe and german myths. Etc... the list goes on and there seems to be no easy answer.

Mount Ebbot lookalikes have also been found in most of these countries...

To start off, the kind of sword that we see in the introduction of the game indeed doesn't really fit with what native americans were using before europeans discovered the continent. They mainly used weapons such as bows and arrows, spears or tomahawks... Not this :

It is difficult to judge such a generic sword design, but this type of sword seems to ressemble a lot more those used in Europe from ancient Greece to the end of the medieval age than those used in Asia in this time period.

Its uncertain how long ago monsters were sealed. Bratty and Catty mention it as having been millennia, however, those two are often exaggerating things. That being said, as it is the only proper source we have on the matter, i believe we can assume that the order of magnitude they give must at least be somewhat accurate.

Another thing that may be relevant is the fact that the sound of the bells that play in the final corridor is called "mus_churchbell".

With that on top of the obvious ressemblence with christian church designs in this area, it would seem likely that christianity was already present in the area Undertale takes place in back when monsters were sealed.

In that case, most of Africa and Asia as well as all of the Americas and Oceania would be eliminated, making Europe the biggest candidate by far.

It could also be possible that monsters learned of christianity at a later date via things the humans would have left in the garbage dump. But as monsters only moved out of Home shortly before Chara fell, it would be quite odd for it to have gained much significance underground.

Besides, monsters do not even seem to know about the modern Christmas traditions. Which they would have likely learned about if they only knew of christianity from the dump.

Christmas as a holiday didn't really take off before Charlemagne in the year 800. And it didn't reach its modern form before the 19th century.

As you've pointed out, there is an odd use of the german language in the Undertale OST. One that references german folklore : "Bergentrückung".

This may be a point in favor of Undertale taking place somwhere where german culture has at least a strong influence if not an area where German is spoken.

The narrator knowing what the USDA is and making anime references also seems to imply it being somewhere in the western-aligned world.

Of course, it is likelier to be somewhere that has a lot of mountains as well.

While this one is a bit more of a stretch, a place where a lot of trash per habitant is produced could also be quite fitting due to how much the garbage dump seems to receive.

There is no definitive answer to this question. However, certain areas seem much more likely than others. It would seem to me that somewhere in the Alps would combine the most fitting factors out of any other place on Earth.

Switzerland in particular seems like a very good candidate as it fits every single one of these criteria. Besides, it is also famous for its chocolate ! Which could explain Chara's taste for it if they were swiss.

[cosmiciaria]

In defense of Detroit Become Human (spoilers marked - long post!)

I know I arrived late at the party and everything that could've been said about this game has already been said – but I do want to add some things I haven't found in some reviews I’ve come across, while addressing all the flaws and giving credit where credit is due. And believe it or don't, this game is due a lot of credit. Yes, a game by David Cage is due credit, what has the world come to?

I must admit I'm not the greatest of fans of Cage's works. I can see all the flaws and plot holes in his games/interactive movies, but unlike others, I'm not that bothered by them. Hell, there are plot holes in many good stories and even the greatest games have some flaws, sometimes it feels people like picking one director and hating on them (cof cof, Tabata from Square cof). This doesn't mean Cage is free of sins, since that's far from reality: I still remember the Ellen Page's controversy with her naked model inside the game, and the creepy things they did to Madison in Heavy Rain for no reason whatsoever. Man, I think you should revalue some of your fetishes.

But aside from that, his games are heavily narrated focus, straying too far from the ordinary hero path and 'saving the world with the power of friendship'. He's stated there are so many things we can do in the videogame industry, and that most developers stick to the usual formula, just because they know it works and it profits. And I can understand his point of view, and even support it, that's why I always try to find something good in his games, even when the dialogues are bad and some acting leaves much to be desired – that happens in every game, in every movie, in every series.

Detroit Become Human is, by far, the best work by Cage. I can say so with full confidence: it's the first of his stories whose plot seem cohesive, coherent, whose characters undergo a visible and palpable development throughout the whole game, whose decisions and paths actually cross-impact later chapters and your choices do shape the way the story unfolds. I stress this because, for example in Beyond, your choices didn't matter much – even the QTE's were pretty useless. You just decided how the game would end in the last ten minutes of plot and that was it. Detroit, on the other hand, is so well planned that things you've done in the very first chapter have repercussions later down the line, and it's not like there's just two endings, but a lot of them, and lot of combinations that I'm still discovering. Your choices affect the during of the story, not just the ending. You can have good relationship with someone, or a bad one, and that will affect each scene those characters are in. You can have a good reputation with a group, or they can hate you, and so you will be ejected from the team. You can act irrational, or stay forever a machine, and the last big choice regarding that will depend of your actions across the whole game.

Just the decision making is a huge step up from previous works. And I can only compare this game to Until Dawn, but even in there, there are less decisions and less impact. Detroit is overwhelmingly huge when it comes to different paths and different versions of the same story. So much so that I told a friend who was also playing it about a scene, and she said 'wait, when does that happen? I didn't see it!'. It was as if we were talking about different games.

Detroit is about androids. It's the year 2038 and androids have flooded the market. They're like your usual vacuum but, hey, they can cook, take care of your children and even satisfy you sexually. They are such a common thing to see in the city that people ignore them. Most families have at least one android in their household, becoming completely reliant on their features. This is a future not so far away from our present.

But, lo and behold, because this game will explore the idea of 'freedom'. And, as you could've expected, some androids suddenly realize they don't want to work for humans anymore. Some androids are mistreated by their owners and suddenly they know they're in an unfair situation. Some androids have ambitions, dreams, ideas – some androids have the desire to be free.

And so, they become deviants. An artificial intelligence, capable of billions of simultaneous operations, young forever, and with conscience. Afraid, yet?

We will follow three main characters who happen to be androids: Connor, Markus and Kara. Connor is a prototype designed to assist investigators and police officers with cases, and he comes with many features that will facilitate all the analysis of clues. Markus is an android designed to care for an old man who has lost his mobility, and lives with him and cares for him as if he were his son. Kara is a housemaid android, who specializes in cleaning and taking care of children, but her owner is a drug-addict who forgot what it means to be a father.

Markus and Kara realize their unfair situation pretty early in the game, so they become deviants well at the beginning. Connor, on the other hand… well, it's in your hands to decide his fate.

Their stories will be intertwined: Connor will investigate cases involving deviants, alongside his sidekick – I mean, his partner, Lieutenant Hank Anderson, an old, anti-android human whose past is yet to be revealed; Markus will be falsely accused of aggression towards his owner or his son (depending what you choose), and he will come back from the dead, ready to lead a revolution against humans, demanding androids' rights; Kara will realize she wants to be a mother, and she will save the daughter of her owner from that hellhole they live in, only to travel from one corner of the city to another in search for an escape route. While Connor's and Markus's stories are well entangled, Kara's always felt a bit separated from them, which can be a huge let down. Personally, Kara's story was the one I enjoyed the least, but it has to do with something that happens at the end – that stupid plot twist – besides, it's more than clear in Kara's plotline that all the BS Cage loved from his previous games makes a return in here. Sometimes it felt like he left blender open and all the disastrous ideas he had for her story were spilled all over his kitchen. I can't think of anything else for that, because her plotline is a Frankestein of a story – uneven, irregular, although it has some touching moments, and Valerie Curry, the actress who plays Kara, delivers some guuud acting and lines.

I know the main message this game is trying to send is that androids are equals to humans. This is the most controversial aspect of the game: Cage, whether he says he did purposely or not, has compared the androids' struggle for freedom to that of African-American people, mixing together slavery and segregation. It's funny because Cage stated it wasn't his plan to allude to actual historical events that did happen not so long ago, and still we can see the segregation of androids in public transport, in public places, and the fact that Markus, with a bunch of other androids as well, demand freedom and the end of slavery from the humans. I like it more when he asks for fair compensation for their work.

And I say it's controversial because it's sending a wrong message. Slavery and segregation weren't contemporary, one came after the other; and the fact that they make a clear comparison to that social movement is criticizable. I'm not the most expert on US history – hell I'm from Argentina, guys – but even I know that the bloody history behind the fight for equal rights is far from over and has put the country on the brink of breaking down many times. That someone deliberately compares the android's fight that took only a few months to develop to that monstrous side of US history is, uhm, questionable in the least.

BUT let's just say that it's an awful coincidence (I'm looking at you, Cage) and leave it aside for a moment. That's the main message the game tries to send. But I believe the game actually sends another message, that is better executed, better fleshed out.

Androids and humans can love each other. ��      

[SPOILER scroll down until you see the end of the spoiler section]

This is obvious at the beginning with Markus, if you decide to endure Leo's bullying. Carl, Markus' owner, dies from a heart attack, and Markus, crying, desperate, falls to his knees and embraces the man who's been acting like his father for years. He yells Dad, no! in front of the real son, provoking a reaction in him and in the player. Just in this tiny moment, which I think most people slip by without paying too much attention, is enough message. It explains everything.

If you decide to push Leo, the scene plays out differently, and we learn this message towards the end, still in Markus' branch. Later in the story you go back and visit Carl, who doesn't die, but is instead stuck in his bed, connected to cables and such. He regards Markus with love and tenderness, and holds his hand, saying You're my son, Markus. Your blood is a different color, but I know that a part of me lives in you. Thank you, you made me cry.

This message is also well developed in the friendship you can form with Connor and Hank. And notice the 'you can' because you can also make them hate each other. But why on earth would you make Hank mad, if not only for the trophy? Because I can't bear the idea of disappointing that good old man. I need him to be proud of me – I mean, of Connor! Their relationship is wholesome, with some instances in which Hank calls him his son, which melted my heart obviously. Knowing that Hank had lost his real son prior to the events of the game makes all this even more touching and moving.

This message is not well conveyed with Kara and Alice, and you might guess why – yes, the fact that towards the end we learn that Alice isn't a human but an android too, utterly destroys the whole concept the game has been trying to build up for this moment. I don't know why Cage thought this was a good idea – maybe trying to explain that androids can love each other as family just like humans do, but that kinda breaks the rules here, because the idea was an android discovering they can love thanks to a human, who has all the real feelings whereas the androids have this emulations and… alright you get me. How can we truly know if they love each other for real if they are two androids? How can we make sure it isn't just some emulation and chemicals inside their metal bodies? Alright I'm going too deep here? Maybe?

[END OF SPOILER SECTION]

All in all, this is the message that stays with me after playing the game. I don't know if Cage did it purposely (suddenly all his messages are casual), but this is what I can save and treasure from this story. Oh, and also, save your fucking planet, polar bears are going extinct.

Characters are really well created. Their interactions are believable and natural, the acting (specially Bryan Dechart as Connor and Clancy Brown as Hank) is flawless, and you can appreciate when they become deviant and when they start thinking for themselves. Some lines delivered by Markus felt a bit forced, but I've heard the actor talk and he talks like that so maybe is the way he speaks. There are some secondary characters that became my favorite really quick, like Luther, Kara's companion in this journey; Simon, one of the first members of the revolution Markus meet; Hank, of course, although I deem him as a main character at this point. Others, well… Gavin is your well-known bully, whose lines are so stupid I can't believe his character made it into the game. Like really, he's taken straight out of a 90's high school movie. I could hear Henry Bowers from It laughing at his attempt of being a bad boy.

On the technical department, this game is stunning. Visuals are a delight: sometimes you couldn't differentiate if it was filmed or if it was CGI. Hint: it was all CGI! Faces, expressions, animations, I can't complain of any of those. The character's eyes, which are the only thing the motion capture can't record, were all added digitally, and I'm bound to say that they're perfect: they make each character feel real, alive. You know when you're staring at something, that your eyes regard everything and your pupils have these tiny, micro, slight movements? That was in the game, and I loved it. Clothes get wet when it's raining, they get frozen when it's snowy, and lights reflect every surface so realistically that you can tell the texture of each object and piece of cloth.

Music is also a great asset in this game. Each character had a different composer, which brought a distinct and unique aspect to each of their stories. I know I've been hating on Kara until now, but I must admit her theme song is the best out of everything in this game. Even when I watched the cutscenes back when the game was released, I had her theme buried under my skin, for it's melancholic, it reminds me of rain, and it makes me wanna cry.

Another aspect I want to address is the gameplay. You know Cage loves his daily doses of QTE's. But this time, though, they're well executed. I recommend playing the game in Experienced difficulty (which is the normal difficulty), because it truly offers a more immersive experience. The use of the controller in all this was clever, and they used everything they had at their disposal to make you feel you're there in the story. For instance, the use of the vibration system of your joystick: when you pet the dog at Hank's house, you can feel a very slight vibration in your hands, as if the dog was breathing, what you would feel when you pet a dog, of course; but when you're driving a truck that leaves the sidewalk and falls into the street, you feel the sudden rough movement and the way the engine is speeding up; or you can feel heartbeats when Markus is trying to repair himself. All these instances of breaking the fourth wall to make you feel part of the story are implemented in such an intelligent way that it works wonders.

And speaking about breaking the fourth wall… In your main menu you'll have an android that will be your hostess. She will comment on the discoveries you'll be finding in your storyline, but she will also play some tricks to you or talk to you all of a sudden. And if you reach the good ending… well, there's a surprise with her. Let's just say that she's a great addition to the game and a fan favorite.

In conclusion, this is by far Cage's most polished and well thought game to date. And I've been hiding my obsession with Connor up until now so you wouldn't think I'm crazy but, I can't believe Cage created a character like this. I love him. Protect this sweet summer child. Don't make him a machine, please :'( Connor Army here I go.

If you have doubts about this game, buy it on sale. You will at least have a good time playing it and discovering the different paths. But if you like heavily narrated games, and you have at least enjoyed some of his previous works, don't miss on this one. It's really better. And it's really more worth it.