#but for the life of me i couldn't write a credible dialogue

[quaddmgd]

FORMING A BOND

"What's up, Sully? Need some help?" "Yeah, if you're free… I need to get this thing running before the storm."

"Jane Shirley of AZFR here, broadcasting live from safety. Just jumping in to remind you that starting today, the whole state is under a severe thunderstorm alert for the next few days. Don't let the sun fool you. Enjoy it while you can, and wear your life jackets in the evening for this sweet, sponsored by humankind, acid rain! Time for the next track. Jane out for now, but never leaving. As always, stay safe out there, outlaws."

"We should have about two hours... you think we can make it?" "Just fine, T. Don't worry. Just... need... Pass me something to extend that wrench. None of these things can move." "Here." "Thanks." "Sorry for taking up your time." "Don't mention it. Section can go fuck himself." "Yeah. Tell me about it..." "Speaking of, about 50 clicks from here, there's this mansion I've been scoping out, that belongs to some corpo chick. Don't ask me how I know that, but she's going on a business trip in a week, and I'm planning to take Rainer, Harry and some of the cooler folks there to throw a party and get some rest from the trash at the camp. You know, for a weekend. Wanna come with us?" "You want to break in to throw a party?" "Among other things, yeah, you could say that. So... interested? It'll be fun." "Eh, what the fuck, right?" "That's the spirit! You won't regret it. We earned some rest, don't you think? Now, could you pass me that thing over there?"

[glikeriya-narkevich]

I apologize in advance for possible grammatical errors. My native language is not English. My text is very very long. I will be glad to like-minded people, because I am so much disappointed with the DLC and I needed to speak out here on my personal blog.

I really wanted to see Bi-Han's redemption arc, but instead I got an aggravation of Bi-Han's gloomy state. I saw Bi-Han accept his new identity in the form of Noob Saibot. There was no change in Bi-Han's mind after what he forcibly experienced (the transformation into Noob Saibot). Everything I saw was a huge disappointment for me, because I adore Bi-Han as a character, and I never wanted to see him as a stupid, clichéd villain, as the writers made him in the DLC. Bi-Han has always been a neutral character with a penchant for atoning for sins, so to speak, if we turn to the MK classics. But I'm still hoping that in future story additions, Liu Kang will still be able to return Bi-Han to his former state by healing him from chaos magic. I haven't given up hope of seeing Bi-Han as Sub-Zero, even if this hope is small and naive. I hope to see Bi-Han's change of mind, his reflection on the past, and credible motivations for his actions.

Now I'd like to write why I don't like Sektor so much.

The shortest answer is: because she's acting stupid. Taking Bi-Han out of the Temple of Elements is like taking a person with a severe traumatic brain injury out of the hospital, thus depriving him of the necessary life-saving treatment. Sektor says to Noob Saibot in one of the Intro Dialogues, „I couldn't leave you locked away in the Temple.“ This sounds just like saying to a sick person, „I couldn't let the doctors treat you, so I took you home, but I have no idea how to cure you myself“. Sektor's ego is enormous!

To me, it all sounds like a dialogue between two people:

She: I'm looking for a cure for your terrible disease, dear.

He: No, honey, I'm not going to be treated. My terrible disease gives me advantages.

She: But the doctor says your terrible disease will kill you!

He: I don't want the doctor to treat me.

She: All right, darling, let it be your way.

And if Sektor thought that Liu Kang had left Bi-Han to rot in the Temple of elements after she personally saw that Liu Kang had healed Bi-Han's mind and said that he would look for a way to heal Bi-Han's body as well, then Sekctor is doubly stupid because she can't assimilate simple information and think logically. Liu Kang himself doesn't know exactly how to heal Bi-Han and how long it will take, so how would Sektor know this in that case? Bi-Han's responses to her words are my main disappointment. He wants to be Noob Saibot when he says in one of the Intro Dialogues, „I do not want Liu Kang to cure me“. Noob Saibot also approved of Sektor's act when she kidnapped him from the Temple of Elements, „You were right to be impatient“.

I don't see any love for Bi-Han in Sektor. I see a blind passion for him. She tells Noob Saibot in one of the Intro Dialogues, „Is it best for you to remain this way?“ These are the words of an obsessed fanatic, not a loving woman. Asking such a question is like asking an alcoholic, „Is it a good thing if you stay an alcoholic?“. Sektor doesn't see the black abyss into which Bi-Han is slowly sinking. She does not save him, but supports the evil in him, thus cultivating the blackness in Bi-Han's soul. After all, Liu Kang tells Noob Saibot, „Continue, Bi-Han, and it will not end well for you“. In this case, Liu Kang is showing concern for Bi-Han's soul, but Sektor is not. Liu Kang continues to believe in Bi-Han and warns him. And Sektor doesn't see the problem because she is blind, she herself is threatened by darkness.

The way Bi-Han doesn't listen to Sektor and roughly rips his hand out of her grasp when she tries to stop him from attacking Liu Kang suggests that her passion for Bi-Han means little to him, because he's not ready to listen to her in moments of intense emotional upheaval. He's not ready to stop and give up on some "feverish" action. I think Bi-Han is obsessed with Lin Kuei first and foremost, and Sektor is more of a tool for him to achieve his personal goals than his lover. The only, I emphasize, the only scene that shows some kind of mutual warmth between them, ended up going nowhere. Bi-Han wants to be Noob Saibot, he thinks of his goals first, and Sektor is always ready to support any of Bi-Han's ideas. What gives us this moment of warmth when they touched foreheads for a couple of seconds? Absolutely nothing.

I really dislike Sektor because she helps Bi-Han perish, and doesn't slow down his fall into darkness. I don't see why I can sympathize with her. But Sektor is not a good character either, it was not worth waiting for noble deeds from her. From the Intro Dialogues between Scorpion and Geras, as well as between Smoke and Geras, there is a hint that Tomas will die in the future and will be forcibly turned into a cyborg. Who's going to do this to him? I have no doubt that Sektor will do it. How can such a person help Bi-Han see any light? It's impossible. They are mutually corrupting each other.

From the Intro Dialogues we already know that she has made mechanical monsters and is eager to try them out. And the cybernetic armor is just the beginning, and most likely we're in for a classic violent cybernization ahead. How can Sektor help Bi-Han if she's blinded by her own ego? Sektor is not Harumi. My deep conviction is that Bi-Han should have a woman who truly loves him and is wise, such as Harumi, but not the obsessed Sektor, whose love for Bi-Han blinds her, as Cyrax correctly pointed out. Sektor doesn't confront the darkness within Bi-Han because Sektor is blind in her fanaticism towards Bi-Han. She doesn't see this darkness because she is most likely filled with the exact same darkness herself.

Love is not only support, sometimes it is a strong confrontation in the name of saving a life.

I believe that Bi-Han needs a woman with a light within. He needs someone who is the opposite of darkness, then his eyes might be able to see at least some path that could be called different than the one he's already on. Yes, at first Sektor is obsessed with healing Bi-Han, but at the same time, she doesn't want to give Noob Saibot to Liu Kang. She ended up agreeing completely that Noob Saibot himself didn't want healing for himself. Sektor, girl, is there anything you can say against him? For his own good! His soul and life in a normal body and in a normal state is at stake. Metaphorically speaking, Sektor can't sober up Bi-Han because she's drunk herself. 

And all of this is because neither Bi-Han nor Sektor see Noob Saibot's condition as something bad. Yes, I'd like to see a woman save Bi-Han from the darkness, rather than going crazy with him, sinking deeper and deeper into that darkness. Bi-Han could have been a neutral character who could be understood, condemned and justified at the same time, but in the end he became a clichéd villain with boring motivation. A villain without a ray of light within him is dull, boring and uninteresting. A hero without islands of inner darkness is just as boring and uninteresting. But that's exactly what they made Bi-Han in the DLC — a boring and uninteresting villain. At least some hope is given to me by dialogues between Noob Saibot and Bi-Han, in which Bi-Han clearly doesn't accept Noob and is hostile to him.

The second bitter disappointment that befell me was in regards to Kuai Liang. He is shown to be a disgusting person, he is shown to be a hypocrite in this DLC. All the things that Kuai Liang condemned his brother for, now he does himself, such as reveling in power over another, weaker one (poor Cyrax). It is already known from the Intro Dialogue between Cyrax and Noob Saibot that Kuai Liang had a romantic past with Cyrax. Kuai Liang did a doubly despicable thing when he silently disappeared from Lin Kuei and then married another woman. How could he silently disappear without saying anything to his former lover, whom he knows Bi-Han will definitely deceive? And after that, he dares to condemn Cyrax and is even ready to behead her with a katana? Kuai Liang doesn't notice his own sins, but is sure to denounce others. Yes, he had every right to be angry, but still he is the second rightful heir in Lin Kuei, and he didn't do anything when he could have influenced the situation in Lin Kuei, at the very least he could have told everyone about what happened between him and Bi-Han, thus denying Bi-Han the opportunity to lie to his warriors in the future.

Cyrax is too submissive to Kuai Liang. She has every moral right to throw all of Kuai Liang's grievances in his face. She tried to do that, but she gave up very quickly, I'd say she shut up in front of Kuai Liang. I don't understand how she could ask to join his clan after treating her like that? She saved his life, that alone should have been enough to make Kuai Liang turn on his brain. Cyrax had fully redeemed herself from him! But he was being terribly ungrateful and arrogant. Watching Cyrax's self-deprecation in front of a man who wasn't worthy of such submission was very unpleasant to me. Kuai Liang is not a counterbalance to Bi-Han, he is the other side of the same grim coin. Bi-Han and Kuai Liang are worthy of each other.

But in the Kuai Liang/Harumi pair, there is a voice of reason in the person of Harumi, and Kuai Liang is still able to listen to both Liu Kang and Harumi. And there is no voice of reason in the Bi-Han/Sektor pair. Bi-Han doesn't listen to Sektor in critical situations, for the most part she's his tool and fanatical assistant, perhaps a loyal and constant servant. I don't see a strong mutual affection on Bi-Han's part for Sektor. It seems to me that he's more of someone who feels good about being loved and he allows her to love him. Sektor is willing to accept anything from Bi-Han and she can't confront his inner darkness, because Sektor doesn't see a problem with Bi-Han's soul. So spiritually they will both die sooner or later if they don't listen to Liu Kang. A confrontation between them after what Bi-Han went through would have seemed more logical and interesting.

Bi-Han in this DLC turned out to be an absolutely empty character, in which I saw nothing but a thirst for power, fame, strength, dominance and control. And all these things are defamation of the character by the writers, because we have the original Bi-Han, who has never been so empty and one-sided. Even in the first part of Mortal Kombat 1, Bi-Han was an interesting and deep character, despite the widespread hatred against him. There are plenty of awesome and well-reasoned analyses of his personality here on Tumblr that just prove it. In the "Khaos Reigns", Bi-Han is simply buried as a character. There is simply no conflict in the story of the fall of his personality.

Dude, you've been turned into a black monster against your will. Your mind is being healed, you wake up in this new body, and what? No shock? I'd understand if Bi-Han had asked Havik himself to make him Noob Saibot, but the transformation was done through torture and violence. How could Bi-Han end up being okay with who he has become? I just don't believe it.

P.S. I still adore Bi-Han. Even this DLC won't make me stop loving him. Almost 30 years of my life in the fandom can't be crossed out by this terrible DLC and imposing romance on players, for which Cyrax and Sektor changed their gender. I wish Liu Kang had somehow miraculously gotten his Kitana back if the writers wanted to add romance so badly. I felt like I was reading a bad fanfic rather than watching the official DLC. That's how this DLC will remain for me — a bad fanfic about my favorite characters. I can't and won't accept this DLC as canon. Thank God, no one can take that right away from me.

P.P.S. The screen time of Tomas, who I also love dearly, was criminally small, and after all, he's one of the three brothers, not some NPC...

[flowerandblood]

Genuine question from someone struggling with writing at the moment but when you come up with a new story and it's premises, how do you organize your thoughts? Your stories are always so well thought out and have their own hidden meanings and in depth dive of the characters as if you are writing them on people you know, my question is, how do you organize how and when you will write that out?

Oh my god, okay, I'll warn you that I'm very chaotic when it comes to my writing style. I usually start by having a theme, a starting point - and let's assume, in my last story the female character is the younger sister of Aemond's friend. I had to figure out who Aemond would be here, what her or his internal conflict would be, or what the situation would be that would bring them closer together.

And I came up with an idea, oh, what if he worked as a sexworker? But suddenly he really fell in love with a girl who is not interested in such things at all? And here comes something I can work with, internal conflict, his thoughts, regret, shame, the desire to be worthy of someone. On the other hand, we have a heroine who also falls in love, tries to be supportive, but also knows herself enough to know that their expectations may not meet.

And here comes the most important thing for me, i.e. the credibility of the story and the dialogues. Nothing takes me out of a story more than dialogue that is completely out of character and as if it were pasted in from any other person. The point is that each character should have its own characteristics. If you decide to make your character charming, don't make her a stupid idiot, let her charm result from her care and unawareness, let her simply be innocent and inexperienced, uncertain and joyful.

Often when I think about my female character I think to myself "if my husband said that to me, how would I feel?" or I think "no, Aemond couldn't say that to her, if my husband said that to me/did that to me, I would kill him or I couldn't be with him because I wouldn't forgive him." Of course, it's not like my heroine is supposed to be me now, I wrote about many women who did or said things that I wouldn't say or do, but sometimes when I have doubts whether a dialogue makes sense, I analyze it this way.

Recently, I changed almost the entire chapter (even though I had written the next ones, fortunately it didn't affect the rest of the plot much) because I felt that Aemond's behavior was inappropriately aggressive to the situation, that if he knew that the heroine felt this way (and he did) he wouldn't do that if he really cared about her (in this universe). Only when I changed it and read it again did I feel that it clicked, that it fit, that it would look like this.

So my job in writing is primarily to ensure that the vocabulary is rich, to describe well what is happening, but not to do it in long paragraphs. Describing what the table looks like in 3 long sentences is, in my opinion, unnecessary - although some people like to do it that way. I always divide my paragraphs into shorter parts, I give more light to make it read better.

And it involves constantly analyzing the credibility of what is happening in relation to the fact that we imagine that these are real people with real problems, not cartoon characters. When I read fanfics where there is a girl who has never before had any dominant, hardcore stuff and loves everything immediately, it immediately comes to my mind - okay, it's soft porn, but it's very far-reaching.

It's not that easy in the real life, real people don't work like that - real people are afraid of the unknown, they are insecure, they need the awareness that they're not in danger for them to relax.

I could write more, but this is already an extremely long answer, I don't know, if you have more specific questions, you can ask further, I will be happy to answer you as best as I can, thank you for your kind words!

[astralartefact]

Placeholder Name for Atarase's Media Diary

Entry 007 - Starfield: Shattered Space <<Prev: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

Synopsis

Maybe on the planet of culturally-ambiguous lizard cultists (i'm sweating in white, their words not mine) we'll find someone who should be asked the Gretchenfrage.

...i just think it's funny to bring up the word gretchenfrage whenever i get the chance

How much did I know before playing?

Listen, I contemplated writing a post about this at all - what will it do to my already tangible lack of credibility etc etc - but I think it's only right and fair and truthful to take accountability even and especially for my bad sides...

The truth is I just love playing self-insert character creation open world rpgs. I love them, the weird first-, second- to third-person escapism of it all, I feel like I connect to games like these and how they work at a primal level - my "perfect game" would absolutely be a very specific kind of this sort of game - all that to say I know

Did I like it more than I expected?

We all knew Starfield was going to be bad, they had multiple seperate events where they used Microsoft big bucks to demand the whole world's attention only to sit there for an hour plus while talking about "Immersion" or some other meaningless marketing buzzword while showing nothing but concept art and maybe a pre-rendered cinematic and nothing else, it couldn't possibly have ended up as worthwhile - but that's not what I'm playing these games for, I just like pretending to be not!Me who's hot in the exactly right way

Did I think the DLC would change anything? no absolutely not

Since [absolute meh], here's what I liked about it

I think it looks nice. I actually do like the aesthetic of Starfield, I know not a lot of people are particularly fond of it. btw stay with me here while i'm speaking of the dead but I do think Concord and Starfield went for the exact same aesthetic it's just really really REALLY easy to slide into absolute meh territory

I do prefer the way they handled the DLC planet as one big open world zone instead of putting everything on three different planets. It's still not worth exploring anything, but at the very least it's more cohesive and you don't run into the same things twice in a row (at least not right away)

What did this game make me think about?

Nothing. And not in the nihilist way. It's that thing that happens when you go on a walk and you notice that the remnant thoughts from whatever you did before are still bouncing through your head because there's simply nothing else going on that could lead to any other thought. For a DLC that's fully about religion, I had 0 thoughts about religion while playing this.

actually, fun fact: i would consider myself somewhat of a "positive nihilist", i do think there's no inherent worth/value/reason for life/existence but that is good actually bc that just means you can make your own! if nothing is worth anything everything is worth the same amount <3 could you imagine if starfield was about that

Specific Impressions that will stick with me

I'm actually not sure how "good"(tm) I think they are but the way Starfield does Final Quest Gauntlets/Big Dungeon Deep Dives is fascinating to me, they feel very energetic even though there's nothing really happening that's actively pushing you forward. I don't think they're particularly well designed from a 'game design' perspective or anything, I'm sure someone could blast them to shreds in a "gameplay analysis" video essay, but to me the structures you're fighting through actually feel very big and grande in a somewhat sensical way.

Also I actually kind of liked the Religious Initiation Ceremony, it's just wild to me that instead of making it optional they make you do it and then for the rest of the quest line they waste one of your two to three dialogue options on a mandated "You religious people are weird!!!" option; also that weird merchant follower dude will loudly judge you, the player, for every single choice that's anywhere leaning into the roleplay of it all, fuck that guy, he sucks ass (also why is he there, i didn't pay attention to what he was saying, wasn't i supposed to be the only outsider here)

Outstanding Audio

There was a boss theme I liked, I think. All in all the Audio is fine I guess, at least when it doesn't creation engine-ly blare over a npc discussion expositing lore at you, but that just reminds me of skyrim <3

Favorite Character

The receptionist guy in the hall of healing with his robot was kind of hot. Something about him did it for me. Doesn't even have a name :(

Favorite Arc/Story Line

ahahahahAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA

Favorite Set Piece

If there's one thing they have gotten down with Starfield compared to say Skyrim it's Set Pieces and I will defend those, like I absolutely hate the way the Crimson Fleet Quest Line and every single character in it is written but damn, I have actually replayed it more than once just to do the Lock, the Vault and the final assault again...

In this DLC that set piece is the final dungeon - the "final boss" and then rushing outside felt really cool (even though it ends with the lamest culmination cutscene ever lol)

Best Performance

I actually really liked the voice acting? They used a lot of (differing) accents but it all worked, I didn't really notice a lot of weird line reads or anything.

btw, as a german with english as a second language I noticed I have this very weird thing with heavy accents in english voice acting where I tend to think they sound weirdly fake when they're recorded "too well" (I know, really weird, feel free to judge, but I cannot listen to a single second of xenoblade 2 i cringe into my shell, i do not have this problem with those accents in rl or "normal" tv shows but i guess in any abstract art styles like anime? prison) (for me not for them)

German Localization Notes

So, in it's current "official" state german doesn't really have they/them pronouns. While it's possible to rephrase a lot of sentences to get around it, there isn't really an official, grammatical way to directly refer to someone without the mention of their gender on the level of the singular they/them pronoun in english - and because there's certain ways around all of that, it wasn't really a pressing problem until the last few years.

You see, the only people that really need that sort of thing are Non-Binary People, and as we all know those only exist since the 2010s (/s) - and while Germany as a whole was actually somewhat quick to at the very least acknowledge that the additional gender category "Divers" is a thing ("Divers" = various, do not translate as diverse in this context) - changing the way your entire language works around it is a little bit harder especially since we can't just copy the way english does it because our they (=sie) is coincidentally the exact same word as our singular she (=sie) - so that doesn't work unless we decide to embrace the generic femininum (btw underrated i think we should try it)

So we kind of have to figure out a way to introduce a neo-pronoun into our language (which makes it necessary to debate "which one" on top of the regular "if any at all") to accomodate even just those Non-Binary-People that would get away fine with they/them in english which is an interesting linguistic problem to have.

Anyways; Starfield has actually translated the non-binary they/them as a german neo-pronoun (i think it's dey? not sure and gaming journalism has taught me i don't have to look that up before posting this) and I was really fckin confused because I thought it was a really weird spelling error.

Then again - as someone who didn't really have a clue how this specific one works, as was now demonstrated to me it's pretty easy to just go "Oh! That's what that was! Neat!" when encountering something like that. I still won't be able to use it without looking it up, but sometimes only communicating in pre-written answers comes in handy, I guess.

--- ENTERING THE PRETENTIOUS SECTION OF THIS ENTRY ---

What about this game gives me Hope for the future of gaming?

ahahahah AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA

What about this game makes me scared for the future of gaming?

Hey there gamers in the hate mob, stay hydrated! Have fun out there campaining against capitalist practices but don't forget! Any agitated group of people that considers themselves exploited by some sort of superior standing class is ripe to be co-opted for things like *Populism*! Make sure the force of your emotions is used for reasonable purposes and isn't taken advantage of by fraudsters who try to make you lose focus on what truly matters by riling you up against problems that don't actually exist! Remember to point your fervent rage at the people with too much money to ever care about anything at all! Do you actually think annoying ""woke"" people on the site formerly known as twitter are the problem of your woes or is it the rich white man exploiting 50000 people in a single breath whose budgeting decisions make your work life hell?

Anyways, love you all, go vote people who aren't weird af <3

The Ramble Section where I get to actually talk about what I thought about

Okay, there's one specific reason I've decided to type out all of this and it's to eject that one sentence that has scoured the corner of my brain that vocalizes my inner thoughts for far too long. So. Here it goes:

"It's almost awe-inspiring how resistant to learning Bethesda Softworks proves itself to be." - Me

That's the thought. That's the singular thought that bounced through my brain while playing all of this. I can't believe this is the 5th (probably more, didn't count) time you made this game in a slightly different theme of the year and apparently you guys have just not learned a singular thing while doing all that.

The entire game feels as if it was made without a single thought. Nobody in a position of power over this thought. At all. It feels like the people deciding what to write, what to produce, which pieces to build to then put together, have never played a Game of this type, a Bethesda Game, ever. Nobody has asked "Would I as a player actually do or care about this" ever, not a single time at any option whatsoever, be it narrative choice or gameplay function. The only people that thought were the low-level workers actually making the stuff that they're told to implement, like the assets, I guess, at the very least those look pretty good.

Like, who decided on these Open World Mechanics. You have made this game 5+ times, you should know that even just economically speaking there are far better ways to populate a world than how you did it here. Why would you not also make dungeons much more PCG-heavy when you already make all the planets PCG anyways? Why is there not a single "Hey, you used this pre-built location the last time, don't use it again right away" rule in your PCG generator? You know you can just do that right? Store a reference and then go "this was the last one generated, if it's this one again try again!" That's like three lines of code or something! Did you not think running into the exact same place twice in a row would be weird as fuck? Did you not realize that this would almost immediately happen when the total amount of your randomized items is like, 5, which is a problem in and of itself.

Food feels absolutely useless, most of the stuff that accidentally ends up in my inventory heals an entire amount of 2 entire HP - and yet with this little use why is there so much fucking food (and why does it look so good?).

The Writing is atrocious. Just. Not even just bad, it's baffling. How can you go through years of people pointing at New Vegas, you have to have seen those tweets, that's one of those games everyone agrees is good which means bullying in its name is acceptable; Hbomberguy, the one Video Essayist really everybody knows, made 2 entire video on it! It's impossible you haven't heard criticisms of your style of writing because people will have parroted whatever he said to you on your socials to hell and back - but regardless of how annoying those twitter weirdos are, how do you still go through years of being beaten to death with it and take absolutely nothing, 0, nihil nihil nihil from it, not even a little bit? honestly crazy to me. how???

And once again, it doesn't even make sense from a economical perspective because the way they did it now results in more work than if they just sat down, thought about what they were doing and wrote fewer, meaningful, concise but efficiently written storylines that actually differ from each other instead of what they did, which is giving the same side quest four different, equally as boring endings that are at most minor alterations of each other, three of which nobody will ever care about because why would I not just choose the obvious good ending, the easy everyone is happy choice instead of a miniscule extra reward I do not need in the slightest because money has no value - but then all of those endings still result in a distinct, hand-crafted, voice-acted 3 minute dialogue each that you will only happen to stumble across on accident when you pass that particular house four hours later and have already completely forgotten about that quest. Same amount of work for far less use - but hey, thank god, at least we have Immersive Storytelling!!! How delightful that the environment remembers your actions!! How Real Life of them! Surely I will care about the other result when on my Next Immersive New Game Plus I try the other, fundamentally worse option!

I have to assume that having good writing would make them liable for damages to Obsidian in some way, because how do you write any of this and even just feel. anything??? This can't possibly be what you wanted to write? And if it is... o-okay? *silent judgement*

also who on the team thought it was fine to make the religious fanatics lizard people come on

[emma-what-son]

(Echee post) Emma Watson says J.K Rowling's quote about Hermione ending up with Harry was taken out of context and it was a joke

Posted March 6, 2014

From mtv.com/news may 2014, "Watson also seemed somewhat pessimistic about the longevity of the popular pairing, sharing at the time, "I think there are fans out there who know that too and who wonder whether Ron would have really been able to make her happy." But Watson's tune may have changed just a bit, as the starlet took to the red carpet at tonight's Oscars (her first time attending the big show, if you can believe it) and told MTV's own Josh Horowitz, "It was a real shame, because the quote that she gave was completely taken out of context." Emma change her tune? Noooooo way she would never do that!! =)~ MTV left out the part where she said it was just a joke From ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com March 2014, "It was a real shame, because the quote that she gave was completely taken out of context, and if you read the whole interview it was completely not how it was framed but it was actually kind of a joke." You know the funny part is? This is the Wonderland Magazine that Emma herself guest edited and Emma herself conducted the interview with J.K. Rowling. How could it be possibly taken out of context or even be considered a joke? There is nothing in the writing that suggests it's a joke. Maybe if the interview was conducted by video you could see their facial expressions that would tip you off that they were joking. This is typical Emma changing her tune but only because the HP fandom lost their shit over fictional characters. JK and Emma are back tracking now. I don't really care because to me it's a book made into a movie but this is Emma deceiving others as usual.

Actually I read the entire interview and what is being taken out of context and where is the punch line? Here is the part of the interview with JK about Hermione ending up with harry instead of Ron. From ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com Feb 2014 Emma: I thought we should discuss Hermione... I'm sure you've heard this a million times but now that you have written the books, do you have a new perspective on how you relate to Hermione and the relationship you have with her or had with her? JK: I know that Hermione is incredibly recognizable to a lot of readers and yet you don't see a lot of Hermione's in film or on TV except to be laughed at. I mean that the intense, clever, in some ways not terribly self-aware, girl is rarely the heroine and I really wanted her to be the heroine. She is part of me, although she is not wholly me. I think that is how I might have appeared to people when I was younger, but that is not really how I was inside. What I will say is that I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment. That's how it was conceived, really. For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione with Ron. Emma: Ah. JK: I know, I'm sorry, I can hear the rage and fury it might cause some fans, but if I'm absolutely honest, distance has given me perspective on that. It was a choice I made for very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility. Am I breaking people's hearts by saying this? I hope not. Emma: I don't know. I think there are fans out there who know that too and who wonder whether Ron would have really been able to make her happy. JK: Yes exactly. Emma: And vice versa. JK: It was a young relationship. I think the attraction itself is plausible but the combative side of it... I'm not sure you could have got over that in an adult relationship, there was too much fundamental incompatibility. I can't believe we are saying all of this – this is Potter heresy! Emma: I know, it is heresy. JK: In some ways Hermione and Harry are a better fit and I'll tell you something very strange. When I wrote Hallows, I felt this quite strongly when I had Hermione and Harry together in the tent! I hadn't told [Steve] Kloves that and when he wrote the script he felt exactly the same thing at exactly the same point. Emma: That is just so interesting because when I was doing the scene I said to David [Heyman]: "This isn't in the book, she didn't write this". I'm not sure I am comfortable insinuating something however subtle it is! JK: Yes, but David and Steve – they felt what I felt when writing it. Emma: That is so strange. JK: And actually I liked that scene in the film, because it was articulating something I hadn't said but I had felt. I really liked it and I thought that it was right. I think you do feel the ghost of what could have been in that scene. Emma: It's a really haunting scene. It's funny because it really divided people. Some people loved that scene and some people really didn't. JK: Yes, some people utterly hated it. But that is true of so many really good scenes in books and films; they evoke that strong positive/negative feeling. I was fine with it, I liked it. Emma: I remember really loving shooting those scenes that don't have any dialogue, where you are just kind of trying to express a moment in time and a feeling without saying anything. It was just Dan and I spontaneously sort of trying to convey an idea and it was really fun. JK: And you got it perfectly, you got perfectly the sort of mixture of awkwardness and genuine emotion, because it teeters on the edge of "what are we doing? Oh come on let's do it anyway", which I thought was just right for that time. Emma: I think it was just the sense that in the moment they needed to be together and be kids and raise each other's morale. JK: That is just it, you are so right. All this says something very powerful about the character of Hermione as well. Hermione was the one that

stuck with Harry all the way through that last installment, that very last part of the adventure. It wasn't Ron, which also says something very powerful about Ron. He was injured in a way, in his self-esteem, from the start of the series. He always knew he came second to fourth best, and then had to make friends with the hero of it all and that's a hell of a position to be in, eternally overshadowed. So Ron had to act out in that way at some point. But Hermione's always there for Harry. I remember you sent me a note after you read Hallows and before you started shooting, and said something about that, because it was Hermione's journey as much as Harry's at the end. Emma: I completely agree and the fact that they were true equals and the fact that she really said goodbye to her family makes it her sacrifice too. JK: Yes, her sacrifice was massive, completely. A very calculated act of bravery. That is not an 'in the moment' act of bravery where emotion carries you through, that is a deliberate choice. Emma: Exactly. I love Hermione. JK: I love her too. Oh, maybe she and Ron will be alright with a bit of counseling, you know. I wonder what happens at wizard marriage counseling? They'll probably be fine. He needs to work on his self-esteem issues and she needs to work on being a little less critical. Emma: I think it makes sense to me that Ron would make friends with the most famous wizard in the school because I think life presents to you over and over again your biggest and most painful fear – until you conquer it. It just keeps coming up. JK: That is so true, it has happened in my own life. The issue keeps coming up because you are drawn to it and you are putting yourself in front of it all the time. At a certain point you have to choose what to do about it and sometimes conquering it is choosing to say: I don't want that anymore, I'm going to stop walking up to you because there is nothing there for me. But yes, you're so right, that's very insightful! Ron's used to playing second fiddle. I think that's a comfortable role for him, but at a certain point he has to be his own man, doesn't he? Emma: Yes and until he does it is unresolved. It is unfinished business. So maybe life presented this to him enough times until he had to make a choice and become the man that Hermione needs. JK: Just like her creator, she has a real weakness for a funny man. These uptight girls, they do like them funny. Emma: They do like them funny, they need them funny. JK: It's such a relief from being so intense yourself – you need someone who takes life, or appears to take life, a little more light heartedly.

^This post made Ron cry, lol I really don't care who ended up with who because it's a movie. I lost no sleep over it or thought about it much until I read the quote of Emma changing her tune as MTV pointed out. I will say this. In the Half Blood Prince when Ron was in the Hospital after mistakenly consuming a love potion meant for Harry there was an exchange between Hermione and Lavender Brown where Hermione said, "I've always found him interesting" meaning Ron. There was also that scene in DH2 where Hermione said she couldn't destroy the horocrux and it took Ron to coach her up to do it. There was that scene after that where they were looking for Harry using the marauders map and Ron remembered what Hermione told him about the room of requirement not being on the map and she was surprised he remembered. Then there was the Order of the Phoenix when Ron tricked Malfoy and the rest of them (with a spell of which I forget) and they got away while Hermione and Harry lead Umbridge into the Forrest. When Hermione came back she was impressed by him. I think Ron and Hermione would be just fine if they were real. They actually compliment each other by being total opposites. I'm sure true Potter fans have better examples for Ron and Hermione. Btw Emma was about Ron and Hermione for years and years. I'd post the quotes but I think true Potter fans know this to be true so there would be no argument there. It's something me and Emma fans probably agree on. I think hell just froze over. As for what Emma said about Ron making Hermione happy and stuff. In my opinion she's purely speaking from her own taste in men since she goes for the Viktor Krum's (Matt Janney/Tom Ducker) and Cormac McLaggen's (Will Adamowicz/Jay Barrymore). Emma is more of  mix of Sam (Perks) and Nicki (TBR) than she was ever Hermione. Emma would never date a Ron Weasley in real life. It's beneath her and there would be a reality gap between them since Emma lives in her own head and is out of touch with normal people. So really that statement is a full on Emmione moment where she's doing her thinking for a fictional character that is totally different from "the real Emma Watson". I've said this numerous times. If Hermione were real she would not think too kindly of Emma. Shy and introverted post is coming one of these days. I keep on saying that but it is. I put this post together in 15 minutes. I've been working on the other one for two weeks on and off by procrastinating with it mostly. It's not that complicated I'm just being lazy getting all the photos and quotes together I need. And while were on this shipping business

She supposedly interviewed JGL in Wonderland Magazine but it was not formatted like her other Interviews where she talked just as much as the person she was interviewing so this leads to believe she actually didn’t interview JGL. It was a straight Q&A without it reading like a conversation between two people in the same room like the others. And JGL has done Wonderland a few times in the past so I don’t think this was Emma’s request. Then they presented together at the Oscars. Coincidence or more Hollywood smoke and mirrors? Fans are shipping (weirdo movement) these two and it was all for show. Ok I’m going to join this weirdo movement of shipping! JGL and Dan forever!!

[hes-writer]

I'm the anon who wrote about the reality-AU ask.

And I have a different view from what you wrote, because for me there where 2 major things:

1. Reader wasn't a strong woman

2. Harry was definitely an arrogant, selfish prick to reader.

I will start with 1.

So, what moral and values? I honestly don't understand that part because for me moral and values mean one thing and I don't see they fitting the situation.

Regardless, MC wasn't a strong woman for several reasons.

She allowed her pain get in the way of her child's life several times, she literally got with the first guy that showed her love when she wasn't ready nor emotionally stable, if we take in mind that she met him at halfway through her pregnancy and in 2 years ish she was already living with him and allowing her child to call him "dad". So she clinged to Connor as a substitute and staple to the family she had planned having with Harry, just like Harry clinged to Camille's offer as a way to have what he dreamed having with Y/N. None of them put their child's best interest first, otherwise she would have found a way to deal with her pain while allowing him to be part of Halo's life and he would have found a way to accept that he would never have what he wanted bc of his mistakes in the past.

And the clearest sign of that is her conversation with Harry in the last chapter. She did love Connor, but he was only there because Harry blocked her. If he hadn't, he'd have seen the text and be involved in his kids life. So, I know you said something about being emotionally available as a parent and that's my argument for that. Harry wasn't emotionally a dad bc that chance was taken from him out of spitefulness and he still tried to be there, he made a mistake but he never gave up. He was robbed of it countless times bc MC was never healed properly to let go of her personal feelings and focus on Halo, bc I can guarantee you that if given the chance, Halo would forget it and choose to have a relationship with Harry.

Which brings me to my previous point... He wasn't Halos dad, MC made him her dad because she didn't want to deal with Harry when she knew that he had a right to at least be informed about the baby, regardless of her relationship with him. In the story you make it known that he blocked her and that's how she couldn't tell him, but she kept in touch with his family + he contacted her at some point. So, she uses her own actions against him and he let's her out of guilty, showing a bit of manipulation from her side. Both of them were toxic and manipulative. Just bc you were hurt, doesn't give you a right to act as you please, speacially when a child is involved. That shouldn't even be put to argument and I'd have agreed with you more if you hadn't tried to classify MC as a victim at all costs, even when she was the wrong one.

If this was real life, a girl behaving like her would be concerning, so why in a fanfic she's considered strong? Because she standed up for herself and for her daughter? I mean, did she truly stand up for her child? Can we truly say that? Or did she allow her own barriers and insecurities surround them and keep Harry distant? Wouldn't a healed and strong woman be capable of dealing with her ex for their's daughter sake, speacially when she's in a happy and healthy relationship?

Parents are allowed mistakes. None of them know what they're doing and the greatest majority of the world is filled with people who weren't mature enough to be parents, yet somehow were allowed to.

She was unfair and subconsciously used her child to get back at Harry for all the pain he caused her.

He left her, so she didn't tell him about their baby, then when he found out she monopolised his entire relationship with his daughter and did some pretty illegal stuff, and when he committed his first mistake with the child she cut him off completely without taking in account what her daughter wanted.

Have you watched the show The Duchess on Netflix? I think its a great example of my point here, in case you don't understand it.

Also, forgot to say that she was toxic again when she kept threatening him over wanting to be with his kid. Like, we spend tons of times telling people to be responsible with their art, as it can be a door into introducing kids to things. We also spend a ton of time telling boys that they should care about their babies and be there for them. Then you come and write a fic where the guy gets threatened and manipulated when trying to be with his 🤷🏻‍♀️

MC definitely had her right to commit her own mistakes, as I said, parents will do it countless times. But I think that's a bit unfair that she gets as many as she wants bc she got hurt previous to baby being born, yet Harry barely gets one when trying to figure himself out after finding out about his kid. You mentioned that a judge would never give Harry any custody bc of what he did and that was a bit dumb, sorry. Law is based on justice, balance and protecting the victim with fairness and justice, therefore Harry would have been granted at least the benefit of the doubt as his mistakes were minor and the victim in this story is Halo, not MC✌🏽

This is a long one.

Morals and values are not fitting in the situation.

Morals are personal beliefs that a person upholds and values are something that are regarded as important. I think that everybody uses them in most of the things they do so they definitely fit the situation.

She literally got with the first guy that showed her love...

I wouldn’t say that MC clung unto Connor and got into a relationship with him right away. The first couple of instances—they were just friends and weren’t officially together until Reign.

None of them put their child’s best interest first // Reader wasn’t a strong woman

I agree that both parties didn’t act on the best interest of their child but that doesn’t necessarily mean that MC wasn’t a strong woman. Sure, she wasn’t ideal in the context of being a mother—but she mended herself enough to give Harry a chance when he found out, even setting up limits while she was at it.

Wouldn’t you think that that takes courage? Besides the preceding fact that it is courteous to tell someone that you’re having their baby (no argument there), especially to someone who has cheated and betrayed your trust, you are sweeping the pain away. MC was letting Harry back in even if she personally didn’t want to. Harry was a huge part of her life so I think reminiscing on their relationship would never cease; they have a kid together. All the good and bad of their time together will always be present in her mind.

Harry was robbed [of being a dad]

You think that Harry was robbed of being a Dad, I can’t convince you otherwise. You said it yourself though, ‘if Harry hadn’t blocked MC, he would’ve seen the text and he would’ve been a dad to Halo’.

But he did—and the following points of your argument are, in a sense, irrelevant because what you’re pointing out is what could’ve happened if Harry didn’t do what he did. These are the consequences of his actions. “He blearily remembered bitterly blocking her number just as she texted “I need to tell you something,” <- That scene was the turning point of MC’s decision and frankly, a showcase of Harry’s immaturity. MC said she had something to tell him and he retaliated by blocking her.

As well, you mention, ‘if given the chance, Halo would forget about it’—there’s a lot of assumptions in your argument because these aren’t part of the original story. These are what you think should’ve happened.

He blocked her [...] but she kept in touch with his family

MC kept in touch with his family on the pretext that they wouldn't inform harry that the baby was his. This was because of a misunderstanding due to a post on Camille's IG page. H seemed happy with his new relationship. MC didn't NOT tell him out of SPITE—it was because she didn't want to ruin his relationship with Camille.

Harry contacted her at some point // Just because you’re hurt doesn’t give you the right to act as you please

Yes, Harry did contact her—to call her a ‘whore’ and stated that she ‘probably slept around’ during their relationship. [ie. Harry: Why not? Scared that y’gonna have to admit that everything you put on was an act? How can y’move on so fast and give me shit about it?”] I’m guessing that’s probably not the best way for H to ask about MC’s pregnancy and I can imagine that the sheer rudeness and projection will deter most people.

His dialogues were an attack on her personality (that she was a liar and disloyal), on the validity of her emotions (that she was faking them), and on her identity as woman solely because he was crumbling under the truth that he was the one who messed up. I mentioned before that Harry’s insults were a projection as a result of his defence mechanism. Meaning that he was—to some extent—aware that MC hadn’t cheated but convinced himself otherwise to feel less guilty. Therefore, at the end of Halo, he judged the credibility of their child.

If this was real life...

And this is a fanfiction.

Once again, MC might not have been the ideal representation of a strong woman, but she stepped up when Halo was introduced.

Imagine going through a break-up with your SO of two years while you’re pregnant because he went behind your back FOR A YEAR, amidst hormonal changes, still going to work, and trying to find yourself when someone has taken so much of you—that’s traumatizing. Healing isn’t linear. Just because you’re wounded doesn’t mean that you’re not strong.

She was unfair and subconsciously used her child to get back at Harry

MC was honest but she wasn’t truthful. Her intentions were human nature yet keeping Halo away from Harry wasn’t very truthful of her—in legalities and such.

I don’t think MC monopolized H/H’s relationship. She gave Harry a chance to bond with Halo, and they did. As mentioned, MC had set limits and boundaries when discussing Harry’s presence in their daughters’ life. It was a legally binding, word-of-mouth, agreement that Harry assented to.

[he was] threatened and manipulated

In that sense, Harry’s hostility towards MC in Reign was threatening her decision to have him around [ie. You’re not something I would take the time to handle,” // You’re a goddamn mistake is what you are,’]

I understand your concern and I apologize for that. I’m not explicitly saying that this one piece of fiction is satirical in the sense that it’s the opposite of what society chants because that would be vile of me to do. Every circumstance is different though—it really is a choice of preference, validation and weighing out the subject matter.

You mentioned that a ‘judge would never give Harry custody’ and that was a bit dumb...

That line was never part of the story.

"Take it up legally if you'd like. Want to have a custody battle? Bring it on. Let's see whose side the judge is on after they find out that you cheated on me while I was pregnant with Halo."

Suggesting that the conclusion can be one of shared-custody wherein MC has more time with Halo (80/20 visitation schedule).