#but in past games we were SHOWN the lore

[postcardsfromheapside]

This game has been out since Halloween.

In that time, there have been numerous Veilguard positive posts in which patient, loving, wonderful, insightful and intelligent individuals attempt to impart lore onto a fanbase which doesn't deserve their time and attention.

I can't believe I'm running across posts made within the past five days which express disgust and frustration towards the devs over things which have been explained in great detail multiple times on this site, BUT IN THE DAMN GAME.

AND Y'ALL KEEP COMPLAINING THE GAME TELLS BUT DOESN'T SHOW. AND YOU DON'T EVEN LISTEN OR WATCH.

"the crows are presented as wholesome" - they are not. this site has a crow fanbase which has run off and lionized Viago as Daddy, conveniently ignored all the in-game details which either hint or baldly state things Definitely Aren't Cool, and generally fetishized what it means to be a Crow because of Zevran and Lucanis. Then the same people, or others who weren't paying proper attention, whined when the headcanon crowded out the actual in-game material, and they said "Antiva is whitewashed." There have been multiple posts about this.

"slaves are meant to be everywhere in Tevinter and we don't see that" - we aren't everywhere, we're specifically in Docktown which is poor and people generally can't afford slaves there, but we do see evidence of slavery, and we run around with abolitionists and help save people from fascist slavers and free people who will either be slaves or victims of blood magic so IDK what to tell you, there have been multiple posts explaining this too, maybe leave your slave or savior fetish somewhere else.

"Racism is supposed to be rampant" - fuck off. I actually will not be explaining this because for once it was nice not to be called a slur. If you need this to feel "immersed" or to feel there are actual problems, I need you to check yourself fucking hard. If you want to masquerade what it feels like to experience bigotry, go play one of the prior games. This has also been discussed in multiple posts.

"Handling pure lyrium is fine now" no handling the dagger is fine Solas cleansed it, the dagger woke something up in Harding specifically she talks about how some dwarves are connected to the stone, she previously had not been one of them and maybe the dagger woke something up in her, or did you need a pop up explaining this? Were you paying attention during cut scenes and dialogue?

"Adult Dalish without vallaslin" - in the 10 years since Inquisition/Trespasser, doubtless some dalish have come to adulthood and found out what assholes their gods were and made the decision not to go through that specific cultural rites. Or maybe city elves joined the Dalish. Who knows who made up the elf population at that ritual site. Elves are not a monolith. We've made multiple, multiple posts about elves not being monoliths.

"Solas' opinion on blood magic went from neutral to negative" SOLAS FUCKING LIES. We've made multiple posts about Solas lying, if you need this explained further I suggest you play the game all over again, he lies to you throughout the entire game.

"Re-write of the after credits scene in Inquisition to recontextualise the Flemeth and Solas interaction" it's recontextualized because now we know who and what they were to each other. Learning new information does that. This is literally what happens all the time in science and history. You recontextualize what you thought you knew with new information. You're supposed to change your position, not whine about how the new information makes everything different.

These are just some of the things I pulled from a list on a post in which someone was really just upset about everything. Everything. Varric, Morrigan, Solas, everything. But I can't take their criticisms seriously, because they're upset that "too much was told" and "not enough shown" and yet didn't even pay attention to DA lore or in-game dialogue or context clues around the world of Northern Thedas to answer their own questions.

Everything in this game makes complete sense if you use lore from prior games and a single iota of imagination to see how it fits. We've had many delightful posts discussing this, seeing how things could be explained, when approaching the game from a place of curiosity rather than being upset because personal headcanons weren't satisfied or long-held expectations weren't met.

[mythalism]

It struck me how profoundly uninterested the writers ultimately were in modern elves and elven culture. After 4 games, Origins is still the only one to offer up any info on them (with 2 adding certain tidbits) & it really hit me how colored their view is by their indigenous coding such that the elves aren't really shown to have any kind of society/civilization when compared to the dwarves 4 example, a people on the brink of extinction facing an almost perpetual Blight, yet still not solely defined by their struggle against the darkspawn. I don't mean to pit them against each other, but once I made the comparison I couldn't unsee it. We're challenged to show respect and learn about their customs & history as soon as we enter Orzammar and u cannot gain their aid until u fully engage with & submit to their political demands (Halamshiral wishes it had what Orzammar has!), your only influence is who comes out on top, and even that is a decision that has to be made by really getting a feel of their society and their different wants & needs, depending on caste & political allegiances. Whereas u can stroll into the Dalish camp and nothing stops u from only tackling the main quest, which is saving them from their curse (which turns out to be saving them from themselves<-a clue that'll become relevant later) by ideally convincing Zathrian to kill himself, an elf whose Hatred of Humans has gone too far (however justified his thirst for vengeance is) so he can be succeeded by Lanaya, a city-born elf who, despite being kidnapped as a child and kept as a slave, bears no grudge against humans. I'd be more forgiving if this wouldn't set the tone for their portrayal in subsequent games & didn't turn into 1 of 2 major(&only!) themes they cared to explore wrt elves. This obsession w/ elves not being agreeable enough can already be seen in the conversations u can have in their camp where at least 3 NPCs apologise for not being friendlier and I guess to make up for this cardinal sin all the side-quests (2 conv+2 fetch-quests) reward u with cool loot ranging from prized possessions to priceless artifacts, & the fact that u can get your hands on 2 valuable books on elven history teaches us early on that with minimal effort, any part of their history, no matter how sacred, becomes available for consumption. It seems important to add that both books can be given to the Mad Hermit who says he's gonna wipe his ass with them (this also reminds me of when Marethari gifts Hawke the Somniari book for no reason & it gets added directly to your trash pile). Which brings me to the other big theme: elven history is not for elves to explore and reclaim (&any attempt is dangerous+must be punished). While dwarves are allowed to be stewards of their own history&culture, and their pursuit of reclaiming thaigs & lost history (&their deep respect & attachment to that history) is generally presented as noble, elves are afforded no such dignity. I never realised the discrepancy, but from the start you have no choice but to take a dwarf with u when exploring the Deep Roads, whether that's Oghren, Shale, Valta or Varric, you are a partner & a guest, and, while u may help them in their journey of discovery, they always retain sovereignty. The only equivalent would be us getting an autistic Dalish girlie w/ a special interest in elvhen history whenever they feel like expanding the lore, using them as a vehicle for that, then punishing them for their 'overzealous' interest in their own past.

Velanna lucks out by virtue of being a dlc char & becoming a Warden, but she's still presented as being too into the elfy stuff even for her own clan, with the final straw that leads to her expulsion being wanting to get revenge on the humans who tried to burn their clan alive & took her sister(or so she thought). I appreciate that she's not shamed for her interest in elvhen history, but it's telling that the focus is on how misguided her quest for avenging her people is, with even her clan, when u meet them, still blaming her for her sister's fate & saying they're better off without her (interesting that Justice also disapproves, while at the same time berating Anders for not 'striking a blow against his oppressors, so they can do this to no one else', but apparently Velanna should atone to her oppressors and 'teach them'). Her best ending slide also has her warming to humankind & saving a whole village of them, as if that was our primary concern/her biggest problem to overcome, not making peace with her sister's fate.

Speaking of learning lessons, Merrill gets taught a harsh one, and while u can be supportive of her, you cannot escape this lesson, whatever u do: it is the height of hubris for elves to try and reclaim their past (or think they have a right to it), only humans can safely do it. Another ostracized First, one may be fooled into thinking the objection to Merrill is only the blood magic thing, but her first quest makes it clear the question u r being asked isn't is she right to use blood magic or should she limit herself to safer methods, but does she have a right to her People's history? It's so explicit that Merrill invokes that very right, vir sulevanan, in order to get the Arulin'Holm, a tool 'as old as Arlathan itself', only, after performing the service to her clan asked of her, Marethari hands YOU this artifact that'd been in their possession since before the fall of the Dales and tasks u with holding her heritage hostage!! And instead of her being disqualified from being Keeper ever again, you're left to interview Merrill to see if she deserves smth that belongs to her & u can choose to keep it from her! Why?? Marethari could've just not given it to her. Ofc, this all comes to a head in Pride's End where Merrill is yet again denied agency by her Keeper, & worse still, that baton is passed directly to you after her death, with u having to accept your paternalistic role or else slaughter her entire clan bc they don't accept any other answer than u taking full responsibility for Merrill. And, if u still need it drilled into u what this is really about, her rivalry path culminates, not in her disavowing blood magic forever, but in smashing her eluvian. Her friendship path also makes me uncomfortable, the conclusion being her clan are too backwards to ever get it, but at least she's free to chart her own course now. Set by you, ofc. You have the final say now, remember? Still, this is the last time the Dalish are a faction with any sort of agency. Maybe that's why you can wipe them out both times.

In Inq, sadly, they're relegated to a brief stop on the map on the way to saving their colonizers, a formality in order to gain access to their ruins, 1 of their warriors, & have the pleasure of picking the Dales clean without all that pesky white guilt! They even call the quest A Dalish Perspective when you're still viewing them thru a settler's lens; they're a problem to be solved, a list of complaints, they have no interiority, no ambient dialogue & the only lines they have are strictly quest related. They also pay the ultimate price for trying to reclaim their history, their deaths as inevitable as your success in safely claiming them. Twice Inquisition asks u: isn't their history safer, then, in the Chantry's hands? Morrigan's whole spiel fits here, too, ofc, as a human mage who argues her (stolen)knowledge gives her more of a right to the Well than any Dalish could hope to have. I also find it sad that in JoH, you discover Ameridan, & instead of getting to talk to his surviving clan, the only conclusion to his quest is this: it's the elves' fault the Dales fell.

All of this to say, the conclusion 2 Bellara's arc doesn't come out of nowhere when you consider it a culmination of this throughline. You finally get to answer once and for all: do elves deserve to recover their lost history? At least you can say yes.

10/10 no notes. only thing i have to add is how interesting it is that the devs had an inkling of awareness of how harmful their writing of the elves was in previous games - epler mentioned how they took the criticism of how you can kill an entire dalish clan in every single game into consideration with veilguard.... and the conclusion was that...... "the elves had their time to shine"? and they should be relegated to basically set dressing in the background of a story revolving entirely around their own history and religion? and told "get over it. just move on." instead of just... portraying them with more nuance, sensitivity and empathy? maybe hiring some more diverse writers? a sensitivity reader/editor? or just ignore the problem entirely........ there is no war in ba sing se..... there is no elven oppression in thedas....

[glassautomaton]

What Is the First Magic, Anyways? (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love FGO Spoilers)

Out of the five instances of True Magic, the Second and Third are known about in some detail, the Fouth is a total unknown from what I can gather and simply hasn't been expanded upon in the lore quite yet, and the Fifth being shown, but not explained in detail, which is its own post. The First Magic falls somewhere in the middle here, where a few vague things are known about it and the person who attained it, but not much in the way of details.

What we do know for sure is that the Magician of the First Magic was Yumina, the First Witch, who founded the Meinster lineage and used the First to create Ploys, which were passed down to Alice Kuonji, considered to be the last pureblooded Meinster by 1989 following the 'death' of her mother. Based on some information about Witches and the Meinsters in particular from the FGO collab from back in April, I think I can hazard a strong guess as to what the First Magic actually is: authority over Mystics/Mysticism itself.

Some spoilers for FGO's Lostbelt 6, though nothing critical to the plot, as well as this translation of Alice Kuonji's FGO profile.

First off, some basic information about Witches and Yumina that was dropped a solid decade after Witch on the Moly Night first came out, because Nasu's a fucking comedian:

This establishes a few things, first and foremost that Alice is actually Yumina's descendant, that Witches aren't human and are instead closer to faeries (although I'm not sure if they can be considered true faeries as this is phrased like they were created by an individual rather than born from the land or the Inner Sea), and that the daughters of Witches are essentially the next vessel for a singular consciousness, such that lineages are more like a single individual with several reincarnations. Not all of this information is actually completely relevant to this point but how insane is it that Alice got a lore drop for the first time in a decade and it was buried in the ass-end of a six-year-old mobile game? I just needed to get that off my chest.

Alice's profile reinforces this by seeming to allude that Alice's mother and her ancestors were all the same person, as well as the third paragraph using similar wording to how True Magic is often explained.

Crucially, the final line also states that Meinsters stand in defense of Mystics from humanity's constant march towards order, which inevitably destroys Mystics by coming to understand them, as is one of the overarching themes in Type Moon in general. Yumina's lineage seems to be actively pushing back on this.

Knowing Nasu, I could stop right here. See, it's thematically cohesive with the Meinsters and Alice's character arc of growing past the reminders of her family's past and learning to appreciate the present, and thematic cohesion is really all you need in Type Moon, established lore and rules be damned.

However, I think that my point is supported by the Ploys, which are all products of the First Magic. We'll start off with the Three Great Ploys, which we know were created by Yumina proper and not any of her later descendants/incarnations.

Flat Snark, Oil of the Moon, is the Great Ploy that's featured most prominently in Mahoyo. This is pretty straightforward - the prose in the scenes that feature it describe it as Magic, and it functions by transforming the world inside of its domain into a landscape of fantastical insanity. It is, quite literally, draping the landscape in Mystics once again. Even the air becomes dense with mana, similar to the atmosphere in the Age of Gods (as shown in Absolute Demonic Front), when Mystics were at their most common and well-integrated, before humanity had begun to push it back as much as they had.

The Thames Troll is the second of the Great Three Ploys, and one that, at first glance, seems to be by far the most simple - it's a massive golem that can get stronger based on what it's built out of. Alice states she has poor compatibility with it, and therefore can only use its first two forms, that being wood and clay/brick/stone, with its final two forms being iron and steel, then silver and gold. Thames uses the environment to create its body, be it the woods the first time we see it or the brickwork in the park during Alice's fight with Touko, which would mean that further forms would likely do the same. As Alice says that the final form would overshadow even London, this would mean that Thames is capable of annihilating entire cities. However, considering it would need iron and steel nearby to do so, it could likely only become so powerful when being used within a more advanced human settlement, likely for the express purpose of destroying it. Therefore, Thames is the Ploy that most directly serves the Meinster's goals of opposing humanity and safeguarding Mystics.

The final of the Great Three Ploys, which isn't directly stated in Witch on the Holy Night but instead FGO, is Wandersnatch, which frankly could and probably should be its own post. There's a whole hell of a lot going on with that thing.

The long and short of it is that the Ploy consists of a dense fog, and numerous entities within it. Only by glimpsing Wandersnatch's true form in the fog can one escape, which makes the Ploy itself act as a microcosm for Mystics in general - it's an impossible, insurmountable obstacle that can only be weakened and overcome by observing it and learning more about it. It's little surprise, then, that Yumina herself choose Wandersnatch to inhabit while her current descendant doesn't yet harbor her consciousness - much of Wandersnatch’s presence has to do with Yumina attempting to exert more control on Alice in order to possess her and incarnate.

Ultimately, though, the smoking gun for me isn't one of the Three Great Ploys, but the most common one we see used: Diddle Diddle, Alice's favorite Ploy. This one has a simple function, that being that it strengthens Mystics in a certain area when dropped on the ground. Which is simple, yes, but also just absurd. You mean she can just crank out little Christmas tree ornaments that can singlehandedly counteract the one consistent force present in every single Type Moon property? She can just do that? Alice, and only Alice, can just say "nuh uh?" That's not attainable through normal magecraft, and has got to be an application of the First Magic through the Ploy. Considering how straightforward the effect is, it seems to pretty clearly point towards the First Magic being tied to Mystics.

As a final note, I also think this makes sense of Nasu's note that the First Magic was discovered after the Third but named as such for a special reason relating to its nature (although this is from an unofficial translation from the Fandom wiki so take this with a grain of salt). It would be very in keeping with what we know about mage society for them to say Mystics are more foundational and important than souls.

[kiirostarz]

I believe someone had already pointed this out, but it fits perfectly with my ongoing theories about Merlin.

In the new character sheet for the new Hypogean, there's a man who immediately caught my attention. At first, I thought he might be Merlin before the amnesia. However, that design—with white hair—has barely been used in the game itself, mostly just in trailers. Plus, we've already seen a version of Merlin "before the amnesia" in Cyran’s character sheet, and his appearance is quite different (brown hair). So, it wouldn’t make much sense for them to be the same person—at least to me.

If they were the same, it would’ve been more consistent to reuse the same design to represent Past Merlin. Why change it now? This discrepancy actually strengthens one of my theories: that there might be multiple Merlins, or rather, multiple versions or stages of him across time and memory.

I also find the “Under Thumb” label quite intriguing. In other character sheets, they’re usually more specific—like mentioning if the person is from the past—but here, it’s just that phrase. It makes me wonder: if this character isn’t the same Merlin, could he still be under someone’s control in the present? This possibility strengthens my theory that Merlin’s connection to the Hypogeans goes deeper than just opposition. (Well, he is the most powerful mage, so I guess it makes sense that everyone would want him on their side somehow. 😅) And of course, it could also be a reference to the myth of the original Merlin.

And a new theory just came to me (right now): in one of the trailers, we see the brown-haired Merlin while Dura says, “It’s time.” What if… there are indeed multiple Merlins? Maybe each time one of them fails or falls into darkness—like literally being controlled by a Hypogean—Dura "awakens" or choose a new Merlin to continue the mission. It might sound a bit far-fetched, but ever since I learned the lore from Echoes of Devastation, I’ve stopped fully trusting the gods in AFK Journey. 😅 Also, the white-haired Merlin seems like someone far more experienced… I honestly think it would be really interesting if the current Merlin could interact with another Merlin.

Well, I feel like I sometimes drift away from my main point, but what I’m really trying to say is that I think they could be two different characters. It just doesn’t make much sense for them to be so inconsistent with a design they’ve been using for so long. As I mentioned earlier, the white-haired version of Merlin mostly appears in trailers, but he hasn’t actually shown up like that in the game itself—until now. So yeah, that’s basically it. 😅💖

[molinaskies]

hey, i'm a new sonic fan (really digging your writings btw!!!) would you mind explaining a bit of this tag of yours? i get the feeling youve been in the fandom for a while haha X)

hello, I am SO sorry for the late response. I am terrible with my asks and kind of disappeared for much of the winter. Some might say this particular hedgehog was hibernating! That said, welcome to the fandom!

You are right! I've been here since 2012, but I've done many blasts to the past to learn about the things before my time lol.

This is gonna be an off-the-cuff answer, so bear with me, but this ask was in reference to this post where I mentioned some "questionable Amy Rose characterization." In short, it's only within maybe the last eight or so years that North American Sonic has been in decent sync with Japanese Sonic, as a franchise. While there are still plenty of localization differences between these two realms (from characterization to plot/lore implications), they are largely on the same page, now. This wasn't always the case.

When Sonic first appeared in the 90s, there was essentially a version of him for every "video game region" (North America, Japan, and Europe). Sonic was characterized very differently depending on where he was. Again, super off the cuff, but American Sonic was a super cocky, sassy speed demon who made fun of his enemies and had no fucks to give. Japanese Sonic was still arrogant and sassy, but a lot less flashy about it. European Sonic, I am the least familiar with, but I know him to be somewhere in the middle of NA and JP. NA and EU also have their own cast of characters on top of the official characters we know.

To the core of your question about Amy, Amy chasing Sonic is a trope in JP media between young lovers and was largely meant to be shown as a game between the two. Amy also reads as a lot more "cute and endearing" in Japanese iterations of her in the 2000s.

However, NA Sonic, as a franchise, played up her romantic feelings for Sonic to an absolute extreme for laughs, but it ended up with some really dubious results. Amy's NA characterization makes her out to be more of an active aggressor. Words you might see floating around about this include "stalker," "fangirl," and "obsessed." These things led a lot--like, A LOT a lot--of people to dislike or vehemently hate Amy Rose.

Some iterations of this aren't so bad, but the ones people really point at are Sonic Battle (she mistakenly believes that Sonic intends for a robot named Emerel to be their son), Sonic Heroes (Amy's reason for hunting Sonic down is to "get him to marry her"), and Sonic Adventure 2 (Amy says that she will only free sonic from his prison cell if he agrees to marry her; she is unsuccessful and frees him anyway).

To be clear, I FIRMLY believe that the latter two examples I gave were meant to be understood as jokes and that IS how Sonic takes them. People also point to a moment in Sonic 06 where she says she would choose Sonic over the fate of the world, but I also firmly believe that people misinterpret her meaning (more on that here). However, the fact this is a hill I need to die on shows that it wasn't made clear enough by the American writers. And anyway, this really starts to simmer down around 2008 with Sonic Unleashed.

The general consensus in the fandom, to my knowledge, is that this happened for two reasons. 1) Amy's crush combined with Sonic's (at the time) purposefully ambiguous feelings for her made for the type of gag humour that was big in the 2000s, and 2) Sonic already had a highly popular love interest in Sally Acorn, a NA-exclusive character from the 90s cartoon (Sonic the Hedgehog/SatAM) and the Archie comics that largely acted as a continuation of that cartoon's story.

Sally was so much "in Amy's place," as it were, that the NA instruction Manual for Sonic CD (Amy's introductory game, mind you) deliberately refers to Amy as Sally.

I'm not super well informed about Archie Sonic, but Amy has kind of a bad rep in those comics too. She has a uncomfortable back story (she uses magic, basically, to make herself older so she can join Sally's freedom fighters and be with sonic), is consistency depicted as overbearing and mean, and I've even seen people complain about the way she's drawn (she always has this unbecoming, large mouth that makes her unpleasant to look at).

However, the Archie comics underwent a total reboot in 2013 (the comics ended in 2017), and my understanding is that Amy's characterization is dramatically improved from there on out.

Again, SUPER off the cuff. There were a lot of micro details I skimmed over. I 100% encourage you to go on the deep dive and draw your own conclusions, but I hope this gives some good background to get started!

In summary, NA Amy Rose (and, to a lesser extent, Amy Rose in general during the early 2000s), is kind of rough to watch. SEGA over-corrected a little bit around 2012 by taking her down the hyper-independent route, but settled on something really solid for her in 2017 starting with Sonic Forces and the IDW comics.

[fantasticarcadefan]

The Stream

Part 1: Awakening

Warning: OOC, inaccurate character representation, possibly inaccurate workplace, Imposter SAGAU, lmk if there's more.

It's been over 30 hours since Genshin went down, and there was still no news from Mihoyo about it getting back online. The players were looking for ways to entertain themselves. The out of game community was growing in terms of activity due to how long this crash was.

With it being over a day, players are still hopeful on it being resolved soon, but our starting to get concerned about the lack of an official response from the devs about it getting back online soon, with the only response being that the game experienced a major error with a new patch, and they were working to get it fixed.

That is what Jason knew. He, his other friends, Olivia and Jack, and his sister, Jasmine, have been browsing Reddit, Twitch, Tumblr, and Twitter for any info on the game going back. And it's not like they could go through the files to try and figure out what's causing this, cause their friend, Y/N, haven't responded to their messages ever since this whole thing begun.

You've made some mods for your friends, ranging from new enemies, to better chances at rolls, and even a new nation you were working on, unlike those of Earth's past, which was oddly similar to the Telaki culture that was seen combined with Inazuma before the crash. When you were asked about it, you weren't sure if they were serious or joking, with you only realizing the truth upon being shown an image of the new Inazuma, which had you baffled.

Right now, the group is currently on a discord call, browsing various social media platforms, ranging from Twitch to Twitter, looking for answers that could possibly explain the shutdown. "Anything yet?" asked Jasmine, "Nothing." He replied, not finding anything of use on Twitch.

Most of the streams there were of the lore that was dropped, as well as some interviews with the voice actors, with a few of the streams being scam streams. As he kept browsing Twitch, he noticed a new stream, called "The Hunt", about to start soon.

"Huh." Jason says, a little intrigued at the title. "What is it?" Asked Jack, curious on Jason's thoughts. "Just an odd title of a stream starting soon." He said, going to the profile, only to see nothing there.

"What the?" He says, confused on the lack of account. "What is it?" Olivia asked. "There's no account!" Jason yelled, reloading the page to still find no account there. "Really?", "No way", "Are you sure?", they say, unconvinced. "Yes I'm sure. I'll send you guys the link." He says, copying the link and posting it to their chat.

A few seconds later, disbelief rang throughout the call. "What the??" "How is this possible?" "This is live soon, wtf?" Were some of the things said by the group.

"Alright then." Jason said once everyone calmed down. "It's evident that this stream is odd, with it having no account broadcasting it. It says that it's going to start soon, so do we watch this, or keep browsing?" Jason asks, taking note of their choices.

"Sure" "Why not." "Okay." The group says, all clicking on the stream, waiting for it to start.

------------------------------------------------------------

The developer offices were in a more chaotic state. Ever since the sudden shutdown, they haven't been able to save any of the changes they made to their game, with any change made causing the game to crash the game engine, and in some cases where heavier changes were applied, the computer itself.

One notable effect being reported across the board was the inhabitants of Teyvat all being alive, regardless of the game being run or not, with something akin to a temple being built near Liyue, as well as the NPC's all worshiping a new one called "The Creator", who didn't look like any Mihoyo employees when cross referenced with their employee data base, crossing out any conspiracy by them for the mean time despite suspioins remaining.

These problems were what Robert Lin was dealing with. Ever since the game went down, he and other development team leaders have been doing double time in order to find the root of this crash, or as he and some of the others were thinking, cyber attack.

Right now, he was in a call with several other game developer team leaders and a supervisor about any progress as of now, with it happening on a laptop at his supervisor's request, for the ability to see developments should they occur during a meeting.

"It's been 30 hours and we still have nothing?!" A disgruntled voice yells over the speakers of his office. The voice comes from Chang's Lao, his supervisor from China. "Sir, all attempts to change it have been unable to be saved, with even attempts to revert to old versions failing." Came the voice of his colleague, Elise Toutain, who oversaw the developers in France and led the development of Fontaine.

"What do you mean, unable to revert!?" Came Chang's enraged calls. "You developers are the only ones that have access to our projects, or are you gonna tell me an intern at Unity screwed us over??!!" He yells, before taking a deep breath, looking at them.

"What of this, "creator", that the NPC's are worshiping? What do we know about them?" He asks, seemingly trying to change the topic.

"From what we've seen," came the response of Higa Azami, head of the Japanese branch and lead developer of Inazuma, "it seems to be manipulating the game to its will in light ways, in the form of giving visions to NPC's who were previously visionless in the game files and strengthening characters that show loyalty to it. However, the land, animals, and monsters around it seem to freeze up around it, with it attacking the monsters and animals around it with each in game element, purplish abyssal energy beams, and golden pillars." She says, taking a deep breath before continuing.

"The spared go berserk, attacking all in sight before dying. She finishes, looking back at Chang, seeking a further response. Chang goes ahead and takes a sip of tea before looking at the dev leads.

"Has there been any other developments besides the undeveloped lands being added?"He asks, double checking for any new events.

That was another major change. The Snezhnaya, Khaenri'ah, the Abyss, and Celestia were added when the game went down.

Snezhnaya was mostly in development, with developers only recently starting to add buildings into it, with some debates about building placement in the nation wrapping up.

Khaenri'ah was still in the drafts, with many major buildings still being drawn, with the general area of the nation now being just being a wasteland, mainly inhabited by Hilichurls and Abyss mages. Danisleaf had been seen waging war against the Abyss Order, led by the abyss twin, Lumine.

The Abyss follows its namesake, just an empty void, filled with floating islands where enemies that were both already seen and monstrous entities that haven't been planned or scrapped on some of these islands.

Unlike the rest of Teyvat, the developers were unable to get a view of Celestia, with all attempts ending in their computers crashing and needing to be reset.

The best they have been able to do is map out it's approximate area, with it being around the size of Mondstadt, Liyue, Inazuma and the wilderness in between, on the ocean east of the game's mainland.

"There is one sir." Came the voice of Safar Naser, the lead Sumeru developer and head of the Egyptian branch. "We've been browsing the files and found the files carrying the "Creators" attacks, with each attack being heavily layered upon their in-game energy." He says, doing air quotations upon saying creator.

"However, the computers used to identify them were overheating, needing to be reset. When reopened, the files for the attacks were moved elsewhere, currently unknown." He says, taking a deep breath before continuing.

"It's highly likely that these attacks, and this Creator as a result, are playing a critical part in this virus or is the embodiment of this virus. We're double checking our firewalls and attempting to identify the virus's origin." He finishes, looking at Chang.

Cheng takes a deep breath, seemingly in deep. The devs wait for a response. "Have me notified of any future developments." He says, formulating a plan.

"For now, continue observing the game. Work with each other to identify any possible inconsistencies in between versions. I will be contacting Liu Wei about this. It's possible that this virus will spread to other games, so expect contact from the other dev teams. I would recommend hiring observers in the meantime so you can keep a wa-" the door to Roberts office is slammed open with an intern, Wyatt Icnez, his tags read, being the one responsible. "Sir!" He screamed, catching his breath.

Robert responded to the employee, having been startled by him. "Wyatt, this better be a development, if not-"

"That's the thing sir." He says, taking deep breaths. "There's another creator, and the system says that they're a player."

------------------------------------------------------------

You thought you slept on a weird side of the couch when you were unable to find the usual comfort of the surface when you awoke.

Moving around, you still were unable to find it. 'Why is this so unco-' your thoughts froze as you felt the coolness of water.

Expecting to be dumped somewhere with it, you quickly awoke, and got away from the coolness, determined to stay dry.

It was only then that you realized that you didn't know where you were, yet this place bore a striking resemblance to a few beaches in Teyvat.

'Okay, this is some weird shit.' You think to yourself, going to run your eyes when you notice your hands.

They bore resemblance to the styles that ran in Mihoyo's games.

Being a little freaked out by this, you decide to go ahead and pinch yourself in the slightest bit of hope that this was some new evolution or a dream.

To your horror, you felt it. 'Okay, okay, just take deep breaths' you thought to yourself, realizing you somehow got Isekaied to Genshin.

Deciding to try and focus on something else and delay the breakdown of being in Teyvat, you walk up the path, heading away from the beach, where you came across a cliff, where you had to climb.

That's when you realized that you were in Mondstadt. As you began climbing, you felt the rocks get easier to climb. While thinking about what to do there, your thoughts turned to a small concern, to the SAGAU fanfic, specifically the imposter ones.

You shook those off, thinking they were mere superstitions, wandering into Starfell lake. Unaware of those there.

As you wander through the lake, you take in the landscape of the forest. 'This is beautiful.' You think to yourself, going to pick up a flower. As you pick and smell it, something is heard from behind you. Before you could react, a sharp pain pierces you on the back shoulder.

Looking at your back, you're horrified to find that you've been shot in the back with an arrow, looking at the origin of the shot, you expected a Hillichurl to be attacking you, only to find your attacker to be Amber.

Only then did you realize,

You were being hunted.

[inhuman-obey-me]

Babe, Wake Up. New OM World Lore Just Dropped!

So. Nightbringer Lesson 22.

(spoilers, obviously)

The Father of Demons

While cleaning the library, MC finds a book -- one that has the same lines narrated by Solomon in the Prologue video. The book, like the video, ends abruptly at "the demon's name was..." as the rest of the book is gone, pages torn out.

The brothers wonder what the name could be, and Mammon insists it must be Nightbringer, to which Asmodeus agrees. Then, we find out that Satan learned some interesting information from a Celestial Realm book.

So the Celestial Realm also knows of Nightbringer -- but as "the father of demons", thought to be the very first demon born in the world. They go on to say Nightbringer has been known by other names as well, but otherwise, there isn't a whole lot more information on him. Okay, Simeon, please go home real quick and see if you can get this book in undamaged form for us.

That certainly brings a whole new weight to Nightbringer's identity, if he is indeed supposed to be the first demon ever to exist. So far, the game has been heavily hinting that Nightbringer is a version of Barbatos, and this new information would seemingly match up with one of the chats in OG where Barbatos mentions he was never a child, as well as the stories Asmodeus mentions of Barbatos being strong enough to be Demon King himself.

However, the identity of the child, as well as what Nightbringer's actual goals are with MC, is still to be revealed, and this doesn't help to actually clarify any of those questions yet.

The Secret of the Little D.'s

Another major thing we learned is about the Little D.'s -- and that is that they are technically fairies or spirits that came from a tree that the Fairy King used to tend, back when the Fairy King ruled the Devildom. The game goes on to explain that this makes them technically actually fairies or spirits, though the Little D.'s call themselves demons, so their true nature is a mystery -- especially since they are also sometimes born when a new demon is born into the world, but not always!

Interestingly, Barbatos also phrases it as those demons being chosen, so though it's extremely rare, it is seemingly not random, though we don't know exactly why or how.

New demons being born into the world also includes when fallen angels turn, it seems, since the extremely rare occurrence of these spirits being born alongside demons happened with all seven of the brothers after their fall.

So it's not that the main Little D.'s are just lesser demons of each particular sin, but that they are direct spirit counterparts to the demon brothers -- one for each of them, one for each sin.

Which brings us to ...

The Seven Sins

We've always known the seven brothers as the Avatars of the Seven Deadly Sins, but an interesting bit of information we learned in this lesson is that the brothers didn't know why they were given these particular titles, or if Pride, Greed, Envy, etc. were even known as the Seven Deadly Sins at the time the titles were given to them.

Beelzebub refers to them as "keywords", and we again establish it was the Demon King who gave these titles to the brothers. Diavolo says that if his father decided to give these titles to them, they must be important.

We know that the brothers were already exhibiting signs of their assigned "sin" even when they were angels, but as shown by Mammon's behavior in the past two lessons, the full force of each sin hasn't taken over all of them just yet. In fact, Mammon's greed has come out in a dangerous, powerful way as he becomes more of a demon.

It remains to be seen what, if any, relevance this has with MC losing their connection to the OG boys, but we know how they've changed by OG Season 1, where they fully embrace their sins.

We'll just have to wait and see!

[vo1d-cat]

my thoughts on watcher in its ENTIRETY

\/

MAJOR SPOILERS

also some watcher art I forgot to post

the watcher. was one fuck ton of a roller coaster. from the excitement of opening the game, to the annoyingly slow progress, to the absolute devastation of the throne and unfortunate evolution. to finally. the first ending. the past ending

I struggled heavily throughout the campaign, progress feels impossible and gameplay wise it's not the best, but it does make up for it lore wise.

I was absolutely devastated over the future ending and Prince and the rot taking over. but now I've taken the time to think I think it's interesting, I at least believe prince is interesting. the rot trying to replicate an iterator, as that's where it's dna is based. and even more cooler, in unfortunate evolution where the rot replicates VOID WORMS. it's such an interesting concept, but it makes SENSE. iterators are powered by VOID FLUID, of course the rot would also imitate it.

as for the past ending. seeing this ending definitely shifted my view in the watcher entirely, and I don't think without it I would enjoy the watcher the way I do now, it's a perfect contrast to the future ending. you get to see the ancients and how they lived. the echo talks about how they were raised with other children by multiple people! overall, gameplay, the watcher is frustrating and slow and so, so much backtracking without any knowledge of where to go, but lore wise and how it's story is shown? absolutely beautiful. to the point it did almost cry lol.

also I believe the past ending takes place on pebbles! the pearls on the shelves are the same colours as the ones in his chamber! but there is definitely no solid proof. I hope the future updates add onto this side of the timeline more, and we can see how they lived more

[1queasycrow]

Why I think it makes sense to lock Lucanis’ romance behind the city choice but not Neve’s

Alright Ive been sitting on this for a while now, it might piss some people off, such is the way of opinions.

Fair warning, this may not cast a flattering light over many peoples favourite Antivan prince. I am not intentionally bashing him, rather observing things about his character through his words, actions and the in-game lore we receive.

Alright, here we go.

On their upbringing

Since he was young Lucanis has been told he is special, he is important, he means something, his needs should be attended, yes it is in service to a position he does not want but that doesn't change the fact that Lucanis has always been told he matters.

Neve has been a blemish on the family, she has been told and shown that she does not matter, her whole quest asks you to tell her what she means to Minrathous (Dock Town). The city that itself constantly “stabs her in the back”. It has been driven into her that she should not expect more because she does not deserve it and and even if she did, people would not give it.

Here we have two very different characters starting points so one can see why, though Neve may be more vocal about it, Lucanis is 'worse' off if you do not save Treviso.

His needs, his city were not ‘important’ (perhaps not for the first time but still, very few times has this been the case). So it hits Lucanis harder.

With the exception of a Shadow Dragon Rook, Neve does not expect you to come to Minrathous, so when you don’t it is not a surprise, perhaps a disappointment but not one she wasn’t expecting.

On their state upon meeting Rook.

When we first meet Lucanis, it is in a prison which he has been tortured in for the past year, this is not a prime mental state to start any serious relationship (we will get to Lucanis/Neve later). Then when he gets home it is to news that his favoured relative (Catarina) has just been murdered. Add to the fact that he is likely taking in this new information, that he is not the Center of the world, and poor boy's head is probably spinning so fast it's liable to come off.

Contrast this with Neve’s world at the start of the game which could probably be best summed up with ‘same shit different day’; the venatori are zealots, the shadows are trying their damnedest yet still loosing and Dock Town remains its same old tragic neglected self.

On Neve/Lucanis if you save Minrathous

Disclaimer, I don't like Lucanis/Neve, it aint my jam and I think Neve deserves better. Not the point here because I am actually in support of the idea that this ship is wholly plausible even if you lock out Lucanis/Rook.

I think, that the reasons stated above are enough to put anyone off a romance but if you save Treviso Lucanis a) doesn't have to deal with some of them and b) isn't mad at Rook for the same reasons. So given that, it makes sense he would gravitate to someone else with a shared grief. He might have wanted Rook to save Treviso but he would never ask that of Neve, as one can surely see it would be akin to asking him to save Minrathous. Therefore it is logical that he would not be as upset with her. Can I guarantee their romance would be the same as Lucanis/Rook? No of course not, they're different people and that's how the world works, but that is a post for another day.

All of this is to caution against being accidentally bigoted towards the best damn detective in Thedas.

Thank you for coming to my THED Talk.

[anxiousdreamcore]

Frontiers of Pandora story review ✨

BEWARE! Heavy spoilers ahead.

Alright, since I don’t see people talking about this game as much as I’d want on my socials, I decided to put together a little review where I talk about the story, what spoke to me, as well as some critiques.

To summarise my opinion; I love it! The story knows where it’s taking place and takes advantage of it. It covers dark topics and succeeds in staying as serious in tone as the movie franchise, which makes the campaign feel like it truly belongs in the world of Pandora.

To speak more in-depth; the plot of a Na’vi residential school had me hooked from the first moment. I think residential schools that native children were forced into are a topic not talked about often enough, so I appreciated the developers and writers bringing awareness to such facilities, even if it’s in sci-fi form. reconnecting with Na’vi heritage that was stolen from the main character and their family is executed quite well, as playing frontiers lets you get immersed into the feeling of exploration and discovery. The player is as un-knowledgeable about the world around them as the protagonist, and being able to experience new connections, abilities, places, stories and traditions side-by-side with them has been an amazing ride.

The different Na’vi cultures shown in the game are written organically. They each possess an intricate fashion based on their values, environment and history, but that is not all. Every clan has a cast of characters, bigger or smaller, who bring further life into the western frontier, help expand on the lore and provide entertainment. My personal favourites of these characters have to be Nefika and Kin, both elderly Na’vi with a welcoming presence and charm. Second to them come Eetu and Okul!

Then there is the main cast, which is MC, their three found family siblings, a.k.a the surviving Sarentu children, So’lek, Alma and Priya. We consistently stay in contact with them, both as part of the campaign and as part of our explorations, sharing experiences with them. The protagonist character is righteous, brave and endlessly adorable in their reactions to the world around them, and the trio of Sarentu forever have a place in my heart. I liked the concept of each one of the Sarentu children representing a different reaction to their past abuse and toxic relationship with John Mercer.

Nor, who had most luxury of remembering his life before being taken by the RDA, tries to distance himself as far as possible from everything human, and progressively adopts an antagonistic mindset towards his human allies, as well as a growing feeling of resentment and vengeance. I do not blame him for it and I believe it makes sense. After him comes Ri’nela, who, during Mercer’s captivity, tried staying out of sight but protecting her siblings where she could. Without Mercer, she feels insecure, constantly stumbling and at first, regularly looks guidance from Alma. She beats herself up for things that happen to Teylan and A’hari, despite being unable to have fixed them, but eventually grows into a stronger person, being able to take on the role of a Tsahik in the clan. Lastly, there is Teylan and he has to be my favorite character in the game. His bond to Mercer is strong, as T.A.P is all he ever knew, so without John, he begins falling apart. Lack of constant control and lack of ""affection"" from Tey’s "father figure" leave him feeling ten times as insecure as Ri’nela. He has a hard time learning Na’vi ways, keeps lagging behind and ultimately sticks to technology and hacking, which is worsened by So’lek’s nagging, as he obviously doesn’t know how severe Teylan’s abuse was and simply assumes that he is "lost" in the new world. Eventually, Teylan does what many abuse victims do, and returns to his abuser. An action I kind of predicted, but which still really hit me. His voice actor did an incredible job of portraying this character and the rest of the campaign I spent praying that I’ll get to bring him back home. In the end, I’m happy he’s at home and safe. 🥹💖🫶

Now to the grown ups. I don’t have much to say about Priya, but I grew fond of her. I liked her development from an awkward girl that sparks horrific second-hand embarrassment in the viewer to a resistance member who actively puts herself in the line of fire to help her friends. I found myself getting worried for her whenever she didn’t respond or was in danger.

So’lek is a character who I was immediately fond of, and I liked his growth as well. He saw himself as completely separate from human resistance members, and his thoughts are often occupied by revenge, but he comes to care for MC, the Sarentu and eventually the humans. Seeing him protect Alma when Nor attacks her was a brilliant moment.

Lastly, there is Alma herself. A very grey character who did horrible things in the past, like leading the program side-by-side with John Mercer. I liked her development, from an aloof and seemingly supportive teacher at T.A.P, to a person that orchestrated the entire project. Her grief and guilt feel organic, and I found myself having a lot of difficult feelings about her as it is obvious she cares for the Sarentu children, but her sins cannot be forgiven. I’m happy Ri’nela made the choice to simply part ways with her in peace, instead of trying to build a new bridge.

Now, for what I believe was executed badly. It’s quite unfortunate, but the game suffers from the same problem as Avatar the way of water, only quadrupled and that is; we don’t get enough time with the characters.

It feels even worse because in comparison to the movies, games don’t have to worry about pacing or time limits. The campaign can be as long as developers wish, but it came out rushed anyway. Part of the reason I got as attached to the characters as I did was because I spent time getting emotionally invested into everything they said, their minor behavioural cues and voicelines, but not everyone is as dedicated, and those people should have the right to experience a good story as well. They shouldn’t have to seek it out between the lines.

The only characters who I felt were properly developed are Teylan and Alma. They had the most extensive arcs and their growth was tied into a nice bow. But what about Ri’nela, Nor and So’lek? Nor suffers from Metkayina syndrome gets completely scrapped shortly before the finale, So’lek only gets crumbs of growth and Ri’nela is at times forgotten about completely. Her development as a character is too off-screen and between the lines for most people to catch it, and I find that sad because she’s such a sweet character when you actually get invested into her.

In the end, Frontiers of Pandora’s story feels like a good joke with all the necessary setup but only half-delivered punchline. I had very reasonable expectations and a lot of them were not fulfilled. This project is definitely miles better than whatever Ubisoft has been releasing in these last years, but I really hope that the DLCs will expand on the story further.

Verdict on the campaign; 7 out of 10. The setup and the beginning of the story were just perfect, but in the end, the characters didn’t get the treatment they deserved. Thank you for reading.

[thegayestdiaz]

a long and slightly incoherent rant about viktor in season 2

viktor’s s2 act 3 arc was actually so inconsistently written and revolved entirely on people already knowing his lore from the game instead of actually explaining and showing his mindset and motivations on screen. the last three episodes not only paint him as a hypocrite but arguably didn’t align with anything about his character that had been established in previous episodes.

season 1 was him trying to cure his deadly illness and using hextech to “fix” his disability, talking about how they can use this new tech to help people but there’s no emphasis on the taking away human emotions aspect of his character.

and then in act 1 after his first resurrection, he’s distant from his own emotions but still angry enough at jayce to leave because hextech was being used as a weapon to hurt his people. and that’s also after telling jayce to destroy the hexcore because he knew it was dangerous.

and act 2 we’re shown that the hexcore is definitely shady but that viktor seemingly has no idea because to him he sees this as a healing power, as him finally being able to use his creation to help people. it came across as a manipulation of viktor’s dreams of humanity not being burdened by emotion and the hexcore using that to fool him into thinking he was helping when actually he was hurting people and furthering this entity agenda without even realising it.

and then in act 3, suddenly this was his plan all along! he did everything by himself and this was his intention the whole time. there was no slow corruption, there was no manipulation by cosmic entities, no this is just always what viktor wanted the outcome of his acquired powers to be.

it doesn’t connect because show!viktor doesn’t have this view until the writers needed him to have it, unlike game!viktor where his entire game lore was written that way. if they had input more of his game lore into the story i could understand but the writers went out of their way to portray him so differently from his game counterpart that it doesn’t make sense for that to be the conclusion to his story in the show. it would have made more sense for an outside force to be influencing him without his knowledge or for him to have slowly adopted his extreme mindset on screen. but neither of those things happen and they just stuck a piece of og lore in there to force the same narrative as the game?

“he was secretly evil the whole time” makes me want to bang my head against a wall because no he wasn’t? if they wanted that to be the case then why not just fucking write it that way from the beginning instead of doing this hard pivot? idk i’m just so annoyed because there were so many ways to make his story both more interesting and keep it consistent to past seasons but yk why do that when we can have pointless spectacle?

the only good thing to come out of any of this was the jayvik of it all. thank god for these cosmic gays because every else was a mess

[vexy-hexy]

I hope this isn't a hot take, but Scott Cawthon is a shitty writer

The reason the lore makes no fucking sense is because he just randomly adds or retcons things with no explanation and, at this point, I think he just enjoys watching people (especially MatPat) go crazy theorizing

Like, the man may as well have confirmed dream theory a few years ago, only to go "wait, never mind, here’s Sister Location and everything is real, I promise"

I doubt even Scott understands his own story because it was written with the same grace and talent as an edgy middle school kid trying to write the next Jeff the Killer, so they shove everything they think is cool into the story, whether or not it fits

People say "oh, he didn't realize it would be more than (however many) games. He didn't plan that far ahead," but that excuse should only get you so far when you are writing a story

It's pretty clear that after at least game 4 (some say game 3, so I'm being nice), he stopped caring about the story and began just duct taping things he thought were interesting into a story that could've been wrapped up with MAYBE 5 games (1, 2, 3, 4, and pizzeria Sim with something in the other four to explain Baby and Molten Freddy, or get rid of them, I don't care), but instead it's a cluster fuck of weird details that DON’T MAKE SENSE

Look, I think a lot of us, myself included, can sometimes confuse a good CONCEPT with a good STORY

The storytelling of FNAF is dog shit, but the concept is just SO good, which is why people like the FNAF VHS tapes so much: these people are able to take a terrifying and interesting concept and make a truly good implied horror story with it in the way Scott NEVER could

And don't get me started on the books: First, they're not canon, then they're canon, but also, some stories may only be canon in another alternate universe or something, but if you actually want to understand something, you need to read some of the books

Your story should not have to be told across multiple different media for it to be even SLIGHTLY coherent. It's fine if you want to add in details that aren't too important to understanding the entire thing (like, we don't specifically need to know the names of each kid William killed, but it's a cool fact to know. Or maybe expand on how Freddy's and the incidents affected different people), but, as cool as it was, Golden Freddy being possessed by two children is a pretty crucial point to the rest of the series to be in just some activity book that so easily could've been overlooked as something fun to do related to FNAF (IMO)

Not to mention, we apparently can't even agree on the name of the Crying Child who, I think, was the catalyst for this entire story (because we can't even seem to agree if Elizabeth or CC died first)

TL;DR FNAF is a great concept, and it's been shown that it can make a great story by people who are much more skilled than Scott Cawthon (or maybe they just care more about this series than it's own creator, I don't fucking know)

Also, sorry if I'm incoherent or get anything wrong, I typed this while I was incredibly tired, but I did try to edit it as much as I could the past few days

[sirenthegalaxycollector]

Criticisms of Veilguard

After playing the series for most of my adult life, I can confidently say that this is one of the few games where I could feel how much the leads did not want to be making this game and simply didn't respect or enjoy the world they were working within. I strongly believe that both these things contributed to the lack of understanding of the societal intricacies of the world and the disdain with which they consider their consumers. Its a miss on so many levels, but for me, personally, its the obvious corporate propaganda.

In a time where our real world is experiencing fascist ideals spreading like a wildfire fed by the fear of disrupting the status quo, anything claiming to be art media has a responsibility to try and give people a way to explore their fears. To try and open their perspectives to a different viewpoint, or to model options other than staying the course simply because of fear. This could have been a game about different informal organizations coming together to ease the world through a drastic change, and exploring the consequences of that change. It could have examined Tevinter's relationship with the Evanuris. Could have explored the ways in which they have historically profited off hiding the origins of their magical and technological advancement by building a society that marginalizes the very races who's pasts they plunder for their successes. Could have shown organizations like the Lucerni, supported by unions and guilds, of which the shadow dragons could have been one, working together to reform Tevinter culture over the last decade, setting the stage for them to be better situated to handle a situation like the Veil coming down. Or perhaps making massive gains in the aftermath, because it would be pretty hard for a mageocracy to continue to maintain status quo when magic is more accessible. On the subject of the Shadow Dragons, I strongly dislike that they named this anti-slavery organization that, because its just too close to the hierarchical titles of a certain racist cult in the u.s.a. Snakes Serpents would have been a better choice, there's the alliteration with shadows and, more importantly, it would have been a cool little nod to indigenous American cultures (and maybe others but I am most familiar with the mythologies of the Americas). Not to mention, Fenris should have been in this organization, he is alive in canon and would absolutely help organize slave rebellions. There is no justice when the Veil remains. Mythal and Solas made the Titans tranquil. That is where the Rite of Tranquility must come from, taking the lore from prior games into account. No wonder he disapproves so greatly in DAI when you use that option. With the Veil left standing, we still have the Titan/Dwarven souls trapped in the Fade. There is no way that Harding, the Inquisitor, or Rook would find that an acceptable solution after everything they have learned. I do not think anyone in the Veilguard would consider that acceptable. Yet, Veilguard completely avoids the topic of tranquility, it isn't even in the game's glossary. It is hard to not see that as a way of denying new players full knowledge of the atrocity committed against the Titans so they consider the Veil remaining just. Considering the real world parallels between the dwarves and elves of Thedas, and various ethnic groups of our world, the decision is, at best, poorly considered in its implications. In what world would being offered the chance to reunite these peoples with the soul of their cultures and choosing to keep them divided be considered just or right? Thedas, I guess.

This game had the potential to dig in and explore the biases present not only in the teams working on them, but also our world at large, something they were already primed to do with the set up of the previous games. Instead we got a game that reinforced the status quo, that framed societal change as a mistake, and reparations of any kind as the responsibility of the past, divorced from the people who continue to profit from the atrocities. I do not think that this messaging is coincidental. It is too much aligned with the interests of the corporate class that has eroded our societies so quickly. I don't know if less apathy would have changed the ultimate message. Perhaps the biases of society were too overwhelming to confront in the face of all that is happening around us. Or perhaps decision makers were unable to recognize the biases they held. Whatever the case, the game did not capitalize on the potential offered by the stories that came before it and that is disappointing.

[sapphirestones09]

AAAAAAA FINALLY! I'm done playing @oneknightstand-if. As part of the celebration, here is Rosie's colored sketch (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Lol, this looks like an anime title card And thus! The Stats!

Blobbed: Yep (We are what now?)

Bold : 205 (Is this high lol?) Sweet : 46 Sassy : 159 Optimist : 76

Health : 85 Mark Status : Healed Merlin Healing : 2 Merlin Forced Healing : 0

Caution : 9 Will : 7 Cloudcuckoolanderness : 42 (Not enough, we gotta go full cray cray) Silent : 7 Curse Level : 4 Fear Level : 6 Corruption : -5 (Is this low enough?) Mute : false Mindcontrol : false

Downtime : Had Breakfast | Snarfed Sweets | Shower Accident |

Route : Went into Store & Fought | (What I gotta use the hunting knives as soon as possible in some way right?)

New Inventory : Hairdryer | Sweets | Shower Mat | Everclear Alcohol (Molotov! Molotov! Molotov!) They Know : false | It Sees : Masked | You Replied False Some stats are missing when I scroll from the past posts in the forum. Such as Crazy Theory, Crazy Theory Level, Pottymouth, Serenades, Interpretative Dance, and a deep dive into the Adrian and Merlin's relationship stats (I WANT TO SEE HOW MANY TIMES I FLIRTED GODAMMIT!). I wonder if I can access it (╥ω╥) About Rosie!

You are currently known as Rosaline (Rosie) Bane a seemingly normal female wildlife biologist. You have red eyes, very long flowing icy blond hair, and a short and petite figure clad in a red cape with an amaranth face mask. People tend to take particular notice of your hair. At first glance, people tend to find you not very intimidating.

You excel at sword fighting, gardening, and having a magnetic personality. Meanwhile, you've got a weakness for prescription medications and enclosed spaces, as well as having anger management issues.

You have an ear piercing. You also have a couple of scars along your neck and wrist.

A tragic accident that claimed your whole family lies in your past and the fate of your future remains murky with the apocalypse ever looming in the background. At least no one has suspected that you are actually a serial killer.

Your final words were "And now for a final word from our sponsor—"

Note! I didnt know I could play something as chaotic and as fun as this game provided me. Its super fun and enjoyable and yet amidst the chaos I loved the characters that was shown and grown to get attached to them to a degree. Both Merlin and Adrian are mysterious and enigmatic in their own ways that makes me look forward to the story and how it progresses towards their character. Also seeing Adrian being exasperated over Cloudcuckolander MC's antics tickles my funny bones more than I can admit. I admit I was reluctant to get into the game seeing as its such a huge one, but after playing all I can say is MOAR! I NEED MOAARRRR! AND PLEASE AUTHOR TELL ME HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY PASS THE STAT CHECK FOR MOONWALKING ON THE FENCING ROUTE! I NEED TO MOONWALK! I NEED THESE PEOPLE TO CLAP FOR ME! And please can we apologize to Adrian for punching him? (っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ I know in the grand scheme of things, Adrian forgives us already but we still wanna apologize (ಡ‸ಡ) And oh boy, I think Im gonna draw lots and lots of fanarts now... Skill Stats!

Personality Stats!

Can we still claim to be a newbie after Merlin's extensive lore dump on us? Relationship Stats!

Inventory!

Your ultimate weapon is unknown.

You are currently armed with... nothing, at least as far as you know.

Cold Steel SRK survival knife

You also have on hand...

E-phone 7XL

several small bottles of prescription medications

photo of your family

Killer McKiller Face's favorite stuffed animal (Rip our micro pig (ಥ﹏ಥ))

well-worn Bible (To ward off evil of course!)

mystical Magic 8-Ball (Another holy item! I sure hope it does not contain anything otherworldly that will potentially endanger us and others ha.ha.ha (→_→)

small herb garden of eclectic plants including a mutant Venus Flytrap (The only queen Rosie will ever potentially bow to!)

collection of various survival & hunting knives

small bag of iridescent pearls

bottle of 95% alcohol Everclear (Molotov! Molotov! Molotov ⸜(*ˊᗜˋ*)⸝)

slightly squished pastry (I KNOW MY PRIORITIES! AND ITS SWEETS!)

[ohheyaghost]

the past and the future of Splatoon - a ramble and some theorizing by me !!

With team past being the winners of the splatfest, that leads to many implications of what comes next for splatoon. The past is filled with cool stuff, meaning we have a vast amount of options or styles to base the next game on. Most people are expecting a great turf war inspired game. Though if that were the case, they would be throwing away almost a decade worth of worldbuilding. Which is why I come bearing with another theory, The splatlands and the great flood. This is gonna be a long one.

The splatlands is a region that has not yet been explored as well lore wise. Splatoon 4 having an approach more towards the great flood and salmonids would be incredible and make for a great story mode. The devs have been building up towards the salmonids having deeper not-yet-explored lore with the introduction of big runs and kind salmonids in splatoon 3. I have a feeling the splatlands and salmonids have a more close knit past then they let on…

During big runs, the stage is usually flooded. The splatlands are known to be prone to flooding as shown with certain stages, (“undertow spillway is a flood bypass in splatsville”) and the great flood. Since the game will most likely take place in another city by splatsville in the splatlands, I have a feeling the floods will be significant. Before we get into my next point, let’s talk about patterns.

The first two story modes followed a very similar formula. Octo Valley and Octo Canyon have almost the same story mode plot. Octo expansion brought something somewhat new to the table, and then alterna had something similar. Then side order brought something entirely new, with the rouge lite/like style gameplay. The game styles get to go twice and then we get something new. Meaning that splatoon 4’s story mode most likely will be a rogue lite/like. Now back to the last point and looping it to the next point.

What if the splatoon 4 story mode is a roguelike/lite, dealing with another great flood or salmonids. The ambiguity leaves a lot of interpretation (give me your theories!! Put them in tags and comments!!) I don’t know where I was going with this ramble, but I’m glad I finally managed to write it. I’ll probably make a ton more theories in the future.

TL;DR: My theory is the next game takes place in the splatlands (not in splatsville but a town nearby), the story mode is in relation to either salmonids or the flooding that takes place in the splatlands and will be a roguelike/lite.

That’s my ramble for the day. I wrote most of it during English class instead of reading the book I’m supposed to be reading. PLEASE tell me your opinion on this theory and some of your own in comments/tags!!

[pico-digital-studios]

My personal insight about the state of JD 2025 Edition

Yeah, I've seen all the criticism people have been throwing at the annual pack leading up to its release, though I'm personally feeling there's a special approach they took this year.

It's the 15th anniversary of the Just Dance series as a whole, and of course, Ubisoft are wanting to celebrate this grand occasion in the best way they can, and as such, have tried to create an experience that fans old and new can join in on.

Even with a lack of a Story playlist this year, I'm still okay with that, since a criticism panned at the JD service was that the story songs were taking too much away from the main point of the game; to just dance. Even though this left the Dance with the Swan storyline on a cliffhanger until next year, at least we've still got a bit of lore concerning the start of Night Swan/Leda's fall to darkness, and what led to a painful relationship between mother and son, and the heartbreak the father (the Traveller) experienced when he found out.

As such, pretty much all the songs in 2025 Edition don't have a definitive story going on, despite some drawing from stories from previous years (like Rasputin's last bid to reconnect with the Bride), but it shows that Ubisoft are seeing what's made the games fun for casual audiences; fun songs to dance along to, from varying genres and areas of the world.

I mean, look at all the routines they've done with songs from the Disney Animated Canon, for instance. It's their little way of appealing to whatever demographics they can, which is shown through the SpongeBob's Birthday song (animated in the style of the show, as well!). They've returned to where they can try to appeal to players old and young, fans old and new.

And they thought ahead about two seasonal holidays; Halloween and Christmas, two big points of the year for anyone. The charm of Halloween for the Trick-or-Treaters or those that love a good scare in October's reflected well in "Halloween's Here", and the nostalgia and warming vibe of the "Sleigh Ride" routine also helps appeal to those getting into the festive spirit.

The lack of connected stories this year might be a way to allow new fans to come into the charm of the Just Dance worlds without having to worry about following any major storyline, with a bunch of fun and colourful characters from all backgrounds; neurodivergent (like Epsilon), LGBT (Ari and Grace as examples), animated works (like the aforementioned pair and "Play Date"); all different things people can connect with and enjoy, no matter what side of each they enjoy and are a part of.

Understandably, not all of the songs are for everybody, I'm not denying that, but I'm sure there's at least something in 2025 Edition that can appeal to people in their own ways. Wanna dance to something without a care in the world? Got it right here! Same for if you want to figure out whether or not the Bride and Rasputin will get back together again, or to see Epsilon find themselves as a person.

Heck, the point where the celebration comes full-circle is in "Sunlight", which celebrates how far the series has come since the first game, with the coaches getting costumes based on familiar faces, past routines being referenced, and even the carrot from PoPiPo joining in at one point. And it's not often when we see the behind-the-scenes process captured on-screen, either, with the Ubisoft Paris team applauding the performance.

For me, personally, I'm keeping out of the crazy arguments going on in the fandom (like whether or not JD2018 is the series' black sheep, or whether the reveal of Jack and Wanderlust likely being half-siblings will cause problems for the shippers out there). I'm personally just here to enjoy the Danceverses and the fun I feel whenever I get to dance along to the songs every morning I can to keep active.

I simply hope that someday, 2025 Edition gets a release off the service (even though it's just a pipe dream in this reality), considering the charm it harbours, and the potential it could have separate from being online-only, especially taking into account that the service won't be maintained forever and will eventually have to be shut down. Maybe someday...