#but of course because of the main mechanic being related to having teammates i can bring both characters with me

[aggressive-almond-cookie]

Your Splatoon thoughts are always sooo interesting and ya anarchy modes are pretty complex. I feel like clam bitz is the mode people are more likely to feel a little lost in because it feels made for team communication (which of course no everyone can get).

I saw what you said about not being sure who should be riding the tower and i think I've seen many opinions on it, but what I do know for sure is that probably the worst person to ride it is whoever has the best killing weapon.

In this case if you play tetras I'd say that's you, since you'll be more useful pushing ahead and taking out the enemy so that the person on the tower stays safe. Of course there's always some situations when you should get on it no matter what weapon you have, like when you see a good opportunity to clear a checkpoint or if you are really close to getting lead and no one's around.

Same goes for who picks up rainmaker I would say.

I also think it's really cool that you main tetras! Tetras and gloogas are the dualies I've basically never played and I've been thinking of trying tetras. I'm looking forward to them getting a second kit.

Ohhh, that makes sense, now that I think about it. I guess whenever you're engaging with the objective, you're not out there splatting or controlling space, so maybe the logic to some extent is that you kind of want to throw the player at the objective who is the least suited to whatever combat-related stuff is or needs to be happening at the moment, whether that's by weapon type or sheer proximity to the action.

I guess what just really hasn't clicked in with me yet is like... any sense of awareness of what the current state of the game is at any given time. It all happens so fast and is changing so fast and I'm not entirely sure how to improve at consciously managing my awareness of what is going on, let alone figure out how to make choices based on what is going on. I've started to watch videos of comp matches on my work breaks and even seeing the whole field and having commentary, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around what is going on and what the logic is behind the decisions that any of these players are making. It just looks and feels like everyone is just running everywhere randomly at all times. But I'm hoping eventually it will start to click in with me and start to make sense, and then maybe I can apply some of that logic to my own games, at least as much logic as one can assume of their teammates in solo queue.

I am really, really enjoying tetras! They're everything I love about this game including being as chaotic and annoying and distracting as possible plus they just feel really cool, hah. Even though I feel like I'm not terribly good at them and tend to squander my dodge rolls and also roll myself into places I don't intend to, it's challenging in a way that I'm finding satisfying to work towards overcoming, if that makes any sense. Sometimes I do question if it was it the wisest choice to go into my first action-shooter game with a history of poor visual processing and slow reflexes and settle on (arguably) one of the most mechanically intensive weapons in the game. To some extent maybe I'm stubbornly trying to prove a point to myself, and I don't know if it's helping or hindering me, but at least right now I am still finding a lot of fun and satisfaction in it. The reefslider buff we just got isn't hurting either!

I do miss dapples sometimes, and I still have my eye on wiper, but my current plan is to stick with these for as long as it takes for me to get a grasp on everything other than constantly adjusting to various weapon mechanics, just so my muscle memory has less to worry about while I build awareness and strategy and understanding of the rest of the game. Then maybe I'll diversify. But right now it's hard to imagine I'll love anything else as much as I love these!

[potato-with-hair]

Fake News

First tumblr Story Ever

As the newest Avenger it seemed that Tony Stark and Captain Rogers were more than comfortable sending you out on all of the shit missions, granted, you could use the time in with your new teammates to learn their little quirks and start working to meld your abilities with theirs so that you could start working together seamlessly, but it was getting ridiculous. You were half expecting to start getting told to go out and help the NYFD rescue kittens from trees and helping the NYPD direct traffic on Broadway in Manhattan during rush hour. Y/N was a technopath, which was a fancy name for someone who could control technology and anything mechanical with their mind, or if you wanted to be technical about it, according to the official S.H.I.E.L.D. dossier:

Y/L/N, Y/N: Main Ability: Technology Manipulation

User can manipulate technology, the sum of techniques, skills, methods, and

processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment

of objectives. However, most users only can exert control over technological

constructs, such as computers, robots, hardware, and other devices that can be

termed as "technology", in any way. Manifested as a special form of electrical/telekinetic manipulation, a special form of "morphing" which allows physical interaction with machines, or even a psychic ability that allows mental interface with computer data.

Also Called:

· Cyberkinesis

· Cyberpathy

· Mechanokinesis

· Technokinesis

· Technopathy

Pretty cool, huh? Anyway, spring was coming to a close and summer was just around the corner. Tony asked me and Sam Wilson, you may know him as Falcon, to head to midtown

Manhattan because there were some “unsavory” characters hanging around Grand Central Station.

Turns out it was some low-level HYDRA minions that were basically trying to see what kind of trouble they could cause, they had planted a pipe bomb in a waste bin in the middle of the station and it was a Friday when thousands of people would be traveling through the station heading to and from work and school. I think that HYDRA was more or less just testing us Avengers out to what abilities we had and see if there are any hidden capabilities we possessed before they come at us for a full-scale attack.

Sam and I arrived and were able to find the pipe bomb relatively quickly, part of my ability is being able to read the signatures of different technologies and mechanics, and if you don’t think that a bomb countdown timer throws out a red flag, you are mistaken. Anyway, we found it, and rather than call bomb and arson with New York’s Finest, I was able to manipulate the mechanics myself using my mind. I shut down the detonator without ever touching the bomb and made the whole thing inactive within a few minutes time.

Easy peasy, 10 minutes, another fast sweep which took an additional 30 minutes, and Sam and I were finished and ready for our close-ups from the media that always, inevitably followed. We had a small group of media that always showed up whenever a call went out that an Avenger was “working” and there was almost always a small fan base at Grand Central or where ever we were working who would come up to thank us, like we were some sort of rock stars, and as per usual some of the younger men and women took the opportunity to do some flirting with us. Tony told us, unattached Avengers, that any publicity and light flirting and playfulness with the fans was good publicity and would help for the public to relate to us and see us in a positive light. I am not going to lie, I may or may not have had a little thing for our resident speedy Sokovian, but our little flirting in the compound never seemed to go beyond that, flirting. I thought there was a possibility he liked me also, but, so far, nothing. Although I did catch him staring at me quite often and Wanda and some of the guys were always talking to him and then immediately looking in her direction like they were just discussing her. Pietro did seem to always try to be around me and sit near me as often as possible as well. Also when the “fans” would flirt with him, I noticed he never really showed much interest in them, always watching to see what I was doing.

Oh well, time to spend a little time with the crowd before Sam and I headed back to the compound. The New York Times was talking to some travelers about the pipe bomb that was found in the wastebasket and what their thoughts were and how they felt about us being there to “save the day, yet again” when an overzealous “fan” started to get a little handsy with me in the background. He had followed me around and asked me to dinner a few times, flashing cash and his business card a few times, trying to press it into my hand multiple times. I explained I was really bust and thanked him but said I was not interested or available, but he kept perusing me. He was leaning over my shoulder with his hand around my waist from behind, body pulled directly flush with my back and he was in an excited state if you know what I mean, and he was whispering in my ear about some of his fantasies and things that he has dreamt of doing to me. Of course, the camera flashed right as he started to kiss my neck and I had a smile on my face because I was focusing on a sweet 10 year old in front of me asking for my autograph and telling me I was her favorite avenger. If the camera had waited all of 5 seconds more, they would have caught me performing a minor assault on the prick and another 5 seconds would have caught Sam pulling me off of him and flying us out of the station and back to the compound with his hand over my mouth because I let lose a string of explicative’s that would put Wade Wilson to shame.

The next morning I woke up and took a shower, went down to the kitchen and made my normal toast and juice and bowl of fruit, and could not help notice that the Avengers that were there were looking at me strangely, I thought it was because I was still in a sour mood because of that jerk from yesterday and the icky feeling he gave me that I was assaulted by scum. I knew that Rogers, Wanda, Sam, and Nat were on their way to Lagos on a mission. Thor and Banner were MIA since Sokovia, which left Stark, Rhodey, Vision, Pietro and I still here.

“Y/N, so, how was the pipe bomb incident yesterday?” Tony asked seemingly hinting at something

“Uneventful aside from a slight annoyance in the crowd, is there coffee left?” Y/N responded looking at him while rising to get a mug and pour a hot mug to clear the remaining sleep from my head.

“Nothing happened? Nobody special you want to tell us about?” Rhodey chimes in.

“Not that I am aware of or worth mentioning now that it’s done and over with, is there something you would like to tell me about?” Y/N asks looking back and forth to them. “Hey, where’s Speedy, he’s usually down here eating everything that isn’t trying to eat him first.”

Tony looks at Y/N and smirks, “It is strange that you should mention that, he came in about 20 minutes ago, I assume you were in the shower or I am sure you would have heard him, saw the cover of the New York Times, flipped out and, well, here you are, please take a look, we are on pins and needles to know what you think. And I hope you know that all suitors must meet the full team before you becoming an “item” and pass Avenger inspection, and Rogers is particularly tough.” He slid the paper across the kitchen island to where you sat, both he and Rhodey watching your face for a reaction. You unfolded the paper confused and looked at the front cover.

There in black and white at you was a close up of the stranger with his arms around your waist from behind, you leaning slightly forward smiling and the stranger kissing your neck, the little girl you were smiling at was covered by the person being interviewed in the foreground. To someone who was not there and did not know the story, this definitely looked bad, like a very intimate moment caught on film, the headline read ‘Newest Avenger Moving Fast With New York Wall Street Trader’ the article went on to talk about how you just met the guy and did not bother to get his name, but just let him put the moves on you, yadda, yadda, yadda. Apparently, after Sam got you out of there, the “gentleman: in question decided to make a name for himself and gave a short interview making it sound like you approached him and started the whole flirt fest, lead him on, and then abandoned him, with the promise to return. You looked at Tony and Rhodey with wide eyes and a sick feeling in your stomach, “This is the biggest load of shit I have ever read in my life, this is not anything at all what happened. About 3 seconds after this picture was snapped, I basically slapped the taste out of his mouth and would have continued to do so had Sam not gotten me out of there. Flirting? More like this guy assaulted me. This was not consensual or wanted. I told him multiple times I was not interested and refused his advances and invitations to dinner and he kept bothering me. I was talking to a little kid and he pulled this crap when I had my back turned to him.”

Tony went from joking to serious almost instantly, “Okay, we were just going to bust your balls on this a little bit, but this has just become a non-joke. I’ll have Pepper contact someone in Stark Industries legal department to get in touch with the paper to track this guy down, he’ll have had to sign a waiver for publication and we’re going to go after him for liable and harassment. If he tries to come after you for battery for the assault, well, we’ll call that defense, Avenger or not, no one gets to touch you without permission. Y/n we really didn’t know, we were just going to play around with you about this a little, and we had no idea. He didn’t do any weird stuff, right?”

“NO, I mean, I slapped him and Sam pulled me off of him and flew me out of there, anything beyond what he did to me and you would have been getting a call from New York’s finest about bail or my court hearing for homicide. I was shocked, but if it had gone beyond what it was, I would have raged a lot harder than I did. The headline in the paper would have read a lot differently today.” Y/N responded.

“Alright, I know that yesterday was weird and I know that Nat and Wanda have had to deal with crap like this from time to time, unfortunately being an attractive woman on the team seems to let the guys out there think that it is open season to treat you ladies like meat. It is unfair and it sucks and if any of the men on the team are around just say the word and well step in and make sure the guys know it’s not okay, or step back and let you take care of it yourself, whatever you feel more comfortable with. In the meantime, take the weekend off and go to a spa or go shopping or to the movies or whatever you need to do to feel better, charge everything to Stark okay. Just let us know if you need anything alright.” Tony hugged you with one arm and kissed the top of your head. “One thing though, Lightning Legs. He flipped out when he saw this. He thought it was true and got hot and bothered. I would suggest finding him and letting him know what is really going on because the last thing you need right now is a crazy Sokovian kid acting like a jealous boyfriend right now.”

You look us at Tony and across the island to Rhodey, “What is that all about, what is he flipping out about, he brags about all the women he is into and dated back in Sokovia all the time, what does he care about what happens to me?”

“Y/N are you serious? That kid has been crazy in love with you since Sokovia. I swear I was coming close to sending you both on a mission that involved a tropical island and a case of rum soon. If he’s not staring at you, you are staring at him. It’s sickening.” Tony finished with a sarcastic eye roll. Go relax in your room, we'll take care of this. Just try to put it from your mind and well talk soon. With that, you left and headed to the elevator bank to the sleeping quarters level, feeling shitty, but better because you knew Tony would do what he could to help.

You were only in your Bedroom Suite for about half an hour when there was a somewhat frantic knocking at your door. You got up from your bed, put down the book you were currently reading, and made your way to the door, opening it, you found a seemingly tormented Pietro, he entered your quarters without an invitation and started to pace the length of your room, looking at you, Y/N could tell he needed to speak, but he was not sure where or how to start.

“Y/N, I ……. The newspaper, I saw the picture and…… Who is he? Do you like him? I mean does he make you happy? I want you to be happy……… I know that no one will ever be able to………. Not like I do………” Pietro kept starting and stopping sentences, never actually completing any, and getting agitated. You had never seen him this disconcerted before, he was always so unruffled when he would flirt with you before and this was a whole new side to him that you had never seen before. It was like he was unsure of himself and it was not something he was sure of how to process. You walked towards where Pietro was walking seemingly carrying on an argument with himself and reached out for his hands.

“Pietro, please stop, okay, please. It is not what you think, I don’t know that guy. It was fake, it was false, I don’t know him, I did not ask for that, I did not tell him it was okay to touch me or kiss me like that, I was not alright with that, He did that without my permission, and the photographer took a picture and they wrote some fake story to make it seem like I was into it. I did not want that. I don’t know him, I feel disgusted by that.” You start to rub your neck where the creep kissed you, sat down on the plush cushioned ottoman bench at the foot of your bed and start to curl into yourself to make yourself as small as possible as Pietro looks at you taking in your words.

“Wait, moja bohyňa (my goddess,) some guy you do not know came up to you and started to touch you and kiss you without your permission? No, I will not allow this, who is this man; I will go fight him right now. Žiadny odpadok sa nemôže dotknúť mojej bohyne bez jej súhlasu. Nikomu by nemalo byť dovolené pozerať sa na ňu bez toho, aby sa poďakoval bohom, že bola stvorená. (No trash can touch my goddess without her consent. No man should ever be allowed to look on her, without thanking the gods that she was created.) Are you okay?” He sat on the bench next to you giving you plenty of space, not wanting to crowd you. “I will kill this man, why would he think he could touch you, Bohyňa (Goddess,) if I had been there, I would have stopped him immediately, I am so sorry I was not there with you. “ Pietro sat staring forward with a look of disappointment in himself. You leaned over towards him putting your head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around you pulling you into him. You snuggled your face into his chest drawing designs on his stomach and chest with your finger as he kissed your head and held you close.

“Tony is going to get the Legal department of Stark Industries to look into the paper and find out who the guy is and get him charged with harassment, and I may or may not have given him a good slap as soon as I got over my shock and realized what was happening, so I figure I should let the cops know everything in case he decided to try to press charges later for battery saying I attacked him. But I promise Pietro, there is absolutely nothing at all going on with that guy or any other guy in my life because I was sort of waiting for someone I had a sort of thing for to maybe make a move, but I didn’t think that he was interested, so I had basically given up hope and just accepted that we would only be friends, and that was okay, but I really was hoping he would let me know he felt the same.” You continued tracing symbols on Pietro's chest with her fingers nervously

Pietro put his hand gently under Y/Ns chin and raised her face so that his clear blue eyes were looking directly into Y/N/E/C, “Do I know this guy?” He asked finally deciding to go with the advice the rest of the team when they told him that Y/N was definitely into him, and Wanda assured him that yes, Y/N thought about him often and was only too nervous to make the first move, but if Pietro would, she would be receptive.

Y/N looks from Pietro's eyes to his lips and back to his eyes again and states “I am sure you have seen him around here, sometimes he’s hard to spot because he’s pretty fast, but when he stops or slows down and doesn’t try so hard to impress everyone he’s really an amazing guy. I have to say to, he is sexy as hell too, and he has this accent when he talks, uggghhh, it does things to me.” Y/N just smiles at him teasingly.

Pietro chuckles and smiling leans in but says softly before he kisses you, “Prednesiem vám básne a texty, ak ma chcete počuť hovoriť, poviem vám všetky veci, ktoré chcem s vami a s vami urobiť, ale nikdy vám nebudem môcť vyjadriť, ako veľmi vás milujem a uctievam. Teraz si môj, ako ja tvoj, navždy. (I will recite you poetry and lyrics if you want to hear me speak, I will tell you all the things I want to do to you and with you, but I will never be able to express to you, how much I love and worship you. You are mine now as I am your, forever.)” He then lays the softest and most soul-baring kiss on Y/N that she has ever felt. It was as if all the passions in the world could have been transferred to her through that kiss and as he softly caresses her face while peppering gentle kisses on her face, Y/N thinks that maybe this stupid picture is not the worst thing in the world to ever happen to her if it is what FINALLY brought her and Pietro together, she figures if nothing else, this will be a brilliant story to tell their kids someday.

Slovakian substituted for Sokovian

Y/N = Your Name

Y/L/N = Your Last Name

Y/N/E/C = Your Eye Color

[sundayswiththeilluminati]

Tharizdun, the Somnovem, and Psionics

tl;dr I think Lucien (and to a lesser extent Obann) wield abilities from a new school of magic based on Psionics and derived from Tharizdun

Mechanically Lucien’s abilities have been a puzzler. Matt may have simply selected a batch of powers without fitting them into any larger structure, but that’s not his style. I’ve seen the theory that they’re based on a Beholder’s suite of eye-rays, but he hasn’t used a single ray-attack yet and I feel like he would have busted out at least one against Gelidon. Plus Lucien’s not the only one. How did Obann control Yasha for so long, and in a way that robbed her of autonomy? Standard control spells in D&D like Dominate Monster work by charming the target, inclining it to follow your commands, rather than letting you puppeteer them directly. How can Lucien take over his teammates at will? Why didn’t his anti-magic cone disrupt his own abilities like it did those of his teammates? I think it’s because there’s another school of magic in the mix, and I think it comes from Tharizdun.

Consider the origins of arcana. The main schools of magic spring from the gifts/teachings of the Prime Deities in the early times of creation, and the Luxon gifted/taught dunamancy. So why shouldn’t Tharizdun, the Luxon’s dark mirror, have a school of magic too? Tharizdun’s been humming along in the background of Campaign 2 literally since day one, a rising tide that drives creatures to devour. I believe he’s ultimately behind the Somnovem as well, corrupting the city as it wandered the Astral Sea where his influence is strongest and now reaching back through them to the Prime Material plane. Now that we’re coming up against Tharizdun’s avatar (or avatar’s avatar, if it’s reaching through the Somnovem) it makes sense to run into this new school of magic the same way we encountered dunamancy when venturing into Xhorhas.

If Tharizdun does have a school of magic, what would it be like? I think it’s based on psionics. Psionics in D&D mechanics are a class of arcane-ish abilities that draw power solely from the user’s mind and include classic psychic powers like telekinesis, telepathy, clairvoyance, etc. While some monsters and NPC races in vanilla 5e have psionic powers (mindflayers, the gith), playable psionic classes are only in Unearthed Arcana (UA), D&D’s testing server. UA material is frequently revised, experimental material D&D’s designers want feedback on; the Artificer class, for instance, was published as UA a few years before being finalized in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. My guess is Matt used the Unearthed Arcana Mystic class published in early 2017 (later deprecated) to build his own school of psi-magic that we’ll discover over the course of the campaign.

Tharizdun itself is a creeping, seeping insanity that likes to find a crack in someone and worm its way in, so it makes sense that magic from Tharizdun would focus on the mind, madness, and control. It’s fixated on eyes, a classic theme in psionic abilities. Tharizdun’s influence is strongest in the Astral Sea - in base 5e lore it’s even the creator of the astral dreadnaughts - i.e. within a literal ocean of dreaming psychic energy governed by thought and will that’s home to the main psionic races, the githyanki/githzerai. The Somnovem, who were obsessed with both the Astral Sea and cultivating the unknown powers of the mortal mind, likely stumbled into the beginnings of psionics, and now they’re a hideous maddening entity of pure hunger rampaging around covering people in eyes. Oh, and don’t forget that the Somnovem opening a back-channel to Tharizdun would be an excellent reason for the Prime Deities to smite Aeor clean out of the sky before the Chained Oblivion got through. It’s Tharizdun all the way down, my dudes. And Tharizdun’s got the brain powers.

In Lucien’s case, his killer psychic touch attack being psionic would explain how he could use it when inside his own antimagic cone (beholders have their spellcasting eyes on tentacles outside of said cone). A few of the Mystic class’ disciplines also line up well with his demonstrated abilities: Telepathic Control has options that resemble both what he uses to take over the Tomb Takers and what Obann used on Yasha; Mantle of Awe grants abilities related to charm, persuasion, and drawing attention; Third Eye would give him truesight plus fun tricks like tremorsense and see through walls; and Nomadic Mind both gives him Find Creature and would let him create a movable magic sensor similar to a scry-eye that he could use when near the M9 to watch them indefinitely.

WHICH LEADS US TO ONE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT QUESTION: now that Caleb and Beauregard have eyes, can they learn psionic abilities too?? Int and Wisdom are the two psionic caster stats used by the githyanki and the githzerai respectively, and those are Caleb and Beau’s high stats. WILL BEAU LEARN TO PUNCH PEOPLE WITH HER BRAIN. I NEED TO KNOW.

[wienerbarnes]

The Undercover Mission (1/3)

Pairing: Bucky x Reader (Cheek to Cheek)

Word Count: 1,984

Warnings: Lowkey angst👀

A/N: lollllll don't hate me

MAIN MASTERLIST | CHEEK TO CHEEK MASTERLIST

Bucky stands outside your door for fourteen minutes before you open it. He never knocked, he hadn’t built up that courage yet.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. told me you were standing outside.” You inform him, confused as to why he hadn’t knocked, but deciding not to question it. Yet.

You look cute, even if you’re just in jeans and one of his shirts. He’s looking at you and he already hates himself for what he’s about to do; for what he has to do.

You’re rambling, but it’s good rambling; means you had a good day. You’re telling him about how you went to the shooting range today and did really well and how you’re going to try a new recipe for dinner tonight. But he has a feeling he won’t be staying long.

He already feels the lump growing in his throat when he walks up to you, slipping his arms around your waist, and kisses you where you stand, silencing your words. One last kiss. One last time to feel how your body feels in his arms.

“What’s going on with you?” You ask after pulling away, gentle smile on your lips.

He hesitates for what feels like hours, “We… we need to break up… I want to break up.”

“...What?”

Your smile has dropped. You pull away from him completely, taking a step back. You’re slow in your movements, as though waiting for him to tell you he’s just kidding. But he doesn’t. And he’s not going to.

“Bucky, what the fuck are you talking about?” His eyes water at your question.

“Why are you crying?! I should be fucking crying, why are you doing this to me?!”

Bucky doesn’t have a response for you, so he stutters on his words until you take the reins and yell at him; he deserves it, after all.

“Everything was fine, we were fucking fine this morning, what the fuck happened?! Say something!” You yell, tears finally coming to your own eyes as what he said to you finally sets in. You step back towards him to hit and smack at his chest, and he takes it all, lets you hit him as hard as you can.

“I-” He’s crying now.

“Is it somebody else?” You ask, begging for some kind of explanation.

“Yes!” Bucky snaps, finally finding his words and taking any excuse he can get.

But it was probably the worst one he could pick. Your face drops, tears sliding slowly down your cheeks. It’s like watching someone let the air out of a balloon; he watches as all of the emotion drains from your face until he just sees nothing.

You look like how you looked when he first met you in prison. Numb.

“Okay.” Is all you say before turning around and walking towards your kitchen sink.

“Babe- “

“Don’t call me that.”

“But-”

You grab the closest thing to you, a mug drying on the counter, and chuck it at him as hard as you can. Bucky, of course, dodges it and it shatters against the wall behind him.

“Get out!” You yell.

Bucky takes one last good look at you before stepping back out into the hallway, closing your door behind him. He waits until he reaches the elevator to break down. And he breaks down. He sobs and sobs and sobs in that elevator, to the point where he has to drop to one knee from the pain he feels in his chest after doing that to you.

He feels sick by the time he’s done sobbing, but he knows he’s not done crying for the night. He steps out of the elevator onto his own floor, sniffling every once in a while, trying to keep quiet enough until he can make it to his room. There’s someone else in the hallway, though.

Sam watches his best friend, cheeks wet and face red. He slowly opens the door to his own room and leaves it open; a silent invitation.

One that Bucky takes.

He takes a seat on the couch Sam has in his room and he feels like he’s at his therapist’s. Sam doesn’t say anything, going about his own nightly routine, making a cup of tea to relax his mind and body before bed, letting Bucky compose himself before telling him what’s wrong.

“Did Fury tell you about the mission?” Bucky finally asks him, voice rough and nasally.

“Briefly. The undercover one?”

“Yup.” Bucky confirms, popping the ‘p’.

“Couldn’t have any ties to… her.” Bucky gets out, not even being able to get your name past his lips.

“So, you had to dump her?”

Bucky pauses. Technically, no one was supposed to know about your relationship. The two of you tried your hardest to keep it as quiet as possible. But Bucky guesses they weren’t so good at hiding it in the first place, after all.

“Yeah. It was either cut the ties or she gets taken off the team indefinitely. And I couldn’t do that to her; she’s been doing so well; on missions, with her powers,” Bucky lists. “She’s happy.”

“Well, now she’s not.” Sam corrects.

Bucky glares at him, but Sam continues, “How is she involved, anyway? Why cut ties?”

“...The target is her father.”

…

Bucky hadn’t shown up to the last eight briefings. That’s about two months of no missions. That’s a long time for Bucky. But you refuse to figure out why. You refuse to ask F.R.I.D.A.Y. where he is, or what he’s doing. You’re lucky that Sam and Sharon don’t bring it up around you.

But it’s been a long two months. You haven’t slept well, your voices are back, and it’s affecting your job. Your powers are haywire; never showing anything wrong, but just showing you shit that isn’t important. Instead of looking for missing people or suspected killers, your powers show you a minor car accident in Manhattan, or a couple fighting in a restaurant.

There’s no way Sam hasn’t noticed. But, there’s also no way Bucky didn’t tell him what happened. So, you’re grateful that Sam is pretending to be ignorant.

You know you’re being unhealthy about this. You know you should talk to someone, find better coping mechanisms other than crying, not sleeping, and contemplating shaving your head in the middle of the night. But you don’t want to; you only want him. You don’t care if it makes you desperate.

You realize now, in this briefing where you’re not paying attention to a single thing Sam is saying, that you just want closure. You want to know why. The two of you were fine. There was no fighting. Bucky only had eyes for you, and you for him. He loved you, that you were absolutely certain of that. So why the sudden breakup, and why the sudden interest in someone else?

It doesn’t make sense.

Before you know it, the briefing is over, and you remain in your seat while everyone else files out, like always. Except you notice Sharon follow with them. You glance to the front of the room to Sam, but he’s looking down at a file in his hand. Not the file he was discussing during the briefing, a different one, a blue folder.

You don’t know what’s in them, but the tan folders are the regular missions that involve everyone, and the blue folders are the ones that usually concern Sam, Bucky, Sharon, and recently you. Blue is usually bad. But why did Sharon leave?

The door shuts and it’s just you and Sam in the room.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., cut all video and audio recordings in the room starting sixteen seconds ago.”

“Clearance level 1 or 2 necessary for that, Captain.”

“Clearance level 2; Wilson, Samuel T.”

“Thank you, Captain. All recording has been paused.”

Reminds of you of when you first got here.

“Agent, did you know that your father is alive?”

You stare at him from your seat in the middle of the room. You can’t say that was what you were expecting. You were expecting a talk about Bucky, a talk about your less than average performance lately, a talk about your powers. But your father?

“I... don’t even know my father.” You admit. Is your father here?

Sam looks at you, seemingly waiting for some insight, as though he doesn’t know what’s going on with your father, either.

“My father was a Marine like I was. He was deployed when I was born and stayed deployed when my parents got divorced. And when my mom died he gave custody to my grandparents; I never saw him again, why? What’s going on?” You inform him, the fact that your father is alive and is somehow currently involved in the Avengers’ radar finally connecting to your brain.

“Sam, why did you stop all of the recordings?” You ask when he has no response.

“Because you’re not supposed to know, but I don’t like leaving my teammates in the dark.” Sam finally explains to you.

“That doesn’t tell me what my father has to do with all of this. Is he here? Did he do something?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know. And if I find out, I can’t tell you. You’re not even supposed to know anything about the case because of the familial relation.”

“So there’s a case?”

Shit. Sam is slipping.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. resume all recordings.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Wait, but -”

“That’s enough, Agent 51. If you don’t see anything with your powers, you’re free to go. I have work to do.” Sam commands, Captain’s voice returning.

You huff before standing and making your way back to your room.

Except when you get to the elevator, you change your mind.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., is Gunnery Sergeant Tyler Camm still alive?”

“Yes, Agent. Gunnery Sergeant Camm is currently 55 years of age, residing in -”

“Okay, okay. Is he here in the building?”

A pause from the A.I., as though she knows she shouldn’t tell you, but hasn’t been given orders not to.

“Yes, Agent.”

“Where.”

“Interrogation Room Two, Agent.”

“Take me there.”

And the elevator descends.

You assume that Fury and Sam didn’t think you’d go investigating, and that’s why they didn’t put any restrictions on the case regarding your father. But you’re still trying to be careful.

No one has said anything, because you assume they pity you after your breakup, but you know it’s been noticeable the change in your powers and performance on missions. You haven’t been doing well. The last thing you need is to be caught interfering with an investigation.

You had tried looking into your father when you joined the Navy; you figured someone there knew who he was. But you were scared of the answer. Scared of this exact thing happening; finding out he was alive the whole time and he just didn’t want you.

The interrogation floor is eerily quiet. You know there’s arguments and begging and yelling happening behind each of the doors, but it’s all soundproof.

You approach the second room and peek into see a man in uniform sitting across from Sharon. Your father.

Why is he here? Is he being asked to help in a case? Is he being questioned? Is he a suspect?

You go to the door next to the room labeled with a large number two, the observation room that stands opposite to the two-way glass. You turn the knob quietly but it doesn’t budge. Locked. You close your eyes in a quiet sigh before turning back around.

This is a sign, you idiot. Get out of here before you’re caught and they flame your ass.

For once, the voices are right. You make your way back to the elevator. One way or another, you’re going to figure out what’s going on here.

[sagasofazeria]

Since my story is a D&D campaign, if people want to know, I will happily share some of the more game-y stuff behind the characters! (@talesfromaurea & @hellishhin i know you guys were interested! Here you go :D)

As of right now in the story, they’re about level 4! By the end of the campaign though they get to level 15.

Faulkron:

- Dark Elf/Drow Fighter (Champion)

- In a little bit (story-wise), my friend hit a lucky streak and the power of the protagonist™ kicks in. Faulkron gets... terrifying. He’s technically still “just a fighter” but he’s really really good at fighting. Like, scary hyper competent. I mean, he started with almost maxed strength, and it only got better.

- He did a lot of damage, consistently rolled high. Sadly, he doesn’t get better armor than leather for a while, but once he does he really wrecks the enemies’ shit, goes full Stronk™ and really starts just soaking attacks.

- He was a fun character for me to see my friend play because he had no clue about any of the “fighters are boring” things that people say, and so he felt free to just play without worry. He just had fun with him and went for it. He wasn’t the most complicated mechanics-wise, but he still was interesting and had personality, so it worked fine.

- Also, although he is a dark elf, and his parents were from the caverns beneath the earth like usual, he was raised on a small farm on the surface by a human, and so he is very different than many other dark elves, especially if they were raised in the Underdark. His darkvision is a little different due to his eyes having to deal with more light than most dark elves, and though he could do the elvish trance instead of sleeping he usually chooses to sleep instead, because of being raised by a human. (In my world, elves can choose to sleep if they want.)

Fuego:

Halfling Sorcerer/Rogue

- Being from Zul’Zagan, he is equivalent to a Lightfoot halfling

- His subclasses are a bit wonky: Draconic origins for sorcerer (although he doesn’t know it yet), assassin for rogue (eventually. We’re also not quite there in the story yet.)

- Despite what you may expect, does not only have fire spells. It is a near thing, but not quite. The variety increases as he gets higher up.

- He also wanted to do some cool flavor things (which I’m always game for) so his abilities look a little different than standard.

- An example, his sneak attack damage is reflavored to be him heating his weapon. He also wanted his draconic bloodline to be more dormant, so he doesn’t have any of the bodily alterations or know draconic, he’s just very good at fire (as far as he knows). That’s also why he doesn’t know what type of dragon he related to.

- Fuego was big on DPS but low on defense (of course) so he was usually having to be protected by/hidden behind somebody else (Shakari or Jetra most often)

Jetra:

- Human Bard (Valor)

- I would’ve done Lore bard because of her love for finding secrets, save the fact that I wanted her to have learned from both her parents. Her mother was a singer/performer and taught her to sing, and then her father, the Paladin, taught her how to create magic and how to fight. So she mixed that all up and boom, Valor bard.

- Jetra was definitely the most “utility caster” of the group. She had healing, buffs, pretty much something for everything. And a sword, if it came to that. She was easily the most adaptable of the group in and out of combat.

- She also spoke a bunch of languages, including Leinai (the one spoken in Leinos, since she was born there), Common, Celestial, Draconic, and was learning Azerian at the beginning of the campaign.

Shakari:

- Blue Dragonborn Fighter (Eldritch Knight)

- She was yet another Fighter, but she was designed to be more of a mid-range fighter so as not to get steal Faulkron’s spotlight. Since the khopesh could be thrown and summoned back b/c of Eldritch Knight stuff, it worked fine.

- They were very high DPS, especially with their spells/lightning breath, and then they’d finish the enemies off with a good ol’ sword attack (or just to help teammates out).

- At the later levels she takes some more utility spells (since she couldn’t those first few levels because of Eldritch Knight rules), but she’s still mostly damage.

- Also a neat lore note, Eldritch Knight is not called the same thing among her people, but it is a traditional position in the deserts she came from, and some of the other Azerian tribes.

Alejandro:

- Human Fighter (Gladiator*)

- *Gladiator is just a slightly modified version of the Samurai

- Unfortunately, I never had planned on Alejandro being a key NPC, so I had to come up with him over the course of the campaign. Thankfully, he ended up complementing Faulkron’s fighting style well (DEX based as opposed to Faulkron’s STR based build), and they made a really good tag team playing off of each other (once they trusted each other more, of course.)

- He ended up being a pretty formidable fighter in his own right, so he and Faulkron together was truly an intimidating duo. While Faulkron was tanking massive hits and dealing some of his own, Alejandro would run around with his bazillion attacks and chip away at the enemy with his swords.

- I also gave him a high charisma, being the gladiator that he was. But also just. Hot.

•••

Anyways, having three fighters in the group was probably not a great idea in retrospect, but that’s how it ended up. Everyone in the current party has swords and that’s sexy of them, honestly. Another funny note is that they all have decent charisma too, everyone but the main character. Shakari had 13 CHA as a dragonborn, Alejandro had a CHA 14 just as a stat investment (again because Hot), Jetra had 16 because she was a bard obviously, Fuego had a 17 because he was a sorcerer. Faulkron had the lowest at 9. He does end up increasing it over the campaign, it ends up at 16 or something so he’s fine, but for the first part of the story he’s not so good with people.

All in all, they had a good dynamic with lots of potential for ass kicking which they definitely utilized, so who cares? Anyways, just neat stuff.

[radramblog]

Star Wars Battlefront II (the good one)

My nonfunctional internet is preventing me not only from finishing off my essay, not only from watching the lecture that I would have shown up for were it not for mediary COVID restrictions, but it’s also stopping me from writing anything here that would require any sort of research or confirming details. That leaves me with less options that I would have thought.

Browsing through my Steam collection for ideas on what to talk about, and something jumped out at me pretty quickly.

Star Wars Battlefront II (the 2005 game, not Star Wars Battlefront 2, the sequel to the EA remake much maligned for malicious microtransactions) is a first/third person shooter that, while showing its age, remains one of the best games the franchise has ever put out. This is, of course, an opinion coming from someone who has yet to play Knights of the Old Republic, but it feels like Star Wars as a franchise has more misses than hits. So what makes this one land?

While I’m woefully unfamiliar with the early 00s shooters that Battlefront II was competing with (aside from Counter-Strike Source, but I’d argue that’s a different target market), I am extremely familiar with this one. I think part of why Battlefront II is so fondly remembered is on account of it being almost a gateway game for people getting into shooters in general- I for one played it extensively on my mate’s PS2 in primary school, and later on someone else’s PSP, and I doubt I would later have clicked so strongly with Halo if I hadn’t.

But what Battlefront II has more than anything else I feel is ambition. After the conclusion of the prequel trilogy, Star Wars’s universe was big, and the developers seemed interested in representing about as much of what we see of it’s style of warfare as they possibly could. As a result, the maps are a glorious smattering of worlds and terrains, loving and detailed recreations of places from the various films as well as a few that are probably new (I might just not remember them), each drizzled with vehicles and turrets and resources. Each of the game’s four factions share the basic units with very few differences (except for the Super Battle Droid), making them easy to understand and grasp for newer/younger players, with the complexity of each’s unique units paying off those willing to grapple with their weakness and play to their strengths. Some are definitely better than others, but that isn’t especially obvious at first. The basic classes reflect tropes seen in other games and while again some falter it’s not by enough that picking them in the wrong situation is a guaranteed blunder.

There are, of course, the heroes, major characters from the series granted to a player who’s doing pretty well, and I feel like this is another pretty well handled mechanic, even if a little awkward. There are enough of them, and they’re distributed enough between maps and factions, that they don’t tend to feel stale, and it’s pretty obvious that while they can absolutely ruin a team it’s also pretty easy to mishandle them. Unfortunately, heroes are related to one of my biggest complaints about the game, but we’ll get to that later.

One of the biggest selling points in my eyes are the dogfight levels. Now, I’ve never played X-Wing or the like, in fact my experiences with dogfighting games is extremely limited. But this part of the game fucks so hard. The design ideas begun with the class selection continue with the (admittedly small) range of starfighters you can pilot, with specialised interceptors, bombers, and landing craft to go alongside the effective all-rounders. The mode offers a variety of playstyles, between hunting down opponent’s fighters to bombing their flagships to boarding said flagships and destroying their systems from the inside. There is also the option of manually controlling the turrets, as well as acting as a gunner for someone else’s bomber/lander, but these positions are unfortunately underpowered and underexplored- they’re also, ultimately, less fun. But the dogfighting just feels right. I can’t really explain it, but moving in that 3-dimensional space feels not only satisfying but accurate to the source material in a way I don’t think any future Star Wars game has yet replicated.

I suppose the various game modes are worth discussing. Skirmishing on whatever map you want is the standard, at least in multiplayer, but there are a few unique offerings you won’t see in other modes- Hunt, where it’s a faction versus some of the series’s wildlife in a mode that always feels imbalanced towards one side or the other. There’s obviously Assault- the standard name for the space dogfights but on one ground map (Mos Eisley) it is of course the ever-popular heroes free-for-all, a chaotic mess but one where you can test out each one and figure out what their abilities actually do. But in the broader strokes, you’ve got the story, and the Galactic Conquest, as the two main other modes.

(oof, they really didnt build this with this resolution in mind huh)

That’s right, this game has a story, and it’s…okay? Ultimately it’s just a series of missions with the 501st, as they fight in the clone wars, turn on the Jedi, and ultimately become the Empire’s tool of oppression, separated by exposition. You get to run through some scenes from the movies, including the boarding at the start of the first movie and the Battle of Hoth, though some of the missions feel harder than intended- no matter how good the player is, the AI is not going to fare well in the tougher missions and you have a solid chance of ending up on your own.

Galactic Conquest is the game’s more unique selling point, being something like a basic version of Risk but with the dice-rolling battles replaced with Star Wars Battlefront II. You earn credits over time and through victory that you can spend unlocking types of units, getting new fleets to improve how many fronts you can wage war on, and unlock powerups for use in the actual battles. It’s largely fine, feeling like a bit more controlled and strategic version of just playing randoms in Instant Action, but it suffers the most from the biggest problem this game has.

The game’s truest flaw is its AI. They are dumb as a sack of potatoes, and the main thing holding the game back from perfection. And it was the early 00s so imperfect AI was to be expected, but it’s a bit more than imperfect here, I guess. Robits standing still while shooting you (or just at all, while you’re sniping them), extremely questionable vehicle and turret usage, and literally crashing starships into you, your flagship, or their own flagship. Bumping their difficulty up doesn’t really help, either. Even more egregious is the AI’s usage of heroes- or rather, that they don’t. If you’re playing single player, the game will always give earned heroes to you rather than your robot teammates, will not let one of them take if it if you decline to use the character, and you will never see one on the opposite side. This would imply that there wasn’t code for the Ais to use them, except there clearly is because Assault Mos Eisley exists- and they’re arguably much better there than in any other mode! It’s a real shame, because the low quality of the AI combined with the nature of the games means that victory is extremely polarised based on the player’s skill- if you bad all the way up to pretty decent at the game, your input basically doesn’t affect the outcome, whether you win or lose. If you’re good at the game, you will never lose at singleplayer, possible exception again being Assault Mos Eisley. It’s a little absurd, honestly. Also, I’m not even sure they go for the flag in CTF in space.

I am, however, willing to look past these flaws. The game is far from perfect, but it’s just incredibly fun. It’s a type of gameplay that they’ve tried to replicate, but never quite recaptured- and I think part of the reason for that is because the awkwardness is part of the charm. It’s nostalgic- both for those who played it when they were younger and just those in my generation who grew up on the Prequels. It’s also way more expensive on steam (bruh 14.5 AUD for real?) than I expected, but it goes on hard sales pretty often (I think I paid like a buck fifty for it), so it’ll be within budget at some point. I don’t know if I can recommend it for those who aren’t nostalgic, though, solely on account of those awkward features you likely wouldn’t be able to ignore like I do. And that’s a shame, because it’s not like they’ve made a better version of this game.

Fuck EA, basically.

[danguy96]

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Rewrite - Story Outline

Since a lot of you liked the set-up I had in mind for a “redo” of the sequel trilogy, I was thinking of finally laying the basic, rough outline of the first “movie”.

I decided to make this its own post, because it turned out to be pretty long, and would likely take up a lot of space in messaging on either Tumblr or Discord.

As I said before, the universe this takes place in is a mash-up of both old and new canon stuff, with some events happening different than others.

I hope you all like it, and if there’s any questions about this planned story, feel free to ask me them, because there’s a lot I have in mind beyond this.

Also, it’s best if you read the original set-up post I created, since it covers a lot of background surrounding the setting of this story. You can find it here.

With all that out of the way, let’s begin, and start off with a familiar phrase:

We start off our story with a small spaceship landing on a mysterious planet, in front of what appears to be an ancient Jedi Temple.

A hooded figure emerges from the ship, and soon is accompanied by another hooded figure, with this one being female.The male figure says “I apologize if I’m late. I came as soon as I heard”, and asks where the others are. The female figure says that the “Master” has already given his instructions to them, and that they are the only two left to receive the orders from the one who summoned them.

We cut to another hidden figure, meditating and chanting in a long-forgotten tongue. We do not clearly see who this chanting figure may be at first, but I think savvy audiences could guess correctly. Anyway, we see this hidden figure continue meditating, until we cut to his point of view. We see that in the middle of meditation, he is suddenly met with visions.

We see familiar locations, such as the desert world of Tatooine, the volcanic planet Mustafar and a large fortress which towers above everything on the planet, and a mysterious, snow-covered forest, where another figure lights a red cross guard lightsaber. We also see visions focusing on a single Stormtrooper out of all the rest, and visions of young scavenger/mechanic.We then see a dark aura consuming all in its wake, as what sounds like a horrifying voice of legion cackles horrifically.The mysterious man suddenly breaks out of his meditation with a start, and looks around as he breathes heavily.The man turns around, and his apprentices ask him what is the matter.

The old master calms down, and says that he senses a great disturbance is rising within the Force, as his visions become worse and worse with time.The two figures ask if there is anything they can do to stop whatever new dark force is threatening the Galaxy.The old master says there is one chance. He says he has seen figures in his visions. While one of them he cannot reach, the others must be found immediately.The old master says that the two must go in his stead, along with other Jedi Knights he has already sent out into the galaxy, as he senses whatever dark force is out there wishes to see him come out of seclusion.The two pupils bid their master farewell, leaving the master alone with his thoughts about this new threat to the Galaxy.

Of course, the old master is revealed to be Luke Skywalker, now a full-fledged Jedi Master, and currently one of the most powerful wielders of the Force in the galaxy, if not the most. And the two apprentices he spoke to him are his niece and nephew, Jacen and Jaina Solo.

We cut to Poe Dameron receiving vital information, only this time it’s not a map to Luke Skywalker, but info which reveals the connection between those within the Coalition and the First Order, and plans of attack with their new battle station, the Starkiller Base, and the planet he’s currently on isn’t Jakku, but Tatooine itself.

In this version, the Stormtroopers are being led by two members of the Knights of Ren; Kylo Ren, of course, and his rival/teammate, Zayla Ren (and yes, it’s revealed a bit later that Zayla is actually a woman early on, and her personality was inspired by Azula’s from Avatar, only Kylo and her aren’t related).

We go through the song and dance of the Rens and the troopers laying waste to the place, but in this version, Kylo, while appearing threatening, is a bit more reserved than how he was in the OG film, with Zayla being the one to kill San Tekka, and giving the order to shoot any villagers who do not wish to cooperate.

Also, Zayla’s lightsaber would be two-headed, like in that Teen Titans episode where they went into the TV world:

Poe is tortured out of the info by Zayla and Kylo, but as Kylo makes his way out, Zayla tells him that he “hesitated” and she sensed weakness in him. Kylo says that he only took what information was “necessary”, but she reminds him that their master does not accept hesitation or weakness, no matter what. Kylo continues walking down the hallway, but Zayla just continues as he goes, saying that at the rate he’s “improving”, it would “just be awful” if their master soon announced that the Knights of Ren were to have a new leader, chuckling to herself as Kylo resists the urge to practice his Force powers on her.

Anyway, Poe’s droid, BB-8 encounters Rey, much like in the film, but here it’s established that not only is Rey a scavenger, but she’s also a mechanic of sorts, and, as seen in the details of room containing bits of memorabilia from the days of the Rebellion, giving a sort of meta thing of her a fan of the tales and legends of the Rebellion and the Jedi, but she doesn’t have the money to ever leave Tatooine and go on her own adventures. Also, it’s explained that she didn’t know what the Millennium Falcon looked like, due to her hearing it looked much differently than it actually does, as sort of another meta joke about how the Falcon was supposed to look differently in the original draft. And her lineage does get explained, but both sides of her family are explained better, and she struggles with one of them in not just the last part of the story.

We then have a disillusioned Finn free Poe, and they’re shot down, but this time, instead of implying Poe is dead or actually having Poe die, both Poe and Finn make it out, and both travel across one of the many deserts of Tatooine until they find Rey and BB-8. The newly established gang of Finn, Rey, Poe, and BB-8 make off in the Millennium Falcon, but this time Poe is the main pilot, while Rey is the co-pilot, and Finn puts his marksman skills to use by manning one of the Falcon’s gunners.

We then get the reintroduction of Han Solo and Chewbacca, which is somewhat similar to the actual movie, but with a few tweaks, such as them always being a part of the Resistance. It’s also established that Han and Chewie were already trying to get the Falcon back as part of another misadventure which is practically begging to be told in a hypothetical cartoon or comic, and that they’re not washed-up, and Han isn’t separated from Leia. Han still wants his ship back, and is skeptical about the ex-Stormtrooper and the mysterious girl Poe has in toe with him, but he still ends up taking them on board with him, since Poe still has the documents within BB-8.

And don’t worry. Things start to depart from a lot of TFA’s story soon, given how the New Republic is still standing by the end, and we still have a senator and Chancellor to introduce.

As for the Resistance, in this version, they’re more of a smaller ragtag army fighting the First Order, but they need further help from the Republic, which they’ve tried to get for some time. The Starkiller plans and the data which confirms that the FO is receiving funding from those within the Coalition/Confederacy could be what helps them finally win over the Republic to provide military aid. This is continuing with the proxy war/cold war thing going on.

As our heroes make their way to the rendezvous planet where they’ll meet up with Leia and the other freedom fighters, we cut to the capitol city of the Coalition/Confederacy (I’m going to being calling it the Confederacy and the UGC interchangeably), where we’re introduced to First Chairman Krazvlin (it’s a work-in-progress name, but I wanted something which sounded vaguely Russian, and also villainous).

This scene is mostly based off the scene where we’re introduced to the emperor in the original drafts for “The Star Wars”, though here the Chairman’s speech is to celebrate the anniversary of the unification of the new Confederacy, and how their hard won “peace” will not be deterred by any “terrorist” scum.

After finishing his speech, the Chairman and his generals make their way to another, more private meeting with members of the First Order, to discuss the negotiations of the technological behemoth known as the Starkiller, discussing if it will truly be the deterrent the UGC needs to secure superiority against the Republic.

Among this meeting are General Hux, who used to work for the UGC, but is now the leading military officer of the First Order, and Grand Admiral Prydus, commander of the UGC’s main starship fleet, and a veteran of the old Galactic Empire (you can see I took the character of Pryde from Rise of Skywalker, and made him into something more than just a last minute addition, and I imagine him looking different from Pryde as well, with Jason Isaacs being my headcanon choice as to who would play him). 

Prydus questions why Hux, who seemed like such a promising general for the Confederacy, would lend his support to “a bunch of Sith fanatics”, to which a smooth, yet sickening voice answers back “You’d best watch your tongue, Admiral. You’re lucky the Chairman finds you to be still of use, even after your glory days”, and from the shadows step out the two Knights of Ren, Kylo and Zayla.

After the Rens make themselves known, much to Prydus’ exasperation, Hux answers that he lent his services to the First Order not due to admiration of any “religious cult”, but to prove himself as being the commander of his own military force. A military which he says would be “nothing” without his leadership, while Prydus claims that Hux is merely “standing on the shoulders” of those of the former Empire. Krazvlin silences both of them, and says that they still have the matter of the info on their plans and alliance with the FO are still with the rebels/resistance.

Hux and Prydus reluctantly simmer down, though Prydus still questions why the First Order always sends in their middle men, while their true leader keeps himself in secret, not even willing to share a hologram of himself with the Confederacy. Prydus says that he’s tired of all the secrecy surrounding the First Order and their leader, demanding to know his identity. Kylo interjects, saying that his master wishes to remain hidden, until his plans have come to full fruition. Prydus asks just when will these plans finally come to fruition, so that the UGC can finally get back to handling it’s own matters. Kylo answers back once again that his master doesn’t have the time to deal with such useless questions, and that his wisdom is spent on better things. Prydus says that if the Rens’ master was as wise as they say he is, he would have the guts to show himself, and not hide like a coward behind children playing dressup. But as he goes on, he suddenly stops, finding it hard to breathe. We see Kylo is the one Force-choking Prydus, but Zayla turns to Kylo and says “Kylo, I said he was currently still useful to us”, and Kylo releases Prydus.

Krazvlin, going on as if that didn’t even happen, continues on by saying that it is imperative that the BB-8 droid unit not reach boundaries of Republic territory. He asks Hux if he has any whereabouts of the rebels who took the documents, and if he knows where they’re headed. Hux says that the last his troops saw them, they had just left Tatooine on a Corellian freighter, and are now suspected to be in neutral space. Chairman Krazvlin says to alert any troops and spies patrolling that sector to look out for them, as the future of the stability of the UGC and it’s relationship with the Republic relies on those documents being found.

We cut to our trio of Finn, Poe, and Rey, who are currently on board the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo and Chewbacca (yeah, a lot of the New Jedi Order stories either haven’t happened, or happened drastically differently, so no Yuuzhan Vong just yet). The gang is currently flying through neutral space, and each member of the gang has different interactions between themselves and Han. Rey, being something of Rebel fangirl, asks him a bunch of questions of what was it like with the Rebellion, many of which Han either gives brief answers to, or doesn’t answer (I was thinking we could even throw in some dialogue which confirms the Thrawn trilogy did happen in this universe, at least to some extent). Poe is honored to be in the presence a hero of the Rebellion, and the man who fought alongside his parents. Finn, though, is a bit more apprehensive, considering he’s worried Han may suspect him of being a double agent for the First Order, but Han, despite his misgivings, says that Finn “isn’t the first Stormtrooper to defect”, and he won’t be the last (which is not only a shout-out to his original EU backstory of working for the Empire for some time, but also one to Kyle Katarn, and foreshadowing of later events in this saga).

Also, instead of having the run-in with the gang Han pissed off being just a thing in this movie, I was thinking it could be something that carries over across the trilogy, much like Jabba’s subplot.

Anyway, after Han exposits about how he lost his ship after a spat he had with a crimelord who holds a massive grudge against him for “ruining his business” after working with the New Republic to help bootstrap trade with smugglers, and how Luke has been in isolation to keep himself from being discovered ever since a certain incident Han doesn’t like to talk about, they arrive at Takodana, where they’ll lay low until a group of Resistance members meet up with them, along with some Republic help.

They land on Takodana, and meet up with cantina owner, and secretly a leading member of the Resistance, Maz Kanta. She offers to help hide Han and co. until the Resistance/Republic arrives to pick them up.

Later that night, in the secret quarters where Maz offers the gang to rest before the Republic forces arrive tomorrow morning, Rey is stirred awake by a strange sensation, and is drawn by a strange voice to a secluded vault, where she finds an old lightsaber. She tries to pick it up, but the moment she holds it, she’s visited by strange visions. Some of them visions of her past, and how she was supposedly abandoned as a baby on Tatooine. She soon finds herself standing in the middle of a snow-covered forest, where she see a man whose face is hidden beneath a hood reach out to her, with the calm voice of another man calling out to her (the voice of the second man sounding oddly like Ewan McGregor). However, as she moves to approach the man and the voices, she’s grabbed by the leg by something. She turns around, and what’s grabbing her seem to be this formless mass of darkness, trying to suck her in. Rey tries to run, but the man in the hood seems to keep getting farther and farther away, and soon she’s forcefully dragged into the darkness, as a hideous voice cackles loudly (a voice which strangely sounds like Ian McDiarmid). Rey suddenly snaps back to reality, and looks around, alone and afraid. 

We cut to the First Order’s secret weapon and one of their bases of operations, the Starkiller Base, where General Hux is informing the Chairman via hologram that one of their spies has told them that they have seen the BB-8 droid in a cantina on Takodana, and that they will retrieve it before the Resistance/Republic makes it there. Chairman Krazvlin says that for Hux’s sake, he better deliver it them, and ends the call. Hux, visibly frustrated, calls Captain Phasma to handle the mission, and bring the droid to them. She says that it would be her pleasure, and that she also requests permission to go after the traitorous Stormtrooper who let Poe escape. He grants her permission, and sends her on her way.

Meanwhile, Kylo Ren is busy practicing his Force powers and his lightsaber technique, when Zayla storms in and tells him that he can train later, because their master is calling them right now. Ignoring Zayla’s jabs of telling him not to “dawdle”, Kylo goes off with Zayla, to meet their master, and the true power behind the First Order: Supreme Leader Snoke.

When they make it to the room where they contact Snoke, we first see his form through a psychic link which Zayla and Kylo project, using their Force powers (this is sort of taking that whole Force Projection and Force psychic link we see in TLJ, and actually doing it beforehand by more powerful Force users). Snoke says that he has felt yet another Great Awakening in the Force. This one slower than the one after the fall of Darth Sidious, but still a source of rich, yet untrained power. Snoke orders the Rens to travel to Takodana along with Phasma, and retrieve the ones who have been awakened by the power of the Force, to prevent them from becoming Jedi. The Rens accept the order from their master, but before they head out, Snoke says that he can sense that there is still much both must learn, such as Kylo is still “holding back”, and how he senses “much fear” and “insecurity” deep within Zayla (that bit was inspired by a scene from the Genndy Clone Wars series where Dooku says that Ventress has too much fear to be Sith). Snoke finishes by saying that in order to truly awaken their full power, and become true successors to the Sith, they must negate all feelings of fear, and strike without mercy. Only then will they be able achieve their true potential.

We cut back to Maz’s place on Takodana, just as morning starts to break. Finn asks about where Rey is, as he hasn’t seen her all morning. Maz and Han say she’s been pacing outside all morning, and it seems like she doesn’t wants to talk. Finn, however, decides to go and see if he can comfort her. Finn finds Rey staring out into the distance, staring at the rising sun. He asks Rey how she’s doing, but she turns around fast, revealing bags under her eyes, and a worried expression on her face. After calming down, she reveals not only about what happened last night when she found the lightsaber, but also her past on how she was abandoned on Tatooine as a baby and her feelings about her she’s always felt like a nobody, and how she took comfort in hearing the tales and legends of the Jedi, the Old Republic, and the Rebel Alliance, wishing she could be a part of a grand adventure like that. However, now that she is on such an adventure, she’s starting to see it’s not as fun as she thought it would be, and even something inside of her is saying she’s getting in too deep. Finn comforts Rey, saying how he understands what it’s like to not have any other family to confide in, but says that if things do get ugly, he’ll be there to help her out.This helps Rey calm down just a bit, but she still says that she would like to go out and take a walk in the woods. Finn understands, but he says that she should at least take his blaster with her, just in case. She thanks Finn, and goes on her way. 

Rey goes out into the woods to clear her mind, while Finn goes back inside. Han, Maz, and Poe ask if Rey is alright. Finn says that he hopes so, but then he mentions how Rey has been out of it ever since she grabbed that lightsaber, which causes Maz to look up in surprise and worry. Han asks what she’s worried about, and she and the others go the room where the lightsaber is, seeing that its case has been opened. Finn goes up to inspect the lightsaber, feeling almost drawn to it, but when he touches it, he gets visions of his own. Visions of a baby being taken away from his father, and visions of the future featuring a growing army of sinister Stormtrooper-like droids with glowing, red eyes.Finn comes to, and is asked what’s wrong. Something in him tells him that they need to go and find Rey, now.

In the forest, Rey is feeling a bit better, and all seems quiet in the woods. Too quiet. Just then, she hears a roaring sound in the sky. The sound of spaceships. She looks up and sees First Order ships heading towards where the rest of the gang are, and runs back in an effort to help them escape. Unbeknownst to her, a figure in a dark cloak and mask follows her.

We see Zayla Ren and Captain Phasma leading a group of Stormtroopers to search and storm the area for the droid, the traitor, and the members of Resistance and Republic armies. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang is hiding away, forming a plan of attack that’ll buy them some time before the Republic’s ships show up. Finn volunteers to go after Rey, but Han objects, saying it’s better if they stayed together as a group. However, Maz says that if Finn feels that Rey might be in danger, it’s for the best that he goes after her. She gives Finn the lightsaber, saying that he must keep it safe, and that he must trust in his instincts to find Rey. With their plan formed, Han, Chewie, and Maz and her forces stay behind to hold the front line of the cantina, while Finn and Poe go off to find Rey.

While on their way, they end up encountering a few Stormtroopers, including Captain Phasma and good ol’ TR-8R. Finn holds back the Stormtroopers with the lightsaber, as they fight in armed combat, with a few troopers using the weapon TR-8R used, while a few have gained a new upgrade, inspired by the original drafts of the first Star Wars; lightsaber-esque swords.

Finn fights surprisingly well, but soon they seem to be outnumbered. But just when it seems like Poe is about to be struck down, an unseen presence suddenly drags half a dozen trooper in the air, and tosses them like ragdolls. Finn, Poe, and Phasma look to see the source of this, and we see a cloaked figure, brandishing a green lightsaber. A Jedi Knight. One of the two Jedi Knights we saw in the opening. The Jedi removes his hood and cloak to reveal a young man with brown hair. Jacen Solo. One of the Solo Twins.

Phasma at first orders her men to attack, but Zayla intervenes, saying that it’s best if Phasma goes off to handle finding the droid. The Jedi is her priority now. Much to Phasma’s chagrin, she follows orders, and leaves Jacen to Zayla. We then get the first half of our first lightsaber duel of this new story.

We cut to back in the woods with Rey, who’s been trying to make it back to the others, but she feels like someone is following her. Sure enough, her suspicions are correct, when she suddenly comes face to face with Kylo Ren. She backs off fast and pulls out the blaster Finn gave her, pointing it at an unfazed Kylo Ren. She trembles as holds it, threatening that she will use it on him. Again, Kylo remains silent and comes towards her. Rey, in a panic, wildly shoots at Kylo, but he merely deflects each blast with a wave of his hand. Kylo approaches her closer and closer, until another Jedi jumps in Kylo’s way, brandishing a purple lightsaber. The Jedi removes her hood to reveal Jaina Solo, the other Solo Twin.

And so begins our other lightsaber fight, which is going on simultaneously as the Zayla vs Jacen fight.

We cut back to the fight over on at the cantina, where it’s become a mini war-zone. Jacen is continuing his fight with Zayla, while Han and Chewie are defending BB-8. Meanwhile, Poe and Finn are fighting their way towards the woods where Rey is. On their way, they’re attacked by flying fighter droids (sort of like speeder bike-sized versions of those vulture droid fighters, only with a new design to fit with the First Order), and run into the forest for protection. As the droids prepare to attack our heroes, Finn puts his hands in front of him to shield himself, but suddenly the droids are Force-pushed back, and crash into the trees. Finn doesn’t know what he just did, and Poe just stands there with his mouth agape.

We cut to Han and Chewie and Maz, who’ve been holding out as long as they can. However, the tide suddenly turns when an X-Wing blasts a group of troopers and fighter-probes. Yes, backup from the Republic has finally arrived, with a few of their starships now hovering overhead, and some carriers starting to land. Zayla manages to match Jacen in skill in their lightsaber duel, but she is reluctantly forced to retreat, saying that Jacen is “lucky” this time, before distracting him and taking off.

We cut over to Kylo, still fighting with Jaina, and while they both seem to be evenly matched, Jaina has been mostly defending herself without intention of doing harm, as she can sense who it is underneath the mask. Kylo Ren demands to know why Jaina is holding back. He says “Is it because of guilt or pity? If so, then you are wasting your time.” Kylo manages to knock Jaina back, and says that she can’t change anything. He continues with saying that it is only through this path that he can truly achieve the power to bring order, and gain the power which the Jedi foolishly fear. Kylo goes on about how it’s too late for him, and that Jaina should just give up trying, but before he can do anything, he receives a message from Zayla to stop fooling around and leave with one of the force-sensitive users already. Kylo stops, and uses his Force powers to distract Jaina, and then Force Jump away from the fight, going after Rey. Rey, meanwhile, thinks she’s gotten far away enough, but is exhausted from her lack of sleep and running for so long. She stops to rest, but then Kylo Ren appears behind her, and he uses his Force powers to put her already exhausted self to sleep. He then takes on board his ship, just as Jaina catches up to him. 

Finn and Poe manage to spot Kylo’s ship, just as it takes off with him and Rey in it. They come across Jaina, and, both being worn out, ask if she could possibly explain what’s going on. She says she’ll explain on the way back, but then she notices the lightsaber Finn has, and asks where he got that from.

Back at the cantina, Republic forces have arrived, here to pick up Han Solo and the rest of the gang in order to bring them to the Republic capitol in order to blow the whistle on the First Order and the Confederacy. Among them are a few familiar faces, including R2-D2 and C-3PO, and, most importantly for Han Solo, Senator Leia Organa, his wife.

There’s a heartfelt reunion between husband and wife, along with Artoo and Threepio, with others soon joining them, as Jacen finally reunites with his mother and father, and Jaina soon makes the reunion complete as she arrives back with Poe and Finn. This family reunion however soon takes a darker turn, as Jaina brings up the news that she saw Kylo Ren, and faced off with him, which worries Han and Leia. It’s then revealed to Finn and Poe that Kylo Ren is actually the son of Luke Skywalker, and also that Finn has been carrying the lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker, the man who became Darth Vader.

Maz later explains to them how she was able to come across the lightsaber. It was thought to have been lost in Cloud City after Luke’s battle with Vader, but Maz says that some Cloud City personnel was able to find it. Not knowing the Jedi were to be reborn in a couple of years, the staff member sold it off for credits. Luckily, Lando and Maz were able to track it down, and managed to buy it back. They knew Luke wouldn’t want it back, so Han, Leia, and the rest decided that after fixing it up, it would be a gift to Luke’s son after he completed his Padawan training. Needless to say, those were the best laid plans of womp rats and men (I know this seems a bit much, but I wanted to fill in that hole where Luke’s lightsaber came back, and I wanted to give it some weight and meaning as to why it was brought back, besides nostalgia).

After Jaina explains that Rey has been kidnapped by the First Order and we learn of Kylo Ren’s identity, we cut to the Starkiller Base, where Phasma is being berated by General Hux for letting the droid fall into the hands of the New Republic. She assures him that she will not fail in the future, with Hux responding that she had better be sure of that, reminding her that she can be considered expendable if the time arises. Phasma walks off in a huff, and crosses paths with Zayla, who says that she doesn’t see any reason to be so upset, saying that she could be “lucky” and end up being shipped off to work in mines of Kessel, which Zayla hears are “simply lovely” this time of year. Phasma tells Zayla to mind her own business, and asks why Zayla isn’t as upset about their plans being found out.  Zayla says that while the UGC lost what they needed, she says that they managed to succeed in finding what’ll eventually be worth more than this hulking mass they call a battlestation. Zayla continues her little verbal spat with Phasma, saying that as they speak, Kylo Ren is interrogating their new “guest”, probing her mind before seeing what other uses she can be of for them. “Soon we shall have the precious data your troops failed to retrieve, and so much more”, Zayla says, and then she casually walks off, leaving Phasma to stew in her anger and resentment.

We cut to Rey, strapped to an interrogation chair. The beginning of the scene starts relatively similar to how it did in the movie, with Rey asking where her friends are. Kylo replies that she will be relieved that he has no idea, and asks if she still wishes to kill him and if she still fears him. Rey replies that it’s a natural reaction when you’re being hunted by a “creature in a mask”. After a moment of silence, Kylo removes his helmet, to finally reveal the face of Rey’s captor. We now see Kylo Ren’s true face, a young man with dark hair, and greenish-blue eyes, but also with a solemn look on his face, and a scar across one side of said face.

We go on with the scene playing a little bit like it did in the film, with Kylo asking about the droid, and Rey hesitating to give the full answers, and Kylo knowing what information the droid has, but there’s a twist in this, with Kylo saying that it’s not just that information he’s after. He also senses something within in Rey. Something his master is after. He probes Rey’s mind, sensing the fear, uncertainty, and apprehension within her. How she feels like she shouldn’t even be here. He assures her that her she is meant to be here, and tells Rey that things such as fear and hesitation makes one weak. He continues to search Rey’s mind, trying to go deeper. Yet, Rey tries to resist, making it difficult. Kylo demands that she stop resisting, but Rey keeps going on.

Both try their hardest, but then something happens. As Kylo stops trying to hold himself back into Rey’s mind, and as Rey, being surprised at how she’s even resisting him, pushes back, the two are suddenly mentally transported to this realm of utter darkness, where Kylo not only hears and even sees some events from Rey’s life, but Rey hears and sees some events from Kylo’s past, but some seem to be blurred. She hears a young boy crying out for his mother, and hears a sinister voice saying how someone will learn how to how harness the true power of the Dark Side, and suffering shall be his master, before there’s a flash of what appears to be lighting and a scream. Just then, both Rey and Kylo Ren come back to reality. Both are in shock, but Kylo Ren angrily brushes it aside, and orders a Stormtrooper to take Rey to her cell.

After the interrogation scene, we cut to the Republic/Resistance forces touching base on what’s going on, and giving us some exposition about what Jedi Council has been doing, and I was also thinking this would be a good time to give some exposition as to how Anakin Solo (Han and Leia’s other son from the old EU) disappeared and was presumed dead, and why that was one reason Ben/Kylo turned to the Dark Side. They also hint that “something else” also sent Kylo over the edge, but they don’t have time to explain, as they prepare to land on the new capitol planet of the New Republic, Hosnian Prime.

When our heroes land on Hosnian Prime, they are greeted by officials of the New Republic, here to congratulate Poe, Leia, Han, and the rest for safely retrieving the information they need on the existence of the Starkiller Base and the alliance between the First Order and the Confederacy. One of these officials is the Margaret Thatcher-esque, supposed ally to our heroes (and someone who most certainly isn’t secretly a traitor); Senator Holdeena (guess which character she’s based off of). She says that their valiant efforts are greatly appreciated, and that now all they need to do is convince the Senate and the Chancellor to take action. Finn and Jaina inform the Senator that they hope the Senate will take action soon, for a friend of theirs has been captured by the First Order.

We cut to everyone’s “favorite” part of Star Wars; a bunch of guys talking about politics in the Senate. Though, in this case, it’s a bit more interesting than trade routes.

The Senate discusses about whether or not to officially give full aid to the Resistance, and if a rescue mission is worth the tensions of spiraling into further conflict with the Confederacy and the First Order. Some representatives accuse Leia and Holdeena of warmongering, with the first vocal ones about it being reps from the Chiss (the race of which Grand Admiral Thrawn is a part of, mostly due to Thrawn being considered one of the founding fathers of what became the UGC). Leia argues that while the possibility of a war may occur, she says that the First Order has been carrying out numerous attacks for years, and, if these new documents are to be believed, all with the support and financial aid of the UGC/Confederacy. Leia says that she wishes to avoid full-out war with the UGC as much as possible, but requests that at least she and the Resistance members be given aid with a star fleet to help disable the weapon firing capabilities of the Starkiller Base, as well as be given clearance to stage a rescue mission. While still a risk, the deciding vote goes down to Chancellor Jorgeus Kartemur, who allows for a rescue mission, as well as an attack, but he grants them only a limited number of Republic fighters and carriers.

We cut back to Starkiller Base, where Kylo Ren is having an “emergency meeting” with Snoke, discussing how he was trying to probe Rey’s mind, but she was able to resist him, and then they inadvertently made a mental link with each other. Snoke says that it seems that this new “child of the Force” is strong. Very strong. Snoke then instructs Kylo to keep his guard up around her, and that she must not fall into the hands of the Jedi, especially those members of the Skywalker Clan. Kylo says he he will make sure Rey and other “children of the Force” will either join them or die, and ends his conversation with his master.

Kylo Ren goes off to be by himself in his room. There we get a scene reminiscent to the one from the actual movie, where he is talking to himself while staring at the broken mask of Darth Vader, only now he’s also discussing about he can’t go back to the Light. Not after what he’s already done, and he says that the Light Side cannot grant him the power he seeks. The power to undo the misery he’s endured. Kylo swears he will achieve that power, and “finish what [Darth Vader] started” (however, the more we get to know about Kylo/Ben’s backstory in this, it puts this scene into a whole new and different context).

We cut to the Republic-Resistance Alliance, going over the plans for a small group to secretly land on Starkiller Base, while a team of fighters, lead by Poe, will make their way to the main weapon reactor. Like in the film, comparisons are made to the Death Star, but here they really push this being even stronger than the Death Star, saying that the plans for it need to be examined even further before figuring out how to destroy it completely. It’s decided that those going on the rescue mission will be Han, Chewie, Finn, and the Solo Twins, along with a few red shirts. Han and the twins say goodbye to Leia, who is still worried about Ben/Kylo. They reassure her that they’ll be okay, and Jaina tells her she sensed the conflict within Ben. Finn wishes Poe good luck on his mission, and Poe says he would like to thank Finn for saving him. Finn, in turn, says thanks for believing and trusting in him, and they both head off to begin their respective tasks. After those little character-driven moments, we see the cruisers and ships take off for the Starkiller Base (oh, and in this version, they’re launching from Hosnian Prime, and not D'Qar).

We cut back to Rey, and we see that she’s mostly been sitting in her cell, with a Stormtrooper patrolling it, while occasionally going off to do something else (making the rounds, I guess?). However, Rey has been currently been trying to get out of her cell while the guard is away from the door, and has been using a device she helped fix back on Tatooine to see if she can open the door (I think Ezra from Star Wars Rebels used something like that one time, though I think this would be a bit different, considering she’s on the inside of the cell). However, the trooper comes back and almost catches her, berating her for trying to escape. He gives Rey her scheduled prison meal, and continues to mock her, taking away the device she had. Rey in a fit of frustration yells at at him to just leave her alone. Much to her surprise, the trooper says back in a monotone voice “I will leave you alone”. Rey, confused, remembers the stories of Jedi Mind Tricks, and, to test it out again, she tells the trooper that he will give her device, which he does. She then she uses it to tell him to leave the prison bay, and unlock the doors for her so that she may leave, and to leave his weapon. The trooper does all of this, and Rey manages to unlock the door, and then escape with the trooper’s blaster (I know this seems as asspull-ish as the original movie, but it’s leading to something).

We cut to the command center of the Base, where Hux is in a meeting with Prydus and Krazvlin, being informed how the Republic now knows of their secret location and their alliance, and could launch an attack any moment. Prydus says that if that superweapon of theirs is supposedly stronger the Death Star, why haven’t they used it to alienate the Resistance in one fell swoop? Hux says that it’s increase in power also means an increase in charging time, and that it requires a large amount of energy. Prydus says that whether it’s ready or not is irrelevant. If they can at least use at least fraction of its power against the Republic, use it while they still have the chance. Hux says he will see what he can do, but before he ends his conversation, Krazvlin tells him that if this really is more powerful than the Death Star, like Hux says it is, then that better mean that that battlestation is strong enough to avoid going down in a ball of flame.“This Confederacy has paid well over a thousand kings’ ransoms to fund this project. For the sake of your career, General, you best hope that it is worth the price.” says Krazvlin. Hux says he understands, and the meeting ends. Hux then orders his men to prepare the fleet of First Order and Confederacy ships for the arrival of any Republic dreadnoughts and Resistance fighters. Hux then says to himself that he’ll show them it’s “worth the price”.

We then cut over to Kylo Ren, who’s making his way over to Rey’s prison cell with Zayla Ren. As they’re walking, Zayla keeps getting on Kylo’s case about how instead of getting the information they need, he allowed her to see into his mind via a Force Link. Kylo defends himself while trying to keep his cool that he had no idea that would happen, and that it doesn’t matter, because with they’re combined strength, they can reach into the mind of their prisoner with ease. However, when they come to the cell, they find it’s been opened, and the guard is missing from his post. We don’t see Kylo’s facial reaction to this, because he’s wearing his mask, but we do hear his heavy breathing. Zayla makes one last stab at him, before leaving him to his “tantrum”. We see a scene similar to the movie where some Stormtroopers casually walk away, but there’s a third one Kylo Ren Force pulls towards him by the throat, and orders him to have the troops search for the missing prisoner, and bring him to her alive (I was thinking of reimagining this scene to have it appear slightly humorous, but then takes a dark turn when Kylo goes back to being threatening).

Speaking of Rey, we cut to her sneaking around the Starkiller Base, trying her best not to get caught. She does well in dodging the Stormtroopers for a while, but then she comes face to face with a few Stormtroopers. Low on options, she once again tries to do a Jedi Mind Trick, holding her hand out and doing the motion, while trying to get the Stormtroopers to let her pass.Though, to her surprise, it doesn’t work, and the troopers just stare at one another in confusion. Rey, tries it, saying “You will let me pass”, to which the troopers say, “No, we won’t”, and they raise their blasters. Thankfully, Rey shoots at them with the blaster she has first, and then runs off while they’re distracted, managing to lose them by some miracle. 

Rey is left more confused than ever (I wanted to make it clear that while she has potential, she’s not a god-mode character. Also, the idea of that scene was just too funny for to pass up.)

We cut to the Republic-Resistance Alliance fleet, preparing begin their mission. They first send out some troops and ships to distract the fleet surrounding the Starkiller, while Poe’s squadron goes in to destroy the firing device, while Han’s group goes in to rescue Rey, and to disable any remaining shields the base has.

The battle is intense, but they manage to buy enough time for Han, Chewie, Finn, the twins, and the red shirts to sneak aboard.Once on board, they use both Finn’s knowledge of the base, as well as the mini-map of the base they got from the plans, to navigate where they might find Rey and the shield controls.However, Finn gets a strange feeling inside him which tells him that Rey is somewhere other than the holding bay. Han doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but Jaina and Jacen say that Finn is onto something, as they sense where Rey is, and they make their way to her location.

Meanwhile, Hux is preparing to fire the Starkiller’s laser, and targets two of the 6 large Republic ships.The Starkiller Base charges its main laser, and opens fire on the two ships, wiping them out. From his ship, Poe hopes the rescue team is able to shut down the shields in time.

We cut to Rey, who, after also sensing the familiar presence of her new friends, is finally able to reunite with the gang. However, this reunion is short-lived, as Phasma and her guards have caught up to Rey, and try to surround heroes. Phasma insults Finn, referring to him by his number and calling him a traitor, and questioning why would he join such a pitiful band of miscreants Finn answers back by saying his name is Finn, and over the course of a few days he’s found more respect and companionship from this group of people than in all the time he’s spent in the First Order. Phasma scoffs at him, saying they’re still outgunned. Finn says that’s where she’s wrong, and smiles toward Jacen and Jaina. Taking the cue, the twins use their Force powers to go all Force Unleashed on the troopers, taking apart some of their weapons, while tossing around others. Some of the smarter troopers flee for their lives, leaving Phasma on her own (There’s also a small line where Jacen says, “Sorry if you knew any of those guys” and Finn says “Don’t worry, I didn’t”).

Just when it seems like they’re about to take her out, Phasma says that in exchange for her life, she can take them to the base shield control room. After making her promise that she won’t backstab them. Phasma takes the group to the shield controls, and turns them off. When asked by Jaina why she’s doing this, she says that she’s not the only “Force-wielding brat” she has an issue with. As the shields go down, the Republic-Resistance morale goes up, and they begin their direct attack on Starkiller Base. While the gang wonders what they should do with Phasma, with Han suggesting the garbage chute, they feel a huge rumbling, signifying the true attack on the base has begun. Phasma uses this as a distraction for her to escape. Before they can catch her, they’re stopped by Zayla Ren, who allows Phasma to get away. 

Jacen volunteers to fight off Zayla as part of a “Round 2” between them, while the others make their escape back to the ship. Jaina says she’ll help, but Jacen says that they still someone to take the new users back to “him”, and she reluctantly goes off. As Zayla and Jacen have their second battle, the rest of the crew head on over to the Falcon and the other small ships they used to get there.

While making their way to the ships to escape, they once again come across Kylo Ren, and we finally get to that scene, only it thankfully plays out differently, with certain characters getting out mostly okay (oh, and they’re not on a narrow platform when this happens).

Han confronts his nephew, calling him by his true name; Ben. Han tells Ben to take off the mask, which Ben does, revealing to Han and Jaina the scar he’s gained from his “training” with Snoke. Han is visibly disturbed by what he sees, demanding to know what Snoke has done to him. Kylo answers that Snoke has taught him more about the power of the Force than any other Jedi has. Han replies “Including your father?" 

Kylo hesitates, until he says that Luke did not hold the power of which seeks. Only through the path he is currently on, can he achieve it. Han says that Ben is talking nonsense, and asks him to look at himself. Han says that Ben has already seen what Jaina thinks of him in this state, and asks him to imagine what Jacen thinks of him. What his aunt think of him. And then Han says "What would Anakin think? What would your mother think?”

At first, it seems like Ben is conflicted, and has some wavering in his voice which seems like regret. But then he starts to slowly become more angry, telling Han that he doesn’t know him, and that he doesn’t know what Anakin or his mother would think.“You’re not her… You can’t possibly know how she could’ve felt.”

Han, his gruff exterior lowering, beseeches Ben to please come home, practically begging him at this point (I was even thinking you could hear him starting to cry, in a rare moment of weakness for his character). Ben, however, just keeps giving a hushed “no” to each plea, until he finally shouts it, Force-choking Han. Ben/Kylo says that he can’t be changed. This is what he is now. Han still pleads between gasps, but Kylo just lets his anger and pain out in one burst and violently force pushes Han into a wall, yelling “Just leave me alone!”

Han crashes into the wall, and is knocked unconscious, while debris from the surrounding area covers part of the lower half of his body. Kylo runs off, not looking back behind him. Jaina tells Chewie and the remaining red shirts to take Han back to Falcon, and get him medical attention ASAP. She goes after Kylo, with Rey and Finn following close behind, despite her warnings.

We cut to Poe and his squadron, finally being able to make it to the main defense reactor. Destroying it would mean that the Starkiller Base would be defenseless. And just in time, because it appeared to be charging for another blast.

We then cut back to Jacen and Zayla’s fight, where both the Jedi and the Would-be Sith have been pushing their limits, with their battle being so intense that make it to the outer, planet surface of the base. As they each try to outmatch each other, Zayla reveals a trick her twin-headed lightsaber can do; she’s able to split it in two, and wield them at the same time (drawing parallels to Asajj Ventress, once again).

We then cut back to Jaina, Finn, and Rey, who’ve caught up to Kylo Ren. 

Suddenly, Rey stops and recognizes this as the same snow-covered forest in her vision. Finn asks her what’s wrong, and she snaps out of it, regaining some of her composure.

Jaina fights off Kylo, while Finn goes off to attend to Rey after she’s been knocked back by Kylo. Jaina manages to fend Kylo off, but Kylo senses Jaina doesn’t want to hurt him, and tries to use this to catch her off-guard. However, Finn returns, with Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber. Kylo pauses, and recognizes that lightsaber from his father’s descriptions. He demands to know how Finn has it, and demands that Finn hand it over, but Finn says if he wants it so bad, then he should come and get it for himself, igniting the saber. Kylo is now facing two against one, and manages to hold his ground, but struggles. Kylo senses that Zayla is nearby, fighting Jacen. He mentally calls out to her for assistance, to which Zayla agrees, baiting Jacen to follow her to where Jaina, Finn, and Rey are.

It’s now three against two, but Zayla has a trick up her sleeve. Sensing that the twins are close, she uses lightsaber techniques to catch Jacen off-guard while he’s fighting her, and uses one lightsaber of hers to slash at his back, taking Jacen out of the fight. Jacen, wounded, falls over, as Jaina is distracted enough to be knocked back by Kylo. All that leaves is Finn, who is outmatched by the Knights of Ren, but still manages to be cornered by Kylo.

Rey has been coming to, and sees her friends in trouble. She becomes so filled with passion, that she lets out a huge “NO!!”, after muttering smaller nos (another parallel to Kylo), which causes a huge Force push which knocks back Zayla and Kylo (but mostly Zayla, who is now injured and out of commission). We then have the scene where Rey gets Anakin’s lightsaber, only Finn, Jaina and Jacen are all conscious enough to witness it. That, and instead of fully  defeating Kylo, Rey uses her skills she learned with her staff to compensate, but she’s still not managed to completely beat him, only fighting to a standstill (and it even seemed like Kylo might win, despite his injuries) when parts of Starkiller Base start to explode.

Snoke mentally calls out to Zayla and Kylo to retreat for now, but they will make sure the children of the Force will pay dearly for this humiliation. Zayla and Kylo retreat back into the non-explodey part of the base, while Rey and the others are left in the snow. Just then, a light above appears. The Millennium Falcon has arrived, and lands just in time for the rest of them to be picked up, and brought to the medical bay.

Meanwhile, Poe has successfully destroyed the main defense reactor, causing a chain reaction which greatly damages the Starkiller. A good chunk of the FO/UGC forces have also been trashed, and soon begin to retreat, with the Republic-Resistance Alliance having achieved a massive victory.

However, not all is well. Those on board the Falcon are taken to a medical bay on one of the ships (sort of like that ship at the end of Empire Strikes Back), with Jacen having to heal from the wound Zayla gave him, Han slowly reviving from Kylo’s attack, but still in a weak condition, and Jaina, Finn, and Rey being exhausted from the battle.

A week passes, and emergency power is turned on in the command center of the Starkiller. Hux is getting an earful from Krazvlin and Prydus, looking at the ground for much of the conversation. Krazvlin is losing his last bits of patience with the FO, while Prydus is all but foaming at the mouth. Hux does say to the Chairman and the Grand Admiral that while they may have failed today, the Starkiller Base is still in operation. With new upgrades and restructuring, they could have it rebuilt better than ever, and then truly make the Republic pay for this defeat. While Prydus is against it, Krazvlin agrees, on the condition that this will be the last chance on the Starkiller Project. Hux says he will not fail them, but says that they’ll need to regroup their thinking about the First Order, including the construction of a more stable and organized star fleet, as well as more effective soldiers. Prydus, having calmed down, says that is one alternative; a remnant plan from the days of the Empire. Prydus asks Hux and Krazvlin is they’ve ever heard of the “Dark Trooper Project”.

We then cut to Phasma, who is once again having a spat with Zayla Ren. Zayla says that Phasma looks like “something the nexu dragged in”, while Phasma tells Zayla that she’s not in her most “lovely” state, either. Phasma asks why Zayla seems so cheerful, saying that they lost control over their battlestation, and she lost those force-sensitive users as well. Zayla says while that is true, she also says she’s gained something else today. Phasma asks what that is. Zayla says “Oh, just your loyalty, and leverage”.

Phasma asks what Zayla is talking about. Zayla replies that she recalls having saved Phasma’s life twice now; once on Takodana, and few days ago she saved her from being thrown in a trash compactor. Phasma asks that because she was forced to rely on her once or twice, that now means she’s supposed to be indebted to Zayla. Zayla says “No, no, no, it’s not because of something so childish. It’s because I would hate to see someone like you be turned in for treason.”

Phasma is shocked by what she hears, stammering as she asks what Zayla means. Zayla says that she was around the area when Phasma decided to turn on them and turn off the shields to the base. Phasma says that Zayla must be bluffing, and this is another one of her foolish mind tricks. Zayla guarantees Phasma that it is no trick, and she produces a small data drive, saying it contains all the footage the security sensors were able to pick up. She tells Phasma “not to worry” as she managed to delete all the footage of her betrayal, and that all that’s left is within this drive. 

Phasma stammers once again, asking Zayla what she wants. Zayla says that all she wants is to help “protect” Phasma. After the fiasco that’s happened over the course of the past week, she’s been hearing about how heads will roll because of this, and she’s just making sure that Phasma’s won’t be one of them. Phasma remains silent, and Zayla tells her not to worry, because as long as she does what she says, “this ‘Force-wielding brat’ will help you stay in your cozy position, and maybe even get you promoted”. 

Phasma, knowing that she can’t do anything, resigns herself to Zayla’s service, which pleases Rayla as she goes her own way.

We cut to Kylo Ren, communicating with Snoke (I was thinking that now it would be via a hologram, instead of a force bond), saying that he has failed him. Not only have two potential allies to their cause slipped through their fingers, and but the First Order’s main weapon has been crippled. He expects punishment, but Snoke says that while that may be true, Kylo has also shown his willingness to stop holding back, and willingness to cut the ties he had in his “past life”. Snoke says to report to him in-person at his secret location, so that he may begin to complete his training, along with the training of the other Knights of Ren. Snoke says that Kylo is that much closer to achieving the power he so desperately craves; to power to be master over life and death.

We cut to our heroes, with some of them celebrating their victory, while others are more melancholy, seeing it as a bittersweet victory.

The Republic has lost two of its cruisers and some of their own fighters, and have stirred tensions even further with the UGC, which some view critically. However, they’ve also left the First Order licking it’s wounds, and many in the Senate are seeking to pursue economic sanctions against UGC groups who were associated with the First Order.

And it’s also bitter for our heroes. Han is still breathing, and he’s regained consciousness, with Leia at his side, but he’s also hurt emotionally, wondering if the nephew he loved really is gone.

Unlike the movie, Finn is still conscious, but he’s still recovering from the fight with Kylo and Zayla, as is Rey, who he finds sitting by herself, looking a bit forlorn. Poe comes up to Finn, and says she’s been like this for a long time. Mirroring the talk on Takodana, Finn goes up to Rey, but this time Poe accompanies him. Finn and Poe try to comfort Rey, who’s trying even to comprehend all that’s happened in the past week or so. She’s wanted adventure all her life, and thought it would be fun and exciting, and while she admits she’d be lying if it wasn’t fun making fools out of First Order troops, she’s also scared about her encounters with the Knights of Ren, who apparently want her because of Force powers even she can’t understand. Finn and Poe comfort her, while also informing Rey of Finn going through instances similar to Rey’s, where Finn says that he might be also be in tune with the Force, and reaffirms that if there’s any trouble she’s in, he’ll be there to help, with Poe joining in on that declaration of friendship, and they share a big group hug.

After that’s over with, Jacen (who has recovered, mostly) and Jaina approach the trio, saying they must discuss something of vital importance.

Later on, they are discussing with Leia and the trio that from what they’ve seen and what they’ve felt within Rey and Finn, that they are two of the Force sensitive users their master told them to find and protect

The gist is that Luke sent them out to find new Force sensitive students for him and the Jedi Council to train, and that Jacen and Jaina are merely two of the Jedi Knights he’s sent out on this mission to comb the galaxy for potential Force users, young and old, to help train them in the ways of the Force, to combat the growing evil presence behind both the Knights of Ren and the First Order. However, in order to throw off suspicion from the First Order, Luke decided that while some of his new students should be trained by him personally, it would be best if others were to be trained under the guidance of the Masters of the Jedi Council who are currently standing in for Luke while he is in hiding.

The twins decide to take Rey to Luke, and that Finn must be brought to the New Jedi Council.

Rey doesn’t know how to feel, considering while she wants to discover the mystery behind her new power, which could also lead to the mysteries of her past and the visions she’s had, she’s also apprehensive because she was just reunited with Finn, Poe, and the rest of the people she’s just come to now as the only friends and family she’s ever had. Jaina and Jacen assure her that this is not goodbye for her and friends, and Finn and Poe reassure Rey that though they may be apart physically, they’ll always be together in spirit, and will wait until her training is complete.

Although still having mixed thoughts, Rey still agrees to go, and Finn agrees to meet with the Jedi Masters on the Council.

They all say their goodbyes to each other, with Jacen deciding to take Finn to the Council and the Academy, while Jaina takes Rey to where Luke is hidden.

Leia and Han (the latter of whom currently having to temporarily use a hover chair while he recovers), say to them as they begin to depart “May the Force be with you, always.”

Just before they leave, however, Finn says for Rey to keep Anakin’s/Luke’s lightsaber. Rey objects at first, but Finn says that while Luke may not need it, she likely will, and tells her not to worry, since he’s always been a bit better with a blaster, anyway.

With everything said and done, both Jacen and Jaina’s ships take off for their respective planets.

We then cut back and forth to Rey and Finn on board Jaina and Jacen’s ships, respectively, nervous about the whole situation, wondering what’s going to happen to them. While in thought, they’re alerted that they’ve arrived their respective destinations.

Finn and Jacen arrive on the planet home to the Jedi Council and the Academy, Dantooine (Luke decided to move the Council and the Main Temple far away from Coruscant, and also has a temple and academy on Yavin IV, like in the old EU), while Jaina and Rey arrive on the planet with the Ancient Jedi Temples we saw at the beginning of the “movie”. 

Finn and Jacen arrive on Dantooine where they stop in front of pristine structure of the enclave of the Jedi Temple. Jacen says he has important business with the Council scheduled, and they’re led to them.

Meanwhile, Jaina and Rey arrive on the world where Luke is, where it appears that other Jedi Knights are arriving with other Force-sensitive users, young and older.

Also, just to note, Luke abolished the rule of taking Force-sensitive people when they’re children or babies, opting instead to either have them be trained closer to home, so that they can still go back as if it were school, or have their families come along with them, where they provide for them as well (this especially happens with poor families with Force-sensitive children, who wish to have a better life). 

Anyway, Jaina takes Rey to the main ancient Jedi Temple, where Luke is waiting.

We then get another back and forth scene where we cut between the scenes of Rey and Finn meeting their new masters. 

With Finn, we’re brought to the Jedi Council room, where two figures have their backs turned from them, and are looking out the window. Jacen says that he trusts they sensed why they are here. The female figure in the white robes says that they have. Jacen then formally introduces Finn to the Jedi Masters whom Luke left in charge while he was away, and the ones who will help him train him.

The two Masters turn around to reveal an older human man, with a slight scar on his face, and faded brown-gray-ish hair, yet with smile on his face, and a Togruta woman, with also a warm smile on her face.

The Torgruta woman removes her hood, and welcomes Finn to the Jedi Order, and they each introduce themselves as Jedi Masters Ashoka Tano and Kyle Katarn.

Finn is in awe of actually meeting two legendary Jedi Masters.

At the same time, Jaina brings Rey to where Luke is, practicing his Force meditation, currently even levitating a bit from the ground, as certain small objects levitate around him (sort of like he was supposed to be introduced in TFA before changes were made). Jaina pardons her interruption, but she says she’s brought one of “children of the Force” he sensed, and that Rey apparently has something for him. Luke slowly stops his levitating, and the objects around him follow suit. He stands up, and thanks Jaina, to which she says that it was no trouble (a small joke on her end), before calling Luke “uncle”.

Rey steps forward to the man, who turns around and removes his hood to reveal the face of the one who destroyed the Death Star, the one who helped restore the Jedi Order, and the one who brought Anakin Skywalker back over to the Light Side so that he could finally bring balance to the Force; Luke Skywalker.

After a moment of staring in awe, Rey realizes something and remembers what Jaina just said, as well as what Poe said earlier, and takes out the lightsaber Luke once wielded, and his father before him. She presents it to him, thinking he might still want it back as a keepsake. She reaches out to hand it him, but before she can, Luke holds up his hand, and says with a solemn, yet warm smile “No. It’s not mine, anymore.”

Rey is taken aback, but then Luke says that if she so desires it, that lightsaber is now hers. Rey is even shocked now, and Luke simply says with a nod, “Welcome, Rey. As of now, your training has begun.”

We then get a scene where we pan back, and see both the scenes of the new Jedi apprentices standing before their new masters, side by side.

The End of Episode VII

Some fitting music to cap it off:

And that is officially my rough storyline pitch for my rewrite of The Force Awakens. I hope you at least enjoyed some of it, because I have big plans for it in the future, when I come up with the other two story outlines for this trilogy.

Again, feel free to ask me what I have in mind for this “rewrite trilogy”. along with any other questions which spring to mind.

However, I will say this; I will try to treat the original trilogy characters as well as I can, show that their efforts weren’t for nothing, and that everything will turn out right for them in the end.

Until next time, when I come up with the story outline for the next part in this rewrite trilogy:

Episode VIII:The Lost Jedi

[rwby-redux]

Deconstruction

Worldbuilding: Semblances II

Last time in Part I, we analyzed the failings of Semblances from a meta perspective. Now we’re going to look at them within the context of the actual show. Before we begin, let’s revisit that list of basic traits that are universally shared by Semblances.

A Semblance draws upon Aura as its source of power. When this fuel is depleted, a person can no longer use their Semblance, and must wait for their Aura to regenerate before it can be used again.

The specific ability or nature of one’s Semblance is alleged to be an expression of the user’s personality/character/soul.

Overuse of a Semblance can adversely affect a person and cause physical side effects, such as fatigue, headaches, or fainting.

Semblances can interact with Dust in such a way that their skills are augmented, resulting in the temporary acquisition of new subskills or secondary characteristics.

Through training and regular usage, Semblances can gradually become stronger or more advanced.

The intensity of certain emotions, such as stress, panic, despair, or rage, can cause a person to subconsciously activate their Semblance.

This refresher will be important as we go more in-depth. At the very least, it’ll save you the hassle of having to jump back and forth between tabs.

Limitations of Semblances

Recall point one. If your first instinct is to say, surely having a limited amount of Aura is a good limitation for Semblances, then you’d be forgiven for thinking that. In theory, it makes sense: a power based on a finite energy source does seem like a pretty significant drawback. My main issue with this being a credible limitation for Semblances is that we, the audience, have no way to gauge Aura depletion over time. And by extension, neither do our characters. In the first three Volumes, students used specialized monitors (usually on their scrolls) to keep tabs on Aura over the course of a sparring match. Not only do I like this because it’s a clever visual aid for relaying information to the audience, but also because it conveys clear worldbuilding information: characters don’t seem to have a way of innately sensing when their Aura is low. This idea seems to be reinforced again in V7.E3 - “Ace Operatives.” In the opening scene, Clover reminds RWBY and JN_R that their scrolls have been upgraded with Atlas tech, and they shouldn’t forget to use them. That line of dialogue is accompanied by Blake consulting her scroll for her teammates’ Aura levels. To my knowledge, there’s nothing in the canon that suggests characters can sense or feel when their Aura level drops, or how far away it is from depletion.

Having to rely on scrolls to monitor their Aura would be an excellent limitation to impose on an otherwise limitless superpower. Not only would it require the characters to constantly monitor their Aura, but it could introduce realistic problems. Like what would happen if a character’s scroll was lost, or destroyed, or its batteries died? How would that affect the character’s behavior in regards to Aura-related tasks? Great idea, right?

Now here comes the kicker: we don’t see any evidence of this in the show. When Team RNJR was traveling through Anima, none of them discussed having to find a village to recharge their scrolls. It’s not as if the trees have outlets that they can conveniently plug their scrolls into. Similarly, none of the characters from Volume 3 onward consult their scroll during fights to see where their Aura levels are at. You don’t see characters changing fighting styles midway through a fight in order to conserve what little Aura they have left. You don’t see characters minimizing the use of their Semblance in favor of more efficient tactics.

That’s why limited Aura doesn’t seem like a believable limitation for Semblances—not for a lack of possibility, but for a lack of execution. If characters made more of a fuss about it on-screen, I could buy it. But apart from one or two throw-away lines, characters don’t seem to pay attention to how Aura depletion affects Semblance usage, and by extension, they don’t adjust or change their tactics during combat to compensate for it.

Bear in mind that this discussion has only touched upon general limitations. We haven’t even addressed Semblance-specific limitations yet. Can Marcus Black only steal one Semblance at a time? Can Sun only make a certain number of clones at once? If Yang doesn’t eventually release the energy that she’s stored up, does it backfire on her? Is Pyrrha limited to only one type of magnetism, like ferromagnetism, or can she use more than one type? If Robyn uses her Semblance on someone who’s stating an incorrect fact, but they believe that fact to be true, then does it indicate that the person is lying? Does Hazel’s Semblance allow him to bypass/negate his Aura’s healing factor in order to stab Dust into his body?

And on and on it goes. A combination of vague or poorly-established mechanics for Semblances, coupled with the wide variety of Semblances, makes it impossible to predict what could be a hindrance for our characters down the road. This in turn creates a lack of stakes—how can we, the audience, be invested in the dangers that the cast faces, when we don’t know if those dangers are credible in the first place?

Active versus Passive Semblances

Usually when a character reveals information, it’s meant to answer questions, not create more of them. Such was the case when Qrow revealed his Semblance to Team RNJR for the first time—he brings misfortune, or rather, causes people (and objects in the nearby vicinity) to be blighted by bad luck via the manipulation of probability. Qrow is our introduction to passive Semblances, a term which, if I’m being honest, I’m not even entirely sure is canon. Someone’ll need to correct me on that, but for now “passive Semblance” will do. Because we have precious little information on the topic, I’m going to be relying on direct quotes.

Qrow: My Semblance isn't like most—it's not exactly something I do. It's always there, whether I like it or not. I bring misfortune. [1]

This passage tells us two different things: (1) passive Semblances are always active, and (2) passive Semblances can’t be controlled.

You can already see the problems with introducing a new concept this late in the game, because this new information clashes with what (few) previously-established rules we already have: Do passive Semblances require Aura? If Qrow’s Aura is depleted, will his Semblance continue to run, or will it become unusable like everyone else’s?

This ambiguity becomes even more frustrating when we acquire more information a little over a year later:

“It's not necessarily constantly running, it's more that it randomly spikes to cause unfortunate situations. If he chooses to amplify it in a fight, then yes, it does cost him.” [2]

Now we’re being told that that his Semblance isn’t “always there,” that Qrow can control it to an extent, and that his Semblance only depletes his Aura when he chooses to amplify it. Here we have an example of the character in the show being directly contradicted by one of the show’s creators. This implies that either they didn’t do a good enough job explaining passive Semblances the first time around, or they changed things after the episode aired. It isn’t just a he said/she said issue, either—Semblances requiring Aura is one of RWBY’s core mechanics for its pseudo-magic system, and by having a character whose Semblance breaks that cardinal rule, it makes the writing more difficult to believe or trust in terms of what’s canon versus what’s a retcon; what’s a subplot versus what’s a plothole. It doesn’t help when we get even more contradictory information from later episodes:

Qrow: I wouldn’t thank me. My Semblance brings misfortune. Sometimes I can’t keep it under control. [3]

I’m sorry, I thought we just established that Qrow can only amplify his Semblance. Now you’re telling us that he can partially suppress it too? Either he can’t control it at all, he can amplify it, or he can sometimes suppress its effects. Make up your damn mind.

The effects of his Semblance can be as minor as a coffee spill or as dire as a collapsing building… [4]

No! Stop it! Knocking over a Starbucks latte is not the same thing as demolishing a fucking building.

How is Qrow’s Semblance able to do something as insanely energy-demanding as toppling infrastructure without expending any Aura? How does his Semblance locate or prioritize variables in the environment to exploit/sabotage? Like, if there’s a mouse hanging out near some sort of Dust-powered generator in the building, does his Semblance send out subliminal messaging that convinces the mouse to chew through an electrical wire and cause the generator to explode?

Look, I refuse to believe that spilling a cup of coffee is somehow equal to setting off a stick of TNT or taking a wrecking ball to the side of a skyscraper. It doesn’t make any sense, which means that you have to provide a proper explanation for how it works. Because otherwise you’re going to be left with an audience that assumes Qrow’s Semblance is powered by (a) plot convenience, or (b) rats.

This—all of this, right here—is my issue with passive Semblances. (And don’t even get me started on Clover’s.)

Semblance Discovery, Auratic Plasticity

Did you notice the fancy scientific-sounding term in the heading?

Ooh. Auratic plasticity. That sounds official. You’re probably wondering where that term came from. A scene from Volume 5 you haven’t re-watched in a while (not that I can blame you). A World of Remnant episode, perhaps? Maybe it’s from one of the comics, or the director’s commentary on a DVD, or even an AMA on Reddit?

To answer your question: it didn’t come from any of those. Auratic plasticity is a term I coined exclusively for the Redux. Specifically, for talking about what goes behind discovering a person’s Semblance, and what factors are at play when that Semblance takes on its unique form.

Before we can talk about Auratic plasticity, however, we need to talk about all the ways someone discovers their Semblance. It can vary wildly from person to person. For some, their Semblance unlocks randomly while doing everyday run-of-the-mill things. As alluded to by Taiyang in V4.E9 - “Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back,” Yang’s Semblance activated while she was getting a haircut. For others, it can be the byproduct of training, extreme stress, or an otherwise fatal encounter. [5] In rare instances, Semblances can be hereditary, thus removing any ambiguity of what that person’s Semblance will be when it first activates.

The reason why I bring any of this up is because RWBY’s official stance is that Semblances “generally reflect the wielder’s personality.” [6] If Semblances were generally tied to the personality of the wielder, then it would fail to account for the correlation between the circumstance that triggered the Semblance to manifest, and the resulting Semblance expression.

Let me give you a few examples.

Adaptive Semblance: Nora’s Semblance was unlocked when she was struck by lightning. Consider the fact that her Semblance allows her to absorb electricity without taking any damage from the electric current. Rather than her Semblance being tied to her personality, Nora’s is likely a case of an adaptive Semblance—as in, her circumstances required a very specific Semblance in order to survive the 10,000 amperes running through her body. Instead of her soul generating a Semblance tied to her personality, it prioritized generating a Semblance that would help her survive an immediate and life-threatening scenario.

Innate Semblance: Ruby’s Semblance was discovered one day while training. If we’re to assume that there weren’t any dangerous circumstances factoring into that training session, it’s likely that her soul generated a Semblance that was in fact tied to an aspect of her personality. In this case, her superspeed is a projection of her enthusiasm and hyperactive zeal, and her tendency to prioritize others’ wellbeing over her own, trying to figuratively (and in this case, literally) reach them before they’re harmed.

Hereditary Semblance: Weiss and Winter, and (presumably) Whitley, Willow, and Nicholas all share the glyph-based Semblance unique to the Schnee lineage. The confirmation of their Semblance being explicitly hereditary contradicts the idea that Semblances are an expression of one’s personality. If we go by that logic, it implies that—what, their personalities are all the same? They have no individuality? I’m sorry, but that’s just dumb.

This is why Semblance discovery is important, and why the canon should have paid more attention to developing it. There’s pretty compelling evidence for a person’s Semblance being tied to multiple factors apart from their “personality.” I know that I’m digressing here a bit, but the main reason why I bring up this correlation isn’t just because it clarifies inconsistencies with the canon. It also presents an opportunity to enrich the lore of the show.

In the Redux, Auratic plasticity is the ability of the soul to generate a Semblance based on either an immutable personality trait (innate), a scenario-specific survival method (adaptive), or a “genetic” trait that’s repeatedly selected for due to its inherent fitness (inherited). These three categories are determined by a value called hierarchical prioritization—basically, it’s the soul’s ability to decide what Semblance-trigger gets precedence. I’ll get into more detail when I start the Amendment, but it felt important to clarify my intentions early, so I could justify writing 700 words on why Semblance discovery is important.

Adverse Effects of Using Semblances

Unlike Limitations, which focuses on what a Semblance can or can’t do, Adverse Effects deals with the negative repercussions/consequences of using a Semblance.

Or in RWBY’s case, a lack thereof.

(For the moment, let’s set aside the magic/not magic discourse and acknowledge that yes, in the traditional sense, Aura, Semblances, and Dust are part of RWBY’s magic system, the same way bending is part of A:TLA’s.)

When designing a magic system, you’ve got to balance it. Otherwise, the system contains powers that are vaguely-defined, OP, and bereft of any costs.

One way to implement a system of checks and balances is by giving that system a cost for using it. In RWBY’s case, the only “cost” experienced by characters is physical fatigue whenever they overextend themselves. But in the grand scheme of things it’s not really a detrimental consequence, in part because of how infrequently exhaustion is viewed as a legitimate threat. Seriously. When was the last time you saw the main cast fail because they overdid it while using their Semblances? It just doesn’t happen.

One way you could implement a cost is by tying Semblance usage to a physical demand. According an article by Julia Belluz, Winter Olympic athletes consume anywhere between 1,300 - 2,500 and 4,000 - 7,000 calories on average per day.

It wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to apply this to RWBY. Given the high-intensity acrobatics the characters perform on the regular, it would make sense that strenuous physical activity, coupled with Semblance usage, would create costs in the form of caloric needs. Maybe that’s an issue Team RNJR needs to deal with while backpacking across Anima. Is food a top priority for them? Do they have to restrict Semblance usage when running low on rations? Does the group ever have to hunt or forage for food to meet the energy demands of fighting Grimm?

Not only does this balance out Semblances, but it opens the door for potential worldbuilding. Is “Huntsman” ever used as a euphemism for “glutton”? Do all-you-can-eat buffets ban Huntsmen from their establishments? Do Huntsmen have a reputation for being less picky about food options? In places that use trade-and-barter systems, are Huntsmen willing to accept food as payment instead of lien?

I think that’s more or less everything I wanted to say about Semblances. I have a few unrelated nitpicks, but I can save those for another time. This post is already longer than I intended it to be.

-

[1] Volume 4, Episode 8: “A Much Needed Talk.”

[2] Shawcross, Kerry. “CRWBY AMA.” Reddit interview. February 12, 2018. [https://www.reddit.com/r/RWBY/comments/7x3w4s/crwby_ama_w_miles_luna_kerry_shawcross_and_paula/du5bpdm/?context=3]

[3] Volume 7, Episode 3: “Ace Operatives.”

[4] Wallace, Daniel. The World of RWBY: The Official Companion. VIZ Media LLC, 2019, page 94.

[5] Volume 5, Episode 4: “Lighting the Fire.”

[6] Wallace, Daniel. The World of RWBY: The Official Companion. VIZ Media LLC, 2019, page 39.

[tumblunni]

okay to talk about EXACTLY HOW i would handle giving charon a big good boss fight and also sympathetic backstory and redemption and all that jazz

there are approximately ten million words beneath the cut, and also ten million raspberries in my shampoo, and these charon thoughts are just as sweet as that

alright so ALREADY i kinda did feel like he was sort of a friendly enemy when i first played the game?? like his Thing of being the constantly never fightable dude actually was kind of sympathetic in a way. it always just felt like he was Chilling Out and not giving much of a shit about being evil and also had nothing personal against you the player. he doesnt follow any of cyrus’s big philosophy and he’s clearly only here for the money and really phoning it in, and that kinda makes him not your enemy at all, even though he’s on the team youre fighting. Like I always found it a good establishing moment that in the Valley Windworks when they first introduce “hey this time there’s two galactic teammates here” and all, CHARON IS STANDING DIRECTLY IN EYELINE OF YOU RUINING EVERYONE’S PLANS. he’s just standing there! and of course he’ll never do anything to warn mars about you, the game just isnt programmed that way. but it fits really well with his character if you think of it as an intentional thing? just imagine this random gramps sitting there drinking tea while all his teammates actually Care About Things and Use Effort. He’s always criticizing team galactic’s plan too and like WHY IS HE DOING THAT TO YOU if not because Nintendo Wants Him To Be My Best Friend ok. Like he doesn’t fuckin trust anyone on his team so why would he spill the beans about his big secret plans he has to make money off of this villain plan and then bail before they actually do all the dumb shit with legendaries and such. Yes ok its PROBABLY just because its a videogame and they need to exposit stuff to the player that the character is probably just thinking and not saying out loud. But wouldnt it be so much better this way!!!! Also even when you finally face off against him personally in the postgame for his actual dumb money plan he’s still like ‘lol fourth wall breaking time im gonna not have a boss battle cos if you beat cyrus’s ass i aint got no chance’. Dammit nintend i still wanted to fight him but thats endearing so i cant stay mad at u! And he has several lines during it with stuff like “i like seeing children trying so hard BUT YOURE TOO LATE” and “youth like you can live in idealism but for me its all about the money”. Like man u remember that time i had a big angry rant about how his manga version was super OOC cos they didnt just choose to make him eviler but made him murder a child? like the only time anything involving children is mentioned in canon its him being mildly more polite to children!!! MILDLY FRIENDLY! LET ME HAVE THIS...

okay so YEAH the first big change would be just giving him more screentime and more fleshed out character in these early scenes. Make him a full on friendly character who is technically on the opposite side but has no beef with you and no loyalty to the greater plan of his team. So he’s just comically like “oh hi again! yeah lol today’s plan sucks huh?” and makes idle conversation while the main character villain admin of the day is actually doing important plot stuff. like have him along for everyone’s scenes not just mars at the start, dissappear for hours until the very end. And yes definately keep the thing of the game constantly lampshading that he’s a new character for the third version of the game, and everyone in the team thinks he’s useless and forgets he’s even there. it was annoying in the original game cos he actually didnt get any love from the writers themselves, but yknow you could give him an expanded role and rewrite that stuff to be more like “oh poor guy he’s the underdog”, yknow? am i the only one who felt inherantly sorry for him?? i mean he’s a tiny grandpa!!! and he looks so sad on his official art!! Oh oh and also add the additional running jokes and expanded characterization he had in his very brief anime appearance, which was honestly the only well written part of the entire team galactic arc. It fleshed out a bit of his relationship with jupiter who never really appeared alongside him in the game except to say “im not teaming up with you” at the end. Having the context that she finds him annoying cos she’s very serious and also very dedicated to cyrus so she hates this opportunistic bastard pretending to be dedicated when its an obvious lie. And also she thinks his laugh is obnoxious XD Oh also I liked how they expanded upon that one scene of Saturn being sarcastic at gramps and made it into an actual thing that him and charon most often work together and have a mutually sassy dynamic. I found it humanizing that anime saturn is very serious but can comically overreact to very minor teasing from this grandpa! I thought that was better than the games where he’s just serious or the manga where he was 100% changed to be 100% silly and kinda stole charon’s personality for reasons i will never understand.

ANYWAY! IN SUMMARY! show scenes of charon being endearing by being not really interested in the big evilness, being underdog-y by always failing at his smaller evilnesses and getting disrespected, and also maybe drop in some more interpersonal relationships between the admins to hint that charon does indeed have some friendship going on even if he’s a tsundere bitch who’d never admit it. Also maybe the other thing from the anime where they made him a cool computer guy? cos srsly it was lazy that the games just said “he’s the science” and never clarified wtf he actually does at his job. cos cyrus is already a science boss??? he kinda already did most of the big sciencey plans?? why does he need this man if its not for mechanical or legendary pokemon stuff OK HEY MAYBE COMPUTERS! also its funny to imagine him being a memey blogger but sun and moon actually made faba canonically that so i dont think you could improve on him. TAKE NOTES FROM BEAN MAN, NINTENDO

Also maybe you could hint at the rotom backstory before it actually happens? like could just show some mild implications that he is sad, cos the ‘friendly enemy’ thing would already be decent foreshadowing for him potentially having a soft spot. “Wah i am an emotionless evil money man” says local villain, while gossipping with Dawn about his coworkers and sharing lemon squares. But like I mean i don’t really want him to be LITERALLY that, i still like him being grumpy and guarded about his secret good heart. I’m just saying “friendly” as in.. sort of a disconnect between what he says his personality is and how he actually acts. The stuff he actually says is very grumpy but like.. hey he’s saying stuff to you when he doesnt need to, and nobody else on this team is casually talking to you as if youre not an enemy. Like he’s SUBCONCIOUSLY friendly and doesnt realise it? He’d never SAY “i am lonely hello please talk to me” but he’d sure as hell walk over to you and talk to you anyway. About grumpy things! Grumpily! And maybe express occasional compliments in a sort of “haha im surrounded by idiots you’re way more down to earth than all these adults who act more like children”. Cos in that fourth wall breaking moment he has, he respects that you’re a badass and decides thats why he’s not gonna have a boss fight. “You’d just kick my ass, so lol fight these grunts instead while i run away and do my evil plan” That is the kind of sympathetic charon i want!! He’s doing a douchey thing by breaking the script of how boss battles work and making everyone else fight you instead even though he knows that they’ll lose. But he’s also likeable because breaking the script of boss battles is unexpected and comedic! And he’s also accidentally being complimentary to you so its like SIMULTANEOUS JERK AND NICE AT THE SAME TIME. Thats the good stuff!! That quality grumplegramp content!!! if he got redeemed and just 100% changed his personality to lose all the sass and sneakyness then that’d be boring yo...

OKAY WHERE WAS I? Okay hey once you’ve established that, maybe now you have a basis for the sad foreshadowing!! Like you could have one scene where he’s suddenly NOT friendly, he’s not just grumpy in the funny sort of way but actually seems cold and stoic and actually does something useful to the team’s mission or whatever. Sort of a ‘whoa what’s wrong with him today’ thing and it could be subtle cos on the first playthrough you’d just think he was being a jerk cos he’s a jerk and all. but maybe it happens on a scene of team galactic doing some evil plan in eterna forest/other place that’d potentially relate to the rotom sidequest. like he’s just really fuckin depressed to be reminded of his one big failure in life. OH maybe it could actually be at the unnamed junkyard thats mentioned in his backstory but doesnt actually feature as an area in the original game? It could make sense that it’d be part of their plan cos team galactic attacks various energy sources and other technology related places to find the stuff they need to make the big world erasure machine. could just be simply them robbing some old generator parts after their attempt to take the whole power plant failed.

Oh and also maybe add a lil something to his last scene at the galactic lab? Cos like.. what we already have in the game has potential to be a moment where he did a good thing but no its not. Like when you look at it, hey he kinda helped you out here by being all “hey lol saturn the kid is here, bye im not stopping u, feel free to take the lake trio”. Even if saturn is the one who actually SAID feel free to take the lake trio and actually had a good hint at redemptiveness moment and all. Please never take that away, that was good, you just coulda had both of them do it, yknow? And we dont wanna make charon go full good guy all of a sudden when he hasnt even finished his characetr arc, so instead make it more of a moment where its like “im a bad guy but this is going too far”. Like maybe ACTUALLY HAVE A PAYOFF for the foreshadowing that he has no loyalty to cyrus and is blatantly plotting to betray him at some point. He never actually did!! He only tries to capitalize on cyrus already being defeated in an entirely optional sidequest that fails at delivering a proper payoff.

So hey! My idea! Add some complexity here by making it clear that charon is evil in a more petty and mundane way and not in a.. like.. actually dangerous way. Once things start getting actually dangerous he starts chickening out! Like he’s a jerk who does mean things to get money but he’s just MEAN and not friggin murderous or worldending. Give him a moment of “oh shit cyrus was actually serious oh god how do i get off of this train”. Like it seemed that he never really believed that team galactic would ever truly create a new world, and he certainly didnt give a shit about it, he just thought he found an easy opportunity for a paycheck in some dumbass’s deluded plan that’d never really work. But OOPS i guess it actually is happening, oh fuck! Give him a bit of a crisis where he realizes what he actually helped this man do, but not like a full on “everything ive ever done is bad and i dont wanna be evil anymore”. Not YET! Just friggin.. “oh fuck i cant spend money if the universe doesnt exist and also i am dead”. “PLEASE HELP ME CHILD, CYRUS IS GONNA TAKE AWAY THE MONEY!!” xD It’d be fitting for his character and a good light moment of comic relief after the emotional and dark stuff happening around this section of the game. Like he already kinda does that by having that scene of saturn snarking at him, but it could be even more funny! Move the first him and saturn bickering scene to earlier on and have this be like a satisfying scene of saturn actually winning? cos in the anime it was always charon being smug and making fun of him while saturn gets all grumpy about it, now it could be the reverse with smug charon having a breakdown and realising his whole money plan is in shambles and its his own fault.

Also maybe it could have additional payoff with Charon actually helping you take down cyrus? Again, not actually because he’s switched sides but because he's still evil but evil for different reasons than cyrus. That good ‘reluctant teamup with minor goofy villain to take down big actually scary villain’ thing. With the added bonus that the minor goofy villain is objectively a worse person than the scary villain and the scary villain is still redeemable, as opposed to in the manga where they used this same trope in the form of “cyrus is good now and we’re making charon the big scary villain to prove how good cyrus is cos charon is worse”. That was dumb. It was especially dumb cos WHY ON EARTH would you pick charon for this??? like they still had moments of him being comedic and wimpy yet at the same time wanted us to believe he was legitimately threatening? ANYWAY my idea for this is that charon’s computer skills could pay off and it could be something like “oh i always put a failsafe kill switch in my computer just in case i need to grab the money and run”. Like him being a paranoid untrusting selfish asshole was actually the reason he was able to save the day! Also it would explain why cyrus’s machine only fails and summons giratina in platinum version. the manga actually did say that charon sabotaged the machine so thats one actually good thing that came from it! Congrats u filled one plothole while making twenty more XD

OH and perhaps this same section could also foreshadow the rotom thing? like I was thinking about how he could actually choose to give up and let you take the lake trio and have it still be 100% in character. It could be an extension of his “shit, i didnt think things would get this serious, please save me from the consequences of my own actions!” moment. Cos I think that any normal dumb greedy money man would still be horrified at the idea of mutilating a thousand year old majestic unicorn of mythology and then flushing it down the toilet when it outlives its uselessness. Like he doesnt do it because he wants to help you save the day or anything, just cos the idea of killing the lake trio is just too evil for even him. It could be kind of a meaningful moment about how cyrus is doing all this for good reasons yet they caused him to do these actions that are even more evil than the actual dude with evil motives. And maybe you could establish this through a scene of him and cyrus inetracting, which could also help amp up how intimidating cyrus is, in preparation for the big climax? Have charon trying to wimp out of “disposing of the useless specimens”, but cyrus is having none of it. Like it could start off funny with him making up loads of other excuses cos there’s no way he’d admit he’s having Feelings and all. “Wait but let me have them! if theyre useless to you then i can just sell them right?? ha ha thats the only reason im saying this, lol you know me i’d never be swayed by any sentiment” But cyrus sees through it instantly and gets right up in his face like fuckin Raw Cold Fury, no you are NOT going to disobey me. He is PISSED OFF because the only reason he kept this useless senile old bat around is because he’s the only one in this group who isn’t a simpering moron at the mercy of their pitiful heart. If you can’t even do that, then what’s the use of you? So everything charon tries fails and all he accomplishes is getting fired on the spot for even TALKING ABOUT defying his boss. And cyrus just orders saturn to dispose of the lake trio instead. Saturn of course is smarter and says nothing in defiance, but then the both of them work together to let you take the pokemon and just act like they failed to stop you rather than doing it on purpose. And its kind of an uncharacteristically quiet and intense moment between these dudes that are usually at each other’s throats with funny banter. They’re united for a moment but for very different reasons. Charon knew that cyrus wasnt a good guy from the very beginning and he just underestimated him, and is now feeling in over his head and worried this could be the end. And saturn always thought cyrus was good but is starting to struggle with doubts. And maybe charon actually tries to warn saturn about it? Like “hey i knew this all along but i never told you but HEY CYRUS MIGHT ACTUALLY KILL US ALL” and saturn starts on his usual speech about cyrus being the greatest but he starts to question it and AAAAA! but ultimately this moment isnt the moment where he makes the right choice, and he does end up going back to cyrus and continuing the plan. and also charon is on the edge of actually doing something good and trying to stop cyrus’s big ol doom time (albiet for selfish reasons of No Money In The New World) but he also wimps out from this chance and instead decides to grab as much cash as he can and run the fuck away, as if its even possible to outrun the destruction of a whole dimension. but at least him and saturn agreed on the lake trio rescue operation, thus their moment of almost-redemption helped the player even if they didnt actually turn good. AND then you’d have the surprise moment of charon actually stepping up at the last minute and doing his thing to sabotage the machine and all. which again doesnt really solve the whole thing and doesnt really make him turn good but at least it downgrades the threat from ‘cyrus actually succeeds in destroying the world’ to ‘okay we just need to deal with a slight case of poke-hell and one collossal centipede’. Srsly man sinnoh’s plot has the highest stakes cos in platinum you straight up actually fail and cyrus actually would have destroyed the world if not for giratina! Oh and also a random note is that i think it’d be funny if charon helped you out while still running away? like you just learn about the machine sabotage being his responsibility cos it flashes his goofy hacker logo from the anime or something. Maybe instead he hacks your Poketch and is like HEY HELLO IM GONNA SPLODE THE THING BUT NOT COS IM A GOOD GUY, BTW I AM A SAFE DISTANCE AWAY PLEASE DONT LET CYRUS KNOW I DID THIS

SO YEAH! whatever! whether or not we get that added bit of teamup with charon in the climax, we’ve still given him a bit more screentime so the player actually remembers him and actually cares about doing his optional sidequest in the postgame. so him not having a boss fight would be less of a letdown and all. But having the teamup plot would be a good opportunity to turn the wifi event into not a wifi event! maybe during his panic charon drops the key to his secret lab and thats how you get it? cos really it makes no sense at all that the magic wifi gods can just hand you something you’d have no idea existed and never have an opportunity to get. none of the other wifi items are literally a thing owned by a significant character that needs to be teleported out of his pocket by plot magic! Also it sucks that a chunk of important backstory would be hidden in a wifi event so if they still wanted rotom’s alt forms to be a wifi event then JUST make it the ability to get the forms and not the charony diary bit. Cos it makes no sense that the ENTIRE REASON CHARON EXISTS is to introduce the rotom form event yet you’d have no clue he was connected to rotom until after youve already finished the event. It gave no damn indication you had to take the key to this particular dude’s lab in team galactic!! ANd click on an otherwise unmarked wall!! Put the diary somewhere else and hey there’s a Charon Clue(tm) and now you can actually find the damn event, there you go, fixed. Also annoying cos nothing in the event tells you you have to go somewhere entirely different to catch the one rotom in the game, and click another unmarked piece of scenery that only has a staticky screen to indicate rotom if you happen to be playing at night. Seriously this is why serebii.net was such a lifesaver!!

Okay so WOOP there we go, here we are at a point where the player has seen more of charon and had oppotunities to grow to like him as a character and be suspicious that maybe he could have some sympatheticness. And if he drops an Importante Key Itemme right before the end of the game then thats a hint that postgame stuff exists involving him, and at least one clue where to find it! All the rotom diary stuff would play out exactly the same except that its less of a hell to find, lol.

BUT THEN the big difference in Stark Mountain is that now you have the full context of charon’s backstory and the game actually reacts to you having that knowledge. Like maybe if you dont do that step first then either charon never appears at stark mountain until you do, or you get an abbrieviated version of the quest without the redemption plot? I was thinking actually maybe make it one of those daily repeatable quests, to avoid the player doing the quests out of order and permenantly losing the chance to redeem gramps. Like if you dont see the rotom diary then instead of a big actual quest you just get some five minute “oh we’ve seen team galactic sneaking around stark mountain, defeat them for Some Money Or Something hey thats weird that they were only stealing money hey yknow who’s all about the money? charon! maybe go follow up on his Importante Key Itemme to continue the plot.”

SO THEN once you return Emboldened By The Knowledge Of Good Gramps, you get the proper thing. And... it would actually play out totally the same as in vanilla platinum. Charon doesn’t have a boss fight, all his minions leave him and say he sucks, he gets anticlimactically taken out by someone else in a cutscene, and his last moment is someone making a crack about him being so frail and useless that the hot volcano breeze could knock him over.

BUT THAT ISNT THE END

Its just a fake out that its gonna have the same funny ending as every other charon appearance, and the same lack of him being remotely threatening.

cos NOW WE FINALLY GIVE THE MAN A GODDAMN BOSS FIGHT

and yknow how i said i hate the manga where he’s all super evil and owns three legendaries and kills a guy? okay take away all that stuff but KEEP THE MOMENT OF GRANDPA GETTING TO DO SOMETHING BADASS FOR THE ONLY TIME EVER

Maybe he surprises everybody by actually not being down for the count! And by now he’s just SO pissed off from a whole game’s worth of failing and being disrespected that he does something desperate and stupid at the last minute. If he was meant to be the dude who invented the red chain, maybe he could use it to control heatran even if looker took away the magma stone? like i feel it’d be in character for charon to secretly steal a prototype red chain for himself during the whole “oh fuck my boss is legit destroying the world i need to get out of here” thing. Grab some stuff to sell now your last paycheck is dissappearing into an ominous void, lol. He didnt expect to actually be using it, and if the actually completed red chain puts enough stress on its weilder to make them cry blood then this thing must be even more risky to use! so its a really huge holy shit moment of tiny gramps actually doing something intimidating! and his boss fight could actually be using heatran and actually having heatran get to goddamn appear in this sidequest. it was soooo underwhelming to have to return thru the dungeon a second time to actually see heatran, this time without any story stuff to break up the long walk...

also this entire thing could be a great climax to his character arc and sort of a moment of “okay THIS was actually his motivation all along!” Cos I always felt like Charon’s real motive was low self confidence? Like he’s always on about money but he seems to focus more on SUCCESS instead. Fame and success. “Ha ha i am the greatest scientist and i want people actually aknowledge me” is a thing he repeatedly brings up and also that other characters directly demonstrate in how they act towards him. It just feels like he thinks he can buy that with money if he’s failed his whole life in earning it. And the old “acts egotistical because he actually hates himself” character archetype would work really well as a sympathetic interpretation of his character. It would be like how he’s ‘subconciously friendly’. The thing he actually does (being boastful) is because of a different reason (not believing his own lies and being super insecure about his self worth), but he keeps it so well hidden that not even he realises that its really what he feels. Similar to how he acts grumpy because of a different reason, because he actually DOES want friends and he’s just guarding his emotions under a million walls cos he’s scared of being hurt again. And scared of how he knows he’s a weak willed person who might betray his friends again for his desperation for money. Which is really a desperation to feel valid as a human being, which is really just ‘i want friends’ again under another coat of paint. So depressingly he caused his own problems because of the same character trait that was once a positive in his life! I think he works well when interpreted from that angle, he’s like a dark subversion of a pokemon professor or of your classic ash ketchum figure. Like “the power of friendship” is what turned him evil, and also turned him into a guy who acted awful to his friends. And it could add to this thematic thing if “loving pokemon” was also referenced throughout his plot in a negative sense?

That’s actually one other good thing about the manga, they removed his greedy grumpyness (bad) but replaced it with the same motive as the villain of the 2nd movie (weird flex but okay). Aka “a guy who collects legendary pokemon just as trophies and has forgotten how to treat them like genuine friends”. Even if that wouldnt be his main character concept in this hypothetical rewritten game, it could still be a secondary trait that’s used to suppliment the main emotional arc. Like instead of just saying “money money money” you could flesh out more scenes of him actually talking about HOW he’s gonna get the money and what he’s gonna use it for. Via collecting all the rare pokemon, and to collect more rare pokemon. Which will somehow (in his twisted cynical perception of how the world works) make him a person of value and get people to respect him. It could also tie together pretty much every scene he already has! Cos his backstory is finding this pokemon friend... who was a rare unknown species. And maybe as a kid he decided to become a scientist initially just out of excitement to learn more about his new friend and show them to the world! But then the realities of the difficulties in being respected as a scientist gradually wore him down and he became more cynical, more obsessed with recognition, more believing that the only way to get it was by being an asshole and he’d just get taken advantage of if he kept being soft. And he started to forget why he really wanted that fame in the first place, and instead it just became an obsession, a vain hope that he’d hate himself less if he accomplished his life’s dream. When really from the player’s perspective its obvious that even if he succeeded he’d still be depressed when he realized how he’d lost everything in the process. And it’d be a more realistic sort of way he could have turned from a good kid to an asshole gramps. There wasnt any single day he suddenly made the decision to change, it was just a gradual wearing down of his morals over the years. he became more obsessed and more cynical that normal moral ways of doing things would never get him what he wanted. he started making small sacrifices to his personal sense of morality, and eventually reached the point where he’d completely abandoned it all without even noticing the gradual change. And somewhere along the way he forgot that he started this because of his pokemon friend, and discarded it as “not good enough” in favor of this vain quest to acquire a million other rarer pokemon and just friggin put them on a shelf to boast about them and feel less empty inside. And then also his redemption was a gradual change too? After he reached that point of completely betraying his own sense of goodness, he gradually got sadder and more tired with living this way. By the time you see him ingame he’s not remotely happy with being evil and he’s just a poor dude who’s deluded that being evil is the only way to escape the sadness rather than the cause of it. And thats why his whole ‘oops im accidentally subconciously befriending my coworkers and also the enemy’ thing kinda set him on the road to eventual redemption, cos its the first bit of small upliftingness he’s had in ages. sorta recharges his Ability To Care and he starts realizing what he’s doing and feeling regret. But yeah throughout the main game he never actually acts on his doubts and just repeatedly misses the chance to get redeemed and makes you Kinda Frustrated, similar to zuko or peridot’s redemptive arc? And ultimately reuniting him with his old best friend and showing him that its not too late to fix what he broke = the actual catalyst for his changes to fully stick and he completely switches to the good side.

BUT ANYWAY thats why he needs a boss fight first!

Something like 50-70 years worth of self hate and frustration from devoting himself to a super incorrect way of defeating that self hate, and sacrificing EVERYTHING for the sake of it, and being disrespected the entire time, and being terrified that you’re getting old and running out of time, and almost dying to some guy’s weird void plan, and losing the only thing you had left aka the team galactic job and a few maybe sorta kinda friends you had, and now being disrespected AGAIN by those same people you thought were friends (but never actually admitted it to them) and then also bitchslapped by a frog?? Also this place is real fuckin sweaty?? Yeah stark mountain is a great climactic point for his entire frustrations to boil over and be a bigger eruption than the actual volcano!

Thus we have Grand Dad Gets Serious And Has An Actually Interesting Boss Fight!

but also grand dad is being emotionally open and whoops accidentally might be tearing down those walls he built up around his big ol soft as fuck heart

like the battle would possibly be more ‘you talk him down into giving up, realizing he was wrong, quitting being evil, and going home to his friend that he misses so much. and finally realizing that thats actually the only way he could ever really defeat the self hate that drove him this far in the first place. also he’s not worthless and his friends always believed he was the awesome dude he always wanted to be’. Yknow, rather than actually defeating him and all. I mean you still do that but i think it’d be a case like with the giratina fight where even if you lose or run away you get the same result, just slightly altered text? Just as long as you come here with rotom in your party your victory was already a foregone conclusion. you just get a really cool boss fight as your reward, yknow? cos seriously I WAS WAITING THE WHOLE GAME FOR THAT DAMN BOSS FIGHT!!!

obligatory link again to the cool song i think is a great summary of all of my headcanons for this man’s character arc and would also be badass backing music for a hypothetical boss fight:

context: it makes more sense if you imagine it as his own internal thoughts of all the stuff he’s been running away from accepting in his own feelings. and/or what he THINKS that the player and rotom would be saying to him, so he’s shocked into speechlessness by the fact that they actually do think he deserves a second chance and has the potential to be good.

actually that could be a really good ending to the fight!!!

like when you get through to him and convince him to stand down, he cowers in fear thinking he’s gonna get the karmic payback for everything he’s ever done. and he tries to run away from reuniting with rotom. half of him is scared that his friend hates him and the other half is.. well..

i think it would be thematically appropriate to end it with a hug

just an image of this lil toy robot pokemon hugging this scared old man, and he’s just so empty and doesnt know what to say. its the last thing he ever expected. and then his shock turns into pain and sadness, as he was really the most scared that his friend actually would forgive him. that everything he ever did really was all for nothing, and he should have done this years ago and saved all that lost time. he’s so scared because he thinks he doesnt deserve forgiveness and he doesnt know what to do now its happening. so he just lets out all those tears he’s never cried over all these years, and the scene ends with him desperately hugging his best friend and never wanting to let go ever again

And then that’d be the big moment that was really the turning point for him, though of course that wouldnt be the end of his redemption and if there was any further postgame content you could show various scenes of him atoning throughout that. or just some images in the second credits scene after you beat the postgame stuff. i’d kinda like if there was some moment of him apologising to the rest of team galactic and joining them in their attempts to rebuild the team into something good. and maybe an extra postgame segment where this redeemified team goes on some bigger quest to try and rescue cyrus from the distortion world and heal his pain too. i think you could get a lot of good scenes out of a redeemed charon being along for the ride! like you’d obviously have cyrus being skeptical that this dude really has changed so much, and probably an extension of that earlier scene where he’s pissed off that the one guy he thought agreed with him about emotions being foolish is actually being the most emotional of everyone. but i think because of that they could also have scenes of relating together and actually starting to form a friendship in the end? like i can see charon feeling guilty for never trying to reach out to cyrus before, and also believing really strongly that cyrus can be redeemed cos like ‘yo i’m way worse than you and i was able to change, please believe that its a possibility for you too!’ Also cyrus likes machines so i think he’d be happy to meet rotom and become friends. And he has that whole grandpa related backstory so it might help a lot towards healing those scars and reuniting the two of them if he starts forming a friendship with a different gramps? THERES A LOT OF GOOD THEMATIC LINKS BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT TEAM GALACTIC MEMBERS THAT ARE NEVER EXPLORED IN THE ORIGINAL GAME

also in the original version of this plotline it was a fanfic/fangame idea of an alternate universe swap where dawn/lucas/other customizeable protagonist is a galactic grunt instead of the hero. so a lot of the details were different but in that version the protag was literally adopted by whichever galactic admin they picked as their main friendship route. entirely because of self indulgent ‘i wish these guys were my dad/sister/grandpa/whatever’ feels cos sinnoh helped me thru a tough time as a kid. soooo i cant really do that charon grandpa idea where he also renovates the Old Chateau into a ghost pokemon sanctuary and becomes like an actual good pokemon professor. (also rekindles his friendship with prof rowan and agatha from the kanto elite four cos thats just a random headcanon i have) BUT i could still do all that except the part where he adopts u cos canon dawn/lucas already has a mom lol. And i think it’d be more fitting of canonverse protag to adopt Cyrus? Like obv in the canonverse itd probably be the main boss of the team who gets the bigger redemption plot and is canonically the best friend EVEN THO for tumblr user tumblunni in particular it is All Grandpas All The Time. And i like the idea of Cyboy being a survivor of child abuse who tries to become a good dad just like his parents werent. But i also like the idea of dawn’s mom adopting him as her new big brother and him getting to experience a genuine loving family for the first time! I think itd work that way cos cyrus is meant to be 27 even tho he looks older, and i dont think dawn’s mom is that young and also i just see no chemistry between them as any sort of ship. (and headcanon cyrus as asexual anyway) But also the family does still keep in touch with all the other galactic friends!!!

hhhh i wrote So Many Word just about grandpa redemption holy shit i’ll probably die if i try and cover all the other teammates now

ok i will leave it here but just know i also have Deep Headcanons about all of them, even if charon gets the most. somedaayayyyay i will share with you more!!

[stephicness]

Final Fantasy XV Favorites :: Tag Game

THIS IS ANCIENT AND I THOUGHT I LOST THIS WHEN I WAS WORKING ON IT. BUT I FOUND IT AGAIN, SO LET ME FINISH IT!

I was tagged by @chocobro-hijinks, @julezrulezzz​, and @ffxvwrites​. Thanks for the tag, my friends!

Favorite Chocobro

Maaaaan, you’re asking me such a hard question off the bat? How come you’re doing this to me? Well, I think I can give you a different answer for different reasons.

Gameplay-wise in terms of combat mechanics, Ignis is by far my favorite to have played with. His combat was just so fluid, even in comparison to Noctis’s fluid armiger system he had going for him. And the incorporation with the elemental spelldaggers? That was super dope!

Relation-wise, I find myself being drawn to Noctis compared to the others in our group of protagonists. The idea of duty coming before oneself and the isolation leading to such a personality (and really sad sense of underlaying depression too), he’s a really relatable character because he’s got such realistic feelings behind it all.

Favorite Guest Party Member (including Ravus and Libertus from DLC)

PSSH. If any of you follow my blog, you’d probably know right off that bat that it’d be Ravus Nox Fleuret. Not because of my personal bias and obsession with High Commander Asshole over here, but because out of all of the other fighting styles, he was by-far the most in-sync with Ignis when he was featured in Episode Ignis as the companion. Not to mention his kit for combat is really cool! Lightning damage, high agility, and a devastating AOE attack? Oooh man, what a badass!

And he helps Iggy kick Onion Boy’s butt. c,: I think that’s really sweet of him.

Favorite Minor Character(s)

Why, Ravus again, of course! I feel like out of all of the characters -- sans the main four -- Ravus has by far the most interesting tale. At least, one that was actually got legitimate context on. It’s also really amusing, considering that Ravus, I think, got the most content add-ons compared to any other minor character in the game. He got Verse 2, he got Episode Ignis, he gets a facial model in Comrades. And he faced more crisis points in his story, which ultimately makes him one of the most well-rounded characters in the series. I adore him~

Favorite Villain

Oh, Ardyn for sure. It’s kinda weird to ask that because alot of the others characters in the story, I feel, were not really villains. Okay, maybe Verstael and Glauca were, but Ardyn seems to weed his way into their stories, and I think he’s what ultimately made these characters so evil to begin with. I mean, perhaps you could even argue that Verstael isn’t too bad either. He was once a really well-known and well-respected general and researching, and it wasn’t until Ardyn weaseled in that Verstael was twisted with a need for power. Heck, I think the Wiki even said that Verstael didn’t want to use humans for such a horrible project, but Ardyn convinced him otherwise.

Ardyn’s a monster. But the fact that he did such a good job at being a monster gives him a thumbs up from me in the villain book.

Favorite Kingsglaive Character

Hm... Not gonna lie, but I never really got too heavily invested in Kingsglaive -- it’s why I sometimes stay clear of writing much on it because I never found the characters to be too appealing, as they didn’t get much background or a chance to really grow on screen -- sans for Nyx, since he’s our protagonist.

I did really like Crowe alot though. She deserved better.

Favorite Astral/Divine Being

Probably Ramuh. Every time he appears, I have to shout ‘IT’S GRANDPA!’ He’s the best grandpa. c,:

Though I also really do like Bahamut alot -- even if he is kind of a dick. There was a reason why I threw in that Dragon Daddy Bahamut card to FFXV CAH, after all. ;D

Favorite Character Overall

I really like Ravus. Like, alot. So much that it’s probably unhealthy. Please call for a doctor. 

Favorite Weapon

I’m a warpstriking whore, so I always have the Ragnarok sword equip whenever I play Noctis. Sometimes I forget that I could just attack and I end up warpstriking so much that I fall into Statis and go ‘WHY CAN’T I ATTACK?’ You have other moves, Steph. Use them. >:I

Favorite Location

I really like Lestallum alot for some reason. It’s a humble city, not too big, not too small, busy enough to always have something going down. I find myself in Lestallum more than anywhere else -- sans Altissia, but that’s because I need that x3 Leville there. v.v

Favorite Quest/Questline/Hunt

I really enjoyed that Legendary weapon questline that you get post-game. Forgot the name of it entirely, but those bossfights were super fun to take on! Though the last one was a bit too easy because I got pissed off and one-shot it with the Ring of Lucii. THOSE LASERS WERE JUST SO FRUSTRATING. But then again, it was my fault for trying to kill a level 99 enemy at level 60.

The Dread Behemoth timed hunt was pretty fun to do too! Fought him before the ring was buffed, and so it took me a solid hour or two to wail on him. Ran out of potions, ran out of teammates, but for some reason, Gladio was still standing enough to help keep me alive? Now that’s a good shield!

Favorite Boss

In terms of the story, I thought the Ravus boss battle was the most fun -- especially when I was screaming/crying the entire time. ‘What the fuck, Ravus?!’ ‘Ardyn, what did you do?!’ ‘DON’T GETSUGA TENSHO ME, YOU BASTARD.’ Yup, that was a fun fight. c,:

Favorite Monster/Monster Family/etc

I think my favorite monster... Is probably that Dread Behemoth again. In terms of boss-fights, that is. It’s one of the more challenging ones I’ve had, but it still has a nice little place in my heart~ In terms of design though, I really like the Chadarnook. So pretty, and the rotting wood motifs to highlight that ‘nature is beautiful, woman is beautiful, but so is death’ vibe? Aaaye~ Now that’s an example of a great design!

Favorite Songs

Somnus is probably my favorite track out of the soundtrack. Like, you know how each FF game has that signature sound that really just gets your eyes welling up for one reason or another? For me, Somnus really does that for me whenever I listen to it. Similar to To Zanarkand or Aerith’s Theme, the moment you hear those first notes it just gets you so immersed in the emotion all over again.

Favorite Boss Theme

Hm... I’m really torn... Perhaps in terms of legitimate boss theme, it’s Ravus Aeterna for sure. I mean, the composition of this song just is so chilling and reflects just how horrible the fight is the entire time, the dread and the torture that is to basically suffer and then be forced to put down a twisted and corrupted man who didn’t deserve such a fate. That, and when the song is basically called Eternal Ravus, it just makes you even more sad because RAVUS WAS PULLED BACK TO THIS SHIT. GIVE HIM A BREAK, PLEASE!

Veiled in Black is also a really nice battle song too, though it’s not for bosses really. c:

Favorite Non-Episode DLC/Update/Event

Dude, the Character Swap Update is, like, the sexiest thing they’ve done in the game, not gonna lie. Like, I didn’t think too much of it at first, but then I played as Prompto taking on the Grove dungeon, and I was screaming. It’s so cool and so useful...! Just wish you can legit run around as a different boy instead of just swapping back to Noctis.

Favorite Episode DLC

I feel like it’s almost unfair to compare. Episode Ignis is by far one of the best DLCs in my eyes -- especially when they took so much attention and care into that DLC over the others, I feel. That, and it made the most sense in the story plot, I feel, than the other DLCs.

That and, you know, Ravus.

Other Favorites of Note: 

Everything.

Except for Chapter 9.

Fuck Chapter 9.

[krixwell-liveblogs]

Character rundown: Undersiders, as of Buzz 7.5

Taylor “Skitter” Hebert

A cautious, reserved and resourceful girl with a desire to escape the torment she experiences in her civilian life in favor of the more exciting world of capes. While officially a villain, she originally wanted to be a hero, and she still keeps that in mind when fighting... more or less. Sometimes she imprisons people with temporally frozen bugs in every orifice, or carves their eyes out. But other than that she’s a good person!

I like Taylor quite a bit. Particularly the resourcefulness - give her just a little bit of time and she’ll have thought of a creative way out of most sticky situations. I’m not quite as big on the cautiousness, but that’s just a personal preference in fictional characters, not criticism of how it’s written - Taylor’s cautious and reserved attitude is excellently written and always makes sense in the context of her character and her situation.

I should probably note that one of the reasons I like less cautious characters is that they’re unlike myself. In other words, I can relate to Taylor’s cautious side, though she’s a lot better at it than I am.

Taylor is also very good at rationalizing, whether it’s to explain her caution, or to excuse her more fucked-up actions to herself and the reader. Combine that with her status as the POV character, and she’s so good at it that it can be tricky for the reader not to be pulled in with her and accept her reasoning. I like this because it turns one of her greatest strengths into a pretty good flaw under certain circumstances.

In fact, she’s generally an interesting character to follow the perspective of, both due to her moral struggles and because her intelligence and caution makes her think about things in detail. This helps the narration believably cover a lot of worldbuilding that I wouldn’t have otherwise thought about (or would’ve been horribly wrong about).

Oh, and of course, let’s not forget that Taylor can be damn adorable sometimes.

Brian “Grue” Laborn

Taylor’s dream guy - a kind, handsome young man with maturity and childlike traits in one package, and a rational, pragmatic approach to life. As the de facto leader of the Undersiders, he’s naturally inclined to take charge and isn’t afraid to do so, but does his best to be fair to the other members even when angry. Unlike the other members, he lives away from the Loft, which along with his villainy is part of a strong effort to take over custody of his sister from their neglectful mother.

Brian is just a really good dude, y’know? What’s not to like?

I mean, the thing I’ve just learned about him feeling naturally inclined to take charge seems like it hints at him having a bit of a bossy side, but from the way the team makes decisions democratically in spite of that and the way he seems to be fine with that arrangement, I think it’s pretty clear that he’s doing his best to curb that instinct.

Lisa “Tattletale” McKnowitall

The one who knows, and the one we don’t. After Alec’s backstory was revealed in 7.1, Lisa became the Undersider we know the least about, even though she’s been one of the most prominent ones.

Lisa looks at villainy, and maybe life itself, as a game. She appears cheerful and knowing at all times, and while it’s hard to tell how much of the cheerfulness might be a facade, the “knowing” part certainly isn’t.

I’m not going to lie - I’m a huge fan of characters like Lisa. A cheerful, smug attitude that may or may not be somewhat fake? Knowing more about you than you do, and willing to use all of that to manipulate you? Willing to take risks simply for the thrill, without being outright stupid about it? Endlessly supportive about that crush another character is being shy about, and somewhat subtly teasing them about it?

Sign me the fuck up.

Alec “Regent” ???     (formerly ??? “Hijack” Vasil)

Holy fucked-up backstory, Batman.

The laid-back, somewhat immature teammate who occasionally gets on Brian’s nerves - pun intended - with his irresponsible actions. Alec doesn’t seem to care about much outside battle, which may be a result of his, um, “upbringing” as a product of his father’s one-stag parahuman breeding program. Either Heartbreaker permanently altered his mind with his power (we’ve had confirmation that he uses the power on his children, but not what he does with it), or Alec’s coping mechanism of detaching himself from his actions left him having a hard time not being detached.

Despite knowing well how fucked up his father is, Alec still seems to want to impress him. This might be another result of either Heartbreaker’s power or simply a normal issue for victims of abuse - hard to tell.

I don’t have all that much else to say about Alec, and that’s pretty much my main issue here. Alec is an alright guy, but I don’t feel like we’ve seen much from him. Lisa is the Undersider we know the least about, but Alec is still the one we know the least. I’m hoping that the reveal of his backstory is a sign that this is about to change.

Rachel “Bitch” (“Hellhound”) Lindt

Rachel is quite... intense, but withdrawn. By whim of her power, she thinks like a dog, which makes for difficulty when she tries to interact with other humans. She’s a bit of an odd one out as a result, even among the Undersiders. On the other hand, she gets along with dogs splendidly, and saving them from abuse and incompetence is something she’s passionate about.

Rachel is not someone I would like to know and interact with in real life, but she’s a damn interesting character, thanks to her unusual way of thinking and how it affects every interaction she has. Getting along with her forces Taylor to put more effort than usual into understanding the way she thinks and adapting to it, and it’s very satisfying to see that paying off a bit in this arc. The events of 7.3 also helped show that there’s more to her than Taylor had assumed, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of that as Taylor gets to know her better.

[gamerszone2019-blog]

Creating Sigma: Developing A New Overwatch Hero

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/creating-sigma-developing-a-new-overwatch-hero/

Creating Sigma: Developing A New Overwatch Hero

Sigma has been revealed as the 31st Hero in Overwatch, and the gravity-controlling mad scientist is currently playable in the game’s PC test server. With so many Heroes in Overwatch now, creating new ones has become a balancing act for Blizzard–one where brand-new mechanics must be weighed against the established lore of the game’s narrative. Sigma is no different, having started out as one character that had to be changed to fulfill specific criteria: someone who further fleshed out Talon and also acted as an anchor tank.

“[Sigma’s introduction] wasn’t really reactionary to the meta,” lead hero designer Geoff Goodman said in an interview with GameSpot. “We were looking to introduce a new barrier tank to the game, specifically an anchor tank that the team could rally around to push through chokes and take objectives. So a lot of the prototyping all began with him having a large barrier and being somewhat immobile, so he’s not running off on his own. The teammates had to gather around him and make a push.”

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Blizzard is always working on multiple Overwatch Heroes at once and adapting prototypes as the needs arise. So when it came time to introduce Hero 31, there already was an idea of what the team wanted to do next. “We knew, from a gameplay side, that we wanted this anchor tank, and even at an early point for him, we knew we wanted him to be part of Talon,” Goodman said. “So, he literally was just ‘Talon anchor tank’ on paper for a good amount of time as we were prototyping.”

Though Talon is partially made up of former Overwatch team members and is currently the main antagonist in Overwatch’s narrative, much of the organization still remains a mystery. It’s a trend Blizzard was looking to change, and Hero 30 and 31 allowed the developer to do it. “[Talon is] an extremely important group in the Overwatch universe and while there are already some really prominent and beloved characters in our line-up who are in Talon, I think when you look at it, they’re still a very small sub-section of the overall group,” Goodman said. “As we’re developing the universe, when we add new Heroes, we try and make sure that they call back to the core Overwatch story. So that’s why Baptiste and also Sigma are very related to Talon, because we were thinking, ‘Oh, this would be a good chance to be able to explore more of this world through them and see it through two new characters’ eyes.’ So with this two-pack of Heroes, you [learn] a little bit more about Talon and see Talon grow as a group as well.”

However, before Sigma was created, Blizzard looked to a previously established Overwatch character for Hero 31: Mauga, a Talon member introduced in the Overwatch comic that’s focused on Baptiste and who’s a former friend to Overwatch’s 30th Hero. His willingness to embrace the murderous side of the organization that caused Baptiste to quit made him seem like a good way to explore Talon from another point-of-view. Plus, the dude is built like a truck, making him a prime candidate for the tank role in a video game. “Originally, [Hero 31] started as a different character that we later called Mauga,” Goodman said. “[Baptiste and Mauga] were going to be together. However, we found it kind of difficult because, though we really liked Mauga, it was hard to imagine that guy as a slow-moving dude with a shield, marching with his team. That guy feels a little more like he’d be jumping in like Winston or Wrecking Ball and causing chaos. So somewhere sort of later in development, we decided to shift gears and go with a completely different character, and that’s how Sigma formed.”

Once Blizzard decided to focus on a brand-new character instead of a previously established one, it opened up the possibility of exploring previously established technology and powers in a brand-new way. Both Orisa and Zarya have gravity abilities, for example, but no Overwatch Hero had been completely built around gravity-focused powers. “It was clear that once we shifted courses on this character, that we were going to double down on the gravity abilities,” Goodman said. The idea of doing another scientist–we had some other ideas–came about pretty quickly too.”

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Goodman added that Overwatch’s story and gameplay are developed “hand-in-hand” so several of the add-on Heroes have had their design or backstory completely changed prior to their release, like Sigma, to better fit their abilities or vice versa. The prototype for Ana, for example, was an alchemist who operated as a close-range fighter with throwable potions that caused different splash effects. When it came time to implement the alchemist into the game, Blizzard chose to use the opportunity to add Ana as a playable Hero. As Ana had already been established as a sniper in Pharah, Soldier: 76, and Reaper’s backstories, however, most of the alchemist’s explosive concoctions became special bullets, with only one remaining potion-like: Ana’s Biotic Grenade.

Going forward, the creation of Heroes will be impacted by Overwatch’s new Role Queue feature, though perhaps not as substantially as you might think. Blizzard has had plans for Role Queue for a while and has thus already been working within the parameters of its eventual launch. “We have been talking about Role Queue for a long time,” Goodman said. “It took quite a while to implement it. I don’t even remember when we first started talking about it or really committing to it.” Sigma has always been designed with Role Queue in mind, for example, and changes to his character–like removing Accretion’s secondary ability to form a rock-like version of Mei’s Ice Wall–have been a result of balancing the character, not accounting for the new feature.

Goodman did add that Role Queue’s launch does currently eliminate the possibility of seeing a fourth class (beyond tank, damage, and support) in Overwatch, as introducing another class would mess with the balance Blizzard has been operating under with Role Queue in mind. However, there may be more hybrid Heroes–like Brigitte, who’s support class but can use Barrier Shield and Shield Bash to technically act as a tank for her team–in the future.

For now, the only way to play with Sigma is on Overwatch’s PC test servers, but the Hero will be officially launching on all platforms soon enough. Overwatch is available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

Source : Gamesport

[spectrumscribe]

Alright, aus upon aus, and i want more. Give us your thoughts on their classpects.

Hello friend who is enabling my age old Homestuck obsession,sorry it so long to get back to you. Trust me, I have been thinking about thisask near constantly since I got it. Ijust took my time figuring it out, bc I really wanted to get it right. (For those without HS knowledge, a Classpect is the Class and Aspect of each game player, their Class being their game role, and Aspect being their powers.)

This is a shit tonof character analysis, and by god, I enjoyed every second I put into it. I gotto break down each of their characters, character flaws, and their truestpotentials. I should do this more often. It’s a lot of fun.

I made a bit of an essay out of this ask. I’m sorry. I rambleda shit ton. Buckle down if you chose to read this, it’s a long one.

So without further due, my headcanons for the 2012 six main kids(plus Karai) and their Classpects:

Leonardo I wouldplace as a Mage of Void. Mages will uniquely experience their Aspect, bothgood and bad. As a result, they gain a unique understanding of what theirAspect is or does. Their challenge is to become open to new insight ordifferent perspectives than their own.

A Mage of Void would seemingly be suffering from ‘Nothing’,(Void pun lmao), and thus no one would suspect something would be botheringLeo. But, and this is my own personal headcanon territory, I’d say Leo has beenrepressing and avoiding hisexperiences with the Shredder for the last three seasons, ever since he endedup in that coma of his. Something that traumatic drastically changed his characterfrom someone who might’ve been a bit controlling and overbearing at times, intosomeone who needs to be in charge of nearly everything and pushes his teammatesto lengths they don’t want to be. (And Splinter passing on the mantle of leaderand sensei to Leo has not helped that complex in the least.)

To avoid feeling useless, or unneeded, or like he’s failingexpectations, Leo overcompensates and does his best to make his own personaldoubts disappear (into the void). Underneath that though, I believe hestruggles, even without realizing it, with being unnecessary or ignored. (whilehe’s made firm effort to be heard and listened to by his siblings, it hasn’tbeen a healthy coping mechanism for anyone since Leo is still just avoiding hisrepressed issues, and making life a lot harder for everyone around him. see myfiction These Days for more about this, when I get around to publishing the Leochapter.)

As a Mage, Leo would probably be able to let go of all thesenegativities if he’d just open himself up to other options, other views andideas. He needs a stern talking to about how a leader is actually meant to act,(Leading, not ordering around. Keydifference here.), and a good long self-reflection period. If he faced histrauma, and his repressed issues, he’d be able to truly lead the team as heoriginally wanted to, and just be a much happier individual all around.

Donatello I wouldput down as a Knight of Blood. Knights hide a fear of a perceived fundamentalfailure with their Aspect behind a shield of confidence and obsessive effort.Their challenge is to learn to take it down a notch and to understand that theyare skilled enough.

Blood can mean a lot of things; blood bonds, blood brothers,blood relations. Donnie’s whole role in the family is centered around hisability to provide support and stability to his brothers, through hiscontinuous and never ending work to protect and build for them all. His empathyis the strongest out of all of them, reaching out to people easily andsympathizing with their struggles. Of course, this doubles back as a negativeon occasion, since Donnie is attempting to give more than he should, and thusexhausting himself as he fights against his imagined failings.

Knights of Blood tend to feel deeply insecure or inadequaterelating to something Flesh or Blood about them. In this case, that would beDonnie’s mutantness compared to the rest of the world, and his struggles inninjutsu. While his brothers take to martial arts with vigor and enthusiasm,Donnie prefers to spend time in his head or lab, and while he is skilled asthey are, he would likely still see himself as a lesser member of his family.He’s the odd man out, both in family, and to the rest of the world. The reasonsthat set him apart are never going to change, and those are heavy things toweigh on a kid, especially one as socially isolated as Donnie.

Of course, if Donnie was given mutual effort and supportfrom his family, he’d be able to become as stable as the work he does for themall. Reassuring a Knight that they’re good enough, that their skill and workand Aspect are things that they’re able to excel at, that you do in fact lovethem for who they are, would probably be all Donnie needs. To move past theperceived failings he has (of not being enough, or not being accepted for whohe is) he needs some good old TLC and genuine appreciation from his brothersand friends. (And his dad, who never once praised him for being himself through the whole series.)

Honestly, just give the genius the credit and attention andcare he deserves, and his emotional/mental state would improve 300%. Seriously.It’s that simple.

Michelangelo I’dplace as an Heir of Breath. Heirs naturally gravitate towards their Aspector unconsciously seek it out. All Heirs so far have huge amounts of Aspectrelated strength. Their challenge is to not get stuck on one thing and to knowwhen to move on and adapt.

Mikey is air and wind and other related words in a lot ofsenses. He’s finicky and whimsical, and tends to just do whatever the hell hefeels like. When he does listen toyou, it’s because he feels like it,not because someone else wants him to. This has caused a lot of trouble incanon, Mikey going off on an adventure of his own making because he caughtsomething interesting and won’t let it go until he feels like it. His charactersums up to be either hyper focused on oneparticular thing, or be completely distracted by ten plus ideas or eventswithout really getting involved with any of them.

He coasts through happenings and fights without ever reallyletting them touch him; off in his own world rather than deal with theharshness of reality. Heirs of Breath are notorious for seeming indifferent oruncaring because of this tendency. Mikey’s go to reaction to lighten asituation, or full stop ignore it, is a fine example of how Breath players copewith traumatic events. Didn’t happen if they don’t admit it did!

It makes Mikey out to be this very callous person, since henever gives time or effort to the things other people need him to, and keeps tohis own wants instead. But he is a very caring person, being the mostemotionally open and connected person in his family. He simply never chooses touse that openness in the right situation, or actually come back down to earthto be a stable member of the team. Currently, the best way of getting him tofocus on anything is to just throwhim at the problem and let him take it apart from there. I nearly put him in aDestroyer class because of that trait in Mikey; his ability to enter any sortof situation, and tear it to pieces if he feels like it. But, in the end, histrait to avoid a situation entirely by leaving reality entirely places him better as an Heir.

To overcome this part of himself, the whimsical destructionand deliberate ignorance, Mikey would need to buckle down and actually dealwith his issues, rather than pretend they’re not there for the rest ofeternity. He needs to learn to keep his promises, fulfill his obligations, andbe there emotionally for his family. (He is sometimes, but only when it suitshim.)

Raphael is innearly every canon, a destroyer of sorts; which is why I’ve placed him as a Princeof Doom. Princes ghost theiropposite Aspects as they destroy theirs. They are violently stubbornpessimistic people that stop at nothing to reach their goals. Their challengeis to not destroy themselves along their destructive path.

Princes of Doom are reckless, full of energy, and nearunstoppable when they hit their stride. Raph is a battering ram against thingsthat get in his way, and his temper is no help in curbing his destructivetendencies. His solution to a problem is 9/10 times to just destroy itcompletely. Someone or something gets between him and his family’s goals, he’lltake them out. No ifs ands or buts about it.

This is both a bane and a boon, since destroying barriers orblocks can mean destroying enemies or metaphorical restrictions. Raph is arebel, and a loud one at that, and has never been the type to let rules orthreats stop him from doing something. Sometimes this works in everyone’sfavor, sometimes it causes a painful fallout for everyone except Raph; theresult of Raph charging ahead without hindrance or regard for others aroundhim, or pushing and shoving until he gets his way. His go to reaction is alwaysto force people into his view ofthings, even if it’s through physical violence and someone gets hurt.

Using his destructive impulses correctly, including hisanger issues, would give Raph the strength and momentum to bowl down anythingthat attempted to hurt his family. Princes are horrifically powerful at theirpeaks, and at the top of that peak a Prince of Doom would be able to doomanyone who got in their path.  Raph could be the warrior he’s hinted athaving the potential to be, dependable and fierce and strong as bedrock, and ifhe got his head out of his own emotions he’d be able to realize that potential.

But as it is, Raph still stands a chance of being swallowedby his own Doom, since in canon he has yet to really grab hold of that temperof his (we’ve had what, like five episodes or something of him trying over andover to do that? bs, I tell you) and continues to physically push his siblingsaround whenever he doesn’t like what they’re saying/doing. (Looking at you,elevator scene, all the ones like it.)

April is acharacter that has grown and changed drastically over the season, and to methis screams Page of Hope. Pagesstart with a deficit in their Aspect that they confidently overcome through obviousovercompensation. Their challenge is to keep at it, even if they fail and thejourney is slow, for they become the strongest players

April started out as the team’s weakest link; new toninjutsu, new to espionage, new to everything. And then she hit her stride (andalso got traumatized a bunch of times) and became the most powerful above all. Seriously,she’s got enough power to warp the face of the earth; she was literally designedto be the genocidal weapon that would wipe out the human race. And, her powersdepend pretty much completely on her own emotions, confidence, and mentalwillpower. (Also, she gets glowy and floaty when she uses them, especially ather peak power, which resembles super closely Hope magic.)

In the beginning of the series, April was well-meaning andsomething pretty close to naïve. She depended nearly entirely on the boys fortheir help in things, tended to hang back when things went south. Then, becauseApril O’Neil is no one’s damsel in distress for long, she started to takecontrol of her life best she could and became this furious martial artist thatdidn’t let anyone get in her way. She tended to let people’s views influence herown at first, sometimes even believing boldfaced lies, but now no one can hide shit from her. She’s thehuman lie detector, and her own opinions are the ones she follows.

While the rest of the kids here have a quest or two tocomplete, April has already finished hers. She’s her own person, in control ofher own life and beliefs, and ten times as powerful as her season 1 self. At thispoint, the only things holding her back is her A) restraints on her powers,which could be even stronger if she’d let go of the (already flimsy) morals shehas, and B) her deference to Leo as the leader. (Leo is making one bad callafter another these days; April should really just defect to the Foot clan(read as ‘Karai and Shinigami’s Murder Ladies Only Club’) and embrace the sheerdeadliness of herself.)

Pages go from the weakest player on the team to the mostpowerful, and we heard Kravaxas say it himself. April is far more powerful than her mutant friends at this point, and willonly keep getting more powerful, so long as she works for it and believes inher abilities.

Casey, because he’sa problematic little shit, ended up with the same Class as Mikey, being an Heirof Life. Once again, Heirs naturally gravitate towards their Aspect orunconsciously seek it out, etc etc etc, and their challenge is to not get stuckon one thing and to know when to move on and adapt.

An Heir of Life fits Casey perfectly, much to my annoyance aboutrepeating Classes. They’re completely unrestricted in almost every way, havingno rules, no limits and no boundaries of any kind. They’re openly dominating,reckless, and full of optimism in everything they do. They are also extremelyeffective at what they do and have no problem rejecting anything that theythink isn’t valid or not useful to them. They have no problems sacrificingothers and breaking rules in order to open up more options for themselves andmake themselves even less restricted by everything. Sounds like Casey to a T,right?

Rather than how an Heir of Breath copes with their problems,ignoring them completely, Heirs of Life charge right into things and make their problems go away. Let itnever be said that Casey jones backed down from any sort of fight; he’ll just keep going until he can’t, and thenpush through anyways. Any problem, any obstacle, any sort of block or adversaryCasey has ever faced have all been dealt with the same way: bullheadedenthusiasm and utter confidence in himself to come out the victor.

Of course, this still tends to get him into trouble, and he’syet to learn temperance to his unfaltering attitude. Casey resilience to anysituation he encounters is admirable to say the least, buuuuuut he is alsousually the one to have gotten himself into said situation. He needs to learnto not tunnel focus on an obstacle, and look before he leaps. Only then will hestop getting himself into easily avoidable situations.

(And because I have a rough plot for a fic I want to write inthe future, I’m throwing in Karai’s too.)

Karai I see as a Witchof Time. Witches are enthusiastic, confident and optimistic rebels.They break and change the physical and metaphysical “Rules” of their Aspect.Their challenge is to use their rule breaking powers in a morally consciousway.

Karai is a not so morally conscious individual, and is inmany ways a rebel. She originally followed her (shitty fake adopted) father’sword without questions, and was fiercely loyal, but once she found out thetruth… well, she’s done nothing since then but try to tear the Shredder topieces, and I don’t blame her in the least.

She manipulates and schemes and does so with utterconfidence in herself. She’s put a lot of Time and effort into seeing her falsefather’s downfall, and she did in a clever and brilliant manner. (And I fuckinghate canon for robbing her of her own arc’s conclusion, and instead shunted thewhole thing over to Leo, while Karai was written into being ‘okay’ with notgetting her very well deserved vengeance.Fuck this fucking show, god.)

While Karai’s future position as a criminal empire warlordis one I fully agree with, I do think she needs to learn to mind the fallout ofher actions a bit better. Yes she should continue to forge her path ahead withall the fighting and gore that comes with being a ninja, but she should watchout that she doesn’t hurt people she shouldn’t in the process. (See: the BrokenFoot episode, where she brought Leo on and not the other boys, encouraged thesecrecy of things from the family, and resulted in Donnie being injured badlyenough he needed magical healing.)

Also: Karai  would be fucking terrifying as a Timeplayer. She could do anything she wanted to the fabric of someone’s Time (theirpast, present, future) and no one would be able to stop her once she’d put hermind to it. I would pay good money to see this come to be, because I do love awoman with a goal and not a lot of care how she reaches it.

Aaaaaaaaaand that’s about it! If anyone wants moreClasspects by me, feel free to pop into my inbox and ask for the characterspecifically! If I take a while, its bc this does take some serious thinking, but if the ask really catches myattention rest assured I’ll answer it eventually.

I miss the years when everyone was doing these. I miss beingallowed to turn everything into a Homestuck AU. *le sigh*

[wizards-need-not-apply]

Mentors of the Meek: A 5e Tierlist

This week, I’d like to offer up my opinions in the form of a tier list for 5e. A tier list is a measure of how powerful every class is in relation to each other, with the classes at the highest being the most powerful and going down from there. But remember, that this is a personal tier list, written by a guy who has his own personal biases for certain classes. This is not a mathematical end-all be all, and that is probably true for every single tier list ever made ever. In addition, this tier list takes certain considerations that may not be in every single campaign.

With those stipulations in mind, why even make a tier list to begin with? Or more accurately, why would you follow one? A tier list is meant to be used as a tool. For DMs, it offers a general guideline to gauge the power of a party, and you can adjust encounters based on the composition of the party. In addition, a tier list can tell you what might be lacking from a specific class, which you can touch up using magic items, or with a bit of homebrew. For Players, a tier list is not meant to dismay or praise a certain class. Rather, a tier list offers you a look into how clever you need to be in order to “pull your weight” as it were. In 5e, a “low tier” class can pull just as much work, if not more than a “high tier” class, depending on how one manages resources and actions.

This tier list assumes that a normal party takes several short rests during the course of any adventuring day. This also assumes that out-of-combat skills are going to be used with some amount of frequency. It’s not going to be a main focus, but they will have a place and time for them.

Tier 1: Wizards

As much as I like to deride Wizards and their ilk, I cannot deny that they are really powerful. Both kings in utility and damage, Wizards, with their bloated spell lists, are capable of pulling any role. They can serve as AOE damage, single target, debuffers, buffers, diplomancers, and even as pseudo rogues. The amount of variety in a Wizard is frankly ridiculous, and they can turn into a completely different role overnight, if they want to. They can also keep up with everyone else, with their ability to recover spell slots every single short rest, giving them a lot of staying power. All it takes is a small amount of foresight, and you’ll be ready to face the world. Do be careful though, because the wrong set of spells will leave you as a Cantrip machine.

Tier 2: Clerics/Bards

Down a tier, but certainly not lacking in power, are the Bards and Clerics. Bards have a crazy amount of utility and the ability to assist their teammates. In a similar vein, Clerics have the variability of Wizards with their spell lists, and while they don’t get free spell regeneration, they can keep up with smart spell management. Clerics also rank among the most diverse classes, due to how many subclasses they get. Though Bards and Clerics may be a bit lacking in lasting power, that’s kind of a granted due to how ridiculous the Wizard is. They still get some form of short rest benefits, and the Bard can help others get the most out of their short rests otherwise. And don’t forget about their ability to aid with Ritual Casting!

Tier 3: Druids/Warlocks

Pinging in at tier 3 are the Druids. Wild Shape is your bread and butter here, allowing you to pull double duty as both a utility caster, and as a beefy front liner. Thankfully, it also recharges on short rest! Their spell list isn’t the most offensive thing, but it certainly has enough tricks to befuddle foes and help allies out. The Druid is a bit more married to their subclass compared to the other classes above, so choose carefully when deciding.

At first glance, the Warlock seems pretty substandard when it comes to full casters. You’re a full caster... that can only cast like, two spells before having to recharge? That sounds a bit lacking, doesn’t it? But there’s two things working to a Warlock’s advantage. For one, every spell that you cast is automatically maximized to their highest spell level, meaning that those two spells you get to cast are always going to hurt really badly. For two, your spells regenerate trivially, meaning you get to turn up the heat very often. Add in the fact that you get the best damaging cantrip in the game, as well as some of the largest swordmage potential of any class, and you have a solid class. 

Tier 4: Rogues/Fighters

For when a bard or a druid doesn’t work, you always have the Rogue. Rogues can do a silly amount of damage to one target thanks to Sneak Attack, which lets them keep up, and perhaps excel above other Martial classes. It’s incredibly easy to trigger Sneak Attack, so long as you have another buddy to team up with at the front lines. Your subclasses only help you out here, which not only helps you make the most of your second stat investment, in many cases, your subclass makes it even easier to trigger Sneak Attack! As per usual, Rogues have a ton of versatility in out of combat skill monkeying, making for a solid addition to any team.

Fighters, for what they lack in fluff, they make up for it staying power. The ability to hunker down for free with their Second Wind and the ability to do a silly amount of damage with Action Surge, both of which recharge on short rest is great! Fighters are slightly hurt by the stigma of “full attack actions,” but subclasses help to vary things up, with many of them giving the Fighter access to Weeaboo Fightan Magic. If you play your cards right, you’ll be doing more actions per turn than your resident Wizard or Rogue even!

Tier 5: Sorcerers

It is here that we find the last of the full casters. The much blighted Sorcerer has a rough life, playing second banana to pretty much every other full-blooded caster. That’s not to say it’s a bad class, it’s just that it’s a bad full caster. Metamagic gives you a lot of tricks up your sleeve, from Twincast Haste to Quickened Concentration Spells. However, Sorcerers will find themselves running out of gas a lot earlier compared to all of the other full casters, hence why it’s the worst full caster. Still, you can pull a lot of weight as your own class, as long as you remember to use the resources that you have on hand.

Tier 6: Paladins/Barbarians

Paladins can do a lot of damage early on with their smites, which gives them an edge early on. However, due to it’s lack of short rest benefits besides Channel Divinity compared to the Fighter makes it trail a bit behind. Still, between both Divine Smite and Smite-spells, you’ll be able to keep the damage flowing for a while. Your ability to heal with Lay on Hands is also welcome to keep you and your friends topped off.

Barbarians can stay for a long, long time, thanks to their ability to be resistant to pretty much anything that gets thrown at them. That being said, you don’t get a lot of short rest benefits, but that doesn’t really matter when your short rest benefit is being able to heal up again, which means even more damage absorption! That being said, they do kind of feel like one trick ponies with their reckless attack, but it is a pretty good trick so you can’t blame them.

Tier 7: Ranger Revised/Monks

Here we see the last couple of the classes. These classes are a bit lacking in power, but can still pull their weight, as the power gap between classes in 5e is a lot smaller. The Ranger Revised is kind of made by and defined by their subclasses, like many other classes above. The problem becomes then, the lack of benefits on short rests, the lackluster spell list, and the lack of options it has both in and out of combat. You would think that “the outdoors man class” would have a lot to do outside of combat, and the skills you get to choose from also seem like that, but for the most part, you are the party’s stealth and scout guy, which eats up two skills right then and there. After that, it’s up to background and one flex skill to decide your out of combat utility.

The Monk is a much more simple case to tear apart. In a party that takes plenty of short rests, Monks tend to peter out very quickly. Their Ki pool is quick to deplete with Flurry of Blows and Stunning Strike, which becomes a real issue depending on your subclass. Compounding this issue is the poor scaling of Martial Arts damage dice, which means you’ll end up worse in the “doing a bunch of attacks on one turn” market, which is what the Monk is supposed to be good at doing.

Ranger Tier: PHB Ranger and Spell-less Ranger

A joke tier within a tier list, the lowest of low tier classes belong to technically the same class. If your group doesn’t let you play with Ranger Revised, don’t play a Ranger, or you will not have a good time.

Spell-less Ranger was WoTC’s first attempt to fix the Ranger... by taking away their (albeit kind of poor) spell list. In their place, they get to steal the Battle Master Fighter’s Weeaboo Fightan Magic. In addition to being kind of a lazy way to go about things, it begs the question: If you wanted to play around with the Fighter’s Weeaboo Fightan Magic, why not just make a Battle Master Fighter? There is little benefit that a Spell-less Ranger gets that a Battle Master Fighter either already has or just has a better version of.

The PHB Ranger is, undoubtedly, the worst class in 5e. The class doesn’t get to do much that's unique, it’s damage is lacking, and it’s mechanics are confusing. It has a high skill ceiling with a very low power payoff, which leads to a very exhaustive class. That’s not to say that you can’t make it work, but even if you do, you will feel very underwhelmed.

[il-city-blog]

Persona 3: How A Calendar Based Game Keeps You Eager To Keep Opening Your Planner

Video Game Review 1 Ira

 1-25-2017

 Dr. Hall

 Theory and Crit of Games 

           I had just started high school when a game called Persona 3 was released. I had never heard of the series prior to buying Persona 3. I thought it was cool that the main characters as well as the setting were all high school related. I learned that Persona 3 is a role-playing game (RPG) made by Japanese video game publishing house Atlus. It is part of the Shin Megami Tensei (SMT) series. Persona 3 ties many different genres into one game: traditional RPG elements, dungeon crawler, dating sim, and puzzler to name a few.

           Persona 3 is a timed game in which the player has a (in game) year to essentially save the world. The player can only choose to do so many things in one day. For instance if you hang out with your friends it means you are not socializing with your other friends or training your persona. Each action has a consequence. Sense time is a premium, one must budget their time wisely. Further, the way one spends their time can make the game easier, putting even more emphasis on choosing wisely. Oh, and don’t forget the protagonist is a high school student. So the player must contend with that as well… Yes the game tasks the player with taking midterms and finals… So upon reading this, one likely is asking themselves “why would a current high school student, one who has to deal with those same things in real life then want to come home and play a seemingly monotonous video game tasking him to emulate high school” That is precisely the strength of Persona 3.

           This review will primarily focus on illustrating how Persona 3 managed to be fun and rewarding game despite appearing to be repetitive. That being said, before I can really delve into why and how Persona 3 was indeed a fun game, I must first briefly review: the controls and gameplay, graphics, sound, and its replayability.

 The controls and gameplay: Persona 3’s controls were excellent. They were quite simple, the characters moved and responded exactly how you thought they would. This was important, because sometimes you had to run away from enemies to avoid being attacked in the dungeon, and it occasionally required quick footwork. The battle mechanics were also done well. Persona 3 is a turned-based RPG where you choose an input for an attack, and it gets executed. The attack and support options are clear, the revolving wheel of options make the battlefield relatively clutter free. The pause menus as well as the various shop and upgrade menus are well laid out and clear.

           The player stat mechanic was a breath of fresh air. Persona 3 features battle stats (stats of main characters), social stats (that could also have combat implications) and the stats of each Persona (think stats of an individual Pokémon for reference). It was challenging (in a good way) trying to balance all of these stats, and learning how they intertwined together. On top of stats there were “social links.” Social links are the bonds formed with various non-player characters (NPCs) found throughout the game. The more one interacts with certain individuals the higher their social link level will go. These relations made time management even more paramount.

Graphics: The graphics in Persona 3 are a combination of 3D sprites and anime style cut scenes. The backgrounds are often detailed and rather enchanting. The surroundings are not in your face, but rather offer an interesting perspective for the player that takes the time to look and appreciate his or her surroundings. The game’s visuals are consistent with Japanese culture, and do a good job of immersing the player into the game.  

Sound: Persona 3 boasts an impressive soundtrack that undoubtedly boosts the playing experience. Music is in fact a major theme in the game (the protagonists is almost never seen without his MP3 player and earphones). Music is almost always playing in the background (paying homage to certain films as well as a commonality in anime). Cut-scenes often have much more intense music that help set the mood. More than the music, the game’s sounds are realistic (i.e. different surfaces when walked on make different noises) and satisfying in battle. The sound like the visuals help the player get more immersed into the game.

Replayability: Persona 3 offers of a lot of replayability. Like many RPGs it offers a new game “plus” that allows the player to start the entire game over, but with all of their equipment and social links. Further some new interactions as well as levels become available in new game plus. Due to the complexity and different story options it was fun to be able to choose different options in subsequent plays.

  The fun factor: The thing that fascinated me the most about Persona 3 was how it remained fun throughout the entire course of the game. It is first worth mentioning, that Persona 3 is long (relatively speaking), clocking in some people about 100 hours to complete (that’s the high end). Despite the fact the Persona 3 is dictated by a calendar, and given its school setting it’s riddled with monotony, however; Persona 3 never felt like a chore to play. When I was done playing for the day, I looked forward to playing the next day.

           Persona 3 treated every moment as a learning experience, and valued the player that was attentive. Every moment felt like an opportunity to level up. In class, if you answered the teacher’s questions correctly your intelligence level went up, or if you choose to answer a question your courage could go up. When your traits get leveled up it helps you in battle or when you are working on social links with other characters. For instance, somewhat comically, certain female characters could not be approached unless your courage level was high enough. The monotony didn’t actually feel like the “same ole’ sale ole’.” I legitimately enjoyed interacting with the various characters in the game. By adding traditional RPG leveling mechanics to normal interaction it made the game at all times feel like a game. However, that realization does not diminish Persona 3’s ability to be immersive. When playing Persona 3 I would often loose track of time. The story progression kept me wanting to know what happens next.

           All that being said, Persona 3 really shines once you get to the battlefield. A large tower called Tartarus tasks the player with climbing floor after floor with every few floors containing a boss. The game is so smooth, and just a joy to play. Admittedly, Persona 3 is not pushing the envelope with its interface (as stated above) but it works very well and is easy to navigate. The boss battles are satisfyingly challenging. Some floors contain traps requiring the player to pay attention to the surroundings. Your teammates are semi-antonymous which makes the game feel like you are playing with other people (sort of). The only time this game verges on frustrating is when your teammate does something idiotic. Unlike other games where relying on the NPC to choose the correct move can be a frustrating experience those instances in Persona 3 were rare. Persona 3 also added traditional loot mechanics scene in RPGs, such as finding chests, and getting rare drops from enemies. These instances were often rewarding, and inspired me to go back and find rare equipment.

           The combination of the socializing with your comrades during the day and fighting along side them at night created a sense of solidarity amongst the team. Every aspect tied into each other really nicely, and that’s makes Persona 3 a really fun game.

 Conclusion  

           While the gameplay experience of Persona 3 is not perfect, it still makes for a memorable and rewarding experience. Persona 3 is a RPG that provides a fun environment for the gamer. The character’s personalities as well as the gameplay left me wanting to play it all over again once I completed it. I would suggest Persona 3 to anyone. On paper, Persona 3 comes off as a rather depressing depiction on the monotony of life…however, in practice, Persona 3 reminds the player how refreshing each day can be.

[abandonedshoppingtrolley]

My Thoughts on Final Fantasy XV

 This is a little late to the game now but it’s a long time coming for me to write my thoughts on it and I’ve decided to do it now because of well recent developments and announcements of future patches etc.

I made this a read more because it’s a little bit longer than I intended but yeah hopefully this is easier to read and stuff but there you go for those who care?

First off I want to note that I enjoyed Final Fantasy XV to me it was a pretty good game. Overall I’d give it 7/10 maybe 8/10 tops?? It really doesn’t deserve anything higher than that for me though I’m afraid mostly because it’s not incredibly groundbreaking. They haven’t incorporated anything hugely new to it? Everything within it has already been done, albeit in a different form but yeah.

First of The Characters:

Overall I have to admit I think the four guys were pretty awesome characters.

Noctis -  The sleepy, moody prince who wasn’t too into his duties as a prince. It sometimes felt like in the undertone that he had a feeling the only reason his friends were around (Mostly Gladio and Ignis) were simply tied to the fact that he himself was a prince, sadly that wasn’t explored... At all. His character through the story was admittedly written quite well, he starts off a mega sleepy prince, becomes enraged and continuously fueld by his emotions of wanting revenge and also being unable to cope with the loss of those around him. This doesn’t stop him from enjoying himself but it’s a big influence.

Gladiolus- He’s the big tough guy of the group, masculine, muscular the kind of guy who’d wear shorts during winter to prove how straight he is. Honestly I don’t have any qualms with his character! I think he was well written in remaining a good friend, bodyguard, true to himself and also unable to hold back his emotions, which was particularly made known when he became increasingly angry over Noctis’ self anguish over Luna’s death and how he became frustrated over him not showing any care towards Ignis becoming blind. The only problem I really have to find is his relationship with his sister. He worried over her situation, how she was etc when Insomnia was attacked and over the course of the game showed increasing concern over her well being EXCEPT the moment they met. There was almost nothing between them. He had a stronger relationship with his group of friends than he did with his little sister which they built up so much of.

Ignis - Being the calm and collected guy of the group he was mostly a tactical advisor and almost like a caregiver of sorts to both Noctis and Prompto, constantly advising them, cooking and being the most “adult” one of the group. Like with Gladio I really don’t have any qualms over his character? It was definitely interesting to see him go blind and how he coped with that situation too since that was something Final Fantasy hadn’t done before either.

Prompto - Good ol’Prompto! He felt like he was going to be the annoying character of the group with his witty one liners but honestly? He’s really just as awesome. I didn’t find him annoying one bit during the entirety of the game which was good. He’s a well written character who seemingly helps keep Noctis grounded since he doesn’t treat him like a prince but rather like a best friend which is both good for Noctis of course and good for us to see another side to them both. The only dig I have to make about him is his relation to magitek soldiers/demons. It wasn’t explained... At all? It felt like it was just thrown into the game for shock factor and then IMMEDIATELY dismissed and never brought up again? Maybe this was implied in the Brotherhood anime or Movie but regardless it should’ve been explained in game? I shouldn’t have to watch the anime or movie to really understand the story of the game itself, it should explain itself fluidly and properly without the need of extra content, because that’s there to be well just extra content?

Other Characters - You’re probably thinking “But Sam there are so many other characters you can’t shove them all into one category” well sadly I can because none of them are really fleshed out characters I’m afraid, dismissing Cindy and Cid of course who are for a better part of the game quite important. Sadly the others aren’t even though some of them should be. (looking at you Luna and Ravus). None of the extra characters have really been given much to them, they’re all rather 2-dimensional? Iris, Gladio’s sister who was given a good chunk of dialogue did interact quite well with the part and it was implied she liked Noctis and that she was a good friend to everyone within the 4 main characters HOWEVER it wasn’t fully explored? There were just underlying tones of what kind of relationship she has to everyone, as well as her feelings for Noctis sadly.

Luna, who is supposed to be an INCREDIBLY RELEVANT CHARACTER almost the same amount of importance as Noctis well what can I say, She seems strong, She seems defiant, She seems brave and She seems like she’s a kind and caring person who obviously cares deeply for both her family and close one’s. Do you see the problem here, if not re-read that again. Everything about her all I can really say is it SEEMS like because we don’t know her. We know parts of her through other people, JUST BARELY, but even then it’s not enough. We weren’t given the chance to truly get to know Lunafreya as a character and that honestly disappointed me because by the time we got to meet her she died. Her death had no impact on me what so ever. The only reason I was sad was because it made Noctis sad, and that’s not enough. That’s not good story telling because FFXV isn’t JUST about Noctis.

The same situation with Ravus he was actually supposed to, as you find out old some strong respect for Noctis he was just frustrated with what was happening to Luna (There were some documents I believe you had to find to find this out or something?). I honestly wish I could’ve felt more emotion for him because from it sounds like he seems like a caring older brother figure who also cares deeply for Noctis, sadly all we really see is an older brother who betrayed his nation, his sister and all those around him and stole Regis’ Armiger. I don’t feel sad about his end, he was forced to become a monster, a demon but I didn’t know him enough to well actually care? It disappointed me because I didn’t get that chance to build as strong a connection with him.

Moving on from Characters:

Overall the gameplay mechanics were really fantastic, the controls weren’t clunky everything flowed quite nicely but there was nothing that hadn’t really been done before if I’m honest? The graphics however to point out were ASTOUNDING They really outdid themselves the game is absolutely gorgeous there’s no denying that! The soundtrack too I found was a perfect fit for the game, they really outdid themselves on that ESPECIALLY Florence and the machines rendition of Stand by me, it fitted perfectly with the characters and the theme they were going through it truly, honestly impressed me.

The magic, elemancy as it’s called I did enjoy. I loved seeing how my magic affected my surroundings as well as having to think tactically since it could also affect my teammates especially in some closed off areas. I liked it, however it felt kind of boring apart from that? To put it simply magic in this game (casting aside the Luciis ring which is USELESS) is basically just a bomb. A bomb infused with magical energy that anyone can then use a set amount of times. It’s like an action game with grenades with different affects, some causing more fires or others being cryo related. So it kind of felt bland in that aspect, although the merging of elements for spells with items as well was quite enjoyable especially the way you could fuse in status effects. (Although let me tell you Quad/Quintcast is the way to go just saying). My second dig has to be the amount of elements available. There were three, Fire, Ice and Thunder WHICH has always been prominent within Final Fantasy so I can see why they’re there. But Final Fantasy 13 had not only those 3 included but water, earth and wind elements as well with the spells, water of course, aero and quake. So honestly I was sad to see them not throw them in too, which would’ve increased the amount of tactics at hand and the amount of elemancy fusing you could do, considering they had 2 astrals which were of earth (titan) and water (Leviathan).

Okay so moving on from that let’s get into the most important part of Final Fantasy XV, THE STORY, and whether that was good and concise or just random gibberish. Well honestly The story wasn’t too bad, you’ve got princey boy and his band of merry bro’s off to get him wed to the hot chick who’s loved by everyone for saving the world and speaking to the godly gods, but shit hits the fan when Insomnia falls to Imperial fleets and now the prince and his broski’s are on the run still aiming to be wed? Lots of things happen and they go on a quest for revenge reclaiming the old kings powers and the astral beings in order to gain the strength to smash those imperial asshole faces in. Sadly his father of course died as we find out AKA his prime reason for revenge but Luna dies too which cause even more tension in the group, Ignis goes blind, Gladio gets made, Prompto’s a magitek demon soldier boy??? And then there’s the weird guy who just keeps appearing every who “Surprisingly” Turns out to be the main antagonist. But of course before you can smash his face in Noctis gets eaten alive by the crystal, his friends have to flee from the demon spree and ten years scroll by. Out pops princey boy on an abandoned island which just so happens to have a boat docked, he sails off back to the once sunny resort reflecting on how the land itself has been blanketed by eternal night. He meets up with old pay’s at Cindy’s hammerhead garage place, meets the broski’s forges a plan, charges into Insomnia, kicks ass and saves the day by giving his life to the crystal or whatever and boom the sun comes out.

On a more serious not it was really kind of... clunky. There were moments it felt awkward and you questioned some of the choices the group actually made? There were also themes that felt too forced, like Prompto’s apparent super soldier ser- i mean demon serum birth thingy that again WAS NOT EXPLORED, was just thrown in for shock factor. I’m not gonna say it was all bad because I enjoyed it and they did very well in forging a strong bond between 4 friends who stuck through thick and thin with each other HOWEVER that’s all they did well story wise. They needed to fit more in, more explanation of the characters, more things to do with Iris, Cindy, Cid, Luna ESPECIALLY LUNA AND RAVUS. Cor was tossed to the side after they were through with him and then brought him back for one final hurrah in the middle. Aranea Highwind was given the bare minimum of an explanation but honestly we don’t know her, her story or who the hell she really is, she’s just a lady with a lance and lot of people who know she’s a buff bad bitch. The story felt empty, incomplete almost. I wanted more for the characters, I want more from chapter 13/14 I wanted to explore that ruined world. I didn’t want to just have my teammates just HAPPEN to get to me at the exact moment I’d appear. Why couldn’t my new mission have been to find and reunite with them in different parts of Eos, having to explore the world once again except ten years later after being covered in darkness, seeing places I once loved and thought were gorgeous covered in darkness, destroyed by demons. People I’d previously met who’d gone crazy, been killed changed etc. I wanted to see this “Iris the demon slayer”. There was still so much that could’ve been put in to Final Fantasy XV to not only make the story more concise and a more enjoyable experience, but to also add in more content to enjoy.

And finally moving on to the last bit DLC:

Okay first of all it’s nice to see them become active in making dlc content for this game it’s really good. I love the idea of the moogle carnival it was a great thing to throw in. I like the items they keep putting in too, new equipment etc which is honestly a thing most games do anyway. I’m also excited about the apparent Character chapters they were going to release for Gladio, Prompto and Ignis, having the chance to not only play as them but also learn more about them.

But... Some striking rumours, which are apparently confirmed have both shocked and horrified me. They’re working on patching into the game a better storyline... a better chapter 13 etc. WHY???

Stop beating a dead horse. The story has been told you CANNOT just change it on a whim because you want it to be good, that’s like an author publishing a book and then telling everyone who bought it it’s not good enough and he wants to rewrite a few chapters. If you do that whatever I’ve played right now, is basically irrelevant because I don’t know what you’re planning on changing?

The stories been told, leave it at THAT. The point of dlc is to bring in EXTRA CONTENT, extra chapters, items, sidequests etc NOT TO CHANGE THE ORIGINAL STORY BEING TOLD!!!!!!!!!! Regardless of whether it’s not changing it but rather just trying to “improve” it, it’s already been told END OF STORY!!!

Rather than focusing on FFXV’s story, which has already been done, either focus your efforts on the dlc content, other games square enix has in the works OR even more importantly how you’re going to improve your content IF you decide to make a Final Fantasy XVI. The last comment, what I mean is just understanding what they did right and what they did wrong with XV and making sure not to make the same mistakes with future games. That’s what’s important to me right now, that’s what I’m committed into as a person who loves Final Fantasy and the many world’s and characters it holds. I want to see the developers, the content creators committing themselves to bettering their own abilities and making sure not to cause the same mistakes, the same crap that happened in XV. That’s what’s important to me after this, not some changing in story crap.

Side Note: It’d also be great if, I know they like having super complex story lines but if they went back to basics, have a basic story line that’s easy to follow and not too complicated. A game can be amazing without a hugely complex story line, just look at some of the indie games that have had break throughs too!