#but rather part of the main questline

[incorrectskyrimquotes]

I would not personally count season unending as a quest

[chiara-hotel]

𝒟𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓂

Characters: Blade, Dan Heng, Robin, Jingliu

Warnings: Pre-plotline Jingliu (back in the quintet, spoilers for various quests, penacony spoilers (Robin), Pre-plotline & during plotline Robin, Small spoilers for Luofu questline(?) (Jingliu)

Part 2 Here: (w/Aventurine, Acheron & Boothill)

Part 3 Here: (w/Sunday & Black Swan)

- Main love languages is gift giving & acts of service

- Whenever he’s on a mission and sees something that reminds him of you he immediately buys it

- As for acts of service well he’ll help you out all the time, cooking, cleaning, opening the door for you etc.

- A quieter person also, but blade enjoys just sitting there and listening to you ramble on about life

- Most times you do a bunch of things and then blade follows you around like a little lost puppy… Its adorable

- Cuddles are not uncommon but not common either-it really depends on blades current mood for if he decides to cuddle with you (or if you ask him 100 times)

- Blade gets both Jealous & Possessive quite easily

- All it takes is one look from a man, not even suggestively, even if it’s looking at you for 0.5 of a second, blade is already on their throats

- It did depend on who you prefer to date, if you only like males he’s a little less jealous around women, although if you like both he’d ready to murder everyone in the world

- Blade doesn’t show much emotion, often you can’t figure out what he’s thinking

- His favourite date spots include picnic dates or small cafe dates

- Remember he’s a wanted criminal so he can’t go anywhere too public, that said he dislikes PDA a lof

- Blade would rather keep any affections between the two of you only, not even for the other stellaron hunters to see

- Some gifts Blade gives you include souvenirs from different worlds he goes to, a sword to protect yourself (if you need it) and some cute stuffed animals he saw that reminded him of you

- Hes the quiet type in the relationship most of the time

- Likes affection in private, but in public he loves kisses (on the cheek, or small kisses on his lips), hugs or even holding hands

- Cuddles are his favourite, he doesn’t care too much in who hugs who

- Especially loves physical touch & giving you gifts

- Its adorable seeing your face light up when he gives you something

- You both have a shared room in the express so most of the time you both just cuddle while you sleep

- Loves forehead kisses, especially when you give them-it makes him blush every single time

- During the trailblaze mission of the Luofu he tried avoiding you in his Imbibitor Lunae form (but he knows he can’t hide forever and you guys have to fight together so you end up seeing it)

- His tail gives away his emotions away whenever hes in that form (its adorable)

- Oh and March is your #1 shipper

- Shes gotten a lot of pictures of the two of you when you guys weren’t looking

- Robin is similar to the other two, fairly quiet in the relationship

- As a popular singer you attend all of her concerts and help give her some luck

- As well as calm her nerves when needed

- Loves cuddling! Its her favorite pastime (small spoon)

- Physical touch means a lot to her, cuddling, handholding, hugging, anything

- In public Robin loves holding your hand, keeping you close to her

- In private, she enjoys cuddling you, hugs again, but she adores when you touch her wings (watch her get all flustered from that)

- Also enjoys giving you gifts

- Many of her fans adore you, some are very jealous though…

- Speaking of jealousy she doesn’t get too jealous-if you spend too long ignoring her though she’ll start sulking just a little bitbit

- Her fans are definitely jealous at you both, they wish they were in your place all of the time

- You’ve met Sunday plenty of times, the first time you both met he threatened you if anything happens to her

- But he understands how much his sister loves you and ends up accepting you

- When Robin “dies” in the Penacony dreamscape you and Sunday teamup to find the murderer as the ultimate duo

- Of course he makes you do most of the labor

- In the end, you end up like Sunday when you both confront Gallagher

- Jingliu adores her partner

- Naturally, the other 4 members of the quintet love you aswell-you often hangout with eachother

- Jing Yuan tells you stories about Jingliu on missions, Yinqing is quiet yet you both chat about smaller things like food or tea, Dan Feng is most likely the busiest out of the 4

- Around the Quintet Jingliu doesn’t mind if you hug her, hold her waist, hold hands or even kiss

- Most likely she’ll have her arm around your waist to keep you close

- Other than the quintet, she generally doesn’t do any actions of PDA except hand holding (+ an occasional kiss)

- She actually isn’t a jealous person, even if she is (which never happens), shes great at hiding how she truly feels

- With her, you’ll wake up to her arms around you, forcing you to sleep and stay with her longer

- One adorable thing she does is she always kisses you on the forehead before leaving for a mission

- As she returns from a mission, she is often tired and loves to cuddle you

- In those moments shes a small spoon-but usually Jingliu perfers being the big spoon

——————————————————————————

[eruscreaminginthedistance]

The tweets are giving pandering to a very specific subset of the fandom that are still complaining that their HoFs aren't still the main character ngl. Saying "you don't want characters to return cos we'll do something mean to them" is bizarrely juvenile. Like yes, unironically I think anyone who engages with your stories in an intelligent way sees the value in killing off or ruining the happy endings of beloved characters in service of a compelling narrative and showcasing the impacts of our choices.

The choice to sacrifice Hawke or the Warden - potentially Alistair - in The Nightmare was one of the best moments in Inquisition, one that was diluted in playthroughs where one was stuck with, say, Stroud. Mass Effect 3 is full of amazing moments like these - are Kirby and Weekes saying that we wouldn't want another Mordin? Another Legion? All the incredibly impactful moments of that third installment where our decisions played out to either the benefit or detriment of beloved characters? Are Kirby and Weekes really putting all of the fandom under the umbrella of a minority of entitled fans who would rather their faves be the specialist most happiest characters in existence in favour of the dark and high stakes narrative the first two games set the series up to be? What a bizarre response this has been.

All this to say, I wish these devs would just be honest and admit carrying over all those decisions is just too much work. Turning the finger to the fandom and claiming the fans just don't know any better isn't doing anyone any favours. As if returning creator-favourite Morrigan is in any danger or will have anything go wrong for her in any way. Just stick to your guns, guys; overwhelmed at the work is way more understandable than this made-up position that this is secretely what the fans want. Yes, I expect that when you keep bringing back significant characters in Veilguard that you do put in all that effort and do something more interesting with them than just fanservice, hence why I've been asking for months why Varric isn't dead yet.

But for the most part, nobody is expecting fully voiced and mocapped cameos or questlines from every single fan favourite or potentially relevant character. It's really just the throwaway lines and codex entries that people like me would want; just getting a sense that the world is a living thing that is breathing and acting even while we're away, and that even if our impacts did not influence the game itself, they still had an effect on the world.

[humornaut]

An Analysis of Foreshadowing in Omori's Prologue

Hey everyone!

With the Omori manga's first chapter's release, one thing has been made clear: They are FLYING through the game. Unless they are doing something weird, the entire prologue segment has been moved to right after the Aubrey fight, a move I can only believe has been made so that the real world characters appear in the first chapter. I won't be making any judgements until I see how it all fits together (and maybe I won't make many judgments in general, I don't really consider myself a judgmental person for better or for worse), but it did get me thinking about how well Omori's prologue works in general! So today, I'd like to take some time to talk about that!

The Sidequests

The first things I want to mention are the side quests! I've mentioned it before (or maybe I haven't, I don't remember everything I've said), but nearly all the side quests in Headspace are symbolic on a meta level. A lot of people dismiss this as boring repetitiveness (perhaps true), but the vast majority of the side quests are about finding a lost item or individual. This is, of course, echoing the larger Headspace plot of Basil going missing. However, there is something about this concept that I'd like to point out using one of the sidequests!

In the quest "Whereabouts of Duckie Jr.", you are tasked with determining the whereabouts of Duckie Jr! Crazy, I know. Remember how I said that most of the sidequests are reminiscent of the quest to find Basil? Like 2 seconds ago? Well, this one is good for actually illuminating what is going on with that questline overall! Duckie Jr. and his family are references to a famous optical illusion in which a person can see either a duck or a bunny. Take a look at the house that the family lives in:

They live in a present! Now take a look at this!

"SUNNY won't leave the box, so KEL put a food bowl inside. I guess this box will be SUNNY and MEWO's new home."

So that's interesting! Add in the distant demeanor of Duckie Jr's father, as well as Mari's statements about Duckie having his head in the clouds and comparing Duckie to Omori, it becomes clear that Duckie in this situation is a reference to Sunny, not Basil. What does this mean? Well, it means that we should rethink the Headspace quest all together! The quest to find Basil is much more a quest for Sunny to re-find himself.

Now this (as well as the quest for the character Daisy that I have mentioned previously) is interesting, but it isn't exactly foreshadowing. For that, I would like to draw your attention to the sidequest Stick in the Mud.

In this quest, you must go around Cattail fields to find Mr. Scarecrows three crow friends, and have them return to him. In order to do this, you have to use Hero when interacting with the three crows.

I personally believe that this is a bit of foreshadowing to the Sunny route. Hero's maturity is necessary to bringing Sunny, Kel, and Aubrey back together and bringing them to Basil. I also choose to see Mr. Scarecrow as an analogue for Basil rather than Sunny due to the coloring of Mr. Scarecrow's sprite (Blond hair, blue eyes, green clothes), and Hero doesn't actually bring Basil specifically to anyone (heck, Hero doesn't actually ever talk to Basil in the real world segments of the game)

I also want to make clear: I'm not trying to imply that this is symbolism on the part of Sunny's mind, like a lot of the things that I talk about on this account, rather that this is a bit of meta storytelling foreshadowing how the real world plot will turn out. This will go for everything else that I talk about here as well.

Captain of the Space Pirates

Now that we've talked about the sidequests, I'd like to draw your attention to the main questline of Otherworld. As a reminder, once the gang gets into Otherworld, we are introduced to Captain Spaceboy, who is bedridden and depressed following his break-up with Sweetheart. In order to solve this problem, we have to go through the junkyard to find his mixtape. We aren't the only ones looking for it, and while there, we meet Rosa, a Sweetheart super-fan.

We get the mixtape back, bring it to Spaceboy, at which point Kel plays it, triggering Spaceboy to start his boss fight.

The argument for this all being one large bit of foreshadowing goes like this:

Spaceboy would be Basil (purely from a narrative perspective, not in any kind of character-sense). We go to the junkyard and dig through the trash to find the mixtape, just like we eventually get the photo album by digging through Aubrey's trash. Rosa in this case represents Aubrey, attempting to take care of the mixtape due to her personal connection to the item, revealing that Spaceboy is the one that threw it out in the first place, echoing how in the real world, Aubrey takes care of the photo album for four years due to what it means to her, despite how Basil (from her perspective) destroyed it originally.

We bring the mixtape back to Spaceboy, and just as Kel is the one that kicks off going through the photo album with Basil, he is the one that rushes to put the mixtape into the boombox, triggering the memories that set off Spaceboy, causing the fight.

Admittedly, things get a little cloudy here, as the fight between Sunny and Basil isn't directly caused by the photo album. You could even say that the Spaceboy fight represents the fight with Omori (or even both the Basil fight AND the Omori fight) due to Omori's fight being due to Sunny's mind reacting to memories of the past, better mirroring the Spaceboy fight. But hey! Spaceboy's hair turns green and his eyes turn red so who can say. :P

Then, after the fight, we get a few things! We get an eyepatch (goes without saying), a train pass (representing how Sunny will be moving after the conclusion of the game), and a sno-cone ticket (yeah I don't think this one represents anything).

And, just like the Sunny route, the prologue ends with an early look at Memory Lane, and the dream ends, with Sunny waking up.

There's probably a lot more I could talk about regarding Omori's prologue, so I might update this later! I hope you enjoyed reading this! Within the game, I feel like the prologue is one of the strongest bits of Headspace, and I've always wanted to talk about how I believe it foreshadows the rest of the game! This is a topic that I'd love to hear more people's opinion on!

[bracken-black]

First of all this isn’t a mark against the devs. They were fighting for their lives to get the game made at all I 100% blame EA for these elements being missing from the Final Cut. Please don’t come onto this post moaning about how bad you think the game is. If you want to whinge go make your own post.

That being said here are some things I think would have made veilguard better overall (spoilers below)

1 (with big flashing arrows and blinky neon lights) - THE ARCHITECT. We’re fighting the risen gods who are confirmed to be the old gods that darkspawn hear and follow, and since the first game there’s been a faction of darkspawn freed of their control. That would have been an incredibly interesting point to bring up, especially with a warden rook. Even if it was more centred around Harding’s questline rather than the main story, perhaps the liberated darkspawn could have aided Kal Sharok somehow (maybe if the final confrontation was tweaked slightly and we saw cinematics from the different parts of Thedas we’d been helping throughout the game, perhaps we could have seen the dwarves fighting alongside them.)

2- Merrill. The first expert on eluvians we ever met and we don’t hear a peep from her. (Isabela mentions her during a joke about mispronouncing some elven but come on.) Even a dialogue from one of the veil jumper leaders about a contact helping them with eluvian lore would have been appreciated. It’s basically the same argument as morrigan being in inquisition instead of her. She was shown to be one of if not the first to unlock the eluvians secrets after the ancient elves fell and yet now it feels like every fucker and their aunt can just get one up and running with a bit of elbow grease.

3- where are all the elves that are supposedly following solas now? The trespasser credits mentioned servants from all across thedas joining his movement yet all the elves we meet talk shit about him and the rest of the gods. And when did they find out the gods were tyrants? Did solas go around with a megaphone giving speeches? In that case why is he working alone? Surely some of his audience would have joined his crusade? Maybe in the 10 years between games they joined him then got tired of his shit and left.

4- what’s up with meredith and her red templar army? I know it was a plotline from the animated show but I was under the impression it was still canon? They mentioned marching on tevinter and we’re based in and around tevinter throughout the game. Again even a mention through dialogue or a codex would have been something. Red lyrium is still a prominent part of the story so wouldn’t an army of soldiers infected with it be relevant? Again this could revolve around Harding’s story since we find out what red lyrium is and could potentially cure it?

Idk these are just some things I would have liked to see in the game. I think it would have helped make it feel more involved with the previous games and tied up some stories nicely. (Though I have heard this was supposed to be a soft reboot so I guess that wasn’t what the devs wanted.)

[ms-katonic-of-tamriel]

Skyrim's MQ Boss wasn't meant to be Alduin

Read a rumour/fan theory the other week that Skyrim's boss was never meant to be Alduin, but instead Uriel V who'd somehow managed to not die in his Akaviri invasion centuries prior after all, but was returning with an army of dragons, having unlocked the secrets of his dragon blood and mastered the Thu'um.

And that makes the game make SO MUCH MORE SENSE and SO MUCH MORE COHERENT.

It literally changes everything.

First the Civil War now actually ties in directly to the MQ, because Titus Mede has no intention of surrendering, and the Legion are therefore opposed to the threat... but Ulfric might actually be allying with a mighty warrior who's promised to reinstate worship of the Nine, can more than deal with the Dominion and might want his former provinces back once he's ascended the Ruby Throne. Suddenly the Thalmor simultaneously look a lot less all-powerful and rather more nuanced, because now they're acting against a genuine threat to their people. Perhaps they even help you fight Uriel because they'll take any ally over the Septim who'se going to devastate Alinor and commit full on war crimes on them.

And suddenly your Civil War choice MEANS something. Because you are also picking the game's ending by making that choice - side with the Empire and defeat Uriel, or side with Ulfric and place Uriel on the Ruby Throne.

And of course there's those on both sides who don't agree with their leaders - Stormcloaks who think Uriel's a power-hungry madman and Legionnaires who think actually a returned Septim who is also Dragonborn has a better claim to the throne than Titus does. The Civil War questline on either side could involve dealing with dissidents... or joining them, which also paradoxically means you could pick a side then make the other choice in the main quest. Maybe persuade Ulfric Uriel doesn't have his best interests at heart and persuade him to help you off him. Or persuade Tullius he'd be better off supporting the true Dragonborn.

The Dark Brotherhood questline also suddenly matters, because here's an assassination contract on Titus Mede. Do you take it or turn traitor and sell the Brotherhood out to the Penitus Oculatus (earning the Wrath of Sithis as a result). True white knights can of course opt for the more traditional destruction of the DB.

The Greybeards and Blades get more interesting. Arngeir's neutrality in the face of the canon civil war is entirely to be expected - he's a monk not a warrior, and the destruction the Thu'um could wield in any mortal war is a good reason to fight in none of them. But here's a war involving two Dragonborns. How should they react to that? And here's the Blades lacking a purpose for years with no Dragonborn, and now two come along at once. Uriel might have a tempting offer for them. Meaning actual consequences for not killing Paarthurnax - they go and side with Uriel for self-protection if you refuse to do it, and take Paarthurnax's location with them, meaning you need to get to the Throat to try and save him from Uriel's dragons, and a real risk of failing.

Bend Will suddenly a much more key Shout because you need to learn it as part of the main quest so as to deprive Uriel of his dragons so you can get to him and kill him. Of course, every time you use it, you get that bit more power-hungry yourself, and once you've freed a dragon from Uriel's control, there's the option to free it or enslave it yourself. The dragons do leave in peace once freed, but of course you now have wild dragons out there who could be a risk further down the line. The Greybeards approve of you freeing them, but the Blades prefer it if you just kill them.

And finally, there's the third option. The Evil Bastard option. Maybe Titus isn't a legitimate emperor, but the true Dragonborn doesn't have to be Uriel. Maybe you want the throne for yourself. There's a route to that too. First off, there needs to be an actual vacancy, so you need to join the Brotherhood and off Titus. Secondly, pick a side in the Civil War - the Empire is easier, but it's possible with the Cloaks. Take Skyrim for the Empire, off Titus via the Brotherhood, deal with Uriel, and a grateful populace crown you instead... or persuade Ulfric to turn on Uriel somehow, off Titus via the Brotherhood, drive the Empire out of Skyrim, deal with Uriel then move into Cyrodiil to take it for yourself. You also need to have been using Bend Will to acquire Uriel's dragon army - mandatory for the Stormcloak side, also useful for the Empire route if part of your pitch is dealing with the Thalmor. You need Legion support to be Emperor and Tullius is hard to persuade - but gives in very easily if you've Bend Willed enough dragons.

Any allies you made among the Thalmor get thrown under the bus if you pick this route, obviously. Or do they? Accepting Thalmor assistance makes defeating Uriel easier, but they have more on you too. Meaning if you go this route, you need to throw them under the bus somehow, or they manage to get word to Ulfric/Tullius that you assassinated Titus as part of the DB and stop your reign before it even begins.

OR there's the other Evil Bastard option. The Blades can nullify the Thalmor and are happy to take care of this... but only if you kill Paarthurnax. In other words, suddenly the game's choices all become very very relevant.

That's the game we could have had. Sigh.

[falkreath-stables]

Some musings about the Bards College:

OK so this is just from my experience doing the first quest and hanging around the college a little bit. I've never completed this faction's questline.

Basically, I've noticed a lot of people think that the player should get to learn how to play instruments from the college. Which makes sense because it's what a bard traditionally does in fantasy, and we loads of NPCs do it. However the words thrown around at the college have a lot to do with 'archives' and 'histories'. This makes me think that (in an ideal world where the questline isn't just dungeon splunking) should be some quests around these ideas *aswell* as instrument hijinks.

Ideas include:

- Using histories to uncover clues to various problems <- (I'm thinking about the Wolf Queen questline here, and even the main questline, since both have a lot to do with ancient history.)

- Using histories to sway the war <- (this would also go a ways to fix the civil war questline aswell as it would give it more depth than 'defeat four forts and rush some cities')

- Defending archives against attacks by some enemy of the college (a disgraced headmaster or an Ancarno equivalent)

- Using histories to help with advertising in some way. Solitude is the richest city in Skyrim with both the lands only fancy clothes shop and a functional East Empire Company warehouse, someone has gotta be using advertising somewhere. I also think the big choice of this quest could be to use either histories or make a jingle with your instrument skill.

- The final quest could be something cool with the school's rival, a 'musical duel/battle of wits with the devil' type of situation where you disgrace your opponent rather than just kill them like in all the other faction questlines. (<- not as relevant to the archive and history part of the college that I was talking about. But I'm including it anyway since this is my official 'Bards College' post)

[blue-razzslushie]

My Hogwarts Legacy AU: Part 2, Sebastian Sallow

Soooo y'all already know I made a vote thing, and the goal was to figure out who to start off with to further go. . . Into depth about their relationship with my MC, Rory. Unfortunately for me, Y'all made it a tie between Sebastian and Ominis (thanks A LOT GUYS 😔). So I spun a wheel and Sebastian won, So I'll start off with him 💥

First Impression:

Sebastian:

☆First thought? He thought they looked like someone he would want to be in cahoots with.

☆That Scar on their face? Bloody Brilliant!!

☆They even managed to best him in a duel as a first timer! Color him impressed!

☆Maybe they might be the perfect person for a rather disclosed Dueling accosiation if ya know ya know. . .

Rory:

☆LowKey wasn't a big fan of him first time round, too cocky for their taste

☆It honestly felt good to take him down a peg in dueling

☆Being invited to a secret dueling accosiation wasn't expected but, They do like the adrenaline when dueling. . .perhaps they'll give it a shot

Overall Dynamic/Relationship:

☆They give Hermione and Harry ngl, Smart and Smartass.

☆Rory would def be less friendly/trustful with Seb then someone like Natty. As much as they appreciate the things he's done, he isn't exactly what they would call immediately trustworthy. Takes longer then the other cast to gain their trust

☆Sebastian (in my au) also doesn't seem to know when to quit. Pushing Rory's buttons to get a reaction which can lead from a smack on the back of the head, or maybe his hair or school robes catching aflame

☆Despite their clear misunderstandings, and ups and downs, they are good friends. What can you say, Beating up Goblins and discovering the mysteries of a Tryptic can do that to people. They would do that comical thing where they argue while fighting back to back or something 😭

In the Shadow Questline:

☆I am way to lazy to explain every aspect of the whole dart arts Sebastian Questline thing, so I'm keeping it to the main points

☆During the whole Scriptorium quest, Rory did learn Crucio. At the time, they thought it was logical to learn it, giving their. . .current situation. However, they allowed Sebastian to cast the curse on them.

☆But besides Crucio, Rory was againdt learning the other curses.

☆Rory would definitely be more adamant and pushy with Sebastian to listen to them and Ominis then the way they speak in game. I always found it odd how the MC doesn't explain the deal they made with Ominis when finding the relic

☆Rory would 100% be like. "After this no more, or i will SMITE YOU."

☆just like in game, Sebastian doesn't listen. Yada yada bushit he ends up killing his Uncle, now here's where it gets juicy!

☆Despite growing a emotional bond with Sebastian, Rory thought the right thing to do was to tell the headmaster about what happened. They tried to stop him, even if they didn't like his Uncle in the slightest, he didn't deserve death

☆However, (in my AU) Ominis was the one to persuade Rory against it. Saying Anne should make that decision, after a bit Rory agreed. Doesn't mean they'll leave Seb without SOME kind of reproduction.

☆After that, Rory didn't speak to Seb that much. They were still kind of pissed at him for not listening like a MOONMIND.

☆It wasn't until they got a verbal apology that they sort of relented, promising that they are still pissed. And he did still have Hell to pay, but went back to speaking to him more again hooray!!

After Storyline/Future:

☆After the Battle of Hogwarts, Seb was. . .worried to say the least. One of his best friends was stuck in the hospital wing for a week for Merlin's sake!

☆As soon as student visitors were allowed in, he was one of the first to visit

☆Merlin they looked, sort of different. They always had that certain. . .spark in their eyes which could only be described as pure Perseverance and Determination. But that spark seemed to have dimmed a bit

☆They still acted like themself, making a snarky comment to him every so often. He stayed and got informed about what happened below the school, what happened to Fig. He ofc vowed to be there if they needed it

☆Once they were out of the hospital wing, he tried his best to push their buttons less. They had clearly been through enough already

[leodoodling]

The Strands of Khra are a thing mentioned in the Whispers in the Walls questline that I myself am a rather confused by.

From the annoying fandom wiki:

The Strands of Khra, (literally translating to threads of time/timelines) are structures within the greater void that form a chain of cause-and-effect. The direction of cause-and-effect is essentially the direction of flow of time, which suggests that the void between timelines need not be sensible as expected from causality or reality. Thus, the Strands of Khra are structures that are embodied and embedded within the void by the embodiment of the collective choices made by all beings that have consciousness, structures that may not exist without consciousness to choose them.

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

So does that mean that timelines within the void will begin to merge? Or that the void will become like a cancerous mess? Or that just one strand, this strand, was 'cut'?

Also does this mean the Man in the Wall can jump between time-lines? If so is there a 'main' timeline he comes from?

When he lost that finger, that one part of himself, does that mean he was anchored to that place in a way?

I wish there was more stuff we could read about all of this somewhere to sort it out better. The computer terminal is mostly a tiny summery about past quests and areas, but it's a start. But I want more depth to find.

Anyways, that be my questioning ramble, thank you for stopping by.

[martyrmarked]

sidri's feelings towards solas wax & wane with time and distance and also change depending on what light she views him in. there's no set opinion, no certain final determination, and that will almost continue to be the case going into datv.

as a friend? she appreciated solas, she trusted him and was grateful to him. she is the first to admit that she doesn't know anything about the fade and that humility paves the way for something akin to a genuine friendship (at least for her). solas challenges her and, while she often may disagree with him, she respects that he forces her to think and question her decisions rather than blindly agreeing with her out of a deference he certainly may not possess but too many others do. she is open with him. she respects him, trusts him, and his sudden disappearance after the end of the main questline hurts her more than she cares to admit.

the events of trespasser shake her to her core and take a long time, years, for her to begin to unpack. there is the profound shock of his true identity and it leads her to question how much of their friendship, her trust in him, was ever real. it felt real to her, still feels real to some extent, and the question of much it was simply a means to an end threatens to unmoor her. it also puts an uncomfortable mirror up to her. she also lied about her true intentions as the inquisitor, she also played a role to further her own wishes. still, she is horrified by solas' goal and tells him such outright in that final confrontation. it isn't his place to decide the world, that you can't save something by dooming it, and, most importantly, that she hopes to one day change his mind if she's given the chance.

in the immediate aftermath, she hates solas. she feels betrayed, she feels horrified that she's, even if unknowingly, sheltered him, enabled him. what else, who else, has taken advantage of the inquisition to gather power? she does not talk about solas for years, not even mentioning his name, even following the nightmares that visit her and always seem to involve the snarling maw of a wolf.

her years in kirkwall, and eventually outside of the city, slowly soften her anger, though it hardly dissipates entirely. there is an undeniable gratitude because, without his intervention, she wouldn't have her family, she wouldn't have had all this time with them and all these years that are the happiest of her life, even if was his actions led to all of this in the first place. she also differs from varric in that she doesn't think solas can be saved because she believes that the only people who can be saved are those who, even if in some small way, want to be saved. she'll follow varric wherever he goes, to the ends of the earth, but she isn't doing it to help solas, it's because she believes in varric and her belief in him is infinitely more powerful than her anger for solas.

she wants him to change his mind of his own free will, she hopes urgently, desperately, that there's some part of him that can be swayed to reason. she'll never trust him again, that anger won't fade, but there's finally the chance for something else to color her vision when she looks at him.

[unsettlingcreature]

The adventures of A'chievement the Hunter, part four

Did I play Skyrim for twelve hours straight? Yes. Did I get another nine achievements in that time? Also yes. Did I finish every daedric quest apart from Hermaeus Mora's? Yes again. That's my explanation for a lack of screenshots in this post. I was on the GRIND.

I've never actually done all of the daedric quests before. Boethiah's was entirely new to me and I sent Faendal up to the sacrificial pillar. Namira's was ALSO new to me and wow, Markarth really is the worst city??? Conspiracies, Molag Bal's holiday home, a cannibalistic cult, stone beds... pick a struggle.

I also finished the Thieves' Guild quest, as well as restoring it to its former glory. I was kind of dreading it because all the guides online made it out to be this tedious thing... it actually got done pretty quickly with only a smidge of bounty acquirement. They did try to apprehend me while Whiterun was literally Under A Fucking Attack. I also cracked out the College of Winterhold quests and got that all done and dusted. Goodbye Winterhold, you miserable little town.

I think the only non-DLC questlines waiting for me are the Dark Brotherhood, main questline and the Civil War. I want to avoid doing the DB and MSQ for as long as possible because I've done them so many times that I find them tedious now. I genuinely would rather finish the Civil War and build another two houses before I do those. I really don't want to go to the Thalmor Embassy again.

[landgraabbed]

starting to close off the companion quests. mostly because i want to see how i feel as i do them. so far.... eh?

harding. we met the shade that's been calling out to her. oh it's just a pissed off titan shade thing, oh no! btw, look at this giant titan in the distance. btw, you are inside a titan, we will inform you of that a million times in this short quest! nevermind that you figured that out around the time you arrived at the bastion of the pure back in the descent dlc of inquisition without anyone telling you shit! you're too stupid to figure that out now. if she honors the justified anger of the titans for what the elves--solas--did to them she will lose herself (bad!), or she can remember she is very demure and mindful and she'll be good! wow! i feel like this companion quest ties the most into the main quest with the whole lore dump, but nothing comes of it. sad. also what is the deal with the kal-sharok dwarves? wouldn't you like to know, weather boy, we were talking shit about how they changed to adapt to the blight to make you think this is deeper than it is. wow!

lucanis. saved caterina, exposed illario. nothing to write home about; he got his revenge, he dealt with illario. nothing to be gleaned from such a simple scenario. i think because i saved minrathous he automatically imprisoned illario. i wouldn't do that differently tbh. he didn't become a hero of the veilguard. and if that's because he's hardened.... i don't like that. i like the fact that a choice i made has a real impact on the commitment of my companions, but if the rumors i heard are true about it being tied to you doing all treviso quests if you saved minrathous, then it is truly tied to being hardened. which used to be related to companions' outlooks on life and not a "you prioritized something else in the contrived choice scenario we forced on you, feel bad" failure state kind of thing.

bellara. more ancient elves lore, ft. the forgotten ones--one of the most obscure parts of the lore so far. we could have explored more of the relationship between the evanuris, forgotten ones, and fen'harel's rebellion. from the sounds of it, it sounds like it was a free for all; but nope, it was grossly underutilized. anaris wants a physical body--for what, it is rather unclear. based on the circle codices it may tie into those from across the sea, who seemingly have everyone terrified to the point they retreated to thedas in ancient times and may or may not have lead to the creation of the qunari. could be interesting were this not tied into the fucking evil shadowy cabal ending that spits on all previous work. once again the dalish thing has a choice to either salvage more elven lore and risk uncovering dangerous information (because only elven culture has done bad shit ig, unlike every other people in thedas) or let it be, the less we know of our shitty ancestors who were all shitty and not largely a people ruled by tyrants, the better. besides, the dalish were always dumb to figure it out, because after being oppressed and persecuted by the evanuris, tevinter, orlais, and most other societies in thedas, the dalish got things wrong. silly! but remember, the writers REALLY wanted the dalish to have a win in this game :) my heart says keep the archive but there are no consequences and i prefer the drip of the other choice, so i picked destroy.

emmrich. quick! we need to find a way to create a forced binary choice at the end of this companion's questline! let's let manfred talk and also he's going to sacrifice himself! now emmrich has to choose between his kid and his lifelong dream of becoming a lich. other than that i liked the quest, probably because my rook was a mourn watcher and had more content. more complexity than the other companions, but still very little going on. because regardless of what you pick, emmrich IS going to have to come to grips with his fear of death, eventually. if he doesn't, well. he'll die eventually, and people will die around him regardless. if he becomes a lich, he will have to risk dying to achieve lichdom, he will see people be born and pass away time and time again. i picked lichdom. ghost thinks they're cool, and she figures that hey, at least he will be immortal in the battles to come. he will become a gentle usher and a living monument to his loved ones. btw the giant skeleton is "we have high lord wolnir minus the bling at home".

taash. not touching that shit, sorry taash! you won't become a hero of the veilguard! they came out to their mom and got a hot gf who smells nice in harding. 10/10

[faelune-home]

FFXIVWrite 2024 #20: Duel

(A/n: Oh hey, I finally did another role questline that wasn't the magic one aha. Just a brief one of Estinien having to deal with Landenel the doof.

And I do mean brief, I'm glad I didn't end up close to 2k on one of these again, cos I keep thinking these should be beefier to account for the rewrites and new perspectives, but also...a lot of writing. I'll need to get used to just embracing these briefer interactions, they're still valid for adding dynamics here.

This technically also skips ahead part of the melee quest where they initially try to negociate with the Sahagins being turned, but part of me wanted to get to interacting with the CoH for Estinien enrichment lol. I can always backtrack to the Sahagin moment later.

Word count: 695)

They had their ragtag group of retired mercs ready to begin their respective duties into dealing with the threats of the blasphemy and the Leviathan summoning. Estinien himself had been placed with the blasphemy hunters due to his own skill set, as well as an aside from Fhara and Wheiskaet that the group could do with an extra eye to mind them.

Fhara herself was prepared to join the reconnaissance team until a call from elsewhere meant she had to leave them to it.

As it was then for the main combat force, they were all left waiting for orders. And for Landenel and Brayflox, that meant training.

Brayflox was already an interesting one, having made it clear she was better suited with her explosives, but even she had a stubby little short sword in hand to practise moves and take swipes at a rusted bucket for her practice. Not much Estinien could offer for assistance.

Landenel had already made himself known as a showboater eager to sink his teeth into the action, but for all his boasting of bloodthirst and desiring battle, his jabs against the training dummy betrayed his deterioration. His stance was that of a classically trained Gridanian lancer, but he was slow and sluggish, clearly far too used to manning a station that never saw any real danger.

As though sensing Estinien’s eyes upon him and the mental critique going through his mind, Landenel stood up straight and leaned upon his lance, casting a sharp look at him.

“Something you wish to say, ser? You look like you have much on your mind,” he asked, tone notably barbed.

“Just minding your training, seeing if there’s anything I could offer. If you’re willing to take it,” Estinien said carefully, not wanting to provoke a fight when they were supposed to be allies. Getting injured before they were needed wouldn’t help either.

“Well, if you’re offering, why not a duel?” Landenel smirked, “After all, as you can no doubt tell, I’m rather rusty here. And you’re clearly a veteran that’s stayed on top of his skills.”

“I’d rather not, not yet at least,” Estinien responded, folding his arms, “Better to get you back up to speed before we try anything like that. If you get injured, you won’t be much use to the cause.”

That remark only caused the other's smirk to deepen into a scowl.

“You’re incapable of holding back? Or do you think me so out of practice that I couldn’t hold my own?”

“It's better for you to build up your strength against a peer of similar skill level. Such as Lady Brayflox here,” Estinien countered, gesturing with a nod to the goblin, who had stepped away from her bucket to watch their conversation. She did a little dance upon acknowledgement.

“Pshhhhh… Shkohhh… Yes! Brayflox help Landenel with stamina! Use bang boom sticks to help go zip zap to avoid danger!”

Landenel’s grimace was a picture.

“Absolutely not. I’d be better off hiking all the way back to Gridania and putting in a training request with the Wood Wailers.”

“But you can’t do that because then you betray that you’ve let yourself slip while you were meant to be on guard duty,” Estinien said, already noticing the pinched expression on the other man as he called his character exactly.

“In mine own defence, Camp Tranquil is rather appropriately named,” Landenel grumbled beneath his breath. Estinien ignored his statement and marched up, lighting kicking the supporting lance from under him. It wasn’t enough to send Landenel sprawling to the ground, but it made him stumble, having to catch himself on Estinien’s armour, though he quickly righted himself again, shooting a glare back.

“I wouldn’t duel with you, but I can give you some tips. It’s still up to you to keep up with your training. We need to be ready for the first call to battle, and it could happen a sennight from now or it could happen within the next bell.”

Landenel scowled once more, glare darkening further. Then he nodded stiffly, expression morphing into that cocky smirk once more.

“Then let’s get started. Wouldn't want to be caught unawares.”

[pixiebombblog]

Dev Diary #2 (December 3, 2024) - Winter Progress Update!

Hi everyone! It's been a little while since I officially announced my upcoming custom voiced Skyrim follower mod 🌸 Seraph 🌸 & it's time for some updates!

If you haven't read the first Dev Diary which has a lot of the broader details of the project, check it out here - https://www.tumblr.com/pixiebombblog/765529458207784960/dev-diary-1-oct-27-2024-it-all-starts-here?source=share

Since then, work on Seraph has been coming along well, the beginning involved creating a bunch of custom systems & mechanics unique to Seraph, which I hope will set her apart from any other follower out there, & also a tonnn of writing & quest planning!

Some development highlights from the past few months:

🌸 Seraph's core systems are all implemented, including her follower framework, her custom combat AI (which is a lot more sophisticated than the usual Skyrim NPC!), & a few of her fun advanced mechanics as well!

🌸 The Approval system is in place (think Baldur's Gate 3 but much more in-depth), with various options for player preference in how it's presented in-game. Your choices will matter w Seraph, & along w raising or lowering her opinion of you, she will actually remember specific player dialogue choices across your journeys w her, leading to a very immersive & varied experience for multiple playthroughs.

🌸 I've also gone ahead & built & implemented a custom lock-bashing system for her; Seraph may not be a subtle, sneaky type but she can still help you w some of those pesky locked chests & doors!

🌸 Seraph's introduction is complete, along w multiple options for when/how to recruit her after your initial meeting! Seraph is integrated into the world in a way most followers just aren't, and if you don't choose to recruit her, or want to dismiss her for a while *she will carry on living a life of her own & be part of the game world!* I'm working hard to give her a sense of realness outside of just existing to follow the player's every whim.

🌸 Much of Seraph's Four (or Five, for some players who may choose to romance her) Act overarching questline is written & plotted out, & Act 1 is deep into being implemented. Each Act is not one quest, but rather a section of questing. Seraph is looking to be the scale of a small DLC in her original quests alone!

🌸 Seraph's appearance is also implemented, & work between myself & my incredible 3D artist @legendaryfirewizard on the custom 3D models for her visual centerpiece is coming along great. I'll be honest, I've been waiting to divulge details about her character in part bc when I do, I want people to *see* what they're getting ✨️ I'm so excited to share more about her character outside of technical details of the mod, but it will be well worth the wait to see her in her full glory.

Overall, dev on Seraph is coming along really well so far. As pretty much entirely a one-woman operation, there are more & less productive days & weeks, but any dev time I do have is all going to Seraph. I haven't felt this passionate & driven about a project in a long time.

For those who are asking about Redcap/other work, Redcap v1.5.0 is fully on pause until Seraph is released. I may release some minor side things here & there, & you may see some new Redcap stuff in the form of collabs w other mod authors, but right now my main focus is Seraph. I've learned that I tend to spread myself too thin & overwork myself, so having one main passion project at a time has been so great to get back to lately 😊

I'm hoping there will be less time between Dev Diaries than there was between these first two, & hopefully soon I will be able to share some images & juicy character details. Stay tuned. 🩷

- Pixie 🩷

(Mod Author, Voice Actress)

[adacatlovelace]

Maybe Im just reading too deeply into things but I get the distinct feeling that Obsidian absolutely fucking hated Fallout 3 and it manifests in various subtle ways

One of the most iconic characters in Fallout 3 is the Galaxy News Radio host Three Dog, who has a very bombastic personality, is constantly talking about The Lone Wander's exploits and is a meetable/killable character. In New Vegas, Mr. New Vegas host of Radio New Vegas, is more of a calm, suave sort of character who mentions the courier specifically only once. You never meet him and he's only really mentioned in the game once (That I can remember at least) by Trudy at the start and never again.

Fallout 3's whole deal was the conflict between the blatantly evil Enclave and the blatantly good Brotherhood of Steel. In New Vegas the BoS are back to being cultish isolationists with almost no presence in the mojave and the Enclave is completely absent bar ONE questline that humanizes the people who previously were a part of the Enclave.

Stealth was extremely abuse-able in Fallout 3 with the Chinese Stealth Suit and Stealthboys. Stealthboys in New Vegas aren't nearly as useful and the only people who use it in the storyline are the Nightkin, who are getting mental illnesses from it and Benny, who is IMMEDIATELY captured while trying to use it. You can also find TWO unique Stealth Suits: The Chinese Stealth Suit from F3 which is hidden away in an extremely radioactive part of Hoover Dam and doesn't have its "Stealth field" function and the Stealth Suit Mk II, which constantly talks as a joke and gets you addicted to med-x

Power Armor was a huge part of Fallout 3's identity, appearing heavily in the promotional material and getting Power Armor training is part of the main quest and is near impossible to miss. New Vegas supplants this by having the "Flagship armor" be the NCR Ranger Armor and if you don't do the Brotherhood Questline or For Auld Lang Syne you can easily miss it.

This is more my interpretation but Fallout 3 (As well as 4) tend to glorify the times before the bombs "hey weren't the 1950s fucking AWESOME hey look 50s music! Gingham! Nuclear families!" to a degree that the satirical aspect ends up being completely lost. Hell theres something to be said about Nuka-Cola, a fake brand mimicing overabundance of advertising in the world, becoming what is essentially a real life brand to advertise Bethesdas big AAA game series. New Vegas, on the other hand, takes a giant dump on this idea by almost completely removing the "1950s but future" aesthetic with a much more fantastical "wild west but future" vibe while having a lot of its themes being "for a better future you need to stop clinging to the past"

The Karma system is a core part of Fallout 3 but I cannot stress enough just how much of a fucking meme it is in New Vegas. Like the most common way to gain karma is murder while doing things "looting the camp of the people who just tried to kill you" and "killing/disabling the immortal autocrat of new vegas" give you negative karma so the whole system feels completely random and arbitrary that affects very little in the game which I feel like is entirely intentional to point out how dumb the idea of a "good person/bad person" system in any game is and the reputation system is more "your actions will govern how people see you" rather than some vibe you give off of being good or bad

[mpsideadump]

Lies of P records ranking!

Since “Music to my Gears” is finished, I am celebrating the completion of my fic with a personal ranking of the records in this game, including a brief explanation for each rank! To clarify, I will be ranking only the non-golden records. There’s nothing wrong with the Golden records. I still love them! I just feel like this ranking would be a little bloated if I included them. 

Quick reminder: This ranking is all my own personal opinion! If you agree or disagree with any placements, I’d love to hear your thoughts. In the end, we can all agree that every record in this game is absolutely beautiful. 

Now let’s get on with the ranking! This will be a rather long post, starting from B tier (because none of these records can really be considered bad or just okay imo) and will end on S tier (my absolute favorites). 

B tier:

11. “Misty Er’a” 

Starting off this ranking, we have “Misty E’ra”, a record gained by defeating an elite enemy at the end of the optional ‘dungeon’ the Hermit’s Cave. I do like the sound of this one! It reminds me a lot of a song that would play in a bar at midnight, as customers are leaving for the night and the owner is closing up shop. Very cozy, very nice! There’s not a lot standing out in this record compared to the other records, but that is A-okay!

10. “Divine Service”

This record is gained by completing the nun Cecile’s side quest. I don’t know if this is the right comparison but I for some reason think of an old abandoned desert town when I listen to this record. It has a slight hint of an old western feel for some reason to me. It’s just the way the instruments all harmonize with one another in this record that does it for me! 

9. “Far East Princess”

You get this record by lying to Eugenie about Alidoro’s fate during her questline. It’s a very beautiful piece, fittingly reminiscent of a song that could be plated by Eastern Royalty. Part of me actually wonders if maybe Eugenie actually is the princess of her country! And though she most likely isn’t, she’s at least blacksmith royalty to us! I will be honest, though. I didn’t think much of this record until listening to its original DJ MAX counterpart. That version of the song got me to appreciate this piece a little bit more!

8. “Shadow Flower”

This record is gained by giving Sophia peace when you encounter her at Arche Abbey. It’s soothing but also beautifully haunting in a way, as if something you’d hear in a dream. It’s why I wrote this song to be in P’s first dream in my fic. Knowing that this song is about Sophia’s longing for P to save her makes this song even better. Check out the translated lyrics and it just makes you feel for her! In addition, the singer of this record (if anyone knows who it is please let me know!) sounds absolutely gorgeous as well! 

A tier:

7. “Feel”

This record is received by completing the Weeping Woman’s side quest and lying to her about her baby, who is really a doll. We all know how this song serenaded us as this is the very first record in the game. If you played the demo, maybe you were like me and just knew this game would be something else upon listening to this song there! 

I loved this record so much that I went to learn it on the piano along with my sister. We figured out how to play this without any sheet music! 

It may come as a shocker that “Feel” isn’t as high on my ranking as others would probably put it, but don’t get me wrong. This record is beautiful, but I think when listening to the others, it doesn’t hold up as much! Nevertheless, I don’t think any other record could be better as the first one many of us listened to in game. 

6. “Fascination”

You find this record after giving Adelina an apple back at the Estelle Opera House and then returning to her after defeating Romeo. “Fascination” I’d argue is one of the main theme songs of this game. It has a significant presence throughout the story, playing all throughout the Rosa Isabelle Street level and during the White Lady’s boss fight. It even plays during the game’s end-credits! But this instrumental version really is something else. 

It sounds like a melancholic love song, something that could be played during a wedding. And this rendition of the song when played while starting Polendina and Antonia’s storyline is just chef’s kiss. 

I feel like this version is very underrated compared to its Golden counterpart, but I’m here to give the instrumental a lot of love!

5. “Quixotic” 

You receive this record by giving the Red Fox and Black Cat gold coin fruit after defeating Victor at the Grand Exhibition. This record is rather unique, I’d say. Very daunting, almost heroic sounding. The singer Seo Jayeong is the same singer of “Feel”, but dammit I think her vocals just sound so much more powerful in this song. There are no pauses in between lyrics in the second half of this song, and that’s a very difficult thing to maintain! So kudos to Miss Jayeong for the performance! 

This one’s definitely one of the best records in this game’s collection!

4. “Proposal, Flower, Wolf Part 1”

Where the heck is part 2???

You gain this record by telling the truth to Eugenie about Alidoro’s fate(whether just telling her about Parrot stealing Alidoro’s identity or also including the fact that Alidoro’s her brother). 

This one is just…so, so nice. It gives off the vibes of an anime ending song, and I’m just gonna bet if they ever do make a Lies of P show, this would be like those songs that would play a lot in the background during emotional moments like in a Korean drama. I have a slight bias towards this song as well because I ended up associating this song with P listening to Romeo’s message for the first time. It’s how I wrote it in the fic, and I ended up having it play in the background while listening to Romeo on a new game run. Top tier emotional song. 

Side note: shoutout to Lies of P’s director Choi Ji-Won for singing the vocal in the Golden version of the song!

S tier (my favorites): 

3. “Someday”

You get this song by buying it from the Malum District merchant (we stan this merchant btw, this dude is legit the MVP of the game). 

I think this song gets bonus points for sounding so much more energetic and catchier compared to the other records. The singer (again, please let me know who it is if anyone knows) sounds very pleasant to the ear and the entire song is just such an earworm in general!

“Someday” is just a lot of fun, and I don’t think I hear enough people talk about it. In addition, the DJ MAX version sounds like something straight from an anime opening and I highly recommend anyone who hasn’t heard it to take a quick listen. It’s just as fun as the Lies of P version. 

2. “Memory of Beach”

This record is gained by completing Antonia’s side quest by curing her of the Petrification Disease and then finding it on her wheelchair after she passes away. 

This song and the next are actually pretty interchangeable in terms of being imo my favorite and the best in the game. 

Before I played the game for myself, I had already listened to the records thanks to a video on YouTube compiling them all. I know I shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t help myself, and what do you know I ended up making a fic dedicated to the music in this game. When I heard this record, let me tell y’all I actually cried just listening to this song. 

Everything about it from the piano being the only instrument and how the vocalizer (likely meant to be Antonia herself) is only humming just got me. The lack of lyrics I found reminiscent of maybe someone experiencing dementia and forgetting the lyrics of a song they had loved. 

When I learned how you got the record in the game, I cried even more. Losing someone is never easy, but it’s always important to remember all the good memories you had with them. 

1. “Why”

This record is gained by completing Belle’s side quest and lying to her about Atkinson’s fate. 

I had heard this record on YouTube because Neowiz decided to release it there early before the game’s release. Listening to those opening notes, I immediately fell in love!

I thought that if the music in this game was going to sound this good, I already knew I’d enjoy the hell out of it. 

The song is very reminiscent of a dance, a waltz in a ballroom, empty except for the couple who is dancing.

There was this fic I read that was written before the game’s release that was about Pinocchio finding this song out in the wild while exploring and dancing with a mannequin to satisfy his urge to dance to the song. I absolutely loved the imagery used in that fic, and imagining this song playing in the background as I read it helped increase my love for this song. It’s actually what inspired me to write the “Why” chapter in “Music to my Gears” the way I did. 

There’s plenty of beautiful music in this game and there are certain pieces that I think suit being the game’s theme better than others.  

However, this record I feel is the sound of a puppet becoming human. This record is the song of a liar.

__

With that, this was my personal ranking of the non-golden records in Lies of P! Hope you enjoyed that little read and I would love to hear your guys opinions, whether you agree with me or not!