#can you tell i was having such a hard time deciding which dialogue option to choose lmao

[apostaterevolutionary]

So. Veilguard impressions so far (I’m about 13.5 hours in). Most of these are mechanical as I don’t feel like I’ve gotten enough time with the companions/story to have many opinions on it, but I feel like I at least have some opinions worth noting lmao (mostly no spoilers but like. Maybe a little so read at your own discretion)

Things I like:

I’m honestly still shocked my computer can actually run it and overall very well too

Character creator is super detailed, I love that

I keep falling off of ledges lmfao so I’m glad there’s no penalty for that

You can pet all the cats and dogs!!!!!

Also love that there’s no carry weight to contend with but I still get to pick up a ton of random items. It satisfies by urge to pick up anything that isn’t nailed down. This is great, especially after bg3 sksks (which I also enjoy as a game but pls why does gold have weight 😭)

So far I like the new companions a lot and I do enjoy these early game little almost… domestic? Or just small scale? Quests you have with them? Idk I dig it. I wasn’t sure about the ‘bond’ thing at first but on further reflection I like that you can gain approval-equivalent just by bringing them along. Makes things easier

I don’t dislike the vibes tbh like I’ve seen people say ‘oh it’s too happy and positive’ and like. Okay yeah 2 of the 3 companions you recruit early on are very bubbly but we also got blight horror all over the place so idk, maybe this is a complaint I’ll understand later but right now I don’t agree with it

Oh and I love the lantern system for when companions have dialogue - it’s a clever way of signifying when they’re all in different buildings

Things I don’t like:

I kinda get what people are saying about the handholding. Why do I need a little tip to tell me ‘[companion] has noted that you told them [thing you just said]’ 😭

Also while the new companions are fun, I do think Harding got hit pretty hard with ‘previous game lore dump’ duty cause damn. Admittedly I don’t remember her personality in inquisition super well but a lot of her dialogue just feels. Off in that way. I get it was necessary to do it somehow but. Oof. I feel bad for her cause it makes me less interested in her 😔

This is minor but I don’t like how when you load a save, it’s not actually where you saved. It’s at the last fast travel point. So it’s like. I found this hard-to-find spot last night. Saved. Planned to continue the quest the next day. Except! I have to find the spot again! And I forgot where it was! Why!!! This is absolutely a remnant of when it was a live service game but woof, why keep that in

Also bringing back the 100 save limit - actual worst feature of inquisition, why the hell would they keep it 💀 if anyone knows a mod to fix this, pls let me know, I need to have like 800 saves per run or I’ll die okay

And this is the big one tbh. I’m sorry but I really don’t like the combat 😶 like. Every boss fight is just the arishok fight except with help. Getting Lucanis has given some improvement cause now there’s at least another melee target on the field but at this point, I’m looking for a stealth option on that giant skill tree (why is it so big! I have no idea what I’m doing with it!!!) so I can go full skyrim (stealth archer) lmao. I’m hoping when I actually get to recruit a warrior (why is this the last class you get, that feels backwards), it’ll get more playable cause I’ll actually have a tank. Right now I just cannot understand why everyone says this is fun, I have had pretty much no fun in any of the fights (I’m becoming the person I was poking fun at before when I said it’s weird to play games if you don’t like half of it skskdk. Also ngl I would not be powering through if this were not a game I already had a vested interest in). Also how did anyone play a mage and make it through the first 10 hours, like I have NO idea. I’m very glad I didn’t, it’s hard enough with a rogue

Neutral observations/thoughts:

I’ve decided to play rook as like. A discount version of hawke? Cause I feel like that’s the kind of person varric would seek out, like a spark of the familiar is what drew Varric to them. And that’s adding a bit of fun headcanon flavour

(Also I have some suspicions that things are not as they seem with Varric but. We’ll see on that I suppose)

Also it’s funny cause I’ve always been a Solas neutral person (like him well enough but never understood why he was such a big deal to either the lovers or the haters). But I do find him more annoying here lmao. Maybe cause I’m rping too hard and Rook finds him annoying but I just think it’s funny

Also genuinely could not imagine this being someone’s first DA game sksks they are going to have no idea what’s going on lore-wise

[illithiddies]

this interaction between Wyll and Minsc is so incredibly sweet

[autolenaphilia]

I have been thinking about the dad, Mr. Graves, in The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. And he is hard to think about, because he is explicitly portrayed as a non-entity, a doormat domineered by his wife. He is not really a character, a negative space. He displays no will of his own, that it’s hard to think of him being motivated by anything. The game is from the POV of Ashley and Andrew, and they think so little of him that he doesn’t even get a character portrait the rare times he speaks.

The most interesting commentary comes when Andrew explicitly compares his own relationship with Ashley to that of his parents. And how does the game portray Andrew’s relationship with Ashley? As an abdication of responsibility. Andrew lets Ashley take the initiative, because that means he can blame all his morally questionable actions on her abusive manipulations, forgetting that he has a choice to follow them or not, and he definitely does some things like murders on his own, but still blames them on Ashley.

And maybe that’s what his father also does by allowing himself to be dominated by his wife. Because if you listen to the mother’s admittedly manipulative dialogue, she says that when she was Andrew’s age (22) Andrew and Ashley were already seven and five years old. She’s a teen mother, twice over. It doesn’t excuse her horrible actions as a mother, but that’s a fucked up situation. And she isn’t solely responsible for those teenage pregnancies, the father must have been involved.

And that puts Mr. Graves letting his wife decide everything in a darker light. Maybe it’s his way of escaping responsibility for making a teenage girl pregnant twice over. And this is speculative, but perhaps he thinks because Mrs. Graves initiated the sex, or “seduced” him somehow, it means he isn’t responsible for the kids. And we don’t know how old Mr. Graves is, he might be a bit older and was an adult when the pregnancies happened, which makes it way more fucked up. Even if not, mr. Graves’s life might be one long excuse of “I can’t have been abusive, she makes all the decisions in this marriage and even ties me up during sex.”

Mr. Graves definitely doesn’t take any responsibility for raising the kids he sired, beyond maybe contributing his wages. Again, he is so absent that the kids barely think of him as a person, and in an optional dialogue he can’t even remember his kid’s name. Mrs. Graves excuses her parentifying Andrew to take care of Ashley by her being overwhelmed with raising two kids, and it’s telling that the possibility of the father helping her out and taking part of the burden off her isn’t even mentioned. Instead Mr Graves passed the responsibility of raising the kids on to his wife, who in turn passed it on to Andrew.

Mrs. Graves running the household and making all the decisions doesn’t seem like the subversion of the patriarchy it might seem like at first glance. Instead it’s the typical scenario of a man handing off all the responsibility of raising the kids and taking care of the home to his wife, with him only contributing cash to the household. And his absence from the narrative ends up saying something.

[fereldanwench]

So I was perusing Reddit and came across this older post about the supposed leaked DLC endgame content from 2022. I had seen some of said leaked content at the time, and I knew there were mentions of Goro and Tokyo and potentially having to sell out Vik, but I took all of it with a grain of salt because these things are often unreliable. (And a good thing I did seeing as how the Phantom Liberty ending is completely different, and this would have been a huge disappointment if my heart had been set on it.)

But y'all, if this was actually on the table for a potential ending for the DLC, I feel SO ROBBED.

Quoted from the Reddit post:

So it turns out that this new ending isn't an actual new ending, but instead just a new path for The Devil ending. Basically, what happens is that if you complete Songbird's questline and gain her trust, she will give you a cure for the relic. After you agree to help Hanako, confront Yorinobu, head up to Arasaka's orbital facility, and remove the biochip from your head, Songbird's cure will begin to activate, and it will begin healing V's brain and nervous system. What happens next is determined by whether or not you saved Takemura's life during the Search and Destroy quest. You will secretly be given a test by Hanako to prove your loyalty and professionalism. What that test is is determined by what happened in the aforementioned quest. If you do save Takemura's life, Takemura will come to tell you about the surgery's success. He will then ask you to do one more job for Araska. This test is to find where Vik is and mark his location for Arasaka, as Vik is a loose end because of his knowledge of the biochip. If you complete this mission, Hanako will then appear and try to reassure that nothing bad will happen to Vik as long as he doesn't cause problems for Arasaka. If you did everything correctly, she will then offer you a job as the head of her security detail. If you accept this offer, you will move with her to Tokyo and once again become an Arasaka employee. If you don't, then you'll just stay in Night City and Takemura will be disappointed in you. You can also say some very mean things to Takemura during this exchange. No matter which of these options you choose, all of V's friends will end up hating her for working with Arasaka. There's also some interesting dialogue if V decides to work with Hanako. V will mention how she doesn't want to return to her old life and how, for the first time in her entire life, V feels like she knows where she's going and what she wants. Hanako will reply to V by stating that a luxurious lifestyle that V could never have previously imagined awaits her in Tokyo. If you did not save Takemura's life, Hellman will come to tell you that the surgery was a success, but will then try to convince you that Hanako is actually planning to kill both of you as you and Hellman are now loose ends. He will tell you that his previous deal with Kang Tao is still on the table, and that he has a shuttle prepared that can take you and him to Kang Tao. He will try and urge you to join Kang Tao with him. If you refuse to go with him to Kang Tao, Hanako will appear and reveal that this entire conversation was actually a test to see if you would betray Arasaka. Hellman further explains that due to V's actions, Hellman couldn't even join Kang Tao anymore if he wanted to and that he's essentially stuck working for Arasaka. Hanako will compliment your professionalism and will then offer you a job as the head of her security, just like in the Takemura ending.

Still hard to say if this was ever actually a possibility, but either way: given that this was stuff found in spring 2022 and at one point Cyberpunk was supposed to have 2 expansions, I'm guessing this content had been long cut/reworked by the time it was leaked.

This honestly would have been the perfect canon ending for Valerie, from the angst of having to sell out a friend to finally being able to fully own her corporate shill proclivities, and as happy and content as I am to fully live in my own headcanons at this point, I would have loved to see this one in action.

[tatjana-fantasy]

Why I love House of Ashes’ choice system

House of Ashes is my favorite Dark Pictures game for many reasons, and one of them is its choice system. It makes the game very replayable for me, despite the plot armor it has. But what exactly do I mean by that?

Well, in HOA, the consequences of your actions are often decided by both your current and your previous choices. There is rarely a single choice that always happens and always dooms a character, because the game gives you multiple ways to save them. It’s honestly amazing, and I hope future Supermassive games will implement this choice system as well. Let’s talk about some examples!

The first one is technically not a choice, but a QTE: Eric cutting the rope or not. But since it’s presented as a choice, I’m fine with treating it as such. Here, by far the safer option for Eric is cutting the rope because it guarantees his survival (assuming Dar wasn’t alerted), but NOT cutting the rope doesn’t guarantee his death. Instead, Jason’s and Nick’s actions decide his fate, particularly how well they do in the QTEs and whether or not they save Merwin. If they save him, they won’t have enough time to save Eric and he dies if he doesn’t cut the rope. But if they kill Merwin – either by accident or by choice –, they prevent Eric from falling to his death, allowing him to hold on to the rope.

And that’s so amazing, isn’t it? That the game makes it possible for him to survive either way, but requires certain choices to be made beforehand. There was even supposed to be a third way to save Eric, by A.I. Rachel cutting the rope herself, but because of an earlier scene getting cut, it’s unfortunately not possible to get this outcome anymore. A small part of me still hopes it will be edited in someday …

The second example is Nick’s and Salim’s truce. Once again, Eric’s life is at stake. There are multiple ways to kill him here, but there are also multiple ways to save him. I think the most common way to kill Eric is by shooting the shepherd, letting Eric accompany Nick and reassuring Salim to stay, so let’s go with that. (I know you can kill Eric slightly easier by simply exposing Salim’s location, but even then, it requires around three consecutive choices to cause Eric’s death, while just a single different one can guarantee his survival.) You don’t have to worry if you shot the shepherd, because just telling Eric to stay behind makes sure he doesn’t die. But you also don’t have to worry if he accompanies you, because you can just tell Salim to hide in order to save Eric’s life. It’s only if you shoot the shepherd, allow Eric to join Nick and reassure Salim that causes Eric’s death. I love that the game gives you so many ways to save him here!

Then there’s the Clarice situation. Once again, the game gives you multiple ways to avoid Eric’s death. In Bloodbath alone, there are three ways to leave Clarice behind (leaving her behind directly, picking the right dialogue options for her to stay behind by herself and failing the QTE to cross the chasm), but even if Rachel convinces her to follow her, Clarice can still die by saying the wrong thing to Jason (which is admittedly hard to screw up by accident) or by Eric deciding to abandon her later. Granted, all these choices lean more into causing Eric’s death rather than avoiding it, but I still applaud the game for giving you so many possibilities to save him!

Speaking off Bloodbath: I LOVE the scene variation during Eric’s parts of the chapter. Depending on whether Salim was captured and the vampire was killed, there are four different ways these scenes can play out, not counting the one that requires Eric to be dead. I think we need more of this – scenes that don’t only vary because you killed someone, but because you made some different choices. :)

Another example I want to mention is Rachel’s infection, but not because it’s forgiving, but because it has two solutions. Assuming you don’t avoid her getting infected, you have to pick some strict dialogue options in order to save her, with barely any variation. But if you do pick the right options, she can either survive by burning the infection out of her or by getting cocooned. I LOVE that depending on whether or not Eric knows about the effects of the UV wand (which in itself can be achieved in slightly different ways), Rachel’s fate changes, but is only truly doomed if there’s nobody to save her. Although I do wish that the dialogue options in order to get these scenes wouldn’t be as strict as they are, I’m glad the game doesn’t automatically doom Rachel without Eric’s UV wand.

Finally, we have the game’s greatest scene when it comes to possibilities: Nick advancing the motherlode. It’s outstanding in so many ways, because the game doesn’t only give you multiple ways to save him, but also one that automatically dooms him – while still being quite forgiving overall. Let’s go over the possibilities!

The first way to save Nick is by not having anyone else (besides him) injured. It’s quite easy to avoid Jason’s and Eric’s injury, but Salim’s is another story, since most players would want to save Rachel from her vampire instead of shooting the vampire that attacks Salim. So, saving Nick this way isn’t too likely – but House of Ashes wouldn’t be House of Ashes if it didn’t give you another chance to save him.

Here, Joey’s med-kit comes into place. It allows you to heal one injury, so if you end up with the likely scenario of only Salim (and Nick) being injured, finding the med-kit is enough to heal him – and to save Nick’s life in the process.

But let’s say you didn’t find the med-kit and/or have more than one person besides Nick injured. Maybe you shot the shepherd or screwed up some QTEs. In this case, there’s a third way to save him: By finding the stake in the Bloodbath chapter and giving it to Nick. Granted, the dialogue option isn’t as clear-cut as it could be, but it still provides another option for him to defend himself.

In the same chapter, Jason can also make two dialogue options that inspire Nick enough to “fight like they do”, which is one of the rare instances where a (technically “bad”) dialogue option can determinantly save a character’s life. Similar to the previous dialogue option, it’s not very obvious, but I still appreciate that it exists!

But of course, we can’t talk about this scene without mentioning the possibility of Eric leaving Nick to die. In this case, it doesn’t matter how many choices you’ve made that usually guarantee his survival, because a low relationship with Eric will render them all pointless. Thankfully, it’s easy enough to keep their relationship on a neutral level, but just like it’s possible to miss all chances to save Nick, it’s also possible to cause the one consequence that kills him.

Still: It’s outstanding that the game is so forgiving in its choices, and lets you save its characters in different ways. There is even more stuff I haven’t talked about (like Eric’s possible death in The Signal or some general second chances when it comes to saving vs leaving characters), but I think you get my point. Personally, I absolutely love House of Ashes’ choice system and hope to see it in future games <3

[cosmos-daughter]

A detailed psychological analysis of Leon Kennedy and Aeon: the agent's endless struggle with guilt and dysfunctional romance with Ada Wong.

The reason why I decided to write this is because I have seen some complaints about Leon apparently "flirting" with someone in the DI movie (not sure who or if he even does, since it's not out yet as I write this) and accusing him of being out of character because of that. I was confused of why were people suddenly acting as if Leon being flirty with women was something new, surprising or unexpected, since that's a character trait of his ever since 2004.

Then, I finally got the ✨context✨ and apparently, the reason why they are upset over this is actually because of the beautiful spy in red, Ada Wong.

It seems the cause of people's frustration is that they expected Leon's flirty behaviour with other women to be gone on the events that are set after Resident Evil 6 in the timeline, since his feelings for Ada were finally adressed in that game. And naturally, many assumed they'd be in a relationship in a recent timeline, and therefore are treating this as a case of infidelity.

Seeing that made me realize that some people, usually fans that are rather new to the franchise and joined the fandom after the remakes, don't quite understand what Leon and Ada actually have going on or what they mean to each other. It is much, much more complicated and deep than it actually seems, and I want to talk about it in detail here while also providing some canon information to prove the points I make.

CW: mentions of alcoholism, depression and suicidal ideation.

─

Leon and Ada’s dynamic is a funny little thing. Talk about an dysfunctional, unstable relationship. It is definitely not the healthiest. What they have going on is messy and complicated, sure, but that's what makes it entertaining for us, viewers, and what makes Aeon a appealing ship that many love, even if watching them can also be quite frustrating at times. They are the true meaning of star-crossed lovers -- two people who love each other but aren’t able to be together, a love that’s doomed from the start -- and that's why their relationship has always been presented and described as complicated.

Take a look at this file from Resident Evil 6:

Following their escape, their paths would cross from time to time, Leon as a U.S. government operative and Ada as a spy. Ada makes no qualms about using Leon when it suits her needs, but Leon is loath to bring himself to be done with her. They don't consider each other enemies, but it's hard to tell how they feel for each other. Complicated is the word that aptly summarizes their relationship. (Leon and Ada)

That makes two things clear: Leon has feelings for Ada, and he’s also a hopeless romantic. He knows when she’s using him, he’s not stupid, but he can’t and doesn’t want to let go of her. Anyone can see that, each time they interact you can sense Leon’s hesitancy through the screen, he always seems conflicted, wary, as if going through a dilemma of “which one is more important: love or duty?", because even if she’s the woman he loves, that doesn’t change the fact that she’s shady and has worked for the opposite side before -- for the people that produce bioweapons -- and Leon's determination to keep fighting despite of how exhausted he is comes precisely from his hatred of people who make use of bioweapons and his desire to end this for good. Loving her or not, as long as he's not sure of what her true intentions are, he can't fully trust her. He won’t risk getting innocent people hurt, after all, that’s what he fights for: to protect them. He'd do anything to stop something like Raccoon City from ever happening again. It's the only thing he has. The only part of his old self -- of the Leon that was lost after the outbreak -- that still lives is his urge to protect. Serve and protect.

Krauser: What is it that you fight for, comrade? Leon: My past, I suppose. (Optional dialogue from original RE4)

In RE6, he protects Ada from Chris and Helena when they try to kill her, but he’s not sure himself if she’s innocent or not. His uncertainty becomes even clearer during the final scene before they part ways again, when he asks her: “What are you? Why are you helping us?”. Again, he’s not sure of what she wants, whose side she’s on, why she's doing what she does, what he means to her, or anything at all. But even if confused and probably curious, he doesn’t go after her for answers when Helena tells him to. And since RE6 takes place after Damnation (both are in 2012, but the events of RE6 starts in december), I’d say that’s enough evidence that they are not in a relationship at that time, even if they got intimate at some point (also the fact that he shamelessly flirts with Helena at the beginning of the game and he would never if he was in a relationship, since loyalty is a big thing of Leon's character too).

What I make up of their relationship from the content they give us and what they’ve been hinting since their first appearance in 1998 is that they’re less than lovers, but definitely more than friends, if you could even call them that. I imagine they have that kind of relationship that sometimes, Ada shows up at Leon’s doorsteps at night after a long time of not hearing from each other and they both missed each other a lot and are also undeniably attracted to each other, so maybe they do sleep together and might even share a very romantic, vulnerable moment (that they never really speak of later) and when Leon wakes up in the morning, her side of the bed is already empty. I think they have the physical, but not emotional intimacy, and if they both know how they feel about that deep down, it doesn't matter -- neither of them have the luxury of doing feelings. They don’t belong to each other and are free to do as they please, but none of them plan on moving on from each other. It’s just two screwed up humans afraid of commitment loving each other messily.

Poetically tragic, quite Shakespeare-esque.

It's also important to mention the reason why I believe Leon accepts to be in a "relationship" like this one even if he knows it's not good for him and yearns for more (even if he doesn't admit it -- he's a big softie: emotional, romantic, loves people and company, of course he wants more than that). I'd say the reason it’s not only because he loves her -- even if that's great part of it -- but also because he doesn't think himself worthy of having a loving, stable relationship. Leon is an alcoholic who suffers from depression, traumatized, barely has any free time to rest and also happens to work in the most dangerous job in the world that could get him killed anytime. So... he's not very boyfriend material. He would most likely spent the entire time thinking the other person deserves better, deserves someone present in their life and who can give them the love and attention they deserve. And with Ada, he’s able to fulfill his emotional and physical needs without having the responsibility of having an actual relationship, and without hurting anyone's feelings, because Ada doesn’t expect more from him too. They both know they can't go there. A romantic relationship is probably something he no longer knows how to deal with, ever since his life has changed so drastically. Hell, he can barely take care of himself. So he's fine with the little that Ada gives him (or at least he pretends), he'll accept whichever parts of her she'll allows him to have. He knows that she’ll never be his, so he has to be fine with having her only for a night. It's no news that Leon Scott Kennedy is the master of self-sabotage, no one is more cruel to him than himself. After all, everything in his life is a mess, his love life would hardly be any different.

Now here comes my favorite part to talk about and the main point: Leon's insecurity regarding of being unworthy of love and peace, originates from his survivor's guilt issues -- his trauma. I always talk about how cruel and visceral Leon’s case of survivor's guilt is, because it's part the character's essence, you can't have Leon without it. That thing is tied to him. It's a stain on his soul. It will always be with him, even if he manages to heal himself one day. Since that night in Raccoon City happened, he lives with an immeasurable amount of guilt regarding every single person that he "failed" to save and protect, knowing they're gone while he’s still alive and breathing is too much for him and that results in a worrisome self-destructive behaviour where he thinks he doesn’t deserve to be happy or a normal life, a break from the horrors. No, he needs to live the rest of his life miserably, fighting incessantly against bioweapons until his last breath, because this is the very least he can do to ‘make amends’ to everyone he ‘failed’ to save. He holds into his failure like it's a hand. A workaholic fueled by guilt and grief.

(EDIT: Leon's voice actor, Matthew Mercer, pretty much confirmed this by saying that Leon holds himself accountable for every death that happens on his watch even if it's out of his control in a interview for the Death Island movie. I'm aware he's the voice actor and not the writer, but he understands his character perfectly, so I find that worthy of mentioning).

Then we have Resident Evil: Damnation only further proving his crystal clear guilt issues. When Leon stops Alexander from shooting himself, these are his words to the man:

“The option of taking our own lives no longer belongs to us. Once we start using these, we owe it to the people who died alongside us, we have to continue living.”

This whole interaction, Leon stopping a man from killing himself and his words hits different when you remember that in the original RE2 Leon actually considered doing the same, and the only reason he didn’t was because to protect Sherry and make sure she was safe (this part doesn’t make too much sense in the remake since Leon doesn’t meet her until the last minutes of the game, but we’re referring to the original events here). The reason why Leon accepted to work for the government was also to ensure they would keep Sherry safe, allow her to live a normal life and not experiment on her (a promise they clearly did not keep but anyway...), even if we all know he didn't have a choice. He still did it all of that for a girl he barely knew. Self sacrifice is a vice of his just as much as alcohol.

"To tell you the truth, I even thought about ending it -- several times, actually -- with just a quick bullet to the head. But I didn't give up. Sherry needed me. She was a 10-year-old girl thrown into a hellish environment with monsters after her, so I had to pull myself together for her sake. She was our reason for not giving up - especially for Claire.” (Leon and the Raccon City Incident)

He feels obligated to continue this loop of constantly sacrificing his own mental health and safety in this miserable and dangerous life of fighting against bioweapons for that is what he owes to his fallen comrades and innocent victims of bioterrorism. Consequently, he also gives away his chances of having a normal relationship, living like a normal person and also the possibility of having a family in the future. He’s seen drinking a lot in Damnation -- including during the day, alone in his room, I think that’s pretty self explanatory.

Then we have Vendetta -- the peak of Leon's depression -- where we watch as he drowns himself in alcohol even more during a mental breakdown after losing his whole team being the only survivor, again. More people dead at his commands, following his words, more people dead because he can't be the super-hero he wishes he was, all that while he still breathes and gets to see another day. Leon doesn't have a lot of stability in his life, he's loses people important to him all the time, yet he does not get any used to it.

He questions if living is really worth it in the movie:

“I keep fighting... and fighting and fighting, and instead of seeing an end to this shit, it just keep getting worse. Is this what my life is supposed to be? Fighting the living dead and bastards that make them? What's the point of it all?”

He’s clearly reached his limit and is beyond exhausted, he knows it’s not fair to him and he shouldn’t have to live like this, he’s desperate for a little bit of normalcy, yet he still goes back to fight. He can't run away from duty, and he sure as hell can’t turn a blind eye to bioterrorism, no matter how tired he is. Vendetta is set after RE6, so it’s clear that his relationship hasn’t evolved since then, and it seems that it's been a while since they last saw each other, maybe even years, and maybe that also adds on the reasons why Leon snapped, since Ada is the closest to a constant he's had in his life, the only thing he can always count to come back to him, even if he doesn't knows when.

It’s not hard to believe a man like that would avoid a serious relationship at any costs. But doing that is not easy for him, after all, Leon is very emotional and so fucking lonely and touch-starved, he wants the love, even if he doesn’t think he deserves it. While I have no canon evidence about this, I can see him being the type who gets one-night stands once in a while when he’s feeling too alone and in need for a distraction and relief, I imagine that he feels a little needed and loved when he’s touching and being touched by another person, even if it’s only for the night. But he refuses to emotionally connect with the person, because his heart belongs to another and because he doesn't want to risk anyone falling for him; because something else we know about him is that he has emotional responsability and maturity, he thinks of people's feelings, considers them, and takes it very seriously.

I see Leon’s womanizer behaviour as a coping mechanism for his loneliness and his own way to lighten the mood and make those women not panic during the situation of absolute chaos and danger they're usually in with him. It's also simply because he likes women, of course, I'm not denying that, but his flirting never bothered me because of how respectful he is -- he never takes it too far or make them uncomfortable by being innapropriate (I mean, there's a reason why all the women he flirts with like Helena and Hunnigan adore him, even if not in that way, they all like him a lot as a friend). And we can tell he's not planning on making them fall in love with him by the way he only flirts hardcore with the strong-type of women whom he knows won't fall for him easily like that, and with the softer-type who might actually have a crush on him (like Ashley or Manuela) he's much more careful, mostly friendly -- ocasionally teasing and a little light flirting too, of course, but that's just his way of being playful and nice. Leon is a very charismatic and charmful man by nature, what can he do about it?

So, considering all of this, we can see why having a relationship is not on Leon's to-do-list. No person in their right mind would subject themselves to be in a relationship in which your partner is completely secretive about their work life and having to live with the anxiety of going to sleep at night not knowing if he’s still alive when he leaves for his missions; people want a relationship for security, stability, reassurance, comfort and peace, not to be tormented. And with Ada, he doesn’t need to worry about any of that. She isn’t going to ask him questions about his work nor is she going to stay up at night worrying if he’s going to come back home, because they don’t have that kind of relationship. And it's not that Leon would hate having that kind of relationship -- especially with her -- it's the opposite. He secretly craves it. I think there's nothing he'd love more than laying with the person he loves on his arms at the end of a long day, and seeing their face lit by the sunlight in the morning, or simply doing the typical clingy couple things, the casual affection; but he has a job to do and he knows he can't have both.

I don’t agree with the usage of the word ‘toxic’ to define his relationship with Ada, because that makes her seem like a horrible person when it’s not the case; none of them is forcing the other into this relationship, they both just fall in with it because they know that this is the closest to a romantic relationship that people like them can afford to have. And because this relationship isn't entirely bad for them, we don't know much about Ada, unfortunately, but we know enough about Leon to have a guess that what he has with her is enough to provide him at least a little bit of comfort, and God knows he needs it.

Even if we don't have enough content of her, her feelings, traumas and motivations to write a fully detailed essay, we know that even if she doesn't show it like he does, she loves Leon too. The difference is that she doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve like he does. And yes -- she uses him to reach her own goals during her missions, always plays little games with him, but I believe the latter is part of a façade (I'll get into this later), and she never did anything to hurt him or put him in danger. She’s a focused, calculative woman who will play dirty to get what she wants, yet she often goes out of her way to help Leon every time he’s in trouble instead of considering it a nuisance. Coming from someone like her, that means a lot. She’s the one who throws him the rocket launcher in RE2 during the fight against Nemesis, she’s the one who stops Krauser from killing him in RE4 (original, in the remake it is Luis' doing), she also goes against Wesker’s orders to keep him safe, and helps him many times in RE6 and Damnation too. Ada is always watching him from the shadows and would never let anyone harm him, no matter what. Not to mention, the way she trusts Leon becomes evident with how she always lowers her guard around him in a way you never see her doing with anyone else -- like in that choking scene from the original RE4, no other person would be able to catch her off guard like that. She's completely at ease around him.

Something else I noticed is how Ada only acts cool when in front of him. In the original RE4 you can see how she puts that unbothered, cool and mysterious woman show on when face-to-face with him, but as soon as he isn't watching her, the façade drops and she looks at him as if he's the most amazing person in the world, she has the biggest heart eyes for him, even if she doesn't let him see it. I believe the only scene she showed it to him is when he saves her from Saddler and asks her if she's okay, to which she replies with a weak "I've been better", and gives him the softest smile ever. There is so much tenderness in that look she gave him. Also, the way she talks about him: in the original Separate Ways she compliments his skills and intelligence and refers to him as "practically a genius"; she admires and respects him immensely, even if she'd never say that to his face.

My point with this is that the reason why she does that, the reason why Ada doesn’t give too much for Leon, is because she knows it’s just going to make things more difficult for both of them. After all, leaving would be much harder after hearing a “I love you”, after making promises. They both know how they feel, too, so there is no need for words. As I said before, their love isn’t exactly the healthiest and probably is something that hurts them both, but as long as they can see each other again, they can endure the pain that comes with the separation -- because like Leon said himself in RE4, “she’s like a part of me that I can’t let go”

But no matter how much they love each other, in the end, Leon and Ada are always meant to go to their separate ways.

[twilightknight17]

This time on P3R: Get in the car. We’re going to war. Atlus is just personally attacking me now.

(I’m half-joking. Probably.)

It’s the first day of December, and Ryoji was absent today. But I got a text from him after school asking me to meet him in the music room.

Specifically using the phrase “I need to see you right now.”

He’s sitting at the piano when we get there, by himself. Something is clearly wrong.

Don’t apologize. You’re important to me.

He’s not even sure what he wants to say. So he just thanks Minato for spending time with him, because he’s learned so many new things and got to experience so much, like the trip to Kyoto and just hanging out with everyone.

...oh. He learned to play the piano. For Minato.

Let’s do it let’s play together let’s play a duet asdfjkl;

We don’t have another time! T_T

He says that seeing the couples in Kyoto and spending time at the dorm has helped him understand what it means to build real connections with other people. They help each other overcome challenges and keep each other going. And they understand each other.

It’s… sweet, knowing what he is. He’s trying so hard to understand, and he likes people so much.

………

……Atlus. ATLUS. What is this? WHAT IS THIS? I’m not allowed to date this boy and you put THIS dialogue in this game how much more blatant can you GET OH MY GOD.

Hello, TVTropes editors, it’s not a crack ship or ships that pass in the night after a line like that.

...WHERE IS MY THIRD DIALOGUE OPTION. ATLUS. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

Yes, I want to be more than friends, I love you, please, please, please, if I love you enough I can save yo--

FUUKA NOT NOW WE’RE HAVING A MOMENT.

Fuuka comes in and says that she was passing through and heard someone playing a beautiful song, so she thought she’d come in and listen to the performance. Which. Did you just hover outside the door after he stopped playing so you could interrupt at the worst moment?

That was mean. I’m sorry, Fuuka. But seriously.

She asks who was playing. It was Ryoji. He’s right there, Fuuka, come on--

Did my boyfriend launch himself out that window to escape this interaction? Oh my god.

I never should have taken my eyes off him.

I didn’t even really get to answer him. Those weren’t definitive answers.

God. Fuck. Atlus, why. Why would you do this to me.

All I can do is go home, and spend my evening doing whatever.

Ryoji’s still absent from school, and now Aigis is gone, too.

But there’s literally nothing I can do.

I guess I’ll go to my student council meeting.

...Odagiri-kun, I know I’ve been neglecting your link. But – and I say this with as much respect as I can manage when I’m busy worrying about my boyfriend – it has been over six months. Just let this go, holy hell.

I’d rather not go home, but I guess I have to. After all, I need to get some sleep before the plot decides to go haywire.

You’ve never woken up at midnight even once this entire month? God, I should have woken you up in Kyoto.

Also the fact that Aigis went after him without telling anyone else what was going on… no. We’re a team for a reason, Aigis!

But no. He’s “dangerous”. He’s her enemy.

He also doesn’t know what’s going on at this point.

Shoutout to Atlus for the butterfly wings when she activates her powers. Thematically appropriate for the papillon heart. But look at his face! He doesn’t understand what’s happening, and you’re trying to kill him!

It triggers his memory, though.

Ryoji is the thirteenth Arcana Shadow: Death. And ten years ago, he was broken into thirteen pieces because of an incomplete awakening in the Kirijo labs. During a fight on the Moonlight Bridge against Aigis, a robot created specifically to destroy shadows, she couldn’t defeat or destroy him, so she sealed him into the only available vessel.

So, y’all killed his whole family in your fight. Oof.

Aigis says she had no other choice but to seal Death in this kid. I guess when you’re 100% focused on your goal, it certainly would seem like that.

I am curious what happened to Minato after that. I’m surprised any of the remaining scientists didn’t snatch him up. Did Aigis just never mention what happened to Death?

Apparently not, because this poor kid was left to grow up alone, until his inevitable return to Iwatodai.

...he looks like he’s in pain, now that he’s remembered.

Aigis comes at him, even though he tells her not to because he’s stronger than the first time they fought. He’s got all of his pieces now. He doesn’t want to hurt her. And he deflects her no problem with what I’m assuming is Moonless Gown. But she keeps trying, even activating Orgia Mode, until she can’t anymore.

Fuuka had been scanning for Aigis, and SEES took off immediately when she found her, so now we’re arriving two minutes too late. Aigis is down, entirely shut off, and Ryoji is not doing well.

You didn’t want any of this. It’s not your fault.

He tells SEES that the shadows exist to bring the rebirth of the “maternal being”, and that the Appriser exists to draw her to him and allow her to awaken.

Overwhelming?

Incomparable?

Inevitable?

OLCE?

He explains that he was born ten years ago and sealed inside Minato, and that Minato returning to Iwatodai set all of this in motion.

Junpei, he’s awake during the Dark Hour and won against Aigis. There’s clearly something going on here.

...plus, listen to how sad he sounds.

No wonder. An awakening will take it out of you, and he awakened to something stronger than most of us can comprehend. Minato also realizes that Ryoji was probably Pharos all along.

This would be a great opportunity to carry him home like a damsel, though. I’m gonna pretend that’s what happened, especially after the music room conversation. And I KNOW I’m gonna have to go to school tomorrow, but I’m also going to pretend I don’t have to.

But yeah. Seriously, Atlus? For real? All of that?

Just end me.

I need to go write fic or something.

They deserve to make out on a piano.

I’ll do the sad explanation next time.

(Also I’m gonna hit the image limit. X’D)

[6okuto]

who is Cove and why do you love him so?

So Excited For This Question. cove is the love interest from our life: beginnings & always which has been My Visual Novel for years. LOL. if u enjoy childhood friends to lovers this is for U, though u don't actually have to date him. u can just be neighbours/friends the entire game too!! our life has an Unbelievable amount of content for a free game + such cheap DLC's it's absurd😭 gonna reign myself in and move on though. Cove Facts and Moments.

he ranges from warm - cold, studious - sporty depending on your choices/what you set him as but !! he's always more introverted as well as very sentimental with you !! in the most affectionate way possible he's a crybaby. it's really sweet you can give him a gift and he cries, you tell him you love him and he cries, he'll cry during the marriage proposal, in the wedding DLC, etc etc...

cove is canonically autistic! (< some of his traits! just to save space here LOL) as well as demisexual + panromantic ^^ you guys get to talk about your sexuality twice in the game iirc

he tries new things + works out of his comfort zone for you ^^ going to a soiree, sleeping in the same bed, just working up the nerve to try a pick-up line on you, etc etc. he thanks you for always waiting for him to work through his panic/emotions because he Does want to do those things with you it just takes time... wuuahhh...

ofc this has to do with recognizing different players but he's happy to follow your lead or make decisions! he just wants to help and see you happy because that makes Him happy :-( like in the wedding DLC there's so many choices since... you're planning your wedding. and you can decide on things, or ask for his help! like when you're picking a cake, you can ask for his opinion and go with it or change things. also if there's cultural traditions you'd like to do at the wedding he's happy to do so!! ^^

he's got a sweet tooth. he loves food. you can get/make him food and he's like !!!!!! :D. he's not good at naming pets. he's easily flustered. he loves to climb through your window to see you. he surfs. he'll teach you to surf. he volunteers and cleans the beach. he's kind of messy. there's always sand in his room because he loves the beach. he loves his parents and they love him. he cares about his friends a lot and gets worried when they fight. he's clingy (/Affectionate.)

^ seriously if anyone reading this likes physical affection + established relationship fluff, play and start step 3 with high initiative + choose the option that you're already dating. Trust Me. If you've ever wanted to trust me Now is the TIME!!!! i pick kiss and hug and hold hands/his arm and get a piggy back ride and cuddle all the time and it's Beautiful.

i don't know . talking about cove is kind of hard because it's a culmination of dialogue + moments.. SPOILERS . how he'll offer to give you his homework when you think you've lost yours. how he'll give you a piggy back ride at the farmers market even though now he's holding the weight of all the groceries too. how he'll deal with someone being mean to him but as soon as they're mean to You he has a problem and Will defend you. how he'll check on you if you're upset about growing up, and tells you you can run a pretzel place together instead to cheer you up. how he keeps looking up "how do you make someone happy?" because he wants to try harder to make sure you're happy 😭😭🩷🩷

like every fluff scenario i could ever want / write about Would be done or has been done by cove.. wedding dlc spoilers //////// he says "i can never, never, thank you enough for being mine and letting me be yours" R U JOKING. I'd write smth like that. OMG. ////////

if i was told my writing brought the same fluff and comfort as cove and OL i'd start frolicking through meadows of tall grass and flowers. The dream.

+ minimal dialogue spoiler screenshots i still have. i have others but you know. YAAAYY!!

[angevon]

Stardew Mods

Here are my thoughts on the Stardew Valley mods I tried in my most recent game. To be fair, the game I used them in only got to Fall 20th or so of year 1 before I got bored and decided I want to maybe restart with a different loadout, haha.

The good:

All professions - I wanted to use Skill Prestige mod (which lets you "reset" your skill exp to go back and get all skills, sounds great for a long term game) but at the time of starting the game, it wasn't quite ready for 1.6, so I went with this instead and have no regrets. Less grindy than Prestige would've been anyway! I don't think I have it in me to keep to the same game for such a long term anyway.

Animal Observer - speech bubble above the animals so you know if they've been petted and/or are readying up a resource.

Auto Catch, AutoFillPetBowl, AutoGate, Crop Watering Bubbles, passable crops - self explanatory

Better Shipping Bin - the shipping bin acts as a chest and you can pull things out of it.

Canon-friendly Dialogue Expansion - adds more npc interactions with each other, pretty cute from what I saw.

Chests Anywhere - it's going to be hard to play on console without this. Lets you access all your chests whenever, wherever. Sure it's cheaty but this game is LONG and I don't have as much free time irl as I used to.

Community Center Helper - when you hover over a community center bundle item, it gives a note on where/when to find the item. I found this most useful for the fishing ones so I don't have to wiki when a fish is around.

Cornucopia - adds more crops. My favorite part of the game is farming so this is a no-brainer hehe. Will be great when they add recipes using them, but not necessary since tbh I was never into cooking.

Difficulty Socializing - mod to gain fewer or more social points from social aspects. I set everything to 50% since in the Switch game I maxed everyone out super fast and was kinda disappointed haha.

Gunther Tells You - has Gunther tell you the description of donations.

Forage of Ferngill - has a bunch of different modules and I love the new flowers! but, the flower press is a little broken and I got rich way quick on them 😂 but it's true flowers DID need a boost over crops...

Fourteen Heart Events for All - No Marriage Required - self explanatory. Works with Platonic Friendships too!

Happy Fish Jump - makes fish jump out of the water sometimes.

Harvest With Scythe - also has a Harvest With Sword option. love swinging my sword and having crops fly out of the field.

Lasting Conversation Topics - helps you not miss any topical dialogue just because you missed talking to someone on the event day.

Platonic Partners and Friendships - if I don't decide to get married in the game, there is always this

Pokémon Wonder Mail - it's a newsletter you get in the mail about Pokémon. supposed to be used alongside the other Pokémon mods.

Quest Time Limits - lets you change the quest time limits

ReportMobCounts - notifies you how many of each enemy is on a map. Great for monster farming.

Ridgeside Village - this one adds a whole new village to visit, with a whole bunch of new NPCs to befriend. Does a pretty good job of being canon-compliant. Downside: there's some rich snobby NPCs that feel out of place.

RobinIsSingle - look, I wanted to marry her on the Switch. Well, now on PC I can! sorry not sorry Demetrius.

Self-Serve - use a store regardless of NPC being there

TimeSpeed - I'm using it to stop time indoors like in Harvest Moon games.

Traveling Skill - the more you walk, the faster you go. Who needs a horse?

Visible Artifact Spots - the dig spots now have a bubble

Visible Fish - this one shows fish in the water. However, it's just their static icon image in the water so they look very... immobile... still cute anyway.

Wild Animals - adds more wild animals in the background, very cute.

Wild Flowers Reimagined - flowers grow in the grass sometimes

The going away:

East Scarp - kinda like Ridgeside Village, adds a new village zone, but it's not quite polished yet. It's more modular where you can pick and choose which NPC modules you'd like to add, but if you don't get most of them, the village feels empty. In my game there was an entire empty map I had to walk through to get there, so I kinda didn't bother half the time 😪I did like Sen at least!

Fireworks Festival - it's cute but uses a lot of assets from the winter night festival, but comes before the winter festival, just felt weird.

Fish of Stardew - more fish is a great idea but I found they got in the way when I was trying to fish for bundle fish. Also, I think it adds an algae rock item that, when combined with the happy fish jump mod, causes algae to jump out of the water. Hilarious but immersion breaking!

NPC Jasper - just not feeling it!

Pokemania - adds Pokémon to the game. Mostly sprite replacers but cute. I'll be removing Pokemania because the dog/cat evolution is buggy which breaks immersion (it unevolves the next day...?). Also adds Pokémon cries that are way too loud.

Resource Chickens - This adds chickens that lay eggs you can convert into resources like Coal, Fiber, etc. Conceptually cool! I thought they'd be useful but I found I didn't end up needing them at all.

Stardew Valley Expanded - I gave this an honest try since it's highly recommended, but it just changed too much in Pelican Town. Maybe in a future playthrough I'll come back to this. Also, it ALSO added a rich family, what is with these modders and adding rich npcs?

Carry Your Pet - nothing wrong with it, I just wasn't using it at all.

Mods I'll keep but didn't really use or notice:

Adventurer's Guild Expanded - I'm not a deep dungeon kinda person tbh but was hoping this might make it feel more worth it to go into the mines, etc. Honestly didn't notice anything it added.

Billboard Anywhere - I found by habit I checked the board manually anyway. In my defense, I play on controller and the menu-ing on controller is a pain. I couldn't find how to reach the billboard from the menu without resorting to using the mouse.

Dwarf Expansion - never got all the dwarf scrolls 😂

Event Lookup - you can use this to see what cutscenes you have available to see. I didn't use it, but I figure it'll be useful more towards later in the game when friendship is maxed for most npcs.

Gift Decline - makes it so spamming the same gift isn't effective. I didn't actually gift much in this playthrough so this didn't have any effect.

Horse Overhaul - supposed to make the horse able to fit through areas it can't in vanilla, but I never got the horse.

Junimatic - gives Junimos more things to help with. I just didn't get far enough to use it.

Let Me Shop - lets you use Clint's shop still when he's upgrading a tool

Log Menu - adds a menu to access that shows most latest dialogue, including cutscene dialogue. Useful if you skip through something on accident like I do.

Luck Skill - one of those, does it work, or doesn't it? I can't tell!

PolyCarts - adds a bunch of minecarts but they still gotta be unlocked by community center bundle.

SkullCavernElevator - didn't get that far either!

Yet Another Cooking Skill - I'm not into cooking but I'm trying to change that.

[mwolf0epsilon]

15 Lines Game

Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture their character/personality/vibe. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you’re free to include those as well.

Tagged by @alwayskote , thanks! This was a bit of a challenge because I couldn't decide on which OC I wanted to do, and then I wasn't sure if I had enough dialogue for them that encompassed the entirety of their personalities (；′⌒`)

No pressure tags: @milfcutlawquane , @lost-on-kamino , @squirrelno2 & @gaeasun

Clone Medic Sponge

"His name was Jelly." They say. "And I killed him because I asked him to come with me to the 501st…"

"She likes pats on her hind-quarters, like playing a drum… And don't give her anything even if she tries to beg, she's already been fed and she knows it."

“Not enough pay in the world to deal with you.” They snarl, bared teeth and a fire in their eye. “But I’m not about to let Rey'vod’s little stupid Ey'ika rot to death…”

“We all look alike to them! They get to have identities all of their own without having to fight tooth and nail to distinguish themselves, and we… We’re interchangeable! Just copies!” CT-2525 hated them. They hated them for it. For the unfairness of it all. “I thought he was my friend…”

“Gender identity is, in my opinion, much more important than what goes on between someone’s legs or inside their bodies. It’s who you choose to be that should precede all things. Even natural processes that would mark you in a different box.”

"He'll rest, I'll make sure of it…" Sponge huffed, a mischievous spark in those dark eyes of theirs. "If he doesn't, Beau will get him for me."

"You're both gross…" Sponge grunted in revulsion at the sight of Pitch and Coric speaking with their mouths full. "Have some manners…"

"That's why you use thick gloves when handling bitey critters and kih'vode." Sponge pointed out matter-o-factly.

“Next you’ll be telling me to sign my own decomm paperwork and deliver it to the Chancellor’s office while tap-dancing in clown shoes…”

“I can’t believe Crayfish is somehow less of a menace to society than Conch…” Sponge snorted. “I think it was better when we used to try to smother each other with a pillow. At least then whatever nonsense came out of his mouth was heavily muffled.”

"Nothing that glows in the dark is meant to be pretty." Sponge pointed out with an exasperated grunt. "It's meant to lure you to the light so that it can snag you unawares."

"Krell is sending us on suicide missions, and ignoring what viable options we have for a swifter less costly success! He's is KILLING us, and your response is to roll over and show him your belly like a dog?!"

"What else did you do Captain? Get on your knees for him? Suck his big fat Besalisk cock like the little bitch you are?!"

"Admit it, you're nothing but a sniveling coward who'd rather save his own skin than do the right thing by his vode!"

“Bitter resentment hasn’t set in yet. It’s what makes them better…” Sponge had seemed resigned to that, but not in a way that felt particularly bad. At least not from the way they’d sounded. “It’s our job now, to make sure those of us that are still so eager to hope can live freer lives than the ones we’ll surely live.”

Riot Trooper Olly Olly Oxenfree

“Is it as annoying as the ukulele you showed me last time? Or the recorder? Or the clarinet?”

“It’s… Not as indigestible as the last one…” The somber lullabies had filled him with melancholic feelings.

“If you keep thinking so hard, you’ll burn out the tiny lightbulb that lives inside your thick skull…”

“You need to take things slow Rhythm. Something will eventually pop up into that scattered brain of yours. Preferably, something he might actually find enjoyment out of… I can’t imagine what degenerate actually likes the banjo…”

“I’ve been told I’m very good at slapping away rapidly moving objects… I suppose it had to do with the fact Pretty Boy enjoyed throwing stuff at both myself and Lichtenberg during training…”

“….Rhythm, that’s a frog. Not a dog. And its eating the tablecloth…”

“My body hurts sometimes, big kriffing deal. It’d hurt from long shifts and violent altercations anyway…”

“This stupid condition is nothing special, so DON’T treat me like I’m made of KRIFFING glass…”

“I’m being pragmatic.” He rebuked bitterly. “I was going to die anyway… Every moment of my life as a cadet I knew I was going to die. Might as well make myself useful before I do…”

"The medbay is currently off-limits to anyone who is not a part of the Coruscant Guard, due to unforeseen circumstances involving both a lack of resources and equipment. If you have any injuries you may need tending to, I would suggest going to your own battalion medics, an on-planet hospital, or sucking it up and dealing with it instead of bitching about it."

“This is Cabur. She’s a shiro that I found in one of the upper floors in a public fountain…” He offered as a form of explanation. “And I’ve been looking everywhere for her. I was afraid she’d gotten lost.”

“…. You never asked.” Olly shrugged in turn.

“Turtles can’t catch rabies.” Olly pointed out calmly.

“The Phase I armour was perfectly fine…”

“I really shouldn’t be taking painting advice from a vod who put volume sliders on his own armour, only to then nearly deafen himself by playing loud music all day…”

[ripeteeth]

Omgg you repliedd!!! Indeed the creative process is messy and i thought it's really a herculean task to ask anyone about their process but thank you so much for such a comprehensive detailed answer. I wil surely read up on the authors and books you have recommended and try to dissect them. Would love to also read the minotaur and Theseus story.

I'll mull about your answer for a couple times until I figure out what it means for me and how to apply it.

If you don't mind, here are some problems that i face in writing and i would love your advice :

it's plot and dialogue. When i sit down to write dialogue it's almost as if i forget how do people even talk .

2. I don't know how to plot, i have a kernel of an idea, characters and their journey but i drive into a blank wall when i think about how to actually extend the idea to a story, how to write incidents,scenes and events . I have no answer to the question 'What next? '

3. Another problem, what are you supposed to do to when you have a list of different ideas but don't know where to start from? which one to pick?

4. Also there can be a host of different possiblities for each story or ending, how are you supposed to pick?

5. My main problem is my inabiity to extend an idea to a story, to actually realise what is in my head into words on a paper. It's driving me crazy for years and i would be so so greateful for some relief.

I hope I am not being persistant and an inconvenience for pestering you with these messages and my troubles.

Also you are an excellent writer, please never doubt yourself.

You have indeed made my month too.

Hmm, honestly most of these aren't something I can answer. I can't direct you to which idea to pick or which ending to write, that's something you have to determine for yourself. And I feel you, it can be very hard! Sometimes you just have to throw all the ideas in a hat and pick one at random and commit to it.

That's the real key. Don't give up. Your draft is gonna be shitty. You're gonna miss scenes and it's gonna be terrible. That's a first draft. And usually a second. It gets better as you keep going, but if you bounce around - or never start - then you don't have anything to edit and expand on. Just pick something at random and start putting the words on the page.

Plotting is difficult and I always struggle with it. I frequently like using the Snowflake Method, which begins with your broad ideas for the story and helps drill down and determine the smaller ideas and scenes to further and support it. But nothing will tell you which scenes are required to further your story, only you will know that. I frequently like to work backward. For example, I'm writing a story where Victor Frankenstein and the Creature fall in love. So, I ask myself, okay how does Victor get over his animosity for the Creature? What forces them to interact? I saw one of my final scenes as a reversal of the ending of Frankenstein, in that I wanted to find Victor bent over the Creature's dying body and mourning him, desperate to keep him. So then I work backward. Why is the Creature dying? What happened to get him to this point? What brought Victor to be present? Why does Victor now care?

There are lots of different plot structures out there and everyone will tell you that they've got it all figured out, but the fun thing is that there really isn't one way to plot a book. You can be creative. The trouble is the paradox of choice. We have so many options that it makes it hard to figure out the right option for us. You might get midway through your story and decide you don't like the plot structure. That's happened to me. Sometimes you have to go back and rewrite, sometimes you can reorganize scenes. It's all a part of the process.

Working backward works well for me, but it's absolutely not the only method. There are a lot of great books on writing and fiction that have addressed this far more intensively and eloquently than I ever could! I really recommend Craft In The Real World by Matthew Salesses; Steering The Craft by Ursula K. LeGuin; Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott; Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative by Jane Alison; and The Writing Life by Annie Dillard. There are some great online resources like The Center for Fiction, classes like Gotham Writers Workshop, and a lot of libraries offer free workshops and lectures for aspiring writers or can direct you to a wealth of other resources that I haven't even thought of.

When it comes to dialogue, the best thing a writing instructor ever told me was to steal from real life. Pay attention to conversations you have and hear around you. Write them down. Be a magpie of everything. I have a constant note running in my phone of things I hear. When I notice dialogue I really love in books or shows, I mark the passages and try to learn to write in that way. To mimic it. Like right now I'm going over the Succession script book to study the dialogue as it's just absolutely incredible. There's really no better way. Look at the stuff you admire, try to pick it apart and make it your own.

I hope this helps in any way! I know it's difficult and hard to navigate, but I really really do rec those writing books as resources, they've helped me immensely and I think you'll find gold in there.

[houndfaker]

currently stopped at 12/2. there’s a lot i wanna talk about. this game makes me feel so incredibly strange. ill leave a very messy ramble under the cut

being past a majority of the significant moments i feel like i can give a pretty lengthy discussion of my feelings

the game does what it says on the tin it’s an hd remake. storyline (at least as of the date i cited) is by and large approximately the same.

the game itself is gorgeous it looks amazing. there is so much clear effort put into every little aspect, of which everyone is already greatly aware

i have highly mixed feelings

things i am enjoying

a nice handful of the link episodes and optional content are feel good and sweet moments that give a better impression of the cast’s relationship, which is always welcome. particular examples im personally really about include shinji’s link episodes and the group study sessions

theurgy moves and how they reflect each characters growth in their second move that unlocks with their ult persona. trismegistus’s theurgy killed me dead.

lots of very welcome qol changes that streamline numerous parts of the original game in a way that feels pretty good. i particularly enjoy the text message function and how it reminds you who’s available which days while also letting you fast travel directly to the link in question, and the net functionality thing that lets me see what others decided to do each day. a ton of helpful stuff for someone really forgetful basically

ive been playing on peaceful because im not good at rpgs (yes i spent $70 on a game from a genre i am notoriously bad at!!!!) so i can’t speak much to a lot of gameplay stuff but im glad tartarus has more to it and has also received qol changes that make it less of a slog to grind (at least in my experience). in general tartarus’s overhaul rules; visually the alternate environments with different corresponding floor layouts are awesome

they let ryoji be bisexual outwardly! kinda pretty much? much like aigis’s “I know you should be with a man” in portable it’s hard not to take “I want to be more than a friend to you” as anything other than explicitly gay. i still have a few more scenes with the guy so it might take a minute before i can be fully confident in this point.

things im not enjoying

the quality of the character writing in a lot of places is either off, irritating, or it flat out feels incorrect in some instances. whether it’s aki dropping the p word as liberally as he does or mitsuru being constantly put forward as intimidating and that’s the whole joke, or the weird new speech quirks aigis has, there are moments you can very much tell the writers are going “how many times can we fit this same unfunny joke or bit across the game”. it feels like a greater chunk of the time that they don’t Know what to do with the characters so they fall back on pushing whichever flagship trait that character is known for and it really hurts the overall enjoyment of the additional content when it feels so…shallow? as a result. not ALL of it is this way but there is a significant enough pattern that it’s genuinely a bother

how little they use the potential of this remake to demonstrate individual character dynamics that aren’t otherwise frequently touched on (i.e say yukari and shinji or aki or like aigis and shinji or fuuka and aki; there’s like a ton of character duos within sees that we just don’t really have a grasp on how they feel about each other). i was especially disappointed at the lack of shinji with other people than the rest of senpai squad or the protag, which is what i was most looking forward to having more of going in. maybe some of what i was hoping for is in tartarus dialogue i didn’t wind up triggering (which there is an insane amount of that id love to pick through once im done) but just based on the episodes i played and the hangouts i did it’s still like man. i wanted to see him being friends with other members yk? they barely took any cues from the portable slink.

BECAUSE the story is written so closely to the original any weird inconsistencies remain the same, although there are a handful of moments where they clarify certain important things that i don’t believe were in the originals. on a similar note whereas they smartened up and made stuff like romance optional and removed that notorious transphobic scene, they’re still not immune to being really fucking weird about age gaps and grooming !!! and of course the sexualization of highschoolers remains ‘Detrimental’ to the storyline 😐

ok i writing this as i am so sleep I am falling asleep with my phone. my primary thoughts for now make of that what you will. god i hate video games

[fatesdeepdive]

Entry 121: The Same Chapter Again Except Less Horny

You know what I realized I haven’t talked about? The Difficulty Modes in this game. Fates has two types of difficulty, with three options each. The first type determines enemy strength and is split into: Normal, which is painfully easy; Hard, which is a decent challenge; and Lunatic, which exists to tell you to go fuck yourself. There are also three death types: Classic, where units die; Casual, where units come back after battle; and Phoenix, where units come back every turn.

I think that Normal/Hard/Lunatic all have their merits. They are good for learning the game, playing the game normally, and pushing yourself respectively. There are a lot of really cool Ludonarative things accomplished by Classic mode, in addition to it being a good challenge, but Casual is a fine easier mode that I’m okay with existing. I admittedly played Casual when writing this blog.

The oddball is Phoenix. It exists so you can see the story without playing the game, except, you still have to play the game, just without any choices mattering. Also, this game isn’t written good enough to skip the game and just read the story. It would be cool to try out Phoenix/Lunatic mode as a weird challenge run, but unfortunately, Phoenix locks you into Normal mode for some reason.

I’m going to do a bunch of DLC chapters in one fel swoop now.

Xenologue 2: Beach Brawl

Corrin is given a ticket for a vacation to a tropical island, but insists that one of their siblings take it. The boy royals argue about which one of them has to go on a vacation and pass it around like a hot potato. Their retainers show up and demand they go on a vacation, leading to an eight-way brawl over who gets the ticket. In this chapter, the player chooses one royal and their retainers and has to take on the other seven teams. The chapter uses premade units instead of the royals you actually have, for balance reasons. There is a Dragon Vein that lowers the stats of other teams. I don’t have much to say about the gameplay, because I haven’t actually played this one and am just going off the script on the wiki.

Each team gets their own little bit of dialogue before battle. Kagero and Saizo vow to lay down their lives to ensure Ryoma gets a vacation. Hinoka tries to forfeit, but Setsuna and Azama force her to fight so she can bring back gifts for them. Takumi orders Oboro and Hinata to surrender, but they refuse because they know he secretly wants the vacation. Sakura and Hana are worried that the vacation is a trap, but Subaki confirms it's safe after patrolling the beach; he also tells Sakura about all the sweets and begins making her an itinerary.

Xander orders Peri and Laslow to not slack off; his retainers request seashells and drawings of women in bikinis respectively as gifts. Camilla is sad that Corrin isn't going, but Beruka and Selena refuse to let Camilla go. Leo thinks that the whole thing is a waste of time, but Odin gives a big flowery speech about how great the beach is; Niles and Odin offer to slather Leo in tanning lotion so he returns bronze gold. Elise doesn't want to go without Arthur and Effie, but they tell her that fighting for her is all the vacation they need.

If you win, it cuts to a few days later, when Anna delivers a letter and a photo of the winning lord in a swimsuit to their retainers. I assume this is designed to be fanservice, which makes Elise and Sakura's inclusion a bit sketchy. Ryoma goes swimming and trains by fighting fish. His retainers also decide to train. Azama says he misses Hinoka's criticism. Hinoka trains by fighting coconuts and says she won't send presents, disappointing Setsuna. Takumi looks happy. Oboro gets jealous because she thinks he's dating Anna now because she took the photo. Sakura eats a bunch of fruit. Subaki and Hana argue about her swimsuit.

Xander clutches a Lilith floaty because he can't swim. He also sends back extensive notes on seashells and babes. Beruka assumes Anna is a spy and tries to murder her. Selena is jealous that Camilla is having fun, while Beruka worries about assassins. Beruka hopes Camilla brings back poison as a gift. Leo wears his cape to the beach and stays inside all day. He tells his retainers it was a waste of time. Arthur somehow rips his own underwear out while retrieving a letter from his pocket. Elise makes leis for her retainers. The retainers explain they would have been miserable at the beach and decide to spar.

Xenologue 3: Boo Camp

Boom Camp exists so you can grind EXP by endlessly fighting faceless. Felicia or Jakob tells Corrin that the army is weak, so they should train on a haunted mountain and overcome their fear. The plot is bare bones, but every unit gets a unique line when they fight the faceless. I'm going to only mention the interesting ones.

Azura admits that people used to think the castle was haunted because of her singing. Jakob threatens to level a mountain if Corrin is injured. Kaze says he was haunted by a woman's ghost once and does not elaborate. Mozu says that she doesn't believe in ghosts and that the faceless are just monsters, then worries that she's started seeing ghosts. Shura vows to do right by the restless spirits of Kohga, if they exist. Fuga says he’ll push his limits, even though he’s old.

Takumi screams for the monsters to get away. Azama complains about them trampling over the mountain, then realizes he's also trampling and decides to purify himself. Setsuna says the faceless aren't as scary as the decapitated corpse she ended up trapped in a pit with. Hinata is reminded of a woman in a white who hovered in a graveyard when he was a kid and comes to the conclusion, not that she's a ghost, but that she had a crush on him. Oboro says people are more scared of her than ghouls. Hayato is scared because he is a child. Kaden asks the monsters to scare him because he thinks fear is fun. Yukimura mentions that there are rumors of ghosts haunting Castle Shirasagi and says that he hopes there are, so he can see Sumeragi or Mikoto again. Scarlet assumes it's an exercise to get them to pair off as couples, for some reason.

Xander says that the thing he always feared was his father late at night. Camilla says that the Woods of the Forlorn and the games she played as a kid are scarier than the monsters. Leo says the dead envy him and that so do most of the living. Effie asks the faceless to come back to her gym for daily training. Peri screams because she's scared of mummies, then realizes it's just faceless and kills them. Selena calls the whole chapter stupid and says that she's seen way worse things, for example Camilla when she's upset, which is apparently scarier than the zombie apocalypse she was raised in. Benny complains that everyone mistakes him for a monster then screams because he sees monsters. Keaton likes the mud and bones. Gunter says it's dumb to waste EXP on him because he has bad growths.

Shigure decides to paint the mountain and the faceless. Midori is scared, but plans to make medicine out of monsters. Asugi pretends the monsters are pinatas. Hisame brings up Hinata's ghost crush, who apparently was seen behind him. Rhajat thinks the dreary mountain is dope. Siegbert thinks he is unfit to be king because he's scared. Soleil hears girls screaming and is into it.

At the end of the chapter, Corrin decides to come back later for more training, scaring their retainers.

Xenologue 4: Ghostly Gold

This chapter is like Boo Camp but for gold instead. The chapter begins with Lloyd and Lleewelyn informing Corrin that people keep looting the ruined temple they look after. Corrin offers to help. Because the looters attack at dawn, everyone has to stay up late. Also the looters are ghosts. Once again, everyone gets a single line, this time complaining about staying up late. Jakob dreams of fighting in his underwear, something you can make him do in Castle Battles. Silas gets tricked into licking a toad to stay awake. Kaze can't sleep without his favorite pillow.

Ryoma grumpily says he doesn't need sleep or breakfast or coffee. Hinoka falls asleep mid-sentence. Takumi points out that taking turns sleeping was an option. Sakura spills coffee on herself and others. Saizo says he can stay up for five days straight. Azama says he knows how to sleep in the middle of a conversation without people knowing. Setsuna says that she went to bed early instead of keeping watch because she knew the others would wake her. Kaden says he sleeps while curled up into a ball. Orochi says it was adorable how the others slapped each other to stay awake. Rinkah says she slapped people to keep them awake. Yukimura praises the tactical plan of striking when everyone was asleep, then points out he has caffeine. Scarlet says that this is the first time she's ever seen a sunrise because she normally sleeps in.

Camilla says she is in a MOOD because she and Corrin couldn't sleep. Leo says he will make the next person who calls him grouchy suffer. Odin says his eyelids are being pulled down by ghost magic. Niles says he always sleeps with one eye open, but then again he normally does things with only one eye open. Laslow says he stays up for pillow talk. Peri cries and says she's emotional when she doesn't get enough sleep, meaning she probably hasn't slept all game. Beruka says she took part in a three-week stakeout once. Benny says he was too scared to fall asleep because people told ghost stories. Keaton is mad everyone knows he snores. Gunter falls asleep boasting.

Shigure sings a lullaby to keep himself awake and accidentally puts everyone else to sleep. Dwyer complains about having to make all the coffee when he's tired. Sophie, half asleep, thinks the ghosts are cotton candy. Midori makes worm juice energy drinks. Mitama can't write a good poem because it's four in the morning. Caeldori says she should have brought a romance novel to keep her awake. Forrest complains about having to sleep on the ground, which is bad for his skin and hair. Velouria is nocturnal. Percy says he annoys Arthur in the morning. Soleil says she almost showed up naked.

Corrin decides to give back all the gold the bandits dropped. The twins give them the gold as a reward. After Corrin leaves, Lloyd and Llewelyn mention the gold is cursed and gives bad breath.

Xenologue 5: Museum Melee

Team Corrin goes to an interrealm museum featuring rare weapons. The curator explains there's a battle to the death over the weapons Corrin can compete in. Okay. Also the museum is on an airship for some reason. This one allows you to get rare weapons and items. You can also get capturable bosses here, because bosses are also items. Corrin points out that they shouldn't be fighting with real weapons. Felicia wants a tea set she can't break. Shura points out that he's still robbing people, even after renouncing his bandit life. Izana requests to be given the entire airship.

Ryoma worries about Ranjito being stolen. Saizo calls the whole situation absurd, but does what is demanded. Setsuna says wheeee because she's on an airship. Oboro compares it to a holiday sale. Yukimura is disappointed that it isn't a real museum.

Xander points out that only he can wield Siegfried, because he is a bad father and forgot his son exists. Elise says she wants a divine weapon like her brothers. Arthur is confused by being forced to act like a mugger. Peri begs Corrin to let her kill people. Selena goes to the gift shop.

Dwyer wants coffee from alternate universes. Midori tries to trade drugs for weapons, because she is secretly Ronald Reagan. Shiro wants a weapon that can beat his father's. Selkie does not grasp that a fight is going on. Hisame wants pickle-eating utensils. Ignatius gets airsickness. Nina follows hot guys around.

After the battle, the curator explains that the weapons were donated by realms no longer at war. He explains that the people we just beat up were also from war-torn realms and Corrin feels sad. I don't. Soldiers are not always good, Corrin. Corrin says they'll donate the weapons after they've won the war, so others can achieve peace.

Xenologue 6: Royal Royale

This one takes place after Revelation. A version of the Rainbow Sage from the Outrealms informs the princesses that Corrin is in danger. Specifically, an alternate universe version of Corrin who hasn't beat the game yet is in danger. He tells the princesses to spar to see who is the strongest, which will allow him to make stat boosting items for Corrin. Somehow. The girls don't to fight each other, but agree once they find out the princes already agreed.

Wait a minute. This is just Beach Brawl again, except less horny this time! What a rip-off!

Winning nets you a Dread Scroll for the Hoshidans and an Ebon Wing for the Nohrians, plus a character specific stat booster (Secret Book for Takumi, Energy Drop for Ryoma, Seraph Robe for Hinoka, Dracoshield for Xander, Spirit Dust for Leo, Godess Icon for Elise, and Talisman for Camilla).

There are people who paid money for these chapters.

[1tarot1with1k1o]

okay so i wanted to give some personal insight about the situation with your friend because i know how it feels to try and tell someone something personal like that especially about spirituality and just feel anxious about how they'll react. so honestly this wasn't something you had to explicitly say "hey this is is important to me so hear me out" but if you did i feel like perhaps her reaction would've been a bit more serious. now obviously you can't control her reaction but i do think hers was rude especially bc it was important to you and made you so anxious. it makes sense that you're upset by this and i don't blame you. she could've been more considerate with her response. imo you have two choices to make: you can either try contacting her and telling her how her reaction made you feel bc this might cause you to harbor some resentment towards her if you don't say anything or you can just choose to let it go and not really speak to her as much anymore. i would recommend the first option because you know she's a pretty close minded person so that reaction to your spiritual experience was probably not going to be pleasant (that's why i don't bother telling people my experience who are not already spiritual) so explaining to her why it's important to you and how she made you feel would be a better route. i hope this helps 🤍

First of all, thank you so so much for taking the time to sincerely understand my personal concerns. It means a lot. And thank you for the delicate yet diplomatic way in which you wrote this message. I’m sorry that you’re familiar with this kind of feeling. It shouldn’t be the case <3 I want to say that not knowing the full context of the story, I would completely agree with you!! Because misunderstandings and mistakes can indeed happen sometimes, and that’s okay. We’re all different, we can change and grow, and we can never learn enough, especially about each other. It’s nothing that a heart to heart talk can’t fix.

However, I didn’t include the whole dialogue, or talk about our friendship as a whole. In this case, I approached the topic very carefully before telling her the whole story. I was clearly being hesitant. In the past, I already told her about the things that matter to me, yet she never put too much effort in trying to meet my needs (they aren’t high standards. I promise you).

She would constantly talk about herself (some days, we’d stay out from morning until the evening, and she would be the only one talking. She would literally talk for 12-13 hours uninterrupted. Which I didn’t complain about because I’m a listener, and I didn’t mind her sharing her frustrations with me. I was totally fine with it. But it made me notice how she wouldn’t ask about me).

She’s very quick to judge, and has little to no emotional intelligence. She’s very book smart. But she also lacks street knowledge or common sense. Like one of those people who make you wonder how they managed to survive for so long.

These characteristics weren’t a big enough issue to be a huge obstacle to me. But they were small hints I picked up along the way, that started weighing enough to make me want to reflect on the nature and on the direction of our friendship, from time to time.

I had been considering of having a serious talk with her, and either solve things or end them once and for all. But it was hard to infiltrate between her talks about herself and the talks about how others constantly bother her so much.

I decided that this “confession” (which I hate to call like this, because whenever we talk about spiritual connections with other people who aren’t spiritual, it seems like we’re committing a crime or some sort of unspeakable thing that we should be ashamed of), was going to be my last flip of the coin. Based on how she would respond, I’d see if she was someone I wanted to meet halfway with, and continue the friendship, or if she was going to be a person that I had to leave in the past. You can guess which side the coin landed on.

She knows super well what my main and only standards are for people, and yet she doesn’t care one bit. She lives as herself and for herself. She has her own very complicated life issues, of course, which surely impacted, and still impact her greatly, but it’s not an excuse to not want to do and be better. If anything that should be an encouragement. Coming from someone who had her fair share of struggles in life.

This was just like the cherry on top. Problems were rooted much deeper, but I always had this hope inside that she would actually turn out to be better than what I expected of her. I hoped to be the bad guy, and to have always just misunderstood or underestimated her. But this interaction was like a slap on my face from a huge stop sign that I smashed into, which I always hoped to be imaginary. I can control myself and my actions, so if I would have turned out to be the asshole, then I would have sincerely apologized to her and made effort to become a valuable person and friend.

But I can’t control other people, so I wouldn’t be able to change her, especially since she doesn’t want to change. The best choice will be to let her go and hope she will find her path one day. There’s no saving this boat. I tried to put all of my efforts into the friendship, all the while she was peacefully doing nothing. For this one time, I’ll choose myself. I will always genuinely wish for her to have a great future ahead. I won’t resent or hate her, she didn’t do anything worth of me resenting her. She simply helped me realize how wrong we were for one another all along, and how useless my efforts were.

It was a good lesson! I learnt a lot because of this friendship. Now it’s time to close that book and start writing a much better one.

I clearly had more things to say than I thought I would haha. Thank you for giving me the chance to share my thoughts, and for being gentle with me.

Thank you for reading all of this!! Take care of yourself <3

[jessjustplay]

Lunar: Silver Star Harmony Review

November 12, 2024

1 = Meh, 2 = Okay, 3 = Good, 4 = Really Good, 5 = Amazing

Story 2/5

The story was okay, nothing extraordinary or complex. It was simple, which can always be a good thing. But something was still missing for me. If I were to summarize it, the story is about a boy named Alex who wants to follow in the footsteps of his hero, Dyne, and become a Dragonmaster. His friends join him as they meet new party members along the way. They uncover secrets from the past as they fight against the evil force that threatens the safety of their home, Lunar, and humanity's free will. Something like that.

Characters 5/5

The characters in Lunar: Silver Star Harmony are perfect. They are an adorable bunch with a variety of personalities that somehow work perfectly together. I really enjoyed getting to know everyone, and I loved that there was a character named Jessica in the game. It was cool to see my name, Jess, in a JRPG! And she was pretty awesome, definitely a crybaby beneath her tough exterior which is always an intriguing character concept. Mia was also very sweet and I liked nice the party was to her. Luna was lovely, too. And the boys were definitely under their control, which was just funny to me!

Narrative 3/5

I think it was fine. I don't think the narrative was terrible, but I don't think there was anything necessarily mind-blowing about it either. The only way the story moved on was through dialogue, not so much visually seeing anything that was happening. It was very dependent on conversations with others, so maybe that was not grabbing me emotionally as other games have. The conversations themselves were often very entertaining. Jessica and Kyle were always hilarious, and Nall was so good at poking fun at others and making me laugh.

Gameplay/Controls 4/5

No issues here, it was easy to move around. Buttons were easy, nothing complicated at all. The only thing I struggled with were in the battles, whenever I wanted to choose a party member for something (healing spells or items), it was hard to tell who I was selecting most of the time.

Battle System 4/5

This game has visible on-screen enemies which were hard to avoid. If you get near them, they begin chasing you! That actually gave me some anxiety sometimes lol. There was an AI option where the computer decides what the character does for that round. This is a turn-based JRPG and you have to choose an action for each character group turn. It was cool to choose everyone's actions in one go. I also liked that Nall hangs around in the battles and he heals/revives your characters - sometimes in the battle but always at the end.

Customization/Leveling Up 5/5

There wasn't much customization in this game. Equipment was standard and you couldn't synthesize or "make" new stuff. Each character had their set of spells & skills that they learned as they leveled up, which was straightforward with an EXP system. No complaints here!

Art (Music & Graphics) 5/5

The pixel art of the game is really beautiful. I loved how bright and detailed everything was. Each room that I entered had so many little details and it was funny hearing Nall's commentary if I was snooping somewhere I shouldn't.

Music plays, literally, a big part in this game with a heavy focus on singing. Luna in particular is a gifted singer with healing abilities. So cute. But even Alex's ocarina song was sweet! If I remember correctly, a lot of tunes in the dungeons and cities are repeated but it didn't bother me.

Enjoyment 3/5

I mentioned in my Finished post that this game started off strong, and it really did. I was beyond excited to play this game when I first started it. But the more dungeons I entered, the more repetitive the process seemed and I did start to get a bit... un-charmed. There was also a situation near the end of the game, where I spent an insane amount of time trying to do something that turned out to be impossible. That was like the nail in the coffin, as they say. It was hard for me to bounce back fully and enjoy the ending.

Final Score 31/40

Overall, I did like the game. It's very cute and I look forward to playing the remastered collection. I am, honestly, surprised I didn't love it, but I am glad I was finally able to experience this charming (and very anime) JRPG!

[lucrezianoin]

I AM ON IT

Jokes aside, it is hard I think to see what it really means or would have meant, without hearing the dialogue. It is kind of... creepy, that Astarion could decide to spare him.

It is also in the "meeting" lines:

But keep in mind that the only option "Yes, my boy" (said softer because Astarion gave him mercy) only leads to:

Mode 171 which is:

That is tagged with "spare Cazador = false".

So I wonder if it was scraped very very early. The two nodes there (400 and 394) are both antagonistic ("tell me how to complete the ritual" or "stab him").

I really wonder what kind of options could have led to an initial (temporary) way to spare Cazador. Was it Astarion hesitating? Was there a pre-fight where you could have spared him? Because these are all lines he can say after the main fight, so it assumes that there was something before different from "attack Cazador with all you have".

It also feels impossible to spare him... like, would Cazador just agree? Cower to get his energy back until he can attack again and finish the ritual? Is the ritual even constrained by time? I imagine there could be a way to spare him if you kill one of the spawns, and Cazador has no way to continue the ritual - then he probably would prefer to be spared than risk everything.

Dev notes for the Cazador confrontation (SPOILERS)

I think in the game I was not sure that Astarion would actually straighten up after Cazador reprimanded him but...

I also never got this dialogue, interesting that Astarion replies that Cazador will always be part of him:

There is some stuff that I think has been cut out (ex. a "yes my boy" that Cazador says softly to Astarion because Astarion spared him).

And some from the Astarion origin that adds some extra context about Astarion and the other spawns:

Also, we have the confirmation he was 39 years old. Here are some notes from the graveyard: