#clear the way ❁ ic ❁

[demimonde-semigoddess]

Tbh I think Ada is really underrated as Kitten Burst characters go.

[shmowder]

In case you missed it, Game Rant did an interview with Nikolay Dybowski about Pathologic 3. Here is the link for it.

And here are the bits that stood out the most to me:

Q: The non-linearity of time and how it will be related to the nature of the Town are also core story components. How did this affect design and direction?

A: Connecting non-linear time with a long, narrative-heavy story that involves many characters and cause-and-effect chains would be extremely difficult. We focused on what the player feels in the moment rather than on gathering information in the right order. The latter approach works well in shorter formats like Her Story or 12 Minutes, but in Pathologic, it would be overwhelming.

We wanted players to feel like “everything, everywhere, all at once”—similar to Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five. Different versions of reality coexist simultaneously, creating a “quantum” feeling for the player. Look at the time travel mechanic as an opportunity to correct mistakes, or even to make deliberate mistakes in order to unlock new paths and ideas. It is like a "sanctioned save scum."

-

Q: Conversely, how will it (Pathologic 3) connect to and consider the events and characters in Pathologic 2?

A: Consider it as two subjective retellings of the same events. This is the same Town, the same twelve days, the same participants and events that occurred in the Haruspex’s story. But this is a different perspective. Like two witnesses recounting the same event in Rashomon, the stories vary greatly, each focusing on different details. Finally, we always give our heroes the right to make honest mistakes, forget, and even lie. Every narrator is an unreliable narrator.

-

Q: How did Pathologic’s previous philosophical explorations help inform or play into the narrative and themes here?

A: Everything we now see as true and valuable, we’ve kept. Everything we’ve outgrown, like childhood clothes, we either reimagined and reinterpreted to give these ideas new meaning, or let go of them. After all, we’ve grown a lot (hopefully, along with the industry). When I first conceived Pathologic, I was 21 and completely alone. Now I’m 47, surrounded by incredibly talented people who enrich this universe as much as I do, and that makes a difference.

We’ve kept the idea of the tragedy of utopian projects. We kept the idea that the plague is a voice of the natural order—one that the thinking human mind cannot accept—and that it has its own truth. We retained the belief that evil cannot be defeated with its own tools or outplayed on its field; yet it can be defeated realistically in a different, orthogonal way. In another dimension.

-

Q: It’s mentioned that the Bachelor is searching for an immortal man in Pathologic 3. Can you say if this is in reference to Mark Immortell?

A: No, there’s no connection between Simon Kain (one of the town’s rulers) and Mark Immortell (the director of the town theater). Mark is a clown. He awkwardly mimics Simon, parodying him, which is why he takes on this pseudonym. He's fully aware that he’s a jester, and the gesture itself is ironic.

-

Q: What do you hope players will take away most from Pathologic 3?

A: The hope that humanity remains a promising and capable species.

-

Also, new game pictures and screenshots dropped:

(some are old ones I forgot to post)

[captainlexapro]

as a newer hockey fan who has very limited knowledge of players (and would consider myself still somewhat of an objective observer) it’s soooo funny how many people harbor such powerful negative feelings towards chucky…bc to me it’s blatantly obvious he’s playing a character. like yes he’s a pest, yes he’s always itching for a scrum but it’s clearly for the drama™️ of it all. athletes are performers, no? he’s performing a role (in the most theatrical sense) and he’s certainly very good at it 😆

[hewantshisbrideback]

"M'lady? You look sad. Are you thinking of your sister?" The dwarf patted her on the hand. "The Crone will light your way to her, never fear. The Maiden will keep her safe."

"I pray that you are right."

Brienne II, A Feast for Crows

[icewindandboringhorror]

sneeping with his legs up over his head for some reason... weird boye

[bicheetopuff]

I’m on chapter 11 of From the Sidelines…

[throwawayasoiafaccount]

i’ve found a tiny sliver of sympathy for book Alicent. imagine that every societal norm, every tradition, and every custom tells you that sons inherit before daughters. now, imagine that you are marrying the king, and your scheming father is happier than ever because the kings only child is a girl. if you have a son, he will be named heir, and your blood will sit the throne. this is as good as it gets. this is the highest position a woman in your society can reach. you played the game and won! your stepdaughter isn’t terrible either, and you two get along. everything is going so well. shortly after your marriage, you get with child and deliver a boy. perfect! you’ve done everything right; now it’s time for the reward. but then something terrible happens—something that sends your world crashing down around you: your husband refuses to name your boy heir. you are horrified, embarrassed, and angry. every societal norm, custom, and tradition tells you that your sons birthright is being stolen from him—from you. you’ve worked so hard, and this is what you get for it? it’s not fair. it’s maddening. you try to broach the topic many times, but your husband considers the matter of succession settled, and your father is eventually fired for pestering him to name your son as heir. you cannot believe this is happening. you are humiliated. a girl inheriting the highest position in the country? over your son? preposterous! she’s a thief! everything is ruined, and it’s all that damn whore’s fault!! said “whore” is a twelve year old girl btw

[otrtbs]

i have the shakes so bad rn and i want to make a latte,,,, what is wrong with me???

pleek.

[bericas]

I guess the end is here.

[lovecolibri]

Ahhhhh, Zac rolling that nat 20 for Gorgug to get the phone working and his call with Zelda and their first I love yous is SO sweet, it makes me melt every time! 😭😭😭 They are both SO awkward but trying SO hard to communicate about their feelings because it's important. I NEED Junior Year to explain what is going on with them RIGHT NOW because their relationship is so important to me 😭

[thetimelordbatgirl]

New school attendance rules (that are stupid as fuck) being published has me learning people didn't even know that the UK fines people for their kids not being in school unauthorized???

[raziraphale]

Liore is SUCH a good introduction to fma that every time I watch brotherhood and it opens on that random guy with the water alchemy trying to kill the fuhrer I want to scream. like I understand the pacing of the first cour is weak because they're trying to rush to the point where it diverges from fma03 more quickly... but why waste some of that time inventing an anime-original intro episode that doesn't do as good a job as what they already had? grrrr

[sonknuxadow]

im actually really worried about the knuckles series im so scared wade being a main character is gonna ruin it somehow . if they were gonna have one of the human characters be a co protagonist with knuckles it should have been maddie im not sorry for saying it

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

The second to last song in the takarazuka production of Elisabeth (and in the original but we're not talking about that rn) is this song where Franz Joseph, Elisabeth's ex-husband, has a dream where the personification of death shows up to idk, taunt him about how Elisabeth is gonna get assassinated and then she'll be with death forever, something like that, its actually a bit more convoluted but I dont have the time to get into it rn. Anyway, so Death and Franz Joseph argue about which one lf them Elisabeth loves more, her ex-husband with whom she is no longer on speaking terms because he cheated on her and who inadvertantly made her life a thousand times worse wayyyy before that, or her toxic yuri on-off (but mostly off) situationship who didnt do that and is also insanely hot and also is responsible for her sons death but im ignoring that for the sake of my argument. And for some reason, Death is super insecure?? Franz Joseph is like "if youre really Death, why dont you just kill her huh???" and he responds "I-Im just waiting for the right moment" and FJ goes "you LIAR youre just afraid that she'll reject you!!" and hes so affected by that for some reason??? Like bro, hes just some guy, he and Elisabeth are not even really on speaking terms anymore, when he approached her to tell her that shes his only goal in life she literally went "we have different goals" Whyyyyy are you insecure

Anyway, thats basically Tamlin and Rhysands dynamic when it comes Feyre

[eggbagelz]

Devil, won't you bargain with me

A redraw of an old piece

[ozzieinspacetime]

Simon Petrikov my girlfailure my manwife. My love. I care for him like a person cares for a damp and abandoned kitten with ringworm