#dealing with my feels by starting my third playthrough

[piratecaptainraven]

Temperance/The Star

[kiivg]

Your Rook is ridiculously good looking. Like, I’m actually blushing and it’s all your fault

.The initial idea for him was Grave Robbing Pirate and honestly the beard options came through for me like nothing else. Guaranteed I was going to go for muttonchops/sideburns before I even knew what the CC looked like, but idk they looked a little patchy sometimes and that is NOT what Farid is about 👏 The whatever it is he has now is iconic for him, I tried making him as an elf but it was Cursed and Never-to-Be-Seen-Again. Also the balding ponytail? I saw it, and I was like yeah that’s it, that’s him, that’s exactly what I’m about.

.Also it is absolutely insane to me that he’s the first draft, I got him in one go with a little fine tuning once I figured out how the CC works. Especially considering how ugly Goddard turned out as the Inquisitor 😭😭 but now I HC he just sends somebody over in his place to act as a go between, ain’t no way he’s traipsing around with Morrigan lmao. I did make a crummy Blackwall Inq so I could get Dorian to call him Amatus 👹 Pavwall Canon UNLOCKED. (I wonder if you could make the Iron Bull tho?? Sans wide horns ofc.)

.Also, girlie, tysm!!!!!! I am ALSO very 👀😳🥴🤫🫡 about him, I’ve just started my third playthrough of him, I’m still tweaking little bits here and there as I go along. Which means ofc I’m going to be screenshotting him in every cutscene 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️.

.Edit tho I’ve changed his name to Farid now 😘.

.Some facts about my Rook, Farid Thorne, and his story below 💕🫡.

.His mother is Therasia Thorne, a Rivaini Dalish elf who left her clan for the calling of the sea, and he is an absolute mama’s boy. Will do absolutely anything she asks with very little, if any, questioning. He doesn’t know (and most likely never will) who his father is, as the man bought Therasia’s silence over their affair with two galleons and a frigate. On a side note, Therasia was known for seducing very rich men and getting pregnant in order to blackmail them. Most of the time the fathers would pay up, and there has only been one instance of the father agreeing to take the baby off her hands, her bluff was called and she regretfully left her son behind.

.He adores expensive textures, silk, dragon scales, gold, fine lace, alamarri sheep wool, phoenix feathers. If he wasn’t a career criminal turned conscript he would have been a tailor. He owns (or used to own) several dresses/robes that he would just lounge about in naked to feel the fabric against his skin. Doesn’t really think too much of leather though, it can be stiff and often chafes the skin, which is strange because he’s very much a rope man.

.He waxes most of his body hair off, and keeps everything nice and tidy. He also puts coloured powder in his open wounds to preserve the shape of them as they heal, true to his mother’s traditions.

.Has kept his face completely bare of tattoos (apart from the fish he got when he was fourteen) in an honour to his Dalish heritage; he knows he won’t ever get valaslin because he’s only a half-elf, but the prospect of it keeps his face bare.

.Is fascinated by machinery and spent a great deal of time perfecting his own tools. His own frigate was equipped with self made trident ballistas, each one would fire three harpoons (individually or all at once) secured with thick chains, crafted to hunt and bring down large game, dragons, and smaller fleeing ships.

.In tune with his love for crafting, he follows June, and not the Maker. Though he does keep this to himself and those he considers family. If asked he just says he doesn’t believe in the Maker, and refuses to elaborate.

.Absolutely fucks, big family kind of guy. He is one of nineteen children, and has nine of his own by five different women, though he assumes there’s more because he was very much a leave before the sunrise kind of guy. Now he’s matured with being in the Wardens and has been less of a dick about it all. Whether or not he’s got any chance of knowing those kids who knows 🤷‍♂️.

.Never told anyone about his past when he became a Warden, the only people who know are those who were privy to his conscription, and the higher up Wardens upon receiving his arrest and conscription reports. Most people know he’s a conscript however, he doesn’t shy away from that, and he’s had a dozen or more rumours spread about him within the order. Evka was the first person to say he was a good Warden and back him up, and I think that solidified him as a third wheel to her and Antoine.

.He was actually conscripted by order of my HoF Andrastopher Cousland, as a favour returned. Andrastopher wanted aboard his ship when the Inquisition was seeking out a new leader,(there was no way he was becoming a religious figurehead lmao) and he stayed there for a good six months or so before Zevran joined them, and another two months before returning back to Thedas. They… uh… yeah 🥴🤫.

.If he was a companion his questline would probably follow trying to kill his older brother Galo after receiving a plea for help from his sister in law Aadiyah. Turns out Galo is either a) helping the Antaam navigate the seas uncontested or b) capturing and selling slaves to the Venatori. The big question at the end would be whether to tell their daughter that he’s her dad or to let her believe Galo was her father considering he HAS just murdered him, and she has several siblings that Galo fathered too.

.His gift would be an ornamental smoking pipe or a hookah, his room would be an observatory, full of navigational maps and constellations, there would be a small tailors work bench on one side of the room complete with mannequin and a sewn outfit that would slowly complete over his personal questline. His bed would be a row boat full of pillows.

.His almost kiss scene would be him explaining that he’s no good, his past actions are very much coming to bite him in the ass, and that you should really stop flirting with him. Does he want you to stop? No. Is he going to lean in to try and kiss you? Yes. Is he going to remember that everything is playing out as it does before and pull away because he knows he’s not good enough for you? Yes.

.His romance lock in scene would be stargazing on the beach in Rivain, he’d point out a couple constellations, talk about his time seafaring (minus all the murdering and pillaging). You’d get the option to ask about a few different ones (leading to locking out of the romance) or a secret fourth one and he’d absolutely bullshit some made up romantic story that parallels him and you, and you’d call bullshit because YES it is bullshit, and he’d say something awfully sappy about making it “our constellation” and then 💋💋💋.

.The actual romance scene would be that he turns up completely naked in your room, he’ll ask if you want the Captain or the Warden, and you uh choose and uh ye a hh haha ahaaaaa 😳🥴.

[dmagedgoods]

I thought about how I fell in love with Raphael the moment he opened his mouth for the very first time but I feel that for some he was an acquired taste. Sooo, Raphael Nation, I'm curious:

[moonchopsticks]

finished great god grove tonight! first scattered thoughts:

- been said to death but fucking immaculate style. yugo limbo never misses

-im the type of person that Needs to Know what happens next in the story so i definitely rushed over a lot of optional dialogue. definitely coming back for a second or third playthrough where i can dig into the world a little better

-i loooved the progression of revealing the lore and worldbuilding throughout the story. it was all very straightforward and followable yet sparse enough to make me feel like i was piecing together the nature of the gods and the grove organically. also watching the bizzyboy puppet exposition dumps were such a treat

-very cool worldbuilding, although sometimes the gods just felt like Big Immortal Humans. i know they all had their associated domains which influences their respective communities (+ tied into the different types of love that they each represent) but it never felt like they had much power outside embodying a specific theme. which is fine, there's lots of ways to interpret divinity and the concept of a god. maybe i'll have something more coherent to say abt this in the morning?

-^^ kind of ties into inspekta's whole deal. he already had immortality and was guaranteed it basically forever, in what way did king's ascension and the other gods just existing threaten him? like i'll buy that he had the sort of ego that comes from being insecure about the meaning of your short life and from fear of irrelevance, but if he was afraid of death it seems like he'd already be chilling just by accomplishing ascension. i guess he just wanted it All? i'm not really pressed about it, since the themes of like. love in the face of mortality and the insecurity that fear of death can bring are hugely impactful to me personally. and i like to see people talk about it. i just think more couldve been done with it.

-speaking of, capochin is a banger of a character. he has such a little ego and lords his authority over his subordinates, and you can just tell he's dripping with insecurity about his place in the world. i.e. at the right hand of inspekta as his unflinchingly loyal dog. he craves power and purpose and fears irrelevance, just like inspekta, and is tethered to his place by both intense fear and devotion. he treats the bizzyboys like dirt but even as they start to rebel against him they know that he'd never hurt them. also he's a 3 foot tall smug bastard fifty something year old with little puppy dog eyes. who's doing it like him

-inspekta, like all the players in the story, was made with such love and care that i couldnt imagine anything but a hopeful ending for him. aw hector. the secretly evil twist was pretty obviously telegraphed. had my suspicions pretty early on, which were solidified by the time the bizzyboys attack you after cobigail and all but stated after buzzhuzz, where they turn to fascism. (surprised that razzma said it straight up.)

- probably my favorite gods were cobigail and bauhazzo. did NOT expect to like them so much! cobigail's lore is really good for a human turned god of harvest--music teacher that lives in the school she used to teach in, a bright pillar of the community, voted to ascend by the town she brought together. slowly forgotten by the people she used to break bread with and slowly starving because they're forgetting how to come together and feed her. and she's a fucking cutie patootie sweet pea. and bauhazzo was very charming to talk to and also one of the most interesting thematically to me personally. for a god of memory and keeper of thousands of years of history he's very tender about the small moments. being a living memory essentially and letting nostalgia overtake you in a moment of weakness is an on the nose but relevant warning against fascist rhetoric (and just in general the trap of thinking about the Good Old Days). in general im someone that loves the ups and downs of life, and i tend to be nostalgic about the past and fear the passing of time, but my memory is really poor, so i end up thinking a lot about the subjectivity of memories and about how effervescent everything is...bauhazzo just ended up resonating with me ig!

-the first time miss mitternacht dropped that king uses she/her my eyes goggled out of my head like that cartoon wolf. experienced the euphoria of finding out that cool guy was a butch lesbian in real time. also makes her and miss mitternacht's thing one million times more juicy. idk i love gay people

-not sure why this stuck in my head but i cracked up when vibi was getting a little too into imagining capochin getting sweaty and dirty. pathetic man likers rise up

-patty i love u forever

-idk, this is the sort of game that reminds me that i want to create something. i want to make art without reservation. i'm grateful for projects like these.

[powdermelonkeg]

Alright so ive been thinking about it (probably far too much) and want a second opinion.

Tears of the Kingdom and Baldurs Gate 3 were the same price.

TotK gave me a total of like. I think it was 160 hours to 100% completion (koroks ignored) in my case. And then i set it down and have had no urge to touch it again.

I'm about 120 hours into BG3 now. I have not completed my first playthrough, and I expect Ive still got some 30 hours left of it. I DO intend to play through it again, and I know that there are countless things left for me to do in it still.

And like. I ENJOYED TotK. It was a blast. But looking at BG3 now, complete with its 3 stage city map, like five other maps too, full voice acting, complex storyline, multiple endings, replayability, etc.

It has me realizing that TotK reused its old map. The only major addition was a procedurally generated single-biome underworld and a couple of floating islands (several of which were copy pasted around the map). Most of its gameplay was already built on the previous game.

So the thought I keep coming back to then is that TotK was fine. It was fun. But if BG3 is a 70 dollar game, then TotK has no good reason to be any more than $40.

But I think youre more into both games than I have been, so I wanna know your thoughts.

Sat on this for a little bit and...yeah. $40 is a good price for it.

Like, I'm not too mad about the map thing. BG3 was in production since BotW came out, while TotK started in 2019 and has to deal with a physics environment. I know what I'm getting into with a Nintendo game when I buy one, I know the level of writing and effort (and railroading) to expect. But the price thing has been a thorn in my side that I've ignored for...awhile.

I do think BG3 deserved another year to cook. Maybe two. I'm extremely GLAD it came out when it did, because I found it when I did, but the third act, for all its complexity, has a lot of loose ends that need tying together. Which, I also am not mad about. When you've had Pokemon-level writing for most of your life, and you connect dots in Zelda, literally any snippet of BG3 writing feels incredible. Even the worst bits of Baldur's Gate are so rich in comparison to the Nintendo games I play. But I DO think that they rushed themselves, and they definitely did it so as to not compete with Starfield.

Which is like...I've spent a decade evaluating whole wheat bread, and you've put a massive chocolate cake in front of me. I'm not going to care that the icing on the third tier isn't as fancy as the first two. I am kind of going to lament that the baker had to rush it out the door, though.

Also BG3 replayability >>>>>>>>> TotK replayability. Like, it's past Skyrim levels. I love games where my choices matter and aren't retconned.

[grape-eating-vampire]

alright, it's done. i finished it.

this is the third and final part of things that happened in my first bg3 playthrough ever that I found so funny that I put them in my notes (spoilers below)

let me start this by saying I have only cried twice in the 155 hours it took me to complete this shit. however, I have almost-screamed at the characters more times than I'd like to admit. but first here's stuff that happened since the last one of these posts I made:

after killing Orin I went around Baldur's Gate for a while and did odd sidequests, including

clearing out a haunted house and sidelining to kill a stinky man in a wardrobe (and drag his body to a guy two streets over)

entirely ignored Gale's quest to look at a book because I kept getting arrested there after having killed the boss mage guy

I also foolishly though this wouldn't have any consequences. oh boy was I wrong

went to see a underwater prison, got told off by Gortash, decided to explore it after killing him, and promptly forgot to do so

killed Gortash! fuck that guy the only good thing about him is his fancy robe

tried to recruit a dragon called Ansur, found out the emperor is Balduran (????????? honestly I was shocked)

killed said dragon and felt like I was playing skyrim all over again

found a letter ("Dear Ansur") by Balduran/the Emperor. this was the first time I cried. I could still cry.

patch 6 came out! that was yesterday and I spent about 10 minutes trying out new kisses and sitting on Shadowhearts stool in camp (she now says "I'm glad you decided to join me" or something like that when you do)

went pretty much straight to the underground pool thing where the brain was supposed to be

failed abysmally to Dominate The Brain™

got pulled out by the emperor and had to start beef with Lae'zel because I had also forgotten to care about Orpheus and the hammer from the House of Hope

admittedly, I didn't really forget, I just didn't want to spend any more time with Raphael than I absolutely had to

my +14 persuasion saved the day once more and Lae'zel was fine with the one hope in her life getting his brains sucked out

went off to fight the brain once more. my game crashed twice trying to load that cutscene.

met all my allies! I forgot how many there were actually, and I only called on two of the groups later on

fought a lot. like a LOT lot.

got to the Netherbrain and kicked it's ass*

*had to reload about 3 times and try again because Minsc at level 12 was stuck on 100 hp for some reason and kept fucking dying

finally managed to kill the fucker! had Lae'zel deal the killing blow which seemed very fitting

more cutscenes, but this one actually didn't crash the game, I got to look at some beautiful unloaded walls and stuff instead

Lae'zel left right after we got to the haven. understandably so

remember how I ignored Gale's quest? well he didn't blow himself up like he inteded earlier, but he left to becOME A GOD????? I cannot fucking deal with this man

Karlach on the pier. this was the second time I cried, but unproportionally much so

Wyll left with her for Avernus, the little cutscene of them arriving there made me feel a bit better

Astarion had to leg it because of the sun (sorry)

Shadowheart didn't do much of anything during all of this, neither did Minsc, Halsin or Jaheira

decided to go help kids with Halsin, seems to fit my character (eventhough I really didn't roleplay so much)

we got an epilogue! yippie!

caught up there with everyone, except Lae'zel (who was there via the fantasy version of zoom) and Gale (who was there via the fantasy equivalent of a voicemail)

tried to hug Gale, couldn't, almost cried again but managed

also met a tressym who I recognized from fanart as Tara. I don't know why she was there, we never met her before and Gale hadn't mentioned her either

read a LOT of letters the party had received. barely kept my composure at the Gur's letter to Astarion

Withers did a cool speech and the game ended

after all of this and so much more that I didn't take notes about, I can confidentially say that Baldur's Gate 3 is the best video game I have ever played, and within it's genre my favourite ever!

I'm also emotionally devestated, especially after these final parts (but in a good way)

that's all, thanks for reading!

[huggingtentacles]

is the 150 meta level worth sticking to for endgame? my first playthrough i went to 165 without paying much attention to it, and stopped there because i didn't feel like i needed more. now i'm considering starting a new character and getting into broader multiplayer

There are two meta levels in Elden Ring and the choice between them depends on what you want from the game.

125 is considered the "tryhard meta" where you will meet more serious gamers. This is the level where you need to think about your build you will meet generally stronger players.

150 is the "casual meta" and it's generally easier to play at. You can get away with playing less optimally, you'll meet generally weaker players that are going through their NG+ cycles.

There is also a third option: 137. This level reaches both 125 meta and 150 meta. It gets the most multiplayer activity, and you get both the stronger and more casual players. The downside is that people on 150 meta will have a few levels of advantage over you and people at 125 will be slightly weaker.

I personally play at 125 and 137. 150 gives certain builds enough FP to become really spammy and hard to play against. Since I'm an invader, mages are a pain in the ass to deal with when there's a group covering for them.

Also. 137 kinda looks like a plague doctor. 1 <- hat 3 <- goggles 7 <- beak.

[ceeridwen99]

BG3 Companion Endings !!Rant!!

Hello there.

I...I just need to get some things off my chest, and this seems like as good of a place to do it as I will get.

So, exactly 100 hours of documented time into my campaign, and I'm about to start a fresh game because I don't want to finish act 3.

Let me explain. Also !!!!*SPOILERS*!!!!!

This may be a bit of an unpopular opinion, but the conclusions to a lot of the questlines, once we reach BG, are either unsatisfying or utter trash. My main gripe comes from the choices--or lack there fucking of--when it comes to the conclusion of certain companion questlines.

(Note: This is NOT a post about whatever companion ending one thinks is "good" vs "evil". I honestly don't give a shit about what endings people choose for their games. My issues come from the endings themselves.)

This stems from my main group setup, Shadowheart, Karlach, and, of course, Astarion (also my romance). I played a bard!Tav. It goes without saying that I love all the companions, even the ones that I didn't mainly use. They're all beautifully layered and I love that they are actually influenced by your playthrough...for the most part.

We'll get there in a moment.

My point is, after spending a good 100 hours with these characters, you end up caring a great deal about them. I really looked forward to seeing how their arcs were going to come to a head when we finally reached BG...

Act 1: Phenomenal.

Act 2: Fucking Fantastic.

Act 3: What the hell was that!

Never mind the complete and utter lack of pacing in the third act compared to the first two, what the hell are those questline endings?! I've never been so fucking disappointed and furious in my life. Again, this isn't a post about "good" vs "evil", but my irritation that NONE of the endings are good, or in my case, satisfying.

For a game that really stresses choices mattering (and for the most part they do to a certain point), it really suffers from Telltale syndrome in its final act, where none of the choices actually end up mattering, but in truth, you're pigeon-holed into two, and if you're lucky three endings.

Shadowheart's ending (in the Selune path) is either losing her parents but freeing her from Shar's control. Or gaining her parents but being tortured for the rest of her life. I don't even want to go into the Shar ending.

Karlach's ending is just fucking sad no matter which choice you make, and even the patched ending--supposedly giving us a better conclusion--is just bittersweet.

ASTARION'S FUCKING ENDING! Oh my god, his fucking ending is either selling his soul and the souls of seven thousand innocent people to not get a fucking sunburn. OR being banished back into the shadows and releasing seven thousand feral spawn into the world-- because yeah that sounds like a fucking good idea. Even if you don't release them, you have a choice between leaving them behind to rot or fucking killing them, but in this instance, their lives really would have been for nothing. By the end of this questline (and it is beautifully acted I'll give it that) I just sat there with a pit in my stomach feeling like I fucked up somehow no matter what ending I chose. To top it off, I learned that we don't even get any information at the end about how our choices affect the world after! What the hell!

Even Wyll's quest! Why the fuck an "I" of all people making this choice for him?! Where the fuck is the option to make him choose, or even ask him what he thinks/wants. In fact, where is the option to make anyone choose for themselves? Only Shadowheart (I found) really has one during her quest.

I find it really hard to believe that one could write such complex characters with strong, differing, opinions--so strong that they will leave the party if they dislike your actions too much--but then make them rely on the PC to make the most important decisions in their fucking lives. This is such fucking lazy writing and a cop-out. All of the conversations, all of the growth, really is just boiled down to "What do you as the player want for them?" *feral scream*

More than this, why the hell are there only two (maybe three at the max) options in the first place? You give us dozens of ways to resolve quests in acts 1 and 2, and yet, here is where you want to pull the "Life isn't all sunshine and rainbows, everyone has to lose something to gain something in return" bullshit? What the hell, Larian!

Don't get me wrong. I'm a writer. I get that narrative. But not here. Not in a game like this. In a game like this, these "choices" feel like a slap in the face. This is DND, there are always more than two to three ways to solve something.

I know there are limitations. I know this doesn't have a DM who can make adjustments to the story on the fly to give an ending based purely on your choices. Even so, it is still highly disappointing (even more so for someone who plays DND and is a DM). I was so mad after these questline conclusions that it soured my playthrough. I don't want to finish this campaign because what's the point when I know the people I've spent 100 hours with, are going to get the short end of the stick no matter what I choose.

I went and looked at spoilers for the main story ending after this, and that just pissed me off more. Two or three endings and a piss-poor epilogue are what we get. Not even credit slides to let us know how our choices actually affected the world in the end. Why. Why. I don't even want to mention how dirty they did Astarion. That wasn't funny. Just fucking sad.

This game is overall a 10/10 for me when it comes to acts 1 and 2. It's fantastic. But Act 3 is a solid 2/10 for me, I'm sorry. There isn't enough content to fill the third act out either. I don't know if my game is bugged, but I can barely find any quests outside of what's picked up in Acts 1 and 2 and it's making running around the city seem aimless.

In conclusion, I'm mad and sad. At this point, I'm just going to replay acts 1 and 2 until this supposed Definitive Edition Larian is apparently good at putting out for their games irons out these inconsistencies, hopefully. (This post is just about companions, I also have many issues with the main story. *sigh*)

At least there is plenty of content in the first two acts to keep one busy, and even with 100 hours, I know I haven't seen everything. I'm also curious to know if my perspective of the third act will change with the Dark Urge, as I've heard good things about them being closer connected to the plot.

Who knows, we'll see.

Lol, this isn't how I expected to come back to this blog. If you've made it this far, thank you for listening to my rant.

Final disclaimer: Please remember this isn't about "good" vs "evil" endings. Also, if this is not at all how you felt, I'm glad you had a better experience than I did lol.

Alright, time to go write AU/homebrew fanfiction.

Stay tuned. ;)

[skye-huntress]

Quick disclaimer that I will not tolerate personal attacks or leakers. I’d prefer not to add more people to my block list, so let’s keep things friendly.

After a few playthroughs and some time to process everything, I think I’m now ready to talk more about Double Exposure.

First, some backstory. I played the original Life is Strange from Day 1. I had a feeling the game might be special and even then it blew my expectations away several times over. I found Max very relatable, so after months of replaying episodes again and again, I felt I could put myself in her shoes, and rationalise my choices the same way she did.

When the final choice came, I did hesitate, but not from indecision or uncertainty like I did so many times before (and since). I knew immediately what my choice would be, it was the why of it that took time for me to figure out. I’ve played a lot of choice based games where I made sacrifices that hurt, but being in Max’s shoes in that moment, I realised I had a limit. Was it the best choice? Objectively, no. Was it what Chloe wanted? It wasn’t. Would it lead Max to a “happily ever after”? Definitely not. Nine years later, and after playing the first parts of DE, would I still make the same choice again? Heck yes!

With that out of the way, let’s get into the DE spoilers below:

My impression of this Max is that she is constantly trying to run from her trauma but is evidently always carrying it around with her. For most of the past 10 years, she’s been on the move, never finding a place she can truly settle in, photographing places that are abandoned, ruined, and lonely. And Max starts this game very much alone through her own choices and inaction. She distanced herself from her parents, hasn’t been in touch with any of her former classmates, and her relationship with living Chloe falls apart. There isn’t much about the break up that gives a clear indicator on how exactly it happened, but it was clear there was no bad blood from either side, just regrets that they couldn’t get it to work. I wouldn’t be surprised if Chloe also follows Max on social media without actually contacting her. And naturally, Max hasn’t truly opened up with any of her new friends, colleagues or students, not even Safi. If nothing changes, I’d say her potential romantic relationship with Amanda is also doomed before it even begins.

In this story, this self-imposed isolation leaves her vulnerable in a number of ways. The person who is most secretive is the one others trust the least, which is not ideal in the middle of a murder mystery. Now Max has found evidence that incriminates her, and if it gets out, how many people would be willing to give a relative stranger a chance? Gwen is better known on campus and even she doesn’t think she can fight video evidence on someone who looks exactly like her. There is another danger to Max to consider. If we are dealing with someone with the ability to assume anyone’s identity, if they were looking to permanently adopt a new one, Max would be the perfect candidate. If an imposter disposed of Max and assumed her identity, who is left in her life who’d be able to tell the difference?

So, not only do we have to deal with two different versions of all of our persons of interest and try not to mix them up, sometimes they might not even be either version, but an imposter! Like the LW Vinh who claimed to be too hungover to remember his own passcode despite not showing any symptoms while a completely wasted DW Vinh immediately and enthusiastically recalled the name of the supposed “dead magician scientist”. Didn’t think much of it my first two playthroughs, but on the third I started to note his odd behaviour. Oh, and sometimes even our evidence and testimony might not be reliable, it could be incriminating someone who is actually innocent. Max is already victim to an incriminating photo she can’t explain, and both Lucas and Gwen have similar stories.

So, is it more important to acquire evidence, or is it more important for Max to build her relationships with the people around her? Although it didn’t matter much in the end, in True Colors, Alex could gain or lose the support of members of the local council depending on her choices and relationships with each member. She still uses her powers to get a confession either way, but I’m wondering if this time around, the outcome might change depending on who or how many people actually get to know and trust the real Max. And maybe this is an opportunity to face herself, kind of. Maybe if she can start working through some of her issues and letting people in again, she can start over for real this time.

One thing that is interesting though, and I did call this, we have a missing Max. Max disappeared from Living World around the same time as Safi’s death. The only person to notice was Amanda. Now Max is juggling her time between both worlds but even she can’t be in two places at once, so people might start to notice how she constantly disappears and reappears suddenly. Then comes the question of what happens when Max is done and she stops shifting. Which world does she stay in, and which one does she leave behind? One world is grieving Safi, the other is riddled with scandals, and Max’s relationships in both worlds are already starting to diverge. It’ll probably hurt either way, not unlike the original game’s choice, and it probably also depends on how the mystery wraps up. I’m currently leaning towards Dead World, because Max seems to be getting closer with Amanda and Moses, but then she has spent more time with them so we’ll see how things play out.

[fierce-little-miana]

What's the deal with Kaoru?

Welcome to the “I should be working on my fic but instead I think about Kaoru” of the day!

I do not hide it, Kaoru is my poor little mew mew, my pathetic wet gremlin. He makes everyone’s life harder in Hakuouki (when allowed) and it would be the understatement of the century to say that there is something wrong with him. But, this is not what I want to discuss, or at least I don't want to discuss what's wrong with his mind. No, I want to discuss what is wrong with Kaoru as a oni. Kaoru is a pure blood oni in Hakuouki, and yet no one in the story seems to acknowledge this fact and the worldbuilding itself seems to ignore it.

So what's the deal with Kaoru? (there might be a following post later, once I have finished my playthrough of Hakuouki: Fleeting blossom of the dawn, for now I am basing this mainly on the movies and the anime)

Let's start with the basics of what we know. Kaoru is Chizuru's older twin (and seeing how much they look alike I really doubt they are the third secret kind of twins that can have different parents).

(I mean look at this: Souji is demonstrating it for us)

This means that Kaoru is a pure blood oni as much as she is. Yet, in both anime and movies we never seen him turn into his oni form before drinking the Ochimizu. It could be that he never had any good reason to do so. Indeed, other pure blood onis do not turn often and Chizuru herself does not turn at all (not even a beginning of transformation) in the anime. Besides, we see him use oni powers: healing abilities, supernatural speed (or mild teleportation?), wind control?, etc. Yet, you get this feeling that contrary to Kazama who is naturally superior/on even field with the best/most motivated of the rasetsu in his oni form, Kaoru needs to take the Ochimizu to catch back to both Kazama and the best rasetsus. The only time we see him transform in a "oni" form in the movies is after he drank it and he has characteristics of both oni (horns) and rasetsu (red eyes).

Furthermore, Nagumo Kaoru was born Yukimura Kaoru and yet no one seems to recognize him as the heir to the Yukimura legacy despite him being Chizuru's older twin brother. No one ever calls him Yukimura Kaoru! And to this I must add that apparently Chizuru's blood is necessary for Kodo's little rasetsu kingdom, yet he has Kaoru's active support (or are they partners? I personally headcanon that Kaoru thinks of each other as partners without really trusting Kodo and Kodo is manipulating Kaoru). True, fraternal twins are not closer genetically than any other siblings (and generally speaking brother-sister twins are fraternal except if they are the fourth kind of secret twins) so Kaoru might not just have what it takes, but still it is odd to see this three things together.

So, to go back on our original question let’s propose some hypothesis on what's the deal with Kaoru. These hypothesis are that, hypothesis, and they are not mutually exclusive. Also do not hesitate to tell me your thoughts on the matter:

The Yukimura clan is matriarcal (I don't know if Toki no Kizuna: Sekigahara Kitan gave extra info on this?), meaning that Kaoru is not considered the heir because he was never the heir. It is not impossible but seeing how Kazama treats Chizuru in the original anime I going to make a not so wild guess and say that not all demon clans are matriarcal.

Kaoru was officially adopted by the Nagumos and he can't just be a Yukimura again. Besides, after killing apparently everyone/most people (☺️) in the Nagumo clan, he became its new official head so maybe the oni world does not accept plurality of offices.

Not all pure blood onis are equal in their gifts and powers. Kaoru is just naturally weaker than some (one the headcanons I am following in my fic).

Oni powers must be trained to develop properly (an other headcanon I am following in my fic) and no one bothered to teach Kaoru or he was purposely sabotaged by the Nagumos.

The Nagumos clan did something pretty bad (understatement of the century) to him that eventually made him weaker. I am thinking experiments here.

Here are the potential answer I have found for what's the deal with Kaoru. What do you think of them? Do you have other hypothesis?

[erebus-the-answer]

Will Power shouldn't have been Akechi's final theme(+ how Maruki did it better)

Persona 5 was my first smt game, but even in my first playthrough it bothered me. While I do think that Persona 5 has a problem with reusing tracks (I'm looking at you, Rivers in the Desert), when comparing it to the other games + animes, Goro's fight theme being Will Power becomes unacceptable.

Underneath the cut I will compare the secondary/social link boss themes from Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5

Spoilers for all three games/animes/movies under the cut

Persona 3:

so in persona 3, I would say that the closest thing to a party member boss fight would be the meeting and little tiff that happens with Ryoji on the bridge with Aigis.

So, in the game this is an animated cutscene and the song that plays is a slightly~ different version of Unavoidable Battle. (Don't get me started on Unavoidable Battle being used for the ??? fight lol)

Persona 3, especially during The Answer has a real problem with beating Unavoidable Battle into the ground until it's deader than dead. But... I feel that they rectify this in the movies with Light In Starless Sky

This is one of my favorite tracks from the Persona 3 Lineup (P3, P3FES, P3P, and the P3 movies) Even though Ryoji doesn't technically have his own boss battle, I felt like he was deserving of his own theme for such a big moment and such a "betrayal" from a character that you grow to love and care about. In theory anyway, I don't very much like Ryoji.

Persona 4:

So obviously in Persona 4 the secret twist villain or whatever you'd like to call him is Adachi. I was one of the many people unfortunate enough to get into the game with this twist already spoiled. That being said, with the expectation that Adachi would be a final boss sort of deal (even if he is third to last), it was really disappointing to me that he and Namatame share the same boss theme. I understand that we are supposed to believe that Namatame is the killer (even though he really obviously isn't IMO), but to hear the same theme twice made it extremely underwhelming to me. Also Adachi was not a hard fight lol

Luckily, this gripe that I have with the game can easily be fixed with this mod, which adds Yin Yang from the Persona 4 Golden anime to the game in the place of New World Fool during Adachi's boss battle. This was perfect to me because honestly this is such a jaw-dropping song to me. It perfectly explains the type of dynamic that Yu and Adachi have with one another. love love love love Yin Yang, and even though Persona 4 is my least favorite game from the series and Adachi is then by default my least favorite villain, I think this track being in the game and just existing in general really helps with the music aspect of the game.

I fucking love The Almighty and The Fog though, even if I did feel that the amount of fakeout-twist villains was a little bit annoying. (Do not get my started on I'll Face My True Self -Marie version)

Persona 5:

So, as I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I feel like Persona 5 has a real problem with reusing tracks. Persona 5 was my introduction to the series, and when I said that it made me so excited that I felt my heart beating out of my chest and I was sick to my stomach (in a good way), I mean it.

In Persona 3, I feel like Master of Tartarus and Master of Shadows were fitting themes for the type of battles that we were having. The Full Moon shadows were just that. Shadows. They didn't really have any discernible personalities and they were just Shadows that needed to be killed for the sake of being shadows. I sort of wished that Strega had their own theme, but again whatever.

In Persona 4, even though we were fighting all sorts of different versions of different people, at the end of the day they all were facing their true selves, their shadow selves, so it makes sense for them to use the same battle theme when they are doing the same thing.

My issue with Akechi's theme being Will Power is that yeah, sure, his boss fight is technically an awakening, it's just been overused and beaten into the ground.

Now, I will say that it is better than his theme being Blooming Villain, the theme that EVERY SINGLE palace ruler uses, but it is still way too overplayed.

Like I said, P5 and ESPECIALLY P5R have some amazing tracks, but after the 4th time in a row hearing Rivers In The Desert, it starts to lose its spark.

In a stark contrast to the way that Akechi's battle solidified that they beat Will Power until it was dead, I'd like to take a moment to talk about Takuto Maruki, one of my favorite characters of all time.

I love Akechi as much as your average Persona 5 fan, but when it comes to how the music of the story drives home the point of their character, Akechi has nothing on Maruki.

I remember shaking in excitement when I first went on Spotify to look at the names of the songs from Maruki's palace and see what they were called (I am very particular about my music when it comes to persona games, my friends will let you know that I do not play when it comes to music spoilers).

The titles alone bring so much light into what Maruki was trying to accomplish. Gentle Madman, for example, is probably the most obvious one. It's who Maruki is. He's kind, sweet, he wants what's best for everyone, and yet he's on a complete wrong path. Something about the light piano mixed with the dark (???????????) sounding instrument really adds to it. It sounds clinical in a weird way, honestly, and it totally matches the aesthetic of the palace.

Out Of Kindness is one of the ones that makes me the most excited because it's such an awesome double entendre. He is doing it out of kindness, yet at the same time he has no kindness left to give! Beautifully, beautifully written! My God!!!!!!!

anyways, Keep Your Faith and Throw Your Mask Away. Need I say more? If you've played it then you know.

Of course I'm not saying that I expected Akechi to have an entire 5 hour long palace and half a soundtrack dedicated entirely to him. At the end of the day he isn't a final boss, he isn't the secondary boss, and he isn't the tertiary boss(at least in Royal anyway). Which I find to be... Disappointing. I mean he literally tries to kill the player character and thinks he succeeds! I know that Shido is the big bad, but I feel like Akechi deserved a bit more than what he got.

My idea would be perhaps Akechi got his own theme that he shared with the Holy Grail? I absolutely hated the fact that Shido and the Grail shared the same thing. It was so beautiful and amazing when we fought Shido and it transitioned between Rivers In The Desert instrumental and the vocal track. Almost threw up, so awesome.

They were kinda beating it already when it came to the Grail. I understand why, but to overuse such an awesome track really ruins it for me. and then when you fight the twins too? Jeez, give me a break.

Jaldaboath was an ok track, I'll probably talk about it in another post.

ANYWAY, my point is that I feel like Akechi deserved a better, more tailored theme, and it disappoints me that even in the anime he doesn't get it. The anime is even worse because he only gets Awakening? How annoying is that? There is a fanmade Akechi Palace theme, but that is a palace theme and not a boss battle. I guess we can only dream.

[thedragonagelesbian]

3, 17, & 27 for cyrus pleeeeease!

<333333

3: Race and subclass?

Race: Wood elf

Subclass: It's Complicated

I actually have a full level 20 D&D character sheet for Cyrus that I made back when he was still just a Dragon Age OC. So, when porting him over to Baldur's Gate 3, I decided to keep as much of that build as possible, making Cyrus a base paladin (because being a knight is his Whole Thing) with a barbarian multiclass (because he has a lot of repressed anger and ruthlessness that become more and more evident the more and more the world wears away at his sunshine kindness, and paladin-barbarian is just a very sexy build).

His original subclasses were Oath of Devotion (again, textbook fairytale knight, this is The quintessential stereotypical paladin oath) and Path of Ancestral Guardians (one of the more support-oriented barbarian subclasses and plays with the idea of Kirkwall itself as his guardian spirits).

On the paladin side of things, I just kept him as an Oath of Devotion pally in BG3, although he did end up breaking his oath during Act 2, switching him over to the oathbreaker subclass.

However, BG3 doesn't have the Ancestral Guardians subclass, and the flavor is very specific to the DA2 version, so I decided early on that when he took his third level of barbarian, he'd be Wild Heart instead-- angling for 'bear heart' specifically because it grants immunity to almost all damage while raging, and being unkillable is an important part of Cyrus' whole deal.

And also.

I wanted him to have fire resistance (however conditional) for smooching Karlach.

And as I also had Karlach specced as a Wild Heart barbarian, it occurred to me that Cyrus' multiclassing into her class could be like. a Thing for their relationship. I wrote a little bit about it in my fic for them-- Karlach being the one to train Cyrus in how to be a barbarian, helping him find his rage & be okay with experiencing negative emotions instead of repressing them, giving him his wild heart piercings after the Ketheric boss fight...

(also in this first playthrough, Cyrus ended up romancing Halsin too, which makes the bear's heart thing that much more significant)

But the thing is. I love Cyrus and I love shipping Cyrus, and I knew very early on that I would want to play through the game again to romance at least Astarion and Wyll with him. But. I love narrative-mechanics overlap too much to repeat his paladin-barbarian build for the other runs, because that's His And Karlach's Thing, and he needs a different thing for Astarion and Wyll.

SO.

I have two other BG3 timelines for Cyrus with two other builds.

The first starts off with the same base class of paladin with Oath of Devotion as the subclass. However, after Astarion kills him while feeding from him the first time, Cyrus Comes Back Wrong and spontaneously develops an innate connection to the Shadowfell for uh... reasons that are truly beyond the scope of this already ridiculously long answer. So, in that timeline, Cyrus is an Oath of Devotion Paladin (he will still break his oath at least once when freeing the other vampire spawn, but I imagine this version of Cyrus will want to retake his oath?) with a (modded) Shadow Sorcerer multiclass.

The second involves moving Cyrus' entire timeline around so he's older, more experienced, and more jaded by the time that he gets tadpoled. He swore an oath of devotion to a tyrant who abused him and then he swore an oath of vengeance against them and their reign, and neither made him happy or let him live his life on his own terms as more than just a Title and a set of obligations.

So, this version of Cyrus lost all of his levels of paladin during the couple of decades of self-imposed exile that precede the game. In addition to some stat shuffling around, his base class switched to Ranger for the 'was living all on his own as a hermit in the woods' vibes, and also to keep him as a martial/melee character because that feels the most correct for him.

I only just got this version of Cyrus to level 3-- I specced him into the Hunter subclass originally, but I think I'm going to switch to Gloomstalker instead. There's just something thematically interesting to me about Oathbreaker-Shadow Sorc-Gloomstalker, a lot of Cyrus' character is propelled by the literal, physical internalizations and manifestations of all the bad shit that happens to him, and struggling to make peace with that and even turn those changes to his advantage.

(Also gloomstalker in BG3 gets misty step as an autoprep and I can never turn down a short-range teleport)

17: Do they enjoy life as an adventurer?

Paladin/Barbarian Cyrus: unequivocal yes! Cyrus loves nothing more than to feel useful and of service, and adventuring is the best way he knows how to be helpful.

Paladin/Sorcerer Cyrus: he says yes, but he's been in a state of perpetual existential crisis for the entirety of the game made worse by the fact that he tells himself he needs to swallow all of it down so as not to get in the way of the adventure & helping others

Ranger Cyrus: no lol he really thought he had left this life behind, and he is Too Old For This (spiritually). I think he's really thrown for a loop the first time he sits down to trance, comes to having spontaneously manifested some goodberries in his lap, and realizes he can do magic again for the first time in a couple of decades. He'll do the adventure, and he won't even complain that much, and I think as the game progresses, he'll find more to like about it, but at the moment he's quietly being a real sourpuss about the whole thing.

27: What was their life like before the events of BG3?

Kind of alluded to this in the subclass answers, but in the main timeline (which covers both pally/barb and pally/sorc), Cyrus was having a splendid time as a dashing young adventurer.

Ranger Cyrus was living by himself in a small cottage in some corner of Sword Coast wilderness, cut off from the rest of the world by choice. He was able to fend for and provide for himself just fine but was also much lonelier than he would have admitted to himself. Being around people again is a huge change-- and try as he may to keep some distance between himself and his companions, he just can't resist Wyll's smile.

[chronurgy]

How did Durge come to be? Why them? Was it a vibe you tried to capture or a specific visual you wanted to represent? Did you borrow them from previous works or were they handcrafted for this story you have in mind?

I actually went into Bg3 and the dark urge story almost entirely blind - I think I'd seen maybe one or two dark urge lines/scenes in act 1 via my partner's playthrough but that was it. So I didn't have a lot to go on for what they were like! I had to feel that out as things happened and as the image of their past fell into place through the game. So they're very handcrafted for Bg3 (or maybe handcrafted by Bg3 would be the better way to put it).

In terms of borrowing - I was playing a wizard at the time in my real life dnd game and really liked the class, so that's why I picked wizard. And influences from that character and the general vibe of dnd wizards definitely spilled over into Vesper's personality, so that at least was somewhat borrowed.

As the pieces of their past started to come together (mid to end act 2 mostly), there were a few threads I really pulled on for them. The first was this feeling of isolation, of being alone in a crowd and lacking people who could understand them. They're a wizard, highly intelligent and fascinated by magic, and those things seemed like they just wouldn't be common among the majority of murder cultists and therefore they'd be alone. The second thread was partially to help explain their behavior in act 1 - why do so many good things, why help people? And that's where this idea of Vesper as an "ambush predator," as this person with great capacity for violence who still wouldn't go first to violence arose. Vesper is going to blend in, to be perfectly pleasant, to generally work nicely with people who have been helpful to them, and also obliterate anyone who gets in their way. Living people are useful. If they're not bothering you, there's no sense in killing them. The third thread was control. They're a divination wizard - they see the future. They make the future. They know what will happen and what is best, because they're the smartest person around. And the fourth and final thread - unethical research. They love magic and don't have moral qualms, of course they're gonna do fucked up unethical research. Before the bhaalspawn reveal, I thought that their backstoryight be that they had been born into a Bhaalist family and only stayed in the cult due to family pressure and access to people for their experiments.

And then I came into act 3 and met Gortash and learned about his whole deal and realized oh my god these fucking freaks would have loved each other. I made them so perfect for each other and I didn't even know I was doing it

[lady-of-luthien]

Jedi Survivor is awesome!

So I preordered this game (regular pre-order not pay an extra $20 for cosmetics - c'mon now EA) and started playing it immediately after work on release day. I finished the main storyline three weeks later and have been running around doing side quests. I will definitely play it again - on actual new game plus! (Yes yes I know why that wasn't feasible last game, but still.)

This game is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. I loved being able to do more things. There will be random spoilers, so the rest is under the cut.

Pros:

Gorgeous planets: Koboh has so much variety. The "oh space frontier is like the Wild West frontier" is a little wacky, but they leaned into it so it's a little funny. I loved that we got to go to Jedha. There are so many random conversations I missed because I was focused on the storyline in my first playthrough.

More saber stances! I focused mainly on the double saber, blaster stance, and a little bit on the dual saber. Next playthrough I'm going to use more single saber and cross-guard - I want to see what those play styles feel like.

MERRIN MERRIN MERRIN!

Merrin and Cal on Jedha - taking out that massive drill! So amazing!

So many themes of surviving, of trauma (escape pod from the Lucrehulk), moving on, dealing with grief and anger (Cal's dark deeds was scary), etc.

I was not expecting Master Cordova. I thought he died!

FUCK YOU BODE! I was not expecting that at all (I was hard avoiding spoilers while playing the game).

Cere looked awesome. I was so scared when she fought Vader, I did not want her to die.

I'm also afraid that Cal will have to fight Vader in the third game and then he'll die because NO NO NO.

They continued the hilarious random stormtrooper conversations and extended that with the clone-war era droids.

Rick the Door Technician!

The lead-up to the boss fight with Rayvis was legit more terrifying than the actual fight (I also chickened out and played the fight on Story Mode).

The Cantina music playlist is awesome!

My cantina peeps: Skoova Stev, Moran, Caij, and Mosey are so fun!

Cons:

Dagan Gera's storyline was a bit...incomplete? Felt a little lacking. Why was Tanalorr your home? Why are you so focused on Tanalorr? Was it because of Santari Khri (her lightsaber is amazing)? Did you guys have a thing? It felt like you guys had a thing.

There are some bugs. Since I recently built my PC, I didn't have the same performance issues others had. Did it crash? Yes, but only when I went fast traveling from one end of the planet to the other. Other times, it won't let me customize Cal or quit the game. Fix that, please!

Why does the game require so much storage space? It's insane.

It has RPG-elements with the customization, but I wished it was a bit more RPG-like. For example: the conversation options have consequences (oh well, there's Star Wars Outlaws next year).

I want more planets! Or more expanded planets. There was Coruscant, Koboh (which yes is the main base), Koboh's moon, Jedha, the Nova Garon asteroid, and a tiny bit of Tanalorr.

I want more! Can we have a DLC?

[thunderberryz]

Star's Rune Factory 3 Special 1st Playthrough, Part 3: It's... already nearly over?

So, going into Rune Factory 3 Special, I knew that the main story was going to be a fairly quick affair. That was one of the big things I heard about RF3; it's a good game, but it's not the longest. And I thought to myself "Well, I played RF5 and I'm pretty sure I finished the main story by early autumn of year 1 in my one playthrough. Surely, it can't be as quick or quicker than THAT."

It is, in fact, early autumn of Year 1 and I am just about to rescue Micah's fiancee AKA Shara from Aquaticus.

Knowing that I am very close to the end of the plot, I feel like it is a good opportunity to talk about the story. When I think about RF3's story... it's weird. Vishnal's marriage event comes to mind because the flaws of that event, I feel, encompasses a lot of the issues I have with RF3's plot. I have an older post going over my experience watching Vishnal's marriage event via YT, but to explain its biggest issue; it's short. I don't know if it's THE shortest of all the marriage events (I've still haven't gotten around to watching Forte's, Margaret's, Clorica's, Doug's, and Dylas'), but it is the shortest of the ones I have seen so far. And because it is so short, everything in that event comes in rapid fire--the plot, the emotions, Vishnal's proposal, the resolution--and so for what is there, it never feels like there's enough time to enjoy a scene and let it set in before the next thing happens.

That is essentially what happens with Rune Factory 3. The game has an incredibly good plot in concept, but because it's so short and things happen so quickly, it's difficult to appreciate what's there when it's there. For instance, compared to the likes of Frey/Lest and Alice/Ares, there is a lot less mystery with Micah; he starts recovering his memories immediately after defeating the first boss and it's always a sort of "Oh, that happened" kind of deal whenever he discovers an orb that triggers a recollection, even though him regaining his memories should really be that much bigger of a deal (the most emotional memory recovery scene was, I feel, the third where he remembered that he was the one tasked with defeating the monsters causing problems around Sharance, since it plays into the intro to the Death Wall fight later.)

There is also the matter of the Human-Univir conflict, which is its own problem. It's bad enough that it is resolved fairly easily, but the fact that the conflict isn't rationalized very well beyond "The Univir were exiled from Sharance at some point in the past--no one knows why, but the humans of Sharance and the Univir have hated each other since" is kind of... sad. In what I've experienced so far of the series, Rune Factory plots aren't anything to write home about, but... I don't know. I can't say whether RF3's plot turns out to be forgettable, but I can't say anything from the game's main story sticks out other than getting Kuruna to stop being so prejudiced against humans by giving her a handmade bouquet from the residents of Sharance.

But you know what they say; a mediocre story can be saved by good characters! And while I was initially overwhelmed by RF3's cast as mentioned in my first post, I've grown somewhat used to the eccentricities of Sharance by now and if there's anything memorable about the writing, it's how bonkers everyone is while still managing to convey some genuinely heartfelt storytelling. (And according to people on Reddit, XSEED's new translation for Special is apparently toned down from Natsume's original. Geez, I wonder how I would have reacted if this had been the original DS version.)

My favorites are the same as last time and... goddamn, I really do love Shara. Initially I figured I'd be marrying her purely to see if she was as bad as the fanbase makes her out to be and then in my second playthrough move on to a bachelorette I actually feel has genuine chemistry with Micah, but I really do like these two together. Granted, she doesn't have the most emotionally intensive plot associated with her requests (It's more about helping her younger sister, Monica, come out of her shell than any issues that Shara herself has), but she's so sweet and kind, cares for her family, and she loves flowers! I love flowers! And not gonna lie, her manner of teasing Micah and occasional bluntness do remind me of Frey, so that might have something to do with why she hits just right for me.

Girl, plz. You're killing poor boy.

That said, even though I made the firm decision this playthrough to marry her (and we would have had the wedding by now if Aquaticus didn't * grumbles *), there are other bachelorettes that I am considering marrying in subsequent playthroughs, which is pretty shocking considering my track record with RF4S. And by track record, I mean Arthur is the entire record.

Of the other bachelorettes, I've done a fair chunk of Sakuya's requests and I still like her a lot; besides having one of the more "normal" personalities, her love of travel and commerce reminds me a lot of Arthur (even though she's not a workaholic and is genuinely concerned with profits) and I'm liking the progress of her character development through her events. She also has a cute character design, but that's only ever a nice bonus and not something that determines whether I like a character or not.

The bachelorettes I was most skeptical of were Raven and Pia, and this is because I was aware of the fandom's opinions on those characters going in. Long story short: I figured this was going to be another Leon and Dylas situation for me, and by that, you know, I don't dislike either of them, they're pretty neat and I get why they hit close to home for some people, but it got annoying to see them constantly treated as objectively The Best when hey, their writing is not perfect, there's a reason why not everyone romances them; I'm certainly among those people. And at first, I was disappointed. Pia's personality was too airheaded for my tastes, and Raven... I liked her guest appearance in RF4S, but here, she's a straight up tsundere and tsunderes are one of those hit-or-miss kind of characters for me.

In Raven's case, I think I've done at least half her requests by now and by god, I feel bad for judging her so fast. Despite being a tsundere, she actually has an incredibly valid reason for telling Micah to stay away from her; according to her, anyone who becomes close to her disappears and she's afraid of the same thing happening to him. That... that hit hard and even if she doesn't end up being my favorite ship choice for Micah, I do want her to be happy.

Pia, I think, was just an instance of finding her initial personality overwhelming like many others in Sharance. I can't give any opinions on her character arc because I have only done one or two of her requests, but she is very cute. She is often lost in her own little world and tends to blatantly ignore things Micah says, but I do really love her happy-go-lucky approach to life and I unironically find her personal vendetta against squid hilarious. (She and Margaret would be friends.)

That is definitely the benefit of the romance system in RF3S. I'm sad there isn't a true dating phase and you can just go right to marriage once you've gotten the Engagement Ring recipe from Wells and Marjorie, but knowing that I can help these girls with their personal issues without having to turn down a heartwarming proposal at the end of their last request does make me feel a bit better about "hareming" all these bachelorettes. (And I say that as someone who detests harems and prefers a single dedicated romance in any narrative.)

My next post will presumably be my last for this first playthrough given how fast this has gone. I'm still incredibly attached to Selphia and RF4S is still my favorite game of the RFs I have played, but there really is a lot to love about RF3S despite its imperfections and I am already looking forward to my next playthrough. Cheers, everyone! I'll see you next time!

[parallel-selfs]

Fairy Gala

Followed Mewshi Q's playthrough.

Idia and Ortho aren't here, or Crowley for that matter. Kalim and Jamil run up to Trein to inform him on what's happening to their dorm which leads the professor checking the Mirror Chamber.

Alice and Grim are certainly staying at Savanaclaw while Ramshackle is getting repaired. She sees Jamil talking to Leona and gets invited to the emergency meeting.

A third year of Ignihyde is attending the meeting.

Alice makes a face at the word "craftfairies."

Listens quietly to lore.

Stares at Riddle. Stares at Malleus.

Trein states how long the gala takes, the issues the school will have without the magestone and having to close down the school which will lead to the students being held back a year. The students panic and volunteer to find a solution. Trein starts to protest, but the students win the argument.

She now realizes they're dealing with Pixie Hollow.

She only looks over at the two because everyone else was doing it.

"Malleus, seriously?" Trein is disappointed at everyone ducking out.

Trein lays down the facts to Leona and the prince just glares before begrudgingly agrees.

"Though, I'm not comfortable with sending my students off to deal with such a risky task. Miss Winter, could you company them? I know you wish not to join, but you're the only one I can trust in seeing this task through." She begrudgingly agrees.

They're having their personal meeting in one of the classrooms. (Grim is only joining because he doesn't want to be alone in Savanaclaw.)

"Hey, do this or else you will have to repeat a year."

"Now, we need figure out how we are doing the fashion show."

"I feel really pretty... what's that look for, Vil?"

"Oh, nothing." He's teasing her.

Damn.

"Guys, can you stop coming for Leona's throat?"

"This sucks."

Never let Vil coach me on anything.

Repeatedly checks herself out in the mirror while being all smiley. Leona teases her.

"Time-waster, huh?"

Of course it is.

"Good luck."

(She's borrowing one of the guys' phone cause she didn't think she needed to bring hers. Also, she doesn't have her glasses so seeing if the Queen is distracted will be hard to tell.)

"Got it."

Looks back and forth between the performance and the Queen.

Makes the second-long call and turns away from the runway to the subtropical zone.

"Did you get it?"

"Hide!"

I know that voice...

"We did it. Now let's get something to eat."

"Fabulous show, guys."

Drone Ignihyde set up.

"I mean, I'll take the new outfit, but I'm not taking any coaching from you, Schoenheit."