#don’t disappoint her

[cerberusdreams]

We’re all counting on you, Connor.

[spitedemon]

i really don’t think it’s “typical dragon age fandom nonsense” for people to be genuinely upset about the world state choices. combat, level design, art direction, gameplay gimmicks, those have all varied across each dragon age game. the one thing that’s remained constant are nods to our previous choices.

i wasn’t expecting my HoF to come riding in on a griffon, but i can’t find a monument dedicated to warden tabris somewhere around the anderfels? lucanis couldn’t have some lines about the time that one arainai boy was stirring up trouble in antiva city? you’re gonna tell me that making a mage the new divine wouldn’t have some impact on nevarra and antiva? on the anderfels, the supposed most devout militant andrastian nation in thedas? you’re saying nobody in the north is paying attention to who rules orlais or ferelden? come on.

[oamlete]

Disappointment 🚬

[housederiva]

Another instance of the shadow dragon background not mattering is when you fight the dragon that destroyed your city Rook says ‘let’s take it down for Neve’ and then Lucanis can say ‘her city will be avenged’

I don’t think all backgrounds were created equal

[aaandbackstabbed]

Louie: damn it

Donald: Louie! We don’t use bad words in the house!

Della, somewhere in the distance: fucking, fuck!

[vic-does-battlecats]

If I throw a bunch of hats in the ring surely one of them has to fit right

Featuring the three recolors of one design cause I like them all

[fangswbenefits]

Okay I need to talk about this:

I wasn’t considering making sweet girl a virgin. But after getting some asks about people in their 20’s feeling like they are less than others because they are still inexperienced, it made me decide to go ahead and do this.

I think it’s important to talk about this. To normalise people with no sexual experience that are already into their adulthood. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I know sexual experience is very sexy in fanfiction, but so is learning, and the prospect of trusting someone enough to let them be your first. To guide you through your insecurities and doubts. To be there when no one else was.

That can be so cathartic.

Hopefully, I can write it in a way that feels realistic and respectful, while delivering a good story in the process 🩷

[life-in-toontown]

Rapunzel’s short brown hair needs more love

[naarlar]

Okie so hot take: I don’t think Melinoë is as good of a protagonist as Zagreus. And here’s why.

It all comes down to motivation. Why did Zag go through the events of Hades 1? Because he was living in an abusive and volatile household and had to find some way to make things better for not just himself but his house. Otherwise he surely would have lost his mind having to deal with the abuse he got (remember at the beginning of the game basically only Nyx and Achilles were helping him. Everyone else is either neutral towards him or outright hostile). He needed answers, he needed to find out who and what he was by trying to find Persephone. And in the end he succeeded and was able to create a better life for himself and his house. Hell, even his relationship with his dad improved.

Now let’s look at Mel (yes this criticism is only addressing Early Access Hades 2). Why is she going through the events of Hades 2? Because… she’s been groomed since basically birth to kill Chronos. She doesn’t really have any other motivation than because it is what is expected of her essentially. She even says during her confrontation with Chronos, AFTER HE THREATENS TO HURT HER FAMILY, what do I care I barely know them (yeah sure she could just be bluffing to Chronos but that is still a very chilling thing to say when supposedly all of this is to save them and it makes her reunion with Hades lowkey ring hollow or weak). In another scene she even says the same thing to Hecate and says Hecate is more her mother than anyone else. Heck even in the flashback scene with young Mel and Hecate (which was very cute I’ll admit) she says she would want her mother to come back so Hecate isn’t sad. This makes all her motivations to kill Chronos and save the Underworld seem very… disconnected from the main component of the game? Being saving the house of hades and her family??

Like it’s expected of her and she was raised at birth to basically be prepared for this but she doesn’t have any personal reasons for doing any of this than just not letting Hecate and the others in the Crossroads down. Hell when she comes back from killing Chronos for the first time it honestly feels like Hecate is more interested and invested in what happened than Mel herself.

It makes her a really weird protagonist especially when comparing to her brother and how effective he was as a protagonist. Think about it, with Zag we got really in depth and character revealing moments where as the player we understand why he is doing all of this and so it is easy to go along for the ride because we like Zag and want to help him. Mel says she cares a lot about what is going on and wants revenge, but it all feels surface level (and which is understandable she doesn’t know these people, all she can say is “the titan took my family” when let’s be real she sees the people in the crossroads as more of her family). It honestly just seems like because she is expected to kill Chronos since she could think, she feels she has to do all this. It feels weird how she is disconnected from the core point of the game being to save the house of hades when Zag was so integral to that same core point in the first game.

I dunno, just my thoughts, I’m curious to see what everyone else thinks.

Edit: just fyi cause I feel with the comments I’ve been getting from my posts, I like hades 2 I am excited especially for the official release. I recognize my criticism/analysis could be wrong or out of date since the game isn’t finished yet. These are just my initial thoughts.

[dragonscinders]

Hello locked tomb likers may I present to you a yanthie wip that I will probably never finish because it’s severely old and I hate rendering with a passion

[cable-salamdr]

Wolfcat is sooooo funky to me esp now that it’s confirmed that Sora and Jordana were in school together and drifted apart. I don’t really see them as toxic yuri anymore and more as Jordana somewhat-joining the ninja and they are both confused as fuck about one another. Just exhausted from life and scared of AND for the other person. They have so many issues to fix between each other and themselves, and if it takes them like 10 years to actually get together then I am completely okay with that. No more toxic yuri only weary yuri now.

[bang-bang-gang]

if they dont start building for mayu vs toni at the stardom ppv that will have ENGLISH COMMENTARY in october on aew television then what is the point. its for the IWGP belt, its a nooj belt mercedes has held before, it isnt even a stardom belt that needs explanation. the majority of the AEW diehards know who mayu fucking iwatani is right. why is mayu teasing in the media (in kayfabe) that she will totally go to AEW to fight mariah after she’s done with toni. and lets say that mayu is planning to leave stardom (out of kayfabe) then NJPW will probably push for toni to win the belt so she has it during wrestle kingdom/dynasty/etc week right.

i really didnt expect this to happen, and i’m very excited for the potential of more stardom/aew crossover in the months to come 🙏

[laurrelise]

rewatching scenes of allison and ray from s2 and im once again so disappointed with what they did to him in s4.

i get that the filming schedules didn’t work out: that’s totally understandable. but you mean to tell me ray WALKED OUT on allison AND her young daughter? we couldn’t have figured out another plot that could’ve actually saved the characters motives, goals, traits, etc?

that man was head over heels IN LOVE with allison.

the man that said “i dont want to forget you. i dont want to forget us. i would take my year with you over a lifetime with anybody else. you hear me? i’m still the luckiest man i know.” just up and LEFT????? i refuse to believe it bro (also that quote will be the fucking death of me)

like you have a team of professional writers. you have a team of professional writers and you took a look at that man and said “nah it’s totally in-character for him to have felt out of time enough to completely abandon the love of his life and leave her to raise her daughter as a struggling single mother” i hope you all get fired

^ literally me rn thinking about them

[allpromarlo]

gave in and started playing lds and dawg the sylus story has me KEELING. shopkeeper looked this man dead in his face and said “she don’t want you bro”

[feragon-dingbat]

Loved the ending of fhjy but I definitely feel like there were some loose ends and plot points that I do want closure for. Does Fig still owe her last record label money for not putting out her sophomore album in time? Is Gorgugs house/soil still infected? What was the relevance to his tree being a warden? The timeline inconsistencies between the 7 and this season with Zelda? I’m sure there’s more O: I need like a 4 hour long adventuring party immediately.

[bucketbender]

HOA is the best game in the whole Dark Anthology Pictures series.

It just has so much the other games don’t have. Like ogres, it has layers. So many details for each character (like the « was Joey dead ? » post ? This shit is brilliant guys, please never stop investigating), the game gives them time to breathe, to exist outside of the horror, to be actual people instead of puppets that move around and react to stuff. Every relationship (even the love triangle, which pisses me off most of the time) feels genuine and earned.

For instance, just take the Checkpoint discussion scene. I know, out of all of them, I chose the most impactful one in the whole game. But there’s just so much to say about it.

First of all, the fact that Jason said this to Salim of all people. Salim. That random Iraqi soldier who almost shot him at the beginning and who he kept on threatening the whole game. The enemy of his state. The enemy of his enemy. I mean, we could be led to believe he would share such deep thoughts with his "official" best friend in the army, right ? Not to mention that Nick was there as well : out of all people, if there’s one person he should talk to this about, it’s him. But no. Every time Nick mentions the checkpoint, Jason shoots him down. He can have one moment to admit that this incident did mess with his head, saying that if they die down here, maybe that’s what they deserve, but that’s it. He refuses to talk about this any longer. Why should he ? It’s done. It’s over. They fucked up. Dwelling on it won’t make things right.

But then, after spending roughly two hours making his way down the place with Salim, slowly getting to know the human being behind the Iraqi, learning about his personal life that Salim isn’t afraid to share, his son, the only reason he fights, even as a single parent, how proud he is of him, how Salim just wishes he would stop stealing. How much he misses him. Only when Salim asks him if his conscience is clear, if he has anything weighing on his soul, now that they’ve reached the end of the world. Only then does Jason finally crack.

There’s just so much going on on screen. His voice wavering and breaking. The way he interrupts himself and Salim has to gently say « Tell me » to give him enough courage. The way he hesitates as the guilt of making the call weighs on him : « I order… I ordered her to stop, loud and clear ». The way he feels like he has to justify the way he called for the woman, to Salim and to himself, that he wasn’t really in the wrong for ordering Nick to shoot her. The way he just spills out that he joined the army out of desperation because his life was going nowhere. The way he laughs humorlessly at Salim’s try to make him feel better : « We all have our reasons, they don’t have to be profound ». The way he tells him how miserable and pathetic he was, stoned enough to only hear about the towers after a week later. The way he admits he has no idea what he’s even doing here, in the catacombs as well as in the army.

Salim assures to him that right now, in his life, he’s doing something worthy, something good : « You’re serving your country ». But Jason just summarizes this whole situation in a single thought : this woman had her whole life ahead of her, and they just took it all away with a bullet ; « I mean, what the fuck ? ».

But then Salim gives him a new goal, a present goal : hurt the vampires. Make these abominations pay for everything they’ve done. And Jason approves. Yeah, these things did try to kill them, didn’t they ? and they will pay for it. And you know what else ? « Start believing, Salim. We’re gonna get out of here and see the sun again ». And then, the Oorah scene. Jason just completely accepted Salim as one of his pack. (You see the meme « [BLANK] will now die for you » ? Yep that’s Jason).

In Nick, Jason has a friend. A great friend, even. Maybe a best friend. A brother in arms. A member of his pack. They often talk together and joke lightly. It’s obvious that they’re close. They are sincere towards each other, but there’s still this "toxic masculinity" thing going on with them. Jason not wanting to talk about his feelings // checkpoint, Nick telling Rachel if he dies down there, at least he would make things clear and go down « like a man », Jason calling Salim a pussy for not wanting to touch a freaking fossilized vampire, etc.

In Salim, he has a confident. The man’s a father, and a particularly reluctant solider. He didn’t want to serve in the army, he never had a choice in the matter. Salim has a perspective far larger than his, and Jason comes to understand this. This isn’t about the war. This isn’t about the Americans he’s trapped with underground. This is about going back to the surface to hold his son and celebrate his birthday. When everyone around him remains fixated on their war, Salim never loses sight of his own goal.

« Seeing the sun again » isn’t just literally. They were going to get out to find their purposes.