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toushindai · 3 years ago

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Respect and approval in the relationship between Zagreus and Megaera

So, I think a lot of people know that there's a mini storyline between Megaera and Zagreus that proceeds as follows: Megaera brusquely informs Zagreus that his victories against her "don't count" as he couldn't possibly have achieved them without Nyx's help via the mirror. If you respond to this by emptying out the mirror and fighting her, she'll remark on it. This exchange is referenced in an incredible video about Hades' dialogue system that I will link in the comments to this post (since we all know how tumblr is about links) and which I highly recommend if you haven't watched it already.

But I was surprised that the video didn't go on to highlight what is my favorite (and surely relevant to the video?) aspect of this storyline--that once you've beaten Meg like that, the followup conversation at home has three different variants based on how many gifts you've given her!

Spoilers for a lot of late-game, including post-credits, content.

The three variants are low relationship (zero gifts - five gifts); high relationship (six gifts - nine gifts); "became close" relationship (ten gifts).

At low relationship, the conversation is as follows. I apologize but I don't have screenshots for any of these; I'm taking the text from the files.

Megaera: Beaten. By you. Without the help of Nyx's mirror. You humiliated me. And now you've come to rub it in, I guess? Well, go on, then. Not like you can shame me any more. Zagreus: Meg, what is it going to take for you to quit treating me like I'm incompetent? Have I not grown even a little since we met? You were supposed to teach me something; what does that make you? Megaera: Tsch... why don't you raise your voice a little louder so that all the House can hear. Is that what you want? For everyone to know that you're superior to me? Zagreus: You're not hearing me, Meg. I know it sounds a little disingenuous considering we keep fighting to the death and all, but... I never meant to hurt you. Megaera: You give yourself far too much credit, Zagreus. Leave me alone.

At high relationship:

Megaera: Beaten. By you. Without the help of Nyx's mirror. You humiliated me. And now you've come to rub it in, I guess? Well, go on, then. Not like you can shame me any more. Zagreus: Meg, that isn't why I'm here, you know that isn't how I am. Why can't you see it? All I've ever wanted was to prove myself to you. Megaera: Tsch... you think that you can prove yourself to me by winning in a fight? Zagreus: Sometimes I think that I can never really win with you, Meg. If I held back, what would you have thought? Megaera: If you think you know me so well, Zagreus, then you ought to know better than to keep this conversation going with me, now.

(Yeah, that's "high relationship.")

At became close relationship:

Megaera: I can't believe it, Zag. I thought for sure that Nyx's mirror was the only reason you could beat me. I knew you'd changed to some extent, but... not this much. Zagreus: I had to see if I could do it, Meg. I've learned so much from you, I... thought maybe this was a way that I could prove myself to you. And to myself. Megaera: Prove yourself, to me...? You must not be as comfortable in your own skin as you let on. I can't decide if I like that about you. Now leave me alone while I give it some thought.

Which... it's better, right? It's better. It's maybe not great, still. But they are trying.

I mean so let's take this from the top. At low relationship, the conversation is fairly acrimonious on both sides. Feeling humiliated by her loss, Meg lashes out, and Zag snaps in return that if Meg's going to keep treating him like he's incompetent, it's only a reflection on her, who was supposed to teach him something. In this version of their conversation, we see the shadow of the relationship Hades pointedly engineered between the two of them raise its head, and if I were ever asked to textually back up my certainty that Meg, not only Zag, contributed to their breakup, I think I'd cite this. Meg's lack of respect for Zag is clearly a longstanding point of tension. Here, Zag feels like he's done something that ought to earn him her respect, only to be... what? Meg's first line is largely about her own insecurities rather than her opinion of Zag, but at the same time, the assumption that she should be superior, that that's the natural order of things, is baked into it. It's a serious blow to her pride that Zag has upset that natural order, and she's projecting her shame into an assumption that Zagreus is here to pettily gloat. Which is insulting, and Zagreus reacts from that place of insult.

But in his second line, as if he notices her pain, Zag is able to disengage from his anger a little (his portrait shifts from his angry "Defiant" one to his "Empathetic" one), realize that their communication is going a bit awry, and tell Meg that he doesn't mean to hurt her. This does not have the effect he possibly hoped for, and before Meg tells him to hit the bricks she says that he gives himself too much credit--by thinking that he has the capability to hurt her. Now this is a pattern with her, throughout their redeveloping relationship, even at max relationship, even once they're back together: Megaera repeatedly states that Zagreus can't hurt her. Here, it has a clear implication that she thinks Zagreus beneath her, not worth getting hurt over. ...It's absolutely belied by her humiliation in the rest of the conversation, but the scorn with which she makes the assertion is cutting and unkind.

Although... I do wonder. Especially given Zag's statement that he "never meant to hurt [her]"--that doesn't sound like he's just talking about his neat trick of getting past her darkness-free. He's referring to their past, almost certainly, and at 0-5 gifts this is well before he gets around to a proper apology or even his feelingsdump (feelingsdump, er, I'm sorry, "building trust", the "we need to talk" conversation, follows gift#6, the last nectar). What I wonder, sometimes, is--when Megaera says that Zagreus can't hurt her (boy does she love to say that.), if part of what she's saying is that Zagreus is not the only person contributing to the poor relationship between them. This is a thought on a different topic, I guess, and I'm not saying that in this conversation, she suddenly has a flash of insight that she's being kind of shitty and chases him away for that reason. Sincerely, I do think "I'm too good to be hurt by Zagreus" is an emotional habit she has for a sizeable chunk of time--perhaps one she developed as a reaction to their breakup, or as a shield against it as she saw it coming--and is what she means here. But maybe it means something else later. I certainly hope so. Because boy. she really loves to say it.

Let's talk about the variant at high relationship next. You could get this variant anywhere between the last nectar ("We may be immortals, but we're older now") and having given her the second-to-last ambrosia ("I wish I could do over how we started"). Once you give her the last ambrosia (when they drink together), you're in the territory of the final variant.

Meg's still cranky; her first line is the same as in the low relationship variant. It's Zagreus, who is at this time in the process of trying to get back in her good graces, who is less testy in response. I'd say he's clearly still hurt by her response, but he doesn't express that hurt by sniping back at her this time. Instead, he opens up, trying to make his intentions more clear, reminding her that he isn't the type to gloat. He all but says that he wants her respect. And he doesn't get it, here. Frankly, this variant is not much of an improvement on the low relationship one. Meg is less openly insulting, but it's clear that she still doesn't want to be having the conversation.

My thoughts on this variant are similar to my thoughts on some of the ambrosia conversations--and I say this as the most dedicated MegZag shipper you will ever see--in that when I see this, I'm not sure why Zagreus bothers. If, like he says, there's really no action he could take here that wouldn't end in Meg being peeved at him, what is he reaching for? He wants to prove himself to her--why? Is her approval worth having here? When Meg says (to cite the gift nine/third ambrosia conversation) that it's just a question of whether Zag is worth her time, why is it positive that Zagreus's wistful response is to ask her if he is worth her time, then?

Let me start bringing in the became close relationship variant here, starting with the last line of it, because Meg's response to Zagreus outright stating that he wants to prove himself to her is emotionally very similar to her response to Zag asking her if he is worth her time. In both cases, she seems to... not soften, exactly. She seems taken aback. She sees Zagreus's desire for her approval and his vulnerability that he lays bare in front of her, and in both cases, her response is one of uncertainty. She wants time to think about it on her own. She has kept hardening herself in response to the pain of their earlier failure (not every relationship that doesn't work out is a failure but I am quite certain she felt this way about theirs, if only because she was supposed to shape Zagreus a certain way), she hardens herself verbally and defiantly right in front of Zag's damn face, and he answers with wistful vulnerability. She tells him he can't hurt her, and he answers with "OK. But do you care about me? Could you?"

I almost wonder if Zagreus's vulnerability makes Megaera ask herself the same questions that these conversations make me ask myself. That remark she makes, that she's not sure how she feels about Zagreus's insecurity--I wonder if she's seeing how she's contributed to it, and needs time to figure out how to respond more kindly. And not just "more kindly," but in a way that's better for him. In the became close relationship conversation variant, Meg starts off in a much better mood, and offers the approval that--as we've seen in the other variants--Zagreus wants so keenly. However, when he states that as an outright motivation, I think she questions that influence she has on Zagreus, and wavers on whether or not it's a positive one, and wants to withdraw to sort out... everything about that situation. It's not an emotionally vulnerable response, maybe, but I do get the sense that it's a compassionate one.

These two are not perfect. They're coming from a background of a relationship that was arranged for them with the explicit intention of forcing Zagreus to mature--a setup that implicitly (if Hades didn't go ahead and make it explicit which, lbr, he very possibly did) defines Megaera as more mature and therefore superior. That relationship fell apart--and how could it not, with a setup like that--and some time has passed, and now they're stuck in a loop of fighting each other to the death. It's not ideal! But they cared about each other, back during their first relationship. Zagreus outright tells us that he caught feelings. Megaera talks around the same admission--through the rigidness with which she tells Zagreus and herself that they can't return to the way things were, that it isn't possible; through her admission, when Zag says he wishes he could change how they started, that she too "wish[es] for a lot of things." They cared-past-tense and they care-present-tense, but they still have emotional habits from the past, from the imposed hierarchy of their first relationship, and even in the most positive variant of Meg's response to the darkness-free victory, even in some of their biggest steps forward, we see some of those habits rear their head. It's something they have to work on and will continue to work on, I think.

And it's not a hopeless process. One of the best in-game contrasts to this dynamic is (of all things) when Megaera notices that Zagreus has made it onto the Featured Houseservant board. She remarks that never in her wildest fantasies did she imagine that Zagreus would make it up there. Zagreus, I think, doesn't know how to respond to that--he picks up the "wildest fantasies" thread rather than the compliment, bless this horny little man--but Meg is undeterred and points out that he really should be proud of such an achievement. And I think this is the perfect solution to the dilemma that is Zag's desire for Meg's approval, because Meg's uncertainty over that, her sense that it's an insecure concern, is justified. So here, she's showing that she respects his achievement but emphasizing that it's something about him, something he can and should feel intrinsic pride over, rather than just taking pleasure in her extrinsic approval.

This has gotten long (oh god it has gotten long) so I think I'll wrap up here. One of the things I love about Hades is how it doesn't force relationships to be Suddenly Great Now That The Story's Over. Hades and Zagreus are still struggling to figure out a relationship that works. Persephone isn't sure she knows how to be Zagreus's mother. Meg's still not getting along with her sisters (although it has been brought to her attention that she is as culpable in their relationship as they are). I think this point of awkwardness between Zagreus and Megaera--their having to figure out a system of mutual respect where it has not been before--is another example of that pattern. And I think they've got a shot at it. I think they can pull it off.

#hades game #megzag #zagreus #megaera #hades meta #zagreus (hades game)#megaera (hades game)#zagaera #tou wrote a thing #LISTEN... post

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thealexchen · 4 years ago

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One Year On: Life is Strange 2 Critique

December 3rd, 2020 marks a year since Life is Strange 2 ended. I was inspired by @smitethepatriarchy‘s text posts (here, but there are several other answered asks worth reading) and @suhaplays’s text post (here) criticizing Life is Strange 2 to write a critique about how Life is Strange 2 handled certain themes and social issues.

(tw: gun violence, police brutality, animal death, incarceration, racism. In this essay, I use the word “queer” in a reclaimed sense, as a queer person myself. Of course, spoiler warning for all five episodes of Life is Strange 1 and 2).

A year on, my feelings about this game have soured... a lot. When the game was first announced, I was overjoyed that our new protagonists would be two Latino boys. Finally, we would have a culturally meaningful, groundbreaking video game with people of color and their experiences at the forefront!

Then the game was met with immediate backlash and I utterly exhausted myself defending it for weeks on Reddit and Tumblr. Throughout 2019, as the episodes came out I became increasingly disillusioned, frustrated, and disappointed with where the story was going. I couldn’t figure out why I felt so damn miserable while playing this game.

Then in the summer of 2020, when Tell Me Why began rolling out pre-release material, I noticed that they posted a Q&A about transphobia, gave content warnings, and discussed at length about their collaboration with GLAAD, Checkpoint, and the Huna Heritage Foundation to make the game with sensitivity and proper research. I cannot speak for trans and gender non-conforming people on whether Dontnod succeeded at doing so with Tell Me Why. But Life is Strange 2 did… none of that.

Essentially, I realized that the reason why I was so frustrated with LiS2 is because it focuses way too heavily on a trauma narrative. This comes off as insensitive to players of color without any content warnings or extensive research.

Sean didn’t have to get kidnapped, kicked in the face, and called a racial slur by a gas station owner. Daniel did not need to watch his puppy get mauled by a mountain lion for the sake of a “difficult choice.” Sean didn’t have to lose his eye for the sake of heightened drama. Sean didn’t need to get called a racial slur and humiliated by his native language/beaten in the desert for refusing to sing. Daniel didn’t need to get shot— twice. Hell, all of “Faith” probably could’ve been cut— how is a church cult that brainwashes Daniel and beats Sean half to death relevant at all to the story?

Even if not all of the game’s violence was racially motivated, the consistent trauma that Sean and Daniel endure does not make for positive representation— or even good characterization. There is a difference between sympathetic characters and well-written characters, and trauma does not make Sean and Daniel any more complex or likable-- just more fucking traumatized.

LiS2 is more grounded in reality, but that also makes plot holes that much harder to excuse (Daniel’s powers being spotted, most of the Parting Ways ending, Sean’s prison sentence). But most of all, it grounds all of Sean and Daniel’s pain and trauma in reality.

There is no magicking away a town-destroying storm with time travel. Sean can’t keep his dad alive by ripping up a Polaroid. After Max unlocked her powers, she was still a Blackwell student, reconnecting with Chloe, taking photos, saving lives, and uncovering a murder mystery. After Daniel unlocked his powers, the Diaz brothers lost everything.

The game never lets you forget that Sean and Daniel are homeless, wanted, constantly in danger, and that they are never getting their old lives back. It permeates the entire game, and for players of color, just reinforces a sad, miserable, grim reality about living in the United States. It is, as @smitethepatriarchy said, potentially triggering for players of color, and it is certainly not something I needed to be reminded of.

And the representation of POC? It feels shallow and ill-researched. It would only take a Google search to find out that Dia de Muertos (a holiday to honor the dead, no less) was from October 31 to November 2 in 2016, the year the game takes place, but Daniel only talks about Halloween in episode 1. Sean and Daniel never discuss any Mexican customs, foods, or holidays. Sean doesn’t speak Spanish with his immigrant father, only during a scene when he’s traumatized (again!) by two racists, and again when talking to Mexican immigrants— in jail. Daniel doesn’t speak Spanish at all. Most of their allies throughout the game are white, including Finn and Cassidy, who appropriate Black culture with their dreadlocks.

So what’s left? Sean and Daniel’s existence as people of color is, at worst, just a narrative prop to justify everything that happens to them. They are people of color on the surface only. In a meta-sense, the game only considers the color of their skin and their last names as what is narratively important… yikes.

I don’t have anything against people who genuinely loved the game and were moved by its messages and story. But I can’t help but feel bitter that white players have the luxury of only thinking of this game as a work of fiction and not feeling any personal reliability to Sean and Daniel’s racialized trauma.

I don’t regret playing LiS2, but I do regret all the time and energy I spent defending it in the beginning. I understand now that I shouldn’t let people’s opinions get to me, nor should I feel obligated to like or defend a game for its attempts at representation. But now, I think I understand how queer fans must have felt in late 2015 when Polarized released. After following the game for 10 months, to see that Chloe’s ultimate destiny was to die and Pricefield is another ship plagued by the Bury Your Gays trope (in the ending that the devs clearly put more work into) must have been just as disillusioning and infuriating. I understand why some fans were so quick to unfollow LiS or develop mixed feelings about the series, because that’s how I feel too after following LiS2’s development from September 2018 to December 2019.

Before I end, I will admit that Life is Strange 2 arrived at a time when I needed it. I still stand by my belief that DN did a great job characterizing Sean, Daniel, and Chris without toxic masculinity, which is the best thing they could’ve done for a male-focused follow-up to a game about queer women. I love that Sean is still a canonically bisexual man of color in a major video game and that DN didn’t forget their queer audience. I love the world and characters that DN built, but I still prefer AU fanfictions of their normal lives, without all that trauma.

So, I will continue to treasure Lyla and her 10 minutes of screentime (aka the only shred of Asian American representation I can get from this series). I still reblog LiS2 fanart to support the artists. I still support Dontnod, because as Tell Me Why has shown, they are capable of researching and writing stories with more sensitivity. And let’s be honest-- I’m still gonna be hella excited if Life is Strange 3 is announced.

But so many aspects of Life is Strange 2 were bungled that it came off as a remarkably average and forgettable experience. A year on, I don’t hate Life is Strange 2, but I am writing this to move on from it.

Thank you for reading.

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its-a-novelist-girl · 5 years ago

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Never Have I Ever

Summary: A virgin, 20-year-old Damian with too many trust issues to let a girl get too close is constantly teased by his brothers for spending so much time with his female best friend, Y/N. During a game of never have I ever, Y/n is shocked to find that her incredibly good looking best friend has never had more than a brief kiss. Y/n starts to think and she might have a proposition that Damian can’t say no to.

(Disclaimer/Notes): I own nothing of DC characters. This will be partly comic cannon and partly my own. I have never posted like this on here so please be patient with me as I learn.

(Tags): @theyellowfeverexperience, @ginevraxrogers, @lilsxtan, @idkmanicantenglish, I’m sorry if I missed anyone!

Rules to Never Have I Ever. A person says something they have never done or experienced, if the other players have done it they put a finger down, if they have also not done the thing they leave their fingers up.

It was Tuesday night at Gotham public library, and your group was slowly but surely losing all focus at the task at hand. A small thud took your tired eyes from your book, to look across from you where the sound had come from. Alex, one of your project partners, had his head face down in an open book, and groaned loudly.

“Ok my brain is at max capacity, I can’t do it anymore,” his voice came out slightly muffled by the book pressed to his face. You chuckled and shook your head, but you had to agree with him, you had all been there for four hours and desperately needed a break. You stretched and slumped back into your chair to look over at your best friend Damian, who was intensely focusing on his book.

You met when you transferred to Gotham prep a few years ago and when Damian figured out you could care less about his money and fame, he, of course, a bit reluctantly, took the opportunity to make a friend that might actually genuinely like him for who he was. Spoiler alert you did like him and you quickly became best friends. After you graduated you both enrolled in Gotham University, taking whatever classes you could together, which lead to this mind-numbing project.

“Let’s play never have I ever,” Tina suggested from her place in the chair next to Alex. Alex’s head shot up at that and responded, “Alright, put em up.”

Three hands shot up, elbows resting on the table, fingers up. You looked over to Damian, and when he still didn’t look up from his book, you asked

“Dami, don’t you want to play?”

He took a deep sigh, one you knew was just to be dramatic, and raised his hand but refused to stop reading, and honestly, you called it a win.

“Never have I ever fell from a tree.” You and Damian both put a finger down and you ignored the flicker of his eyes from his book to you in shock.

Everyone took turns and after a few games, eventually, it was left with Tina with three fingers up, Damian with two, and you and Alex each had one. Tina was trying to think of one that would knock you both out of the game, and you raised an eyebrow at her when she grinned suddenly.

“Never have I ever had sex,” She said smugly, and you threw a paper wad at her as Alex groaned, “Oh come on, not fair.”

You laughed and glanced over at Damian’s hand, which still had two fingers up.

Suddenly he met your gaze, closed his hand into a fist, and said: “Come on Y/N, it’s late and we should both be getting home.” With that, he stood with a grace you envied and started packing his bag. You did the same and after saying farewell to your other partners, headed to his car.

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You leaned back against the comfortable leather seats as you watched Gotham’s streets pass out the window. Damian, of course, was driving you home from the study session. You turned your head to look at him, studying how the light from the dash illuminated his features. How it casts shadows on his face that makes him look like the Son of the Demon he was trained to be.

You had found out about Damian’s secret identity a year ago when he rescued you from getting mugged walking home one night. It was his eyes that gave him away in the end. He looked at you straight in the eyes and you could see the flicker of panic as he then checked you over for injures before his masked expression fell back into place. You asked him to walk you home, pulled him inside, and demanded to know if Robin was Damian Wayne. He had laughed and hugged you saying how grateful he was that you figured it out and he wouldn’t have to lie to you anymore. Since then you had spent more time at the manor, befriending his family and spending times with his brothers (much to Damian’s dismay). Damian even opened up a little about his childhood over a bottle of far too expensive wine he had stolen from a gala.

Your mind wandered back to the library. Could it really be possible that the gorgeous man beside you had never had sex?

“Can I help you, Y/N ?” he asked not looking away from the road and the corners of his mouth twitched up when you jumped a little in your seat.

“Have you actually never had sex?” you blurted out before you lost your nerve.

Damian whipped his head to look at you to make sure he had actually heard you right, eyes wide in surprise. He gapped at you before turning his attention back to the road, breathing deeply before saying

“No, if you must know I have never had more than a brief kiss from a teenage socialite at a gala I was forced to attend,” he muttered, trying to sound intimidating so you’ll drop the subject. He looked back at you and your shock must have shown.

“Why is that so shocking to you?” he demanded, switching between looking at your face and the road, his cheeks reddening under your constant gaze. Still, you could see past the wall he was trying to place up, he was embarrassed. This was something you were not expecting, you made Damian “I don’t have feelings” Wayne embarrassed.

“Oh come on! Have you seen yourself!” The words pour out of your mouth before you could stop them, and suddenly it was your cheeks turning red. You turned to look at the road as you both let the silence take over, as soon as you were sure Damian wouldn’t comment on what you said you heard him whisper into the silent dark night.

“I don’t trust anyone enough to ever be that vulnerable with them.”

Now that was something you had never considered as you turned to look at him again. Damian was always incredibly private and while he had let down a few of his walls around you, you knew that had taken a long time. He was strong and could be scarier than Batman if he wanted to be, so knowing that being vulnerable terrifies him shocked you. You knew that his life with his mom wasn’t great and that he wasn’t incredibly close to his dad, so it made sense that he wasn’t used to being vulnerable with anyone. And yet here is this car with you, he talked to you about something that embarrassed him without fear you would tease him about it. Its how your friendship worked, you never expected anything more from Damian than to just be himself.

“But you trust me, don’t you?” You couldn’t stop yourself from asking in a whisper that matched his own.

He chuckled lowly and said, “You’re the exception, Y/N, not the rule.”. He pulled in front of your apartment building. He got out of the car to walk you to your door, something he has always insisted on doing because “come on Y/N this is Gotham.”. You both walked to your door in silence, only speaking to thank him for the ride and to ensure he text you when he got home. After he left you got ready for bed, crawled under your covers and stared up at the ceiling in thought.

Damian Wayne, son of the biggest flirt in Gotham, has never had more than a kiss. The knowledge shocked you. He was gorgeous, build like a Greek god, with green eyes that could melt panties for miles. If you were completely honest you had admired his body more than once. Had thought of what it would feel like to run your fingers through his black hair, to feel his biceps that were bigger than your head. He has popped up in your dreams a couple of times; how could he not? Best friend or not, Damian Wayne was hot.

Then another thought popped into your head. You were the only girl Damian trusted outside of his sisters. Now that you thought about it you realized how true that was, he had never allowed another girl to get very close to him. You were the only girl that you knew of that was allowed to hug him on a regular basis. You were the only one allowed to call him Dami. Another thought popped into your head. If you were the only girl he trusted, maybe you could help your best friend out?

----------

Damian was getting ready for bed, after checking in on his father and Tim patrolling and making sure his assistance wasn’t required. Tim had made a snide remark about his study date with you, calling you his girlfriend for the millionth time. After the boys had met you, the teasing only got worse. Sometimes having older brothers sucked, he thought to himself as he remembered the countless times every one of his older brothers gave him crap about having you as his best friend. Tim and Jason were the most vocal but Dick tended to tease him when they were alone. Although none of them ever teased him in front of you. It was an unspoken rule amongst everyone because they knew how much your friendship meant to him.

Damian settled into his bed with a book he had been meaning to read and tried not to think of how he embarrassed himself in front of you today. He had been hoping that you wouldn’t catch that he hadn’t put his finger down but of course you noticed. How was he exposed to explain to you that he was terrified of letting his guard down? That being naked in front of another person in such an intimate way was something that he wasn’t sure he would ever let himself relax enough to enjoy. He was trained as a child to not show weakness, to not let anyone be able to get the upper hand. He knew his mother seduced men to kill them before, so what would stop anyone else from trying it. Getting him in an exposed and vulnerable position to exploit.

If he was being honest with himself though, the only girl he truly found fascinating was you. He loved the way you moved, clumsily compared to his trained gracefulness. He loved that you didn’t care his father was famous. He loved that you were smart enough to realize he was Robin and never once judged him about the questionable things he has done in his past. Not to mention you were beautiful and that his mind had wandered many times before he gets control of himself. He wondered what your bottom lip would feel like under his thumb. He wondered if all your skin was as soft as your hands. He wondered what it would feel like to hold you close and nuzzle his face into your neck.

A buzzing sound next to him drew his attention away from his book. He put the bookmark in place before closing it next to him and picking up his phone. In all of his life, Damian has had many shocking things happen. He would count this in his top five.

#Damian Wayne #older!damian #damian wayne x y/n #damian wayne x reader #batfam #brothers are annoying #dc comics

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xsunfloweer · 5 years ago

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Life is Strange 2 review

It's me again, since I don't have friends and get depressed most days, I have a long time to reflect on the universe of Life is Strange. Remembering that I’m not here to say that one is better than the other. I’m here to make arguments regarding both games, so there's no reason to argue. All of us has a different point of view, right? So, come on ...

First, since I played Lis1, my worldview has changed a lot, helped me to evolve as a person... about life. Feel the chills? Life can be scary sometimes. However, we don’t always realize what is around us. This is why we have to value our personal choices. Is good or is bad? Never know. You can deny, saying that we make our own destiny. In fact, it is true. But if it were that easy, why do we still suffer? THE CHOICES THAT WE MAKE EVERY DAY.

As humans, we care a lot about the present, letting go of moments that may be the last, or even preventing something good or bad from happening. The Life is Strange universe portrays this. It shows us the truth, makes us see and recognize that, for example, a "yes" or a "no" can change the course of our journey. You know those times when you think "hey, and if I had done that ... it would be different." Life is based on what-ifs, so thanks for existing Life is Strange, that gives us so many possibilities ... to reflect, and stop to think. Even if it is fictitious, it affects us emotionally, and why? Because it's the reality man. YOUR CHOICES. Our dear Maxine felt it in her skin, and taught us that we could travel back as long as we wanted, but we couldn't change the outcome of our choices ... death is inevitable. We don't have to get stuck in the past, we have to LIVE.

I have always been attracted to such remarkable stories. This universe deserves more recognition, one day we get there. We need more Lis fans!

Anyway, if you don’t know, I'll warn you that I will give some spoilers. Life is Strange 1 portrayed heavy themes. Themes that, until today, have repercussions in our society, AND haven’t been solved, YET. Such as depression, sexuality, abuse and drug use. Is it important to emphasize them? For sure. It's real. And unfortunately there are many victims out there ...

But it doesn't end here. They wanted more... there are more things that NEED to be brought up. Life is Strange 2 came with everything, portraying not only the themes of the first game, but also the issue of xenophobia and politics. IT'S REAL. So why not show this reality? Prejudice arose centuries ago, and it must be remembered every day. The human being can be a monster, unfortunately.

"Life is Strange 2 is not as good as Life is Strange 1 because the choices are NOT that important”. "Ahh Lis1 is much better, Daniel is very boring". “Ohh come on, WHERE THE LGBT INCLUSION?!?!?”. “No emotion, I didn't like it”. “Well, Max and Chloe could show up in THIS game to be interesting”. "Oh shit, Daniel screwed up, he deserves a lesson".

I know I know. Opinions apart. I respect that. But that's not how I think.

First of all, another game, same universe, BUT another story. The focus here is another. You know what I think. Life is Strange 2 is not being highly valued because of its main theme: FAMILY. Isn't that beautiful? To portray something that is in part common to us. Me, for example, have two younger brothers. It's very interesting that they thought about portraying such a complex subject. It's like a life lesson, right? We gained the responsibility of taking care of our younger brother, under the circumstance of a very tragic and REAL story, that a lot of people don't have the knowledge about. I never felt in the skin the fact of not being considered a CITIZEN, and being a victim of prejudice because of it .... it's heavy, and very unfair.

Obviously there are conflicts in the college too, from the moment we are included in the college environment, we are exposed to many experiences, good and bad. It's nice that they portrayed this on Lis1 because of the depression. And it's up to us to be responsible for being a every day hero.

But the only family we have the most bond with is Chloe's, you haters of Daniel are doing the same thing with David. I hated him, Chloe had her reasons, but then we realized that he was really trying to be a good father. At BTS, even if we try to collaborate with David's coming, Chloe doesn't try to give him a chance ... do you think that's fair? It’s not fair.

It's not fair to love Chloe and hate Daniel, who is just a child. I love Chloe, but I think she could have collaborated more with David. She had a strong personality that hella marked our lives. To me she deserves the world and shouldn't have suffered so much ... and you know what I realize now, Chloe and Daniel have a lot in common, both have a very strong personality.

And they did it again, a strong personality that is not under our control. In another moment I will defend Daniel ... I'm just begging you to stop comparing Lis1 with Lis2. Give a chance for new stories! In Lis2 They were able to make the most complex choices ... with a lot of different setbacks ... this is a masterpiece ... life is like that, you order oranges but get lemons.

So, let’s talk, reblog this, you can hate me now, it’s just what I think...

#life is strange #life is strange 2 #sean diaz #daniel diaz #max caulfield #chloe price #lis #lis2 #before the storm

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lightshielded · 5 years ago

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spoilers and very VERY long, so below cut.

tl;dr - jarv is a character going through a lot of emotional turmoil caused by the lose of trust in close friends, lose of his family to the very magic they were working to promote ( suggesting to him it was the wrong idea to promote it ), having little healthy support network, and around him is a game of politics where those older and more experienced on the council are influencing him heavily in his altered state of mind. however, he is still a character who cares for his people, wanting to protect his people from future catastrophes cause by magic but also knowing they aren’t all bad so is also shown tentatively reaching out to foreign advisers of allied nations which have advised his father in the past on the subject of magic and is trying to do his best despite being king far younger than anyone should and thrown into the position in a truly horrific way.

important - all is subject to change as we are provided more info, this is just a pouring out of my first impressions and my attempt to understand and rationalise everything under the current state and info provided. also important to note, this includes mentions of suicidal tendencies, depression, ptsd and other like matters. please read with caution.

so as you may know ( or don’t and do not care about spoilers ) our dear prince, or rather king now, has had a very bad day. like he was almost made to eat a rat, and marvel didn’t want to draw him in his actual armour and did in the ceremonial / ig armour instead so i got big cucked out of my hopes and dreams, he got hit with a morg ult when trying to gank mid lane . . . oh and the mid laner killed his dad. what a wonderful day for our dear prince, i mean king.

so a couple things that are unrelated to what i am about to talk about but things that are true in my mind. riot removed jarv’s capture and torture by noxus just so they could have sy/las say he has no idea what he has experienced. just saying. 8 years of basically the exact same lore only to have one of his key points removed at the addition of the character? who then mocks him for it? just saying it’s true. tho i personally still go by that he was capture on my own blog and all, but i have cracked riot’s code.

also like where was shy? i think jarv kinda mentions her but like she is his bodyguard. that’s her whole thing. where is she? i get she tries to lay low but she is meant to be on jarv’s personal guard, but she wasn’t there. now i have a short theory on this. for those who don’t know, shyv is genetically a dragon, her real magic is the fire rune inside her. but otherwise she is a dragon that some how fucked up and became a human ( prior to sy/las it was caused by magic so the magic is technically making her human not a human becoming a dragon and after sy/las the shitty lore we don’t like is that it is the weather ).

so my theory is, since her dragon - ness isn’t magic but is like genetics, she would just eat him and he actually can’t use it against her so they had to remove her. some how. cause plot. and jarv is mopey that she isn’t around, for a reason they wont say :///// that or riot doesn’t care about her or forgot she existed :)))))))

so the actual things i wanted to talk about, jarv’s very harsh language and actions in the comic and short story. they seem so violent from what we know of the prince of the past. and while that might be true i would like to point out a couple things about jarv as a whole before we begin:

jarv was never brought up to fear or dislike mages - ( though would have heard stories i imagine ) which is evident in his father’s own opinions and his lore. this makes his point of view here seem obscure, he seems to hate very strongly despite not doing so before. this is true, but i believe i can provide some enlightenment on this. something similar to this has happened in his lore before. his first conflict with noxus he was introduced the harshest realities of war, it is the innocents that die first. in both new canon lores ( prior and post syl/as changes ) it is stated there were only a handful of survivors out of dozens of towns. it is said what he saw deeply affected him. the carnage there so deeply troubled him and he could not forget the faces of the dead. the atrocities he witnessed were far greater than he had anticipated and it left him very shaken and unable to correctly reason. this caused him to ignore all rational plotting and sense, pushing away all his advisers’ ideas, wanting nothing more the avenge those who died. and this ends badly for him. like jarv really, really loves his people and would do anything to keep them safe. in fact, it is known from other stories jarv doesn’t ask of his soldiers to do anything dangerous he himself isn’t doing. if they must face the risk of death he will do so too. and he has earned himself a lot of respect for that. so we know, jarv is deeply affected by his people’s deaths and is not unknown to react mindlessly out of rage when they are hurt, and thinking the ‘villain’ need to be punished.

our now king is younger than you all probably think - if you take demacia’s lore and the dates / ages we are given, he is quite young. low 20s with a max of about 25 but even that is generous. it is noted he doesn’t know what to do, his mood fluctuating like rising and falling flames, his lore says he needs to be ready but not that he is. this is not to say he is incompetent or emotional because of he age, but with age comes experience that he has not had the chance to garner yet. he is not ready yet in his own opinion and i would agree as well.

jarv loves his family, a lot - and his only family was his father and xin. i think it is important to note, jarv has a lot of love for his family for they are the only people that really see him as a person. his closest friend even had to be reminded to call him by name. so to lose the closest people to you hurts man. his dad just died. okay.

jarv’s part in turmoil - there is actually a story which occurs after the time frame of the lu/x comic ( unless they are going to say the events of the last volume cover a full month? ) which has some interesting links and i’ll summarise all that with my conclusions at the end.

so. onto the main part. why has our fair king turned from someone who sees ‘ the true strength of the Demacian people—standing together as one in defense of their homeland, no matter their differences or misgivings. ’ to ‘ Mages? . . . We should have executed them all. ’ it is shocking. even xin is shocked by how much he has seemingly flipped noting, ‘ Indeed, he knew the prince had always been troubled by Demacia’s treatment of its mages. But that was before. ’ note, xin is saying he was troubled once and these anti - magic outbursts are new. though, i will like to point out, i don’t think the outbursts in the short story or the comic are particularly anti - magic as they are anti - syl/as and anti - murderous rebellion. so from now on, i am going to work through the sections of the comic and then the short story and kind of evaluate jarv’s thoughts and feelings and what i think is happening with him. wow, i hope you like your posts long. ( oh, and i recommend turning the pages along with me since i will not be posting pictures unless it is very important to save on length )

so to begin, we first see jarv at a meeting with a mage - seeker, some council members and his father, reacting to what happened several hours ago. honestly here he is as normal, he is thinking first and foremost for the people and with a very strategical focus to his thoughts. he is trying to both reassure his own father while working to capture the murderers. truly nothing remarkable other than him being a little taken aback by his father chiding him. i can talk a long time how jarv was brought up with very zealot ideas despite the king’s best intentions but that is not for now.

next page is mostly focused on the riots outside but does show jarv’s priorities. protect my father, fight for my people. heck this is even brought up in his ( now very outdated ) voice lines ‘ for my father, the king. ’ ‘ protect the faithful. ’ also cue me getting excited they would show jarv’s actual combat armour since they have the guards all in that good shit but nah they didn’t and i am big sad. i get they set all the demacian champs to their in game stuff ( and for jarv that’s the for show / ceremonial armour ) rather than their lore stuff for accessibility but still i am sad.

and now we get to the fun stuff. wow look at jarv straight beating the shit out of people. legit knocking several people down, making someone into a kebab. the come at me stance. that face he makes when sy/las calls him princeling. so many people call him that in lore. is it even a unique insult at this point? get new material you chain gremlin you.

in the next page we do see him angry tho, at first he is controlled and stoic with his speak, not too many emotions showing on his face. but it is when he puts a threat on his father do we see his brows furrow and leave him quite angry in the last panel of this page. tho, while obvious mad at the threat on the king he is actually keeping his cool. rational thought based on what he knows of the magic syl/as has. but he is a bit ticked off. ( OH ALSO THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART DON’T @ ME BUT JARV IS TALLER THAN SY/LAS WHILE BENDING DOWN AND IN A FIGHTING STANCE AND SY/LAS IS UPRIGHT BY LIKE AN INCH. HE IS PROBABLY SEVERAL INCHES TALLER UPRIGHT. I STAN THIS TALL MAN. )

so the next page is very interesting, we see syl/as talk of ancient and powerful struggles then conjure fire from the pillars. so as far as i am aware this is meant to be a reference to our favourite angels but i am trying to work out when this would have been. i thought they fought in a small town which was all but destroyed and not in the capital city. it is possible that the petricite keystones were at the town and those keystones moved to where the capital would be considering their reverence of kay/le and stuff but idk. super cool tho! it might be explained in the future, or not but i think what i have there is the most rational ( or maybe they mean like various conflicts involving them but not them against each other ??). anyway, we also see jarv getting madder obvious from the last page and then the language he uses, gone from the neutral ‘ mage ‘ to negative terms such as ‘ thugs ’. so the fire heavily wounds or kills the guards and jarv jumps head long into the flames.

the next page continues with their fight which is frankly brutal but they really skimped on detail here. it is shown that jarv cut syl/as in the chest and stuff but 1) no blood and 2) it is no where to be seen later in the comic which is unfortunate. would have been cool. other things which is cool, jarv pinwheeling kay/le’s fire away. i love the dumb ways jarv is shown to use his lance in various media, just spectacular. but yeah, syl/as going for blows in calling him ignorant about the heritage he loves. cause we know how much our man loves demacia. but i think he is trying to goad him. like i said before, jarv wears his heart on his sleeve a lot. he is an emotional man, but emotions can make you sloppy.

so on the next page, we see morg’s magic and again i love this touch but who really knows how it is there. so jarv is taken down by that which is interesting because it affected him a lot more than kay/le’s? i have theories about the magics and how they affect people based on their judgements but again that’s for discussion for another post. so with the guards taken down and then their prince, syl/as finds himself victorious.

so skipping through gar/en’s bit, we next see jarv tied up and being walked ahead of some of the mages. notably he isn’t wearing his crown helm. but also, he is very calm. jarv doesn’t really fear his own death much, he has faced dying before and to him it is simply a risk a soldier faces. so he is rather calm on the walk while syl/as threatens him. though, likely also subdued by the magic from before. but he is also talking a lot of sense, this does end badly, really sy/las doesn’t get what he wants out of this venture, not really. sylas however thinks this funny and mocks him about eating rats ( which honestly i question what he actually ate because 1) idk about you but i didn’t see rats in these panels of his cell and 2) he looks very fit and healthy for a man who eats rats. personally i think they feed the prisoners but since their magic is being sapped constantly by the petricite that they likely get hungrier faster, like they are constantly exercising, and so he ate rats. but also again, lets be real, they removed jarv being tortured so he couldn’t reply ‘ well no, but i survived being tortured by noxus. i have eaten much worse. ’ ( also syl/as uses incorrect style of address here which is either an accident or an interesting hint to the next page - majesty is for kings, highness for princes ) anyway, he drags the prone jarv to the door and...

surprise. the king is already dead by the time they get there. now jarv is obviously shocked and horrified and sy/las is too but i think that is because someone is stealing his thunder and hello his plans aren’t going to plan. this is when things start going down hill for jarv’s mental state. before he was mad but controlled, jarv’s expression on this page are wild eyed. and very much lacking of any confidence he had prior. for once, the prince looks as young as he actually is, rather than acting a stoic faced prince.

now the next page is actually the one i think the artists drew the best for jarv. i really love his eyes in the first panel. jarv’s hunched posture, the looking over his shoulder and upwards, got to say i love the composition. also i didn’t mention it yet but jarv and syl/as’hair almost look the same and idk if that is intentional but i like the idea that it might have been cause it makes our fair prince look very rugged and references his position as a prisoner. anyway. but just jarv’s silence in the last panel, before he was confident and speaking and now his words are trailing off and he has nothing to say. he lost his family and the idea of mages being monsters comes to his mind here. ( also note, while i have cut this out of the image, when syl/as is asking about who killed the king the mages say it wasn’t them but possibly another mage that came with them. this is probably true since it is anarchy at the moment but also there is no blood so unlikely to have been caused by a weapon and poison doesn’t make sense since the guards were dead too. )

but that isn’t the end of it, that is for sure. syl/as lost the king to his own anarchy so he needs a new star of his show. and so jarv continues to have a bad time. he is dragged from his grieving and through the citadel ( and past some really fucked up and burnt bodies wow trying to give jarv flash backs are you? ) and here jarv is starting to have doubts about his father and his own views. ‘ my father was wrong about your kind. he thought he could make peace with you. and you murdered him. ’ jarv puts the barrier between his people and mages at this point, condemning any thought which would have allowed this as wrong. now syl/as then insists that the king could have changed this at any time but we also know the council of demacia is quite powerful itself and the king leaves it to a more democratic style of coming to decisions together and actually regrets letting them have so much power. and jarv is marched outside to be made an example of and executed.

passing over ‘lu/x being a bad ass part one’, we return to jarv being cuffed to this really fancy chair. i like it, but also how extra can you be sy/las. anyway, as this page goes on we can really see the prince’s loss of confidence and despairing states. he starts strong when syl/as claims he has been complacent on things ( finally confirmation that he hasn’t cause riot wont tell me anything !!!! ) and he denies that neither he or his father have, and syl/as knows nothing about either of them. but his words trail off, he is stuttering through his words, head bowed, skin clammy.

what he is talking about is 1) his backstory where he fought noxian invaders of demacia’s outer borders and allied lands, 2) meeting with exiles and we know in demacia their exiles tend to be mages as magic use is given imprisonment or exile - this quite happily aligns with my own head canons that he meets with them to help provide safe passage and resources similar to j3 to the noxians in his and xin’s story - 3) now we can assume he is talking about the same person from before in the earlier comic but he is really dodging around a name. i’m inclined to think shyv right now based on the ‘not so different’ so implying similar but not mage but magical creature. but really we don’t know. though that’s cute. but syl/as simply laughs this off, deeming any effort they have made and mocking his relationship. anyway, jarv just looks really sad and upset man.

and so the next page goes on and sy/las is calling for the crowds opinion on if he should be executed. some ( likely the rebels ) say yes and some ( likely town folk ) say no and beg for someone to save him. syl/as of course listens to his own people only and takes execute as the option, and starts firing up the mages on that. some call for him to be bled ( oh i see this is where they wanted to put the noxian blood letting torture. they got rid of it to be put here i see. ) and another to behead him. and up until the end, jarv simply seems like he is simply given in, accepted his death. eyes closed and almost willing it over. he has already had to deal with one drawn out (near) death before, he doesn’t particularly want another. he only seems perturbed when syl/as tries to force him to eat a rat before he dies. again he is wide eyed, and very disgusted by the prospect.

he is already in a state where his father has been murdered, he has been pulled away from him and forced to march past the magic warped remains of his people both soldiers, councillors and innocents, his death is being made into a sceptical and now he is also being humiliated. also important to note is that he is alone in all of this, his uncle is nowhere to be found, his father is dead, when forced into an arranged marriage with someone he considered a trusted friend he was given no answer but abandonment, and his two friends are no where to be seen. that mixed with the people he loves so dearly gathered to watch him die and some even calling for his death. he is hurting really badly, and if he didn’t want to be sick at the sight of burnt bodies he now wants to be sick at the thought of eating a live rat.

and now we have ‘lu/x being bad ass part two’ and ga/ren rushes in to save them both. the comic doesn’t say and what exactly happens next is likely a flash back at the start of the next comic as i believe the next comic occurs after the short story, as it was released now and not then. but i imagine two things occur in jarv’s mind during this event of him being saved ( which he know he is ). 1) gar/en is right. he can always trust ga/ren. we know his friend is vocal in his dislike of magic and belief in the laws in place, so jarv after these events probably takes to leaning on this view point as it comes from on of the only people he has left and feels safe with him after all he has gone through.

2) can lu/x really be trusted? jarv isn’t blind nor deaf. he heard syl/as and lux talk about them used to being friends, and that he used her to kill people. he doesn’t know about her magic i don’t think, but could clue it out from that maybe, and it is unsure if he knows her involvement with syl/as but he now knows she wouldn’t even deny the proposed arranged marriage to his face and she was apparently friends at one point with the one who lead to his father’s death. this cuts him a bit. ( also i see again, the trying to insert jarv lore into here? with gar/en saving him? interesting but not nearly as emotion jerking as gar/en finding his armour blood soaked and empty next to an executioners post with the pin signifying them as the closest shit in each other’s lives in the bloody mud c’: )

now, we do not know much until the events of the aftermath short story. this story, told through xin’s point of view, is honestly very depressing and provides a lot more focus on jarv’s collapsing mental state. while in the comic he is hurt and distressed, struggling with the idea of his own views on the matter and then the significant pain cause to him by magic and the possible danger it could cause his people, aftermath shows us a prince who has been stewing on it for the night. occurring the day after, it is told to us he does not look like he has slept and his emotions are raw at the surface. i suggest reading the full story but i will only be talking about jarv’s mentions in this.

so our encounter with jarv in this short story occurs with xin finding him at the training fields. he is described as already breathing with exertion and drenched with sweat, a suggestion that he has been doing this for some time now, and his emotions wild and clear. he is also attacking wildly at the dummy, very much venting but also showing us he isn’t poised or in control of himself. yet when he speaks, calling xin uncle, it seems uncertain. i surely read it with a tired and tentative voice in mind. yet, after a pause, his emotions re-flare and he becomes angry again (something which happens several times over the course of the short story). he speaks coldly, harsh, trying to find someone to take the blame for the events, shifting rapidly from seeing xin as family to seeing him as a simple bodyguard ( something from the previous flash backs show the later of being untrue, and that xin is extremely close to jarv ). i also see this as him struggling with his own thoughts and passions, a war of heart and mind - xin being family vs xin being his father’s bodyguard, in extension we have seen mages murdered my father vs not all mages are guilty, i hate them vs i hate them all.

the prince then decides the best way to interrogate xin is by also trying to vent his frustrations with sparing. in jarv’s short story ‘ ebony, ivory, jasper ‘ we see him as a very level headed tactician which is controlled and ultimately able to see the right plays and choices in things where others can not. this is not that jarv. he is literally striking first, thoughts and questions later. xin mentions he is also not taking his strikes lightly, that he is swinging hard enough to break bone, something one wouldn’t do unarmoured or with someone you care about. he is pacing like a stressed animal, gripping his weapon like it is only lifeline, and forcing xin to fight him like it is his only reprise. another point made which shows jarv’s very altered state of mind is how xin also notes his form is sloppy, jarv is a good fighter, one of the kingdoms best, yet he observes there to be ‘ little finesse to the strikes ’ and that ‘ at any other time he would have berated the prince for his poor form—he was thinking only of attack, and leaving himself open for ripostes and counter-strikes ’. now since we know xin trained him and considers this poor form for him, it is likely jarv is definitely not of these traits normally, something further confirmed when he notes these are something he wouldn’t do now or take advantage because he sees them as caused by his justified anger.

skipping past the first flash back, jarv continues to press xin and eventually just tosses his weapon away when he doesn’t get an answer he wants. the frustration and anger is palpable. the prince isn’t the kind of person to discard something so carelessly, to be so disrespectful as to throw something of his to the ground. jarv has been raised to have the ideas of honour and respect and personal value and virtue as being very important, and the disrespect of tossing one of his weapons, staring at it while someone else picks it up, isn’t something jarv in his stable mind would do. yet he does such and grabs his lance - a sharp and deadly weapon in comparison to his blunted sword - and xin protests using them because jarv is unarmoured. now i have not heard anyone cover this exact fact but i want to talk about it for a bit, xin is armoured but jarv is not. jarv is attacking and not caring about his defence. and now he is making xin fight him with their actual sharpened weapons while only xin is armoured. either of these weapons could kill him, even his own by his own hand if he isn’t careful as noted by xin. and just, he doesn’t care if he gets hurt.

i think this exemplifies one fact about jarv, the first fact i mentioned above. he experiences a great amounts of survivor guilt in the time he failed his troops as a youth and now he sees himself as failing his people and his father by not saving them. he couldn’t even beat syl/as. and now he has to live with that fact, and very alone with it now. he is both trying to find someone else to blame to share in his own self torment or at least have someone either take him out of his misery or give him a punishment that jarv thinks is fitting for his failure. and i think perhaps, while not explicitly noted, xin acknowledges it ‘ “You are not armored,” . . . “I don’t care,” . . . Reluctantly, his heart heavy, he retrieved his spear and moved back out into the open area in the center of the hall. ’ after all, it was xin in jarv’s earliest lore which remarked on the prince’s altered mental state as one of the people that knew him best, i would say that perhaps this is our new lore equivalent. and perhaps bring another down with him. ( jarv has always had a slight discard for his own life - see his quotes and his colour story - but this is quite excessive. the others can be seen as brave, this is different )

one more flash back later, they are fighting and we know jarv is not holding back. none of the fighting right now is casual, he is serious and very angry. this is contrasted with memories of xin with jarv and how jarv once idolised heros and here he is wielding the weapon in a very non-hero-like way. and yet drakebane itself moves in conjunction with his own actions like a perfect extension of his body. we are told that drakebane ( as obvious by its name ) was forged by the great weapon smith orlon, the same who made pop/py’s hammer, in order to combat a powerful frostdrake named maelstrom and her brood. perhaps digging into it too much, but i do see in essence that while the sword was not working for him yet his lance remains faithful is by his conviction in its original purpose. this lance was created to slay great beings of magic, to kill dragons, for the great kings of demacia to wield against the mages of the runewars. and this fits the mindset this king currently has.

another flashback passed we come back to a xin who is facing a new set of concerns, before he was worried about fighting the prince with dangerous weapons while jarv are unarmoured and now he is concerned that maybe the prince getting horribly wounded is not the only issue. here we see another drastic flip in jarv, he would never hurt someone he cared about, he is especially known to put himself in harms way before anyone else. and yet. he cut xin and xin is reasonably concerned but also unafraid. while it is only explicitly stated that xin thinks there is balance in dying here but it surely seems jarv also has this opinion. they both seem to think death is what they deserve. yet ( as angry as jarv is ) he doesn’t to want kill xin as much as xin wishes not to harm him. he stops as the blade ghosts xin’s skin, begging xin for answers but upon receiving it ( if not by xin’s confession but by his own reasoning ) he just deflates. he works out xin was sent away and so he is left as the only one at fault for ‘failing’. xin was fulfilling his duty, while he failed in his.

instead, jarv is just remains tired, tired and grieving and alone. through the next two flashbacks and jarv’s reaction to them we learn the late king was a stubborn man about what he believed in and that he often put his work ahead of himself and his family despite his love for his son. and just as quickly did jarv sober did his temper re-flare, upon hearing about the rebellion again he declares that they should have killed all the mage prisoners instead of imprisoning them. xin is shocked by this for he remarks that once jarv used to be concerned with the treatment of mages in demacia like his father but acknowledges that this was before what they did to him and that his anger in the moment is justified. but he still reminds him that his father wouldn’t agree with that, as he wouldn’t have once agreed with that. here it is key to see one of the great hurts in him right now is he feels both a failure and he feels betrayed, he snaps back ‘ and they killed him. ’ the lightshields had been working towards making things better for mages and in jarv’s angry thoughts and he feels betrayed by the ones they were working to help, he feels as if his good nature was taken advantage of and hurt by those he cared about. ( also note, canonically, execution is a murderer’s punishment. killing another is punishable by death and this is shown in some stories. )

just as quickly as this outburst begins does it end however, his fire dies and he sheds any mask of princely facade and anger, revealing he is simply lost, scared, sad and confused again. he grips feebly to support, and weeps. likely not the first time given his earlier description, but likely the first true time where he might realise the full emotion and weight of the situation. and he tries to hold strongly to it, he doesn’t have confidence or stability so he is all but begging xin to be it for him. when he is told that xin sees his life as forfeit, jarv grips at strings to keep xin with him. while desperate it is still very controlled though, controlled and thought out. begging wouldn’t work, but xin’s sense of duty would. and once xin starts to relent, he asks formally, appealing to the formal requirements. and once that digs at him, he appeals to the side that is his uncle, for he needs him as much as his kingdom. strategic in all things but it also shows his reliance on xin emotionally in this point. i strongly believe, if xin denied him he would crumple and things would be a lot worse. even if xin thinks he looks more composed after his breakdown.

and the short story ends with xin accompanying jarv to a council meeting. xin remarks at how controlled jarv is compared to his outburst, likely due to two things: 1) he had his outburst and is now not bottling up his emotions as much and is able to control himself better, and 2) jarv is required to look regal. xin notes that demacia needs a strong leader right now and jarv likely knows that just as well ( which will play a part in his next actions ) and so is portraying himself in such a way regardless of how his emotions might still be. i think this is shown well when he asks to see the note xin was to deliver, the contents of which anger him. it is a reminder of his older self, of his old ambitions and everything that he lost. and so he wrings its neck like he has to his old self and what he wishes to do to those that caused this. this shocks and disturbs xin and he is concerned. it is also important to note that the mageseekers are trained to combat magic so keeping them with greater powers, he increases arrests while the note wished to limit them, is advantageous to his wants.

after this point lu/x 5 will fill but we don’t know much of it so we shall skip over it for now. lastly, we have turmoil, a short story i really suggest reading which takes place one month after these events. as not much is relevant other than a few details and the laws of stone i will summarise. in turmoil, it follows a group of demacian soldiers as they are sent to escort a foreign dignitary to the capital, a mage from arbormark called arjen. the soldiers are uneasy with this and some wish that they could be out hunting the rebellions in the woods instead. two mageseekers accompany them as is now required by the laws. as they escort the mage they run into trouble. fearing the villages of the town wish to hurt the mage they are escorting, the soldiers form a tight perimeter and try to escape through a passage and a building. however, it is revealed the mob is not mad about the mage but one of the mageseekers with them. this mageseeker, under the new laws of stone was made to remove a young girl who he had been working with prior, he laments he didn’t want to remove her for she was innocent and he wouldn’t have required to prior but the laws have changed to become stricter and so all mages are considered guilty. the mother of the young mage tries to kill him but she is talked down but the crossbow still fires in a shot which would have killed one of the more vocal mage hating soldiers but arjen carefully uses his magic to deflect the bullet with only that soldier and the main character noticing. the mage hating soldier is conflicted and says nothing, implied to be having a turn of heart. the mother tells the mob to disperse and the envoy continues to the capital.

now from this we learn a couple things: 1) is is now illegal to BE a mage. prior to sy/las it was only illegal to USE magic and so benign mages were actually educated on how to control themselves at times and we treated more of a sickness at other. but now you’re life is a crime. 2) some of the mageseekers themselves are uncomfortable with this. while mageseekers have often been portrayed as horrific people, it is shown in this story as being more a magic focused police service which holds some corruption in higher ranks but also employs people who simply want demacia kept safe and don’t agree that magic is bad but rather bad mages are bad people. 3) that demacia has a lot of allies due to their defence of realms beyond their boarders and also that they understand demacia’s place and don’t condemn them for it. they understand the position of demacia based on its history. 4) these allies are sending who they think will help advise the new king of demacia best including mages and jarv is NOT denying them entry, which shows a willingness to listen which is a step beyond his much more aggressive stance one month earlier. 5) the punishment for being a mage is exile or imprisonment. currently the prisons in demacia are overloaded and there are prison camps in the outskirts. also exile is seen as one of the worst punishments in demacia. and 6) the rebellion is being hunted by the demacian army.

so, after all this, what can be conclude? it is obvious jarv is GREATLY affected by the barrage of death around him. his pre-existing survivor’s guilt is further exasperated by the failure to protect his father and those he swore to and he feels greatly betrayed by many people in his life ( lu/x for claiming to be a friend of the one who killed all these people, the mages he was trying to help striking when he is most vulnerable ). he is greatly alone with losing many friends and family and others being seemingly absent from the events, giving him only those with views which would increase his own anti-mage sentiment if he listens to them. he is lost in his grief and his depression and his anger, his empathetic nature stretched to its breaking point and he has no respite. in the end, jarv is doing what he thinks will protect his people, note he likely does not think mages among his people anymore, and will do anything for their safety. but he is also trying to be reasonable by reaching out to his allied nations as a new king and accepting the advise of mages on these topics. he isn’t murderous, but he is hurt and alone and his actions in his hurt are making him more alone. it’s a vicious cycle demacia has always been in, and now our dear newly crowned king has fallen into it.

a little extra: i do think there is a bit of jarv’s lore MISSING given the situation with shyv. i hope this will shed light on what he was doing and how that also affected him before this happened. i also hope they eventually show us jarv being redeemed for this is FAR from the jarv that the bio shows us on his page and i think that is his true self. just, if i can recall, someone i know once said at your lowest you become your opposite and i think this is true here.

#wow um okay #thats long #like 7 k words long #kudos to you if you read it all #its just me throwing out all my thoughts on the events to read #also not going to lie #this was so long #i didn't edit it at all #sorry for the grammar errors #about /#— out of character `

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lactosecarrotsoup · 6 years ago

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My thoughts on Sean & Finn’s kiss

This will be long and of course contain spoilers, as if you can’t tell by the title... thingy. So, be warned. This will also contain my opinion(s); which is a very sensitive subject in this fandom.

We’re all entitled to our own thoughts, opinions, beliefs, etc.

With that said, let’s get started!

For those who are new to this game... I will give you a short summery. Life is Strange is a video game series ran by DontNod. A great company who loves to make players cry. This season has new characters from the other season and DLC. This season takes place in Washington where you play as a 16 year old boy, Sean Diaz, who’s a regular teenager. He loves drawing, skating, and of course stereotypical teen stuff such as drugs and parties. Taking away the partying and drug usage, he’s your typical shy-ish guy. He also has a little brother named Daniel, he’s 9 years old.

Both of them are Hispanic, including their father (Esteban), making this season’s cast more diverse than the first season, where the main characters were mainly white.

Speaking of their father, he dies. Yep. After Sean forces Daniel out of his room, Daniel runs to their hot-headed neighbor and accidentally spills homemade zombie blood on him. Sean over see’s the neighbor about to hurt Daniel and rushes out the house, protecting him. After a few racial slurs/crude remarks to Daniel, Sean decides to fight him. Sean shoves the neighbor onto a small rock (which I still dont understand how that injured him), and he lays on the ground in shock/going unconscious.

A cop shows up and hell breaks loose. The cop only see’s the “blood” on the neighbors shirt and Daniels, thinking nothing but the worst of the situation rather than questioning them. The dad comes out, trying to reason with the officer and he gets trigger happy, shooting Sean & Daniel’s dad, killing him. Daniel screams in shock/anger/horror and Sean blacks out. Whenever he wakes up, the entire street is destroyed and more people are dead/unconscious. He grabs Daniel and they runaway, not wanting to get involved with the crime. It’s later found out that Daniel has powers (similar theme to LIS season 1) and can move objects with his mind.

More shit happens, yada yada yada.

NOW.

Episode 3 just released. In episode two, the brothers meet quite a few people. But most notably for this post, Cassidy and Finn. These two are regular friends (or maybe even “fuck buddies” as Finn and another girl described their relationship), who are a lot like Sean and Daniel. Cassidy left her old home life to live on the road. Finn, I can’t remember if he said anything or not. But I would think it would be for the same reason or something crime related.

Anyways, point is, they all group together and live in the woods. But, they all also work for this dude who runs a farm with nothing but pot.

Yep.

A nine year old and sixteen year old kid are working at a pot farm.

This leads to Finn, Cassidy, and Sean to get high, drunk, etc.

Finn get’s a hair up his ass and decides; “Hey, why don’t we steal all the cash from our boss? Who cares if he may know about Sean & Daniel’s backstory, has security footage evidence of them, and shotguns?!”

Cassidy is against this. But you, the player, have the option to accept or refuse his plan to rob the big dude with the cash.

And in the words of Chloe Price from season one; he’s got some “hella cash”

SORRY I HAD TOO.

But still, you can either rob from the guy or go against it. But HO HO HO! This choice doesn’t matter that much. Finn does it anyways (with a fUCKING NINE YEAR OLD HELPING HIM AND RISKING THAT KID’S LIFE) and Cassidy gets upset and worried. So, if you disagree with Cassidy, you end up meeting with them anyways so you can stop them. You get in trouble either way, btw.

But, let’s back it up.

If you agree to join Finn’s plan, he’s happy and you have the chance to romance him. Which, at first thought (including mine), was great! In the first season, Max was bisexual. You can flirt/romance with Chloe and/or Warren. With Sean romancing Cassidy and Finn, the developers made him bisexual.

But... it’s not all roses. Let me give you my first reaction. I do actually have it recorded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGJ8lg5clHM

2:29:55 - 2:34:24

If you don’t watch it, basically I was excited and shocked. I didn’t like Finn at first but in that moment, I shipped them. I wanted Sean to be happy and happy enough to open up about his sexuality, if he hadn’t already.

But, I realized something.

Finn is most likely 20+. Sean is still 16. This means Finn is an older guy kissing a minor, which is of course, illegal. Not to mention that earlier in that episode, he was teaching Daniel to throw knifes and such. He smokes and drinks and admits his sexual relationships in front of a kid, too.

Speaking of his sexual relationships, it would be highly toxic if Sean and him dated/had casual sexual intercourse. Just based on Sean’s personality and how he had a crush on that Jen girl in the first episode, and how close him and Cassidy warmed up to each-other, he wears his heart on his sleeve. One thing this season has done WONDERFULLY is not distribute toxic masculinity. Sean and Daniel have both cried several times. Most men don’t like to talk/show their feelings because they feel weak and such, which is horrible. No guy should feel that way and should openly express them-self.

Sean does this, which is amazing. Yet, still can harm him.

Right after you agree to Finn’s plan, you can kiss him. Throughout the episode, he also flirts with Sean. Of course you have the CHOICE to kiss him... but it’s only after you accept his agreement. You can kiss Cassidy (and sleep with her) but she will storm off, angry, without kissing you, if you agree to Finn’s plan. Which is reasonable. Or, you can lie to her, saying you thought his plan was dumb, and she’ll kiss you. Both reasonable (in my opinion) responses to each situations.

But, how come you can’t kiss Finn regardless? Sean can say no and they could still talk about their feelings, leading to a kiss. Instead, they do nothing.

Finn is manipulative. He used Sean’s emotions to get to him. He probably noticed how close him and Cassidy were and how much love he has for Daniel, openly saying it every now and then, and wanting to protect him. Finn noticed how open Sean is and took advantage.

Imagine if this wasn’t a choice base game and the story automatically follows Sean agreeing with Finn.

He flirts with him throughout the episode and is very charismatic. Since Daniel notices how close Sean and Cassidy are getting, he rants to Finn. Finn takes in this information and uses it against them. He becomes “cool” in Daniel’s eyes by being super chill, rebellious, and showing him how to violently protect himself/hurt others. In a sense, he becomes Daniel’s temporary older and “cooler” brother, making Daniel look up to him. With Finn’s flirting, he admits (once again, if your choices didn’t matter) that he has feelings for some guys.

Finn takes note of this.

The idea pops into his head to steal from the man who runs the pot farm... thing. I’m an innocent bean who hasn’t done anything harder than prescribed drugs for anxiety and stuff. So forgive me if I’m getting these terms wrong, LOL! But, the point still remains, he tells Daniel who is automatically on board. I doubt a 9 year old boy truly cares if they have enough money or not. I bet his main thought was “If I do this, then Finn will think I’m cool! He’ll treat me like an adult and so will others.”

In fact, I bet you that was his exact thoughts, just based on what he said to Sean and how he acted towards others.

If you really look at it, guys... it looks similar to a Mark Jefferson/Nathan Prescott relationship in season 1. I’m not going to go into many details for the people who haven’t played/watched season 1 yet, but I’ll give you guys a basic rundown by what I mean.

Nathan was mentally ill. He suffered from possibly multiple disorders and had an abusive father. His father wanted him to be the best of the best, not for his sake, but for the families sake. This got to Nathan and he hated his father. Mark Jefferson was a teacher who noticed this, befriending Nathan, and becoming a fatherly figure. The two teamed up to do sickening plans and crimes together which ended up getting them caught in the end.

Now, who does that sound like?

Daniel just lost his father and he’s angry. He probably has PTSD and anger management issues, based on how he’s acting and the situations he’s been through. Finn is an older figure and tricks Daniel to follow his plans and crime, as they’re stealing. They end up getting caught by the boss no matter what they, Sean, Cassidy, or the player does.

Sean is in the same boat, minus the anger issues. He probably suffers more from depression and PTSD (since he talks about the past a lot to others and how they know their story). Since he does talk about his feelings, Finn uses to his advantage.

When Sean agrees to the heist, Finn and him (can) kiss as an award. An award for falling into his trap and doing whatever he wanted.

Nathan got fatherly love and praise from Jefferson, resulting in him to continue their disgusting plans in order to feel loved.

Sean (and Daniel) and becoming the Nathan of this season.

We have to watch out who will be our jefferson.

I also have to address another elephant in the room.

We’re the reason this happened.

If you go through old DontNod/Life is Strange official posts (I suggest instagram or facebook, where i saw mine), I saw nothing but comments saying how much they want Chloe and Max back. I assume this is because of how you can romance Chloe. They want their love story/friendship to continue. Even though we did get a comic series based on them, it wasn’t good enough.

DontNod probably got sick of it and forced this to happen. While they were probably writing Cassidy as a love interest in the beginning, and Finn as probably just a random stranger or a brother of hers, the noticed all the hate and said “fuck it!”

As a result, we got the chance to kiss Finn... before you could write him off by injuring or killing him. Which, many people were pissed about.

But if you REALLY think about it, we were the cause of that. They probably didn’t want that, wanting to focus on Cassidy and the actual story. But many people wanted LGBTQ+ moments (which is understandable) but didn’t want Sean and Daniel’s story. Or they did get involved in their story but wanted a LGBTQ+ character.

The story of Life is Strange (both seasons + DLC) is nothing more but teens/young adults finding themselves through very difficult times. This with the responsibility of super powers, which are hurting those around them. It’s not meant to be a romance. It’s meant to be a drama, sci-fi, and angst story. (And thriller bc of Max’s nightmare bc that shit scared me)

While yes, I was happy and excited at first about Sean & Finn kissing. I was happy that there was potential for things to be “normal” and Sean to be happy, there was a lot of red flags. The age differences, the manipulation, the parallel's, and how forced it was.

Thanks for coming to my TEDTalk! Before you leave a hateful response, please know my opinion is valid like yours and others. Not only that, but I’m not the first to point some of this out. :)

#lis #life is strange #lis 2 #lis 2 spoilers #life is strange 2 spoilers #sean diaz #daniel diaz #life is strange 2

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otomesruinedmylife · 7 years ago

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#emberplays: Toma (Amnesia: Memories)

HEY GUYS IT’S THAT TIME... TOMA TIME!

Yeah yeah, I know. He’s that guy, the guy you either love him or hate him even more than most. What a polarizing character. Look, I’m not going to build a case for the guy in this summary by any means, but my opinion of what the route actually did in terms of suspense was pretty high.

SPOILERS, TRIGGERS & STUFF UNDER THE CUT, OH MY ヽ(;ﾟ;Д;ﾟ;; )

Okay so, I have to start this summary with the fact Toma’s route was recommended to me as the first route I do and the second otome I ever played. So I completely dived in headfirst into the craziness of Amnesia: Memories with no clue what I was getting into.

Amnesia sets you up as (unsurprisingly) the MC who has amnesia and is in the hospital. Depending on what route you chose when you start, you end up with one of four mysterious strangers showing up to the hospital and acting in various ways like you’re dating them. If you pick the diamond world, Toma’s your guy.

Now strap in and get ready for a wild ride.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS NEW METER??!?!?!

JFC suspicion maxed and a doubt meter, this can’t be good.

First of all this asshole easily has the weirdest and possibly well-paced route in the game without being overly convoluted IMO. For that reason alone I am extremely partial to his route. Granted I also go “OH SHIT” every time he turns up. He’s not my fav character in the game if we take him out of context of his route (that belongs to Ukyo), but his route is definitely the best of the ones immediately open to you. 12/10 stop reading all these spoilers and freak yourself out and play it now.

I think Toma means well deep in his heart of hearts. You can see it as a pervasive theme throughout ALL routes and is extremely insecure about losing you, a constant throughout his entire life. He’s just doing his best, but his best is really bad. He really fucks it up in execution SO MANY TIMES. I’m not excusing his atrocious behavior lying “for her own good” and taking away MCs autonomy at like every turn, because let’s be real, I don’t care who’s tryna kill you, this is fucked up. When you can run away from him, your LI, with Ura Ukyo who somehow seems to be less sketchy to the MC… geez.

I STILL CANT GET OVER THE DOUBT METER. You’d think at least Ukyo might get one too, but NOPE. JUST TOMA. ICANTEVEN.

From everything I have gleaned on tumblr and some internet searches after playing the game, he’s horrible and we his fans are under no delusions that he’s NOT horrible (and still like him). He’d go to any lengths to protect you/MC and that kind of thing can be ridiculously indulgent to see play out. Word of the wise if you are reading this, just watch out when his yandere eyes activate (or if you are me, don’t).

AND THE CAGE. BLESS THIS GAME.

If for some reason other than completing the game to get Ukyo’s route you want Toma’s good end, don’t grind down his trust and affection or raise doubt too much. And don’t fucking believe Ukyo. The poor cinnabun is full ura mode in this route, so just… don’t. Trust. Ukyo.

I definitely had to play Toma’s route with a guide, as I ended up with bad end 2 (again with the yanderes and bad end 2, I SEE YOU ) without it but iirc it’s really only two choices that determine Good/Normal/Bad End 1.

The good end is creepily sweet, if not unrealistic. I’m not sure what universe you’d actually forgive him is a chill one. And it’s not so much the cage as it is the awful remarks he makes about how he should have taken advantage of you and tries to rape you. Like my dude my guy, saying you should have raped me isn’t winning you any favors regardless what good guy act you pulled initially. The normal end is much more realistic resolution, as Shin busts in and saves the day and Toma gets the fuck out of dodge, never to be heard from again.

10/10 Great yandere ~(✿⓪ ڡ ⓪ )~ . He hits all the tropes: overprotective childhood friend harboring a crush, stepford smiling, drugging the MC, A CAGE BEFORE THEY WERE COOL. And like any good yandere, he shows up in multiple routes! That’s right. You thought you’d left Toma in the dust with Ukyo’s route after surviving his own and Shin’s?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. NOT THIS TIME.

I don’t expect anyone to truly like him at face value, but I really enjoyed how creepy his route was so I guess I technically like him! Also all the scumbag memes with him are A+++ 👌👀👌👀👌👀

Scream at me about how none of this was consensual in my inbox

NEXT TIME: #emberplays: Doki Doki Literature Club (OH BOY) LAST TIME: #emberplays: Jumin Han (Mystic Messenger)

#toma #amnesia memories #otome #toma amnesia #otome review #my review #emberplays #yanderewatch

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brakken · 7 years ago

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So, I replayed Life is Strange Ep.1

Here are some thoughts.

Golly was it nice to revisit that world. I’d wanted to replay the game as a lead-up to Before the Storm, but I kept putting it off. A lot of emotion is tied to playing this game for me, and it was surprisingly tough to hop back in.

But now it’s back and it’s just how I remember it. Look, feel, sound, music, atmosphere, tone... it all blends into that nostalgic dream state that I think the designers have intended. Waking up reminds me of Life is Strange, now.

Replaying this first episode, I’m taking in a new appreciation for the smaller details that come into form later, like the two red trucks in the parking lot, the spot where Chloe has parked her truck, the half-painted house, the various glimpses of deer. I also appreciate the level of familiarity they make with the area and characters. Max knows who these people are, and talks about them as such. There’s not much needless character introduction, which helps immerse the player and invites us to relate to things through Max.

With these kinds of games I always try and get into the player character’s head, and make decisions with them in mind, rather than what I would personally do. Given that, I really don’t know what people see in Warren as a potential relationship, when so much of this opening chapter establishes Max’s level of regard for him as platonic at best. Yes, the characters’ opinions and feelings can shift, and I want to keep tabs on that in the later episodes, but it was interesting to see the lengths the designers took to establishing her boundaries toward Warren. I wanna talk about how this plays against Chloe, too - but I think I’ll save that for a later post.

A remark often thrown at this game is that the writing is bad. While I understand where that’s coming from, I feel like the voice acting deserves some of that criticism. A bad line can become a great line if delivered well, and that sadly isn’t always the case in LiS. I think this stems not just from the voice acting, but from poor direction. There’s a notable moment in Ep. 1 where Max is sitting on the swing in Chloe’s yard and remembering when they were young. Max, in her flashback, says ‘I would love to be a photographer’. Chloe responds, ‘Max you are a photographer.’ Instead of ‘Max, you are a photographer.’ It’s a subtle difference, but is very important in giving the conversation the proper context. I don’t know if their dialogue was recorded separately - that’s how these mistakes typically happen, but this sort of thing should have been noticed and avoided. This sort of thing pops up every now and then in many of the conversations, and coupled with the somewhat static character animations, the end result makes the writing seem tackier. I understand that when a game has this much dialogue that things like this can slip through. But at the same time, so much of the gameplay relies on speaking with others - there should be extra focus and care into making it look and sound good. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. And it’s a damn shame to be pulled out of the world when there’s so much else that is working to support it.

I love the art style of this game. I think ever since I saw the first trailer, it has stuck in my mind, and has become a big influence in my current artistic direction. It’s really wonderful to see when the concept art has translated so well into the final look. I love how it contrasts and compliments the themes of photography and memories - the objects being simple and hand-drawn in appearance, while still evoking the important details and shapes.

The music... hm, what can I say about the music? I wish there was more of it? Haha. But really, I did find it would fade out far too early for my liking when entering a new location. I like the mood the silence brings, but I like the mood of the music more. I wish I could listen to it outside of the game, but the feeling of melancholy quickly strikes.

I remember when the game was first released, I sort of shied away from it. I’d tried my hand at a couple of the Telltale games, and hadn’t found them to be for me. Much later, I began watching a playthrough of it, but stopped very early on and decided to play it myself when I saw two specific things. The first, unsurprisingly, was the rewinding feature. I knew it was in the game, but hadn’t understood its application until I saw some gameplay. The ability to try a different decision in the moment was such a great way to soften the blow of choice-making. Entirely optional, but not exploitable. You choices still were cemented by the time you entered the next area. Being able to shift into ‘reverse’ on this gameplay style’s gearbox was so vital in being able to enjoy its nuances. And the second thing it had over Telltale’s games (to continue the car analogy) was a freakin’ brake pedal. There was no timer on Max’s choices! Ever! Is that realistic? Doesn’t matter, it’s a game, and needs to be given to you in a way you can manage. Telltale seemed to favour a reaction-esque format, which did nothing for me except cause stress or break the immersion when I had to pause the game and evaluate the decisions. These aren’t quick-time events, and shouldn’t pretend to be.

It’s odd coming back to this episode knowing how it all pans out. It’s not affecting the choices I’m making for Max so much, nor is it robbing the moments of their intended effect. It’s odd more in the sense of how that isn’t happening. I’m still intrigued by the mystery surrounding Rachel Amber. I want to help Max mend fences with Chloe. And I want it all to be okay. But more on that later.

Favourite moments from this episode:

-Max sees Chloe in her truck and recognises her, which was great the first time I played because I put the pieces together about half a second before she said it and it was amazing.

-Max being pulled back from the storm, and trying to explain her powers to Chloe. A really nice build-up and a perfect book-end to the episode.

Those are my thoughts for now. Don’t know how long these will typically be, but I’m kinda just going with it. If you read this far, thanks!

(ps - i don’t think i’ll tag this with anything, and i’m fairly sure anyone giving this a look would have played the game already, but i’ll make sure to warn before talking any big spoilers in later posts.)

#max talks about life is strange

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pengiesama · 8 years ago

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GLENWOOD RUSTLEMANIA CHAMPIONSHIPS

and now i’m at the final dungeon in Berseria, ready to kneecap anyone who stands between me and my true goal of launching a spinning heel-kick at Innominat’s skull

as always, BIG TIME SPOILER EXTRAVAGANZA UNDER THE CUT, as i am at the endgame at this point

for the curious, per Eizen, a scarlet night happens when the moon and the earth line up such that the earthpulse gets drawn into the moon by gravity

"i'm a wicked little boy, doing this for my own selfish needs!" SWEET BABY!!!! SWEET BABY!!!!!!

it's such an understated character quirk but i love how huge of an appetite Laphi has and how much he zeros in on delicious things. in like two thousand years once your and Sorey's sleepover is concluded i'm sure Mikleo will make ice cream for the both of you

every time Eizen says shitty things about women or is creepy at Velvet, Edna adds another notch to the tally of times she needs to powerbomb him into the mountain. the tally is frustratingly high

bye shigure you're far more appealing than your brother and are one of like, four decent NPCs in the game *plays Taps on kazoo*

bye old fat man you sure were old and fat *plays Mambo No. 5 on kazoo*

"WHEN THE ELEMENTAL EMPYREANS AWAKEN THE VERY FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH WILL SHAKE AND HORRIBLE DISASTERS WILL RAIN UPON--" you are trying to reason with the wrong ass crew, man. get slormped

Velvet projectile vomits the souls of the abbey bosses she ate into the volcano earthpulse, causing the elemental empyreans to awaken and literally dropkick Innominat into outer space. it is now up to us to get some golf clubs and finish the job of caving his skull in. and somehow steal a rocket ship to get up there; no one's really addressed that part yet

the best part of the empyreans awakening? because Innominat is now so weakened, his suppression on the malakhim/seraphim's free will is gone, meaning we got to see a bunch of malakhim ripping off their masks and loudly tell the abbey to fuck themselves sideways before poofing away.

so now i guess is the point where i would normally fuck around with so many endgame sidequests that i'd never wind up getting around to fighting the final boss, but i wanna break Innominat's kneecaps so bad that that's not gonna happen. the true Sweet Baby must take the throne

that's not to say i'll be skipping endgame sidequests entirely, such as the sidequest where i just fought the main guy from Xillia (?) who got turned into a penguin (???)

normin island is super cute and packed with Zestiria references, including but not limited to: 1) normins daydreaming about finding a nice master to serve, like "a pretty girl who makes terrible puns" 2) Zaveid arriving with little Dezel in tow, who he let wear his coat after saving him from daemons. i believe in Zestiria Dezel is said to be a fairly young seraph by seraphic standards, and Berseria takes place 1000 years in Zestiria's past -- if 1000 is "young" for a seraph, like, Mikleo must be considered a zygote

Zaveid loves kids so much that he and his now-dragonified girlfriend collect orphans and then kidnap random humans to help raise them. specifically he kidnapped some cooks bc he doesn't know how to

anyway we killed the dragonified girlfriend and now Zaveid and Eizen are friends and Zaveid promises to make Eizen's death wish a reality someday. once Eizen goes dragon Zaveid will run down the two-person list of people interested in having sex with him so i'm sure it'll be painful on his part as well *plays Single Ladies on kazoo*

and then we killed dragon-Silva again and confirmed he's the dragon skeleton on Hexen Isle. sometimes i feel Berseria tries a little too hard to shove LORE!!! LORE!!!! in our faces but i think that's just because i want it to focus entirely on lore that canonizes sormik more than it already is

hi other person from Xillia. is the penguin thing an in-joke i don't understand because i don't play Tales games that aren't gay

welcome to Katz Korner and here is where i remind you that Katz Korner explicitly has a sex club that you have to be 2000 years or older to enter and in Zestiria they state Zenrus was their most frequent guest

Laphi wants to enter the Katz wrestling championship where you make biscuits on your opponent and the first person who purrs loses. SWEET BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the final component of that legendary medicine we were gathering to save Laphi's Little Pal proves to be malakhim tears. can confirm that if Mikleo cried, i would gain the power to rend the earth in twain to annihilate the cause of his woes

Phoenix is here to fight again (pre-again? whatever prequels), and despite him putting forth the challenge only because he stalks Edna enough to know Eizen is deliberately avoiding her, he actually puts forth a remarkably coherent and comprehensive argument on how immature and horrible Eizen is being for keeping what he's truly doing a secret -- so much so that Eizen is basically sputtering red in the face in furious embarrassment towards the end and is all but screaming "FIGHT ME THO" to put a stop to it

that's all the compliments i'll give to Phoenix though because his fight makes me realize how much i HATE THE FUCKING STUN MECHANIC IN THIS GODDAMN GAME JESUS CHRIST. DO YOU LIKE GETTING STOPPED DEAD IN YOUR TRACKS EVERY TWO SECONDS IN BATTLE, FOR ABOUT FIVE SECONDS APIECE, GETTING YOUR MAX ABILITY POINTS REDUCED EACH TIME, UNTIL YOU CAN LITERALLY DO NOTHING AT ALL? WELL YOU FUCKING BETTER BECAUSE THERE'S NO WAY TO AVOID IT LOLOLOLOL FUK U

anyway after all that Eizen sends Phoenix to watch over her and is convinced to come clean to Edna about being a pirate. you then receive a letter from her, in which she casually accepts the news in the traditional Edna Way ("well that was obvious. the new doll you sent isn't cute but i'll keep it since you sent it.") then Eizen starts crying and it made my dick stiff

i think the Seres = Lailah theory is dumb and very well-debunked at this point (considering Seres is like. very dead) but Velvet does state in an event skit that Celica loved to make puns so maybe Lailah helps carry on her purpose into the future

i poked my head into the Empyrean/Artorius' Throne area to clean up a hunt but i found a pair of freed malakhim there who stole the Water Divine Artifact (aka Mikleo's bow) from the Abbey and are planning on smoothing out the armatus arte to make it less dangerous and more of an even exchange of power than it is at that point -- as it is it's just exorcists flat out stealing malakhim power with zero consent and then melting from the strain.

yet another chapter in the Who Fucking Edited This Game's Localization saga; localizing Glenwood as "Greenwood" because who cares about consistency in a pair of linked games. that might sound minor but, seriously, there are skits and dialogue that have complete gibberish as the subtitles/on-screen text. for example: Magilou has a line of dialogue: "That's a little goose I'm even by my standards." I was straight-up staring at my screen and eventually pieced together that they were going for "gruesome". i had a suspicion on how it happened, and checked out videos of the dub to confirm -- sure enough, Magilou's EN VA (who still sounds obnoxious lol i am so glad i changed to the sub so early) says the line, and if you were in fact a poor innocent speech-to-text converter software, used by a bunch of lazy localizers who decided to use a speech-to-text converter to automatically transcribe dialogue so you could whack off in the bathroom instead of doing work, it's very clear how you could parse the line reading as "goose I'm" instead of "gruesome".

okay i think that metaphor might have gotten lost there. what i am saying is the lazy ass localization team clearly used speech-to-text converters to transcribe dialogue for subtitles, and couldn't be arsed to proofread the result. this happens CONSTANTLY in Berseria's subs/on-screen text. christ, what happened here? Zestiria didn't have this problem...

#i guess this is my personal tales of berseria tag now #i guess this is my personal tales of zestiria tag now

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All 22 eyes on Ibrahimovic: Five Decision Day matchups to watch

USA Today Images

October 25, 20183:24PM EDT

With 11 matches kicking off simultaneously, Decision Day presented by AT&T is going to be a pure, exhilarating rush of MLS soccer to close out the regular season.

There’s a lot to discuss and dive into ahead of the weekend; There will be even more to discuss and dive into after all 11 matches have been completed. Heading into Decision Day, here are five matchups to focus on.

Matt Besler vs. Adama Diomande

Sunday’s match vs. @LAFC is massive. And Captain @MattBesler thinks *everyone* should be in attendance for the occasion. #SKCvLAFC

📰 » https://t.co/UK0MEEBeyf pic.twitter.com/KxU3H49y98

— x – Sporting KC (@SportingKC) October 24, 2018

One of the team’s best performances of the season, Sporting Kansas City went into Dallas and dropped FC Dallas 3-0 last weekend to jump to the top of the Western Conference. In the aftermath of the match, Besler wasn’t shy for allowing a window into his visceral emotions from the day, much of which wasn’t flattering to his opponents. Then he playfully called out LAFC co-owner Will Ferrell.

I’m here for all of it. Besler will be in the spotlight again after FS1 chose this game to air nationally and he’ll have a tough task.

Against LAFC’s efficient, and egalitarian, attack, it’ll mostly be a battle of units. Carlos Vela will float, the wingers will swap touchlines and the midfielders will be fluid. But one player who will be generally anchored is the center forward, likely to be Diomande. Emotions may run high given the stakes and combined with how neither player shirks a good ol’ shoulder barge, that battle could be fun.

Dio has picked up form since returning from injury, and has developed his chemistry with Vela, but their last three games came against teams below the playoff line. Let’s see what happens against playoff-bound SKC and the league’s third-stingiest defense.

Tyler Adams vs. Sacha Kljestan

Sure, it’s not the sexiest matchup of the weekend, but crucial to the Shield. If Orlando City are going to do much in attack against the New York Red Bulls, it’ll go through Kljestan. The No. 10 loves to set up his office right in territory owned and operated solely by Tyler Adams at Red Bull Arena.

Kljestan is enduring his statistically worst season since rejoining MLS, with the Red Bulls, in 2015. But he scored the winning goal against Columbus Crew SC last weekend and generally looked on form for the 90 minutes, back up to his old tricks that saw him as the league’s assist king for the last two seasons. He’s already on the record that he desperately hopes to play spoiler to his former team’s Shield hopes.

Adams has been one of the best midfield destroyers in the league this year. To boot, the former teammates will know each other inside out from time spent on the training field.

Toronto FC vs. Atlanta’s Shield party at BMO

🐜🙌🐻 #TFCLive pic.twitter.com/fcGonNAYI4

— Toronto FC (@torontofc) October 24, 2018

When the league schedule was released, Toronto vs Atlanta would have been circled as Decision Day’s marquee matchup. TFC, it appeared, would be every bit as good as their historical 2017 edition and Atlanta would be a heavyweight yet again.

It hasn’t happened that way for Toronto, of course, but the game Sunday is still entirely interesting. With too many matchups to watch, let’s take a macro look at this one: will Toronto show up with the requisite zeal, intensity and pride to fight against Atlanta, holding (at least momentarily) their 2017 record for points? Or will they fold, have an eye on an offseason lasting about a month and a half longer than they would have planned in preseason? We’ll know within a few minutes.

Sure, Jozy Altidore, Victor Vazquez and Miguel Almiron are out injured, but there will be plenty of star power on the pitch at BMO Field.

Bastian Schweinsteiger vs. LuchoRoo

Remarkably, D.C. United aren’t playing for their playoff lives on Decision Day, but for potentially hosting a knockout game. A win in Chicago would do the trick. There will be no surprises about how D.C. will try and accomplish that: lean on Wayne Rooney and Lucho Acosta.

The pair will be dealt with, largely, by Rooney’s former Manchester United teammate Bastian Schweinsteiger. When the two teams met at Audi Field earlier this month, Schweinsteiger started in defense.

It worked for a while, too. The Fire took a 1-0 lead in the second half before Rooney rescued all three points with two goals. It’ll be another tall task for Schweinsteiger and Co. on Sunday.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic vs. … all 11 Dynamo players?

For the 50,000 new @Ibra_official fans in Minnesota 😘 pic.twitter.com/v28S0N1Dcf

— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) October 22, 2018

It would be unfair to pinpoint a singular defender to suppress Ibrahimovic, who is having the most efficient season in league history by way of goals + assists per 90 minutes. Plus, if someone asked Ibrahimovic about any individual/group matchup, the chances are next to none that he’d do anyone the courtesy of naming them. He’d probably say something like gravity or mortality. But, in reality, defending Ibrahimovic will take a team effort.

Truth be told, Minnesota United did a decent job last weekend except for a few moments. In those moments, Zlatan popped up with a goal and assist. It’s got to be a comprehensive, 90-minute effort.

To borrow from the NFL, ex-New York Giants defensive coordinator let the world know of his simple plan to stop star Philadelphia Eagles running back Brian Westbrook, which applies to how the Dynamo will have to deal with Ibrahimovic.

“We need 22 eyes on No. 36, every play,” Steve Spagnuolo said a decade ago. “Just know where he is if there’s a chance he’s going to get the ball.”

The Dynamo need 22 eyes on No. 9, every play.

The Winning 11 Pick ‘Em’

Who ya got on Decision Day? Pick which teams will win on MLS Decision Day 2018 presented by AT&T (Oct. 28) for a chance to win a trip to the MLS Cup 2018. It’s FREE and easy. Make your picks now!

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All 22 eyes on Ibrahimovic: Five Decision Day matchups to watch was originally published on 365 Football

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