#game followup

[zundely]

Sorry for a little petty and not a very positive post but it gets on my nerves a little when I see people being like "My RPG choice/romance is in the Bioware CANON WORLDSTATE we won!" like I dunno what to tell you man, congrats your singleplayer game choices were approved by the corporate or whatever but it's a little weird you want to use it to make your, again, singleplayer RPG game choices feel more valid then other ones.

And while in plot choices it's bad because it feels unecessary discourse about which choices are the 'correct ones', it really rubs me the wrong way when it is about romance options. Because first- there obviously shouldn't be a right and wrong romance choice. There shouldn't be secret winning romance. And second- if it is a thing that there is a romance option that gets loads of attention from creators because they chose it as more canon then others... yall realise why this is actually a bad thing right? Especially when usually it's a straight locked romance? And how it's especially bad when there is no alternative with comparable plot relevance? Like I dunno if that's winning guys when all but one choice in the game with multiplechoices don't get any followup in the narrative.

[nyc-pizza-rat]

fully leaning into this game show just being the brennan lee mulligan psychological torture chamber and ykw, im here for it.

[nerdallwritey]

Snippet Sunday!

Thanks for the tags @ladyduellist and @obsessedwhyyes!! I didn't have anything for a hot minute but I've got some stuff now 😈

Part 6 of Beauty and the Bard is HAPPENING, baby!!! Without further ado, here's the beginning so far:

“Would you relax?” you whispered sharply to the vampire currently brooding to your right. “How can I be when this… ancient woman just tried to murder you?” Astarion threw a dramatic hand forward, gesturing to Jaheira, who was walking in front of you towards the Last Light Inn. You all had just arrived at the well lit sanctuary in the Shadow Cursed Lands, only to be interrogated by the High Harper, and vouched for by Mol, who’d managed to find her way here as well. “I handled it,” you hissed. “It’s going to be okay.” “While I admire your optimism, darling, I still don’t trust her.” Karlach buzzed behind you, clearly in disbelief. “Mate, you must be joking. That’s the Jaheira!” Astarion slowed his pace a bit to meet Karlach’s eye. “And, I take it, you know the old crone?” “Astarion!” Wyll sounded surprised. “You’ve lived in Baldur’s Gate longer than I have! And you don’t know the tales they tell of Jaheira and her party of adventurers?” Your crew of seven came to a halt in front of a moss covered fountain to gawk at the elf. He clicked his tongue. “Mmm… that’d be a no.” “He’s lying,” Shadowheart rolled her eyes. “I am not!” Gale lifted a quizzical eyebrow. “Come now, Astarion, surely you’ve heard passing tales of the heroes of Baldur’s Gate? Or perhaps read a book of their exploits?” Lae’zel narrowed her eyes. “I do not know of this ‘Jah-hee-rah’ person. Her heroics must not be that impressive if I have never heard of her.” “Nor I,” Halsin cut in. “Yes, well, being freakish outsiders from the Astral Plane and the middle of the forest will deprive you of basic history lessons.” Astarion crossed his arms. You snorted. “So what’s your excuse?”

This one's interesting because I skip around in time quite a bit to get to Act 2 but I'm having a great time! I'm making slow but steady progress :)

No pressure tagging: @arzen9, @kalmiaphlox, @maladaptive-menace, @xxnashiraxx, and @busy-baker!

[aquilamage]

bad and naughty iterators get put in the microwave to atone for their crimes

[parasympatheticnervoussystem909]

[karokawwo]

i think it would be cute if the seaspring hivemind also liked mc idk it would be cute idkidk

[meggannn]

they call it hades 2 because it’s actually two games, a sequel and its own sequel

[chongoblog]

Been playing more Have A Nice Death, and when I played it on stream I mentioned some worries since one of the unlock requirements for an item was “stop the worker’s strike”. And I was worried that it’d be some sort of “Unions are evil” type deal.

Turns out Death basically said “yeah what I’m doing right now is gonna hopefully address your main demands” and then Jerry went “oh….sweet cool….but HERE ARE SOME MORE DEMANDS” which had a lot less serious stuff in it (like, for example Pump Quinn asked for a comically large pencil and Patrick asked for a certain jello flavor), and then after a bit of time, you see that all of those demands were met.

The next time I talked to Pump Quinn after this, they mentioned that Jerry gave them “Das Kapital” for their Secret Santa and Death called out one of the Sorrow’s, telling them that their department wouldn’t have anything without all of their underlings and that they need to be treated with more respect.

So yeah good game.

[liquidchocolatecake]

currently captive audience to a knock down drag out fight in my brain between desire to respect the wishes of the creator and not look for anyone redistributing the comic and god i fucking miss wonderlab i miss wonderlab so much you have no idea i want wonderlab back so bad

[brambletakato]

Yes I love PL but I am so fawkin excited for potentially decapolice in the direct even though like . only two other people share that thought /j

[disembodiedvoicecrossover]

assorted cookie drawings with a bit of ai cookie. yknow what @gibberishquestion tagging you here since i remember you like ai cookie also i forgot your discord so i cant just dm you the drawings

[lesbianshadowheart]

I would truly, truly love to hear your takes on the bg3 relationship quadrant network analysis you have done pls

OKAY so. idk if you'd seen it but this is what i made like a couple weeks into the game

and i STAND BY IT!! although one caveat is that this is an early-game state as for instance Shadowheart's and Lae'zel's relationship gets more complex and mutually appreciative later on. But let's go thru this one by one

so the initial relationship between SH and LZ is a PRIME example of kismesitude. their hate and attraction is almost fateful in nature, considering their narrative opposition and hidden layers of similarity. It even comes to a tipping point and they try to kill each other and the player has to come in and auspistice. I do see the potential for <3/<3< vacillation later on or even either a stable <3 or <3< relationship as they settle their differences

Lae'zel is also in a dire need of a moirail and of course the player can fill that role but just among these characters? It would have to be someone she respects enough and who is willing to curb her aggression. Shadowheart would be the best candidate but they want to fuck each other too much for it to work. Karlach would work BUT K also needs a moirail to cool her down sometimes and Lae'zel simply is not that!! I've had several comments saying it should be Gale but I honestly don't know if she respects him enough. sorry. maybe there is pale beauty there im not seeing feel free to prove me wrong

SH<3Karlach is clear and self-explanatory they would simply be in a passionate, healthy relationship. Karlach's moirallegiance with Wyll could also potentially veer into <3 territory but I honestly see them as BESTIESSSS the most, hey're like, queerplatonic to me. they respect and appreciate each other, neither of them really needs the 'stop murdering people' aspect of moirallegiance but Wyll can cool Karlach down if she gets too emotional and I think Karlach could teach Wyll to love himself. Millions of brave Wyllach warriors out there saying it better I'm sure.

Astarion<3/<3< Wyll is literally just what that post said. They have a poetic, almost fairytale-like quality to the duality that comes from how each of them relates to their identity as a 'monster'. The'd be at odds morally of course, but could fix each other eventually, and of course they would be attracted to each other but I think Wyll would think he SHOULDN'T be into an immoral vampire, and Astarion would be like I don't ACTUALLY like him im just like...objectifying him (not true), contributing to the pitched aspect of their relationship

And Shadowheart <> Astarion is just so close to my heart. They are a set of airpods to me. SH has both a capacity of meanness and manipulation that Astarion can appreciate and the boundless compassion that he needs. they are siblings, they alre mlm/wlw solidarity. They would support each other fully without any judgement on what the other has done and also be such cunts to each other. They are mean to people together. argue with the wall honestly

And Gale is making soup<3

[cina-full-moon-xanadium]

been re-reading reboot archie sonic lately and i fucking forgot they had segata sanshiro in here as a cameo this is SURREAL to look at now i know him as hongou san

[p5x-theories]

(Originally a reply on the Haru info post, responding separately since that's kind of a long post and I don't want to reblog it again, heh)

@lolipopman416 Ah, yes, I think I listed them out for an ask in the past, but I'll just give you an updated list here! (And maybe add it to my FAQ, so the info's a bit more convenient to find, heh.)

Resist: good at targeting single enemies (Wonder (Janosik), Fleuret, Mont, Bui, Sepia, Messa, Skull, Queen). This tends to manifest as followup attacks that hit one target, or status effects/damage buffs that apply against specific targets.

Control: good at dealing with groups of enemies (Closer, Summer Motoha, Joker, Panther, Fox, Noir). This tends to manifest as lots of multi-target attacks, and bonuses for using those attacks in certain ways.

Surrender: focused around applying debuffs to gain an advantage (Key, Rin, Vino). This tends to manifest as a focus on a particular status effect, and the ability to do extra damage/effects to enemies once they're inflicted with it.

Rescue: focuses on healing companions (Cattle, Summer Tomoko, Marian, Mona). This has so far always included at least one healing skill, but often other healing abilities can be triggered as well.

Superior: good at buffing teammates and improving their effectiveness (Moko, Leon, Riddle, Chord). This has so far always manifested as unique buffs/status effects, sometimes becoming fully triggered by additional conditions.

Defense: good at protecting teammates and keeping them alive (Soy, Yuki, Cherish). This tends to manifest as shield-focused abilities, but Soy instead draws fire to himself, and buffs the team's max health temporarily.

Elucidation: the designation used for navigators (Wind, Okyann, Puppet, Phoebe, Oracle). This obviously has a wide array of specific applications, but tends to revolve around unique buffs or debuffs that the navigator can grant/inflict, and obviously each navigator has their own fights/team compositions they're most suited for.

These categories also apply to all of Wonder's Sea of Souls Personas, but I doubt you care as much about that in particular, and it'd honestly be way too time-consuming to list them all out, haha. But I hope this was what you're looking for!

For the most part, these combat roles/designations don't really matter in the game- there's no inherent penalty for having a team of three Resist characters and an Elucidation, for instance- but there are two places where you need to pay attention to them: Marthym Tasks, which often require 1-2 characters of a specific role, and certain Door to Ominous Dreams fights, where the survival-type fights require you to have at least one Rescue or Defense teammate, making the enemies much stronger if you lack one.

That said, the roles are also a bit useful for speculating what a character will be like as soon as they're announced! I remember it was interesting to first hear that Summer Tomoko was a Rescue instead of a Superior, because that implied a distinct change in skill set for her. We also had an idea of what to expect for Cherish, since we knew he was Defense before we'd even confirmed which character he actually was, haha!

It may also be a useful avenue for future theorizing- right now our story team lacks any Surrender or Superior teammates, so that may be what we're getting next! In general, we're lowest on Superior and Defense teammates (though they did just add Cherish), so we may be seeing more of them in the near future.

[offsidekineticist]

△ Theo, can you ever forgive Giliys?

ooh, straight for the jugular! I think this one needs 2 ratings cuz Theo is in such severe denial and willfully misinterpreting his emotions right now that he doesn't actually realize how much he doesn't want to think about this. He thinks it's kind of a 6/10 - he definitely wouldn't willingly discuss this with a stranger, but if Qweck asked him this he would try to answer the question (albeit begrudgingly).

It's actually a 10/10. Because the truthful answer to this question is something he is lying to himself about so effectively that he doesn't actually know that's what he's doing. In other words, he's not even willing to broach this topic with himself. So even though he's answering the question honestly in the sense that he is explaining his feelings as he understands them...he doesn't actually understand his feelings well enough to be truthful.

Putting the answer under a cut bc it's about forgiving and/or loving someone who did something terrible and feeling like someone you loved was a lie that never existed. idk how to put that under a concise CW, but I feel like there should be one.

Theo sighs through his nose before answering. "It's not my place to forgive him. Not for everything, at least. He hurt - I don't even know how many people it was. It wouldn't be right to pretend that he hadn't done that. That he's probably still doing it.

"As for what he did to me specifically - I don't...who would I even be forgiving? I don't know who he is. He pretended to be someone else - someone selfless - for decades. I was best friends with someone who doesn't exist. It feels like asking if I could ever forgive a fairytale for not being real."

He stops, and for a moment you think he's done. But then you see the intense concentration in his eyes - there's something more, something he's determined to put into the exact right words. "Sometimes I forget there's anything to forgive," he finally says. "Because it felt real. Its still feels real. But it isn't. He looks like Gilly, even acts like him most of the time. I forget that it isn't really him - that he never existed. Gilly never - he would never do what Giliys did. But I can't - my feelings don't understand, and so I keep feeling like these feelings are towards Giliys when they're actually towards someone who isn't real - because of course they are. Because Giliys is despicable. He's done unforgivable things, and I could never love - " he stops abruptly. "But my feelings don't understand yet. They will. But they don't yet. Maybe I'll be able to think about forgiveness then, when I can see who he really is and not who he pretended to be."

(Someday he will realize this was not the truth. Someday he will realize the truth was "I already have, and I am ashamed.")

[a-muffin]

Damn you mutuals /silly