#i already feel like my progress has been very slow (i know logically that i'm not going slowly. but it just feels like i am)

[the-consequence-of-imagination]

Since labotor posted the fairy race mod yesterday and I had to scramble to update the THS custom races patch bc I COMPLETELY forgot I said I'd add lab's fairy race to it I wanted to make my half-fairy half-dragon oc Itheel... and then I went and started making her hair because nothing was close enough.

I realized Isobel's hair is actually pretty close, just need to add the bangs (which currently are edited from Qelira's hair, and I got the bangs for Qelira from Gortash's hair) and the braids (from Lae'zel of course).

This is just the first in-game test; it obviously still needs some work, but the fact that everything is pretty much functioning as it should on the first test is nice. I've come a long way from spending days just trying to get the mesh to show up at all!

Now that Padme's bangs mod is out, I might also work on a version of my hair extensions mod that uses bangs & other parts from my OC hairs (because the closest we have to anime bangs in vanilla is from Ballerina Buns, which *is* in Padme's mod, and Gortash's which I'm surprised isn't in her mod). It will be a separate mod from KHE, though I'll probably call it "Kay's Hair Extensions - Custom Version". I still need to work on the helmet hair version as well (the helmet hairs are NOT autosnap, and I haven't decided how to go about dealing with it.

Also, no Qelira's outfit isn't done; editing the dye masks is proving to be a pain in the ass because for SOME reason (I think the shader has something to do with it, the bg3 equipment generator defaults to using CHAR_BASE_AlphaTest on all the textures and when I changed it to CHAR_BASE the way it interpreted the dye mask colors changed) the game can't tell the difference the primary/secondsry/teriary colors (no matter what shade of blue/purple I use, it reads as leather secondary), and like, I'll use a color channel dye to help see what color it's actually taking, and it's got separate dyes for cloth/leather/metal/other/custom, where when you dye the item Red is primary, green is secondary, blue is tertiary, and everything else is black. Well, I'll use the leather dye & some parts are green, and others are yellow???? And even aside from the color frustration, I would like for the coat to have physics but getting the waist area to cooperate is not going well. Clothing in general just seems more complex than hair ._.

[tadpoles-and-daydreams]

Hi, there!

I don't know if your free readings are still open, but your blog showed on my dashboard three times in a row, so I'm taking it as a sign ✨

This week I had a hard time dealing with a bad habit I'm trying to get rid of, and I failed, several times, I've been feeling guilty since then. So my question is, are my deities and guides mad with me for this?

I'm currently worshipping Apollo and Hekate, if that info helps.

Thank you very much beforehand! 💕

Heyo! Sorry this took so damn long anon- in fact, whether or not your comfortable saying if this resonated I'd really appreciate you shooting me an ask when you see this just so I know you got it! I'm so worried that you won't because anons don't get notifications, lol.

However, this took a while for good reason! I do shorter readings first and I wanted to specifically give more time and effort towards yours, the same amount as a paid reading, since honestly it hit close to home for me. I understand the worry that your deities might be angry or upset with you, so I just went ahead and did a full reading for this one. (Although, there's no channeled bits for each card like in a paid reading and instead I just put one bit from Hekate at the end!)

As always, my Ko-Fi link is at the bottom to tip if you want to and are financially able, or for anyone who sees this and wants to check out my paid readings! There's no social pressure however, I just want to make it clear from the beginning. <3

That being said, Hekate was the only one who stepped forward, for this one, so all of the cards are from her! Here's your reading;

Are you mad at or upset with them?

Strong no on this one. I later asked Apollo to make sure that I could add him onto this and he said I could- neither of them are upset with you in any way.

What do you have to say about their feelings of guilt?

Four of Wands: Home, Backbone, Foundation. This card feels like a bit of advice to try and stabilize yourself. You don't have to worry so much, so take a deep breath and try to stabilize those emotions. This card has a bit of an emphasis on home and a sense of security, and it feels to me like Hekate is telling you to find that within yourself and within your deities; they're not going to be angry or upset with you. Accept who you are, because they already do. This quote straight from the guidebook feels incredibly relevant to me: "Celebrate your wings, no matter how large or small they are. Embrace any mistakes you have made- they are what make you human!"

Three of Wands: Persistence, Anticipation, Progression. You're making progress, don't forget that! There's no need to feel guilty for falling back on bad habits when the fact that you're even trying is already huge! This is a card of steady persistence, and handling challenges. You're growing, and that won't happen overnight- slow and steady wins the race. Your thoughts are the beginning of actions, so don't discredit yourself for "failing" when you're thinking about working on a habit. That will grow into something great!

"What do you have to say about their bad habit and struggling to break it?"

King of Swords: Clarity, Mental Strength, Cerebral. This is a situation in which you need to be objective. Your guilt is clouding your vision, and it's easy to get wrapped up in it. Right now what you need to do is clear all that debris, and work logically with what you know. This could be a gentle nudge towards making a structure or rule set when it comes to this habit- maybe a plan for what to do when you find yourself wanting to fall back on it? This feels like encouragement to use your logical mind.

Queen of Swords reversed: Ice Queen, Judgmental, Detached. Apparently, Hekate really wanted to get the point across- another card encouraging logic and objective thinking. This card has a bit of duality, as it can mean you're either being too emotional- or not emotional enough and therefore forgetting compassion. I feel it's a bit of both. In the midst of your emotions, it's easy to be judgmental. Rather than lashing out at others like the guidebook suggests, you're lashing out at yourself. Don't be so harsh on yourself, even if it feels so easy! Remember the sort of compassion you would offer to others in your situation; you probably wouldn't treat them the way you're treating yourself. It might help to think of yourself from the perspective of a friend. You wouldn't be so angry with a friend for this, would you?

Six of Cups: Familiarity, Innocence, Nostalgia. When was the last time you really let your inner child enjoy something? Six of Cups is a reminder that it's not all work; take some time to enjoy yourself! Be silly, take comfort in the familiar childish things, remind yourself of simpler days. If you're missing the times in life in which you were more innocent, and more free- do your best to spend some time making those days a reality now. Take a day or even an hour of free time to do something you would normally deem too childish. Nothing is too childish if it brings you joy, remind yourself of that! There's always room for more joy, so open your heart and do something fun.

Strength: Fierce, Endurance, Courage. Strength is nothing if not a "you've got this" card. This is a reminder that you have the tools to thrive, even- and sometimes especially- when it doesn't feel like it. Strength particularly feels to me like in this case it's calling out your ability to tame your impulses, and exercise self-control. You can do this with grace and power, don't doubt yourself. Give yourself compassion and patience; you'll get there.

The World reversed: Final Stretch, Impediment, Hindrance. Don't give up! I'm not even joking, that sums up this card really well. You're so close to your goals, aaaaaand bam- you keep getting delayed again and again and it's understandably frustrating. It's easy to lose hope when you feel like you're going nowhere- but you're not! You're in the final stretch, or at least you're way closer to your goals than you think. Summon that strength from the previous card and keep going, it'll be worth it.

"Do you have any encouragement or advice for them?"

The Star: Healing, Inspiration, Serenity. This is a clear reminder that your deities have got your back through thick and thin. They're not so easy to offend or upset- they're right there for you! Trust in them, and trust in yourself. I don't quote the guidebook too often but this part felt too specific to avoid quoting: "Simply put, you are flawless. The world is ready for your transformation into the star you always knew you were." You may not feel like you always knew it- but your deities have. Be gentle with yourself, and recognize that you're just as valuable as anyone else, bad habit or not.

"Any final words to end this reading on a good note?"

Seven of Pentacles reversed: Wasted Effort, Restructure, Low Return. This feels like a call back to the card that may have been a gentle nudge from Hekate to build a structured approach to this habit. Looking into ways to redirect that energy or alternatives might help; come up with a plan. Right now effort might feel wasted, and creating a system to where you put your time and effort might be helpful!

Justice reversed: Injustice, Unfair, Delinquency. This card, admittedly, trips me up- I had to ask Hekate for confirmation with each interpretation of this card. Ultimately what she confirmed I should settle on was this: As hard as this is, you're being taught a lesson that is needed. Sometimes you have to go through a lot of struggle to change- it's best to accept that and work for it, even if it sucks.

Ten of Swords reversed: Victimhood, Restoration, Transformation. You're letting go of things that no longer serve you, and it's scary- but it's exactly what you need to do. Avoiding change would just make things worse, so let go of what is old and make room for the new. It'll be work, but the transformation that it will result in will be wonderful, so look forward to it!

And then a little channeled writing at the end for you from Hekate:

"You're not as irredeemable as you think. It's okay to fail every once in a while. It's okay to even fail often. That doesn't determine your value. What matters is how you handle that failure. Get up, let us lead you through the pain- you're strong enough to do this on your own. We won't make you. We want to be here. You're making more progress than you would believe. Push yourself, but don't hate yourself when you fall. It happens to everyone."

Thank you for sending in the ask, I hope this reading helps! Here's my Ko-Fi, as always, for anyone interested:

[eschatology-zihua]

Fireseed flower

Chapter.4：All of this... is worth it

"Mmm... evil!"

"..."

"Once again, I vomited again..."

"I don't have anything to spit out anymore. The fuel tank has been emptied and the alarm has been ringing..."

"Even the backup energy liquid has been spit out almost... The liquid on the ground has gathered one after another, but I completely don't understand why."

"But the only thing that's still good right now is that I'm able to move on a small scale. Although it's difficult to control some of the body, it's still good."

"I moved my body and once again moved away from where I vomited. Although my movement was slow, at least I was able to move."

"I want to try to explore the approximate size of this space, how big is it? What is the limit? How should I get out? I am trying to think about these questions while moving my body bit by bit."

"As I moved step by step, I felt like I still had some control over myself. I started trying to retrieve the self inspection report of the machine, and it worked! But only the basic information was available, detecting the surroundings. There were only pop ups with insufficient permissions, and I tried to be optimistic. At least I also had some basic permissions..."

"Permissions!! Perhaps my logic module is a bit stiff. I immediately stopped and used the inexplicable permissions. I must know, what can I do now and how should I do it? Can this permission make me leave here? Or can it make me... go back?"

As I thought about it, I confirmed each pop-up window. As the last pop-up window closed, a precise control panel appeared from the ground. I watched it slowly rise, and a feeling that I couldn't express gradually emerged from my CPU... This control panel was not like opening the floor mechanically and rising, but like water merging into the ground, slowly condensing together and then gradually rising, as if... ice and snow were melting Inverted... "

"With the complete appearance of the control panel, virtual screens are also displayed one by one. Some screens are playing code that I am not clear about, while others... seem to be playing parallel worlds? I am not very familiar with it, but the only thing I understand is the sentence that appears on the screen."

"Please continue to accept the renovation"

"I don't understand, I still want to laugh a bit. Just like me now, what kind of transformation can I accept? And it didn't give me the time or choice to answer, because the next second those tentacles appeared again from all directions, controlling my movements and pressing me in place. And I, who had already lost control of my body, could only do this. I was forced to look up and only see the progress of the transformation on the screen in front of me..."

"A few tentacles opened my breastplate, and I felt a bit flustered. After all, the spark chamber was the most sensitive and vulnerable place, and the pain of destroying it was also the most unbearable for the Cybertans... of course... I was an exception."

"Perhaps it was because of the torture during this period that I felt a bit numb, or maybe it was because they didn't cause any major damage. I just felt that the pain was like tearing off limbs and gradually fading away, which really surprised me... Then, I lowered my head at an unusually slow speed and needed to see what these tentacles were doing, because I felt something spreading inside my body..."

"... Blue... fluorescent blue, they spread and entangle, they start to bloom and wither, I will never mistake them... those spark flowers..."

"The spark flower, which blooms on the dead Cybertans, starts to spread and grow from my spark chamber... Does this mean that I have... no, I am already extinct, I shook my head and watched as those spark flowers filled my spark chamber, even popping up..."

"Spread, spread, continue to spread, these spark flowers seem unsatisfied with the status quo. They start to expand their branches, following the gaps in my body, centered around the spark chamber, spreading and entangled with my limbs. A small part climbs up my neck, and then no longer moves."

I watched calmly, taking everything for granted. I didn't even realize that my dug out optical lenses had been transformed into two huge electronic eyes, floating on either side of my body... And I just froze in place, lost in reality... I thought I should cry, I should shout, I should generate emotional fluctuations that could alert the body, I should... feel hopeless like a normal Cybertron That's right... "

"The sudden dull pain brought me back to my senses, and I finally reacted. I turned my head to look at the source of the pain... a tube... a hollow transfer tube was installed above my chest armor, and the same pain came from the other side. I don't need to look, it must have been installed too."

The pain continued, probably penetrating above my breastplate, and the tube should have been connected to the spark chamber. After all, the pain began to slowly subside, and those tentacles also receded from my head sculpture. Finally, I could see where these two tubes were connected... inside? Surprisingly, these tubes were very short, and their length only reached around my abdominal armor... Soon, those tentacles took away my attention, and I watched them curl up Lift the pipe and then! Inserting my abdominal armor Then it continued... until it connected to my incubation chamber... Yes, I am a carrier machine, and I am not a processing machine. I know more about the importance of the incubation chamber to me, but I never thought it would be able to perform its functions like this... "

In shock, I saw my spark, which I thought was already extinguished, emitting a bright and soft light. Without the leadership module, it really made me completely relaxed. To say an incredible word, I enjoy losing the leadership module more than before... My spark finally returned to me, and I watched it burn... Then, the small fragments of flames that burned out changed colors and entered That pipeline... "

"I can feel these little sparks entering my incubation chamber, and the bulging of my abdominal armor and the activation of my fertility function are evidence. I think I must be crazy, otherwise why am I so rational? Why do I take it for granted?... I lifted my head to look at the screen, and the capitalized progress on the screen completed a few words, and my optical mirror began to ache... Maybe I had been earning it for too long, or maybe it started to hurt again... but..."

"What am I now?"

One, two, those little sparks, probably cultivated, followed the other tube back to my ignition chamber. I lowered my head rationally and watched through the gaps in the flowers. My ignition was burning, and small dots kept appearing from within. Then, the dots entered one side of the tube, while the other tube kept flowing out of the cultivated little sparks. Those small sparks were everywhere in my ignition chamber Drifting, wandering among the branches of the fire flower... "

And I was like being

[thoughtsaladblog]

Kinky or Creepy Thoughts?

Ok so a recent chat with Morally Grey revealed that he's not as into the morally grey sexual rendezvous as I might have thought.. and upon (feeling slightly let down) questioning him about it, he mentioned the burning and branding- and to be quite honest it made me take a step back too. I mean, am I really into that? I never have been. Frankly, the thought never crossed my mind until our chat reached a level of steamy flirtatiousness that I tried to keep up with by conjuring a series of wild ideas, I would never even think of on any other given instance. But once the thought came- as hesitantly as it did- it was implanted. And suddenly I toyed with the idea of it... And maybe it was the idea of having a brief sense of ownership and control, or something, but suddenly I was entertained by the idea.

Until I watched a Nordic Dark True Crime documentary and saw myself in some of the texts sent by the fucking murderer. Then I was like- ummmm .... maybe we need to reel in the monster. Psychopathic vibes much? I mean, ok I know I lack the criminal mind required to pull off anything drastic, and frankly my soppy, sensitive, morally righteous brain could never... But let's not forget the things that have fascinated me since I was a teenager. After all, we all have a dark side to us- some of us are just better at controlling it. Ngl though, Peter from the documentary really did remind me of Morally Grey- and his texts with his poor, unwitting girl toy ran very much on similar lines as our own questionable chats. Eerie.

But also- I blame modern fucking smut! What the fuck is up with these morally grey characters written out to be so perfectly seductive, that you forget your decades long love of Mr. Darcy and suddenly just crave to be ruined for other men by a narcissistic, slightly misogynistic dude with a superiority complex?

I think it was the fact that for the longest time I didn't think it possible that an actual man could fulfill or rise up to those characters- certainly not the disappointments that I've encountered thus far. So instead I set the bar insanely high, so as not to settle for shit like sex- but rather to wait for a Mr. Darcy who ain't never coming. But then Morally Grey shows up, and turns the tables on this tacit approach to my dalliances and suddenly I'm thinking from my hoo-ha and not brain. Which is never the place to make big decisions from.

But also, today's chat revealed something to me.

I mean, we already knew the guy was insanely smart, he knows it, he takes pride in it, he likes to laude it over others- especially women, and he uses it to get what he wants... and let's be honest, the guy can be fairly narcissistic; thanks to a superiority complex brought on by his massive brain and a misogynistic trait brought on perhaps by his bad experiences but also (let's be honest) his massive brain. So we knew all this. We knew he's a master manipulator. And apparently we still chose to be attracted to him- because I mean, why the fuck not, right?

But no, today's chat revealed to me that while all that is there... I think he is still in a place of emotional growth. I mean we all are- obviously. But I think that I have thankfully progressed to a point beyond where he is at (it's taken fucking long enough really). He's where I was at from 2016-2022... Whereas this year has been eye-opening for me and I've actually progressed to want to build connections with people. Do I believe in love? Not a chance. But I am willing to have a partnership with someone and learn and grow together with someone, while he's in his fuck all (and literally fuck all) era. And the thing is for all we know he may just want to stay there. After all, we are very different in our approaches to things- I tend to be more emotional and he's more logical and detached. So I'm honestly asking myself how I really feel about the guy? The answer so far is- still into him. What can I say? My heart is slow to learn. But I do also know, that this only means that I could end up growing tired of this soon enough. Right now I'm insanely horny for him, and I think its leaving me obnubilated- but I do believe that seeing as he isn't as freaky as I'd envisioned or hoped, I'm about to go in for some more mediocre sex... And then, problem solved. I'll be over him.

I honestly wonder how I am not a man? I mean, clearly i have the same get in, get off, get out energy as some men... but also the emotional turmoil of a woman, until that point- so I guess it makes sense I'm a woman.

Anyway, long story short- dude's still fucking driving me mad horny for him, I wanna have him fuck me till I collapse... But I do believe it's a dying attraction. At least let's hope so... before I end up in some murder documentary on Netflix for having narrowly escaped death because I was having a dalliance with a psychopath.

[pkmnomegaverse]

Will you consider doing anything with the Legends Arceus characters? Any relationships and possible tie ins to the modern characters?

Okay so I thought about this more and since there's not gonna be a big list of "here's all the things I'm gonna do", I figured I'd answer this now to get it out of my inbox. Also I'm through enough of the game I feel I can answer this proper now. Under a cut since this got long and also I went into Ingo/Emmet stuff so keep that in mind before you click.

Basically, Legends Arceus is very difficult to use due to the fact all the characters are long dead by the time the main games takes place. I will use it, but it's going to be a slow trickle of additions as ideas come to me. I can't see myself designing a lot of fankids for it, since again, they're all dead. I might have a couple if design ideas come to me since it's not like I haven't played around with universes where I'll be five generations out cause sometimes the ideas just keep coming.

That being said, Ingo is the big thing I can see doing stuff with, as I said in the other ask. There's so much good angst potential there, both on his end and Emmet and Norri's end. I have decided he's whisked away after Norri is born, mostly since that lets me keep him in the past for a long length of time (I like the idea of time moving the same on both sides, so if he's gone for say, five years, five years passed for him in ye olden day Sinnoh as well). This is mostly so the twins can stay the same age but also because it means more angst for everyone.

The story there is still in progress, but if you've seen my ramblings on the fankid twitter, you've seen me raving about how Melli/Ingo as a thing is creeping up on me something fierce. I'm on the edge of making a fankid for them since good fanart has been giving me ideas and I like the idea of Melli being extra pissed at Ingo cause he's mad he's so attracted to this weird guy with amnesia. Meanwhile, Ingo is a combo of oblivious/apathetic to the entire thing even when he does notice. But omegaverse strikes as a convenient reason to hook people up and not like they have as good of methods for dealing with it in the past. So they hook up at some point during Ingo's rut/Melli's heat. Becomes a reoccurring thing. At some point there's a kid or two.

The Diamond Clan (and maybe the Pearl clan) gave me vibes that maybe children are raised by the community which is why Adaman is everyone's big bro. But this means Melli would just throw any kid he has at the clan to raise so Ingo wouldn't get as much of a say in things. Cause that's just how things are done. But maybe he gets to see the kid sometimes as the two clans are slowly working to reconcile/integrate more. Would add to his deja vu, the situation of taking care of an infant/young child feeling familiar.

I'm just stuck on the idea of Ingo actually being able to have a normal kinda sorta healthy romantic relationship with someone (even tho it's with this sassy bitch but if Harley can make it work, Melli can too). But he STILL chooses to return to his brother and continue what they had because he decided a long time ago they're in it for the long hall. For better or worse. Because if I'm going to do anything with an incest ship I want it to be fucked up and tragic and everyone is making poor decisions and has to live with the guilt they try to ignore. And I think Ingo abandoning his new family for his old one adds to the guilt he already feels about how his relationship with Emmet has been twisted. It adds an additional layer of "what if"/"could this have been avoided" since he now knows on his end at least, he was able to find something like love with someone else. He also has the guilt of betraying Emmet even if he didn't know at the time since he had no memories. But even logically knowing that, he still would feel guilty over it.

This is all still in the early stages of development so I need to muse on it more, but it's the route that's really sticking out to me since I love needless drama so much. How the Melli/Ingo kid factors in is I remembered I made Norri an exorcist who can see ghosts so if he has a long dead half-sibling who died traumatically in the past, perhaps said sibling's ghost is still hanging around. Maybe they could meet. Surely there's something I could do with this.

Past Ingo, I still need to decide what to do with Lucas. On that end, I know he also is stuck in the past for the while but despite what the game may say, he does return to present day Sinnoh eventually. I'm unlikely to change things with his family since while a surprise bun-in-the-oven who returns from the past with him holds a great appeal to me, I don't know if I want to mess up the sibling dynamic with Juri and Colm just to add a new fankid. Juri is also too obviously Barry's daughter to make her someone else's kid. I guess I could use Volo since the hair is similar enough, but Adaman/Lucas is the one that appeals to me more cause Adaman is hot and there's a reason protag/hot older guy I'm into reappears as a ship dynamic in this verse.

I also buy into the idea Adaman/Irida are probably meant to be Barry's ancestors so maybe they have a kid. The ship itself doesn't appeal to me much but if Lucas did hook up Adaman and Adaman is Barry's great-great- grandfather or something, there's some sort of joke here about Lucas not being able to resist Barry's GGGILF. Again though, I'm just musing on all of that still. I'm more likely to add any fankids for Lucas on the Lonanverse side of things vs Mainverse.

[selphiahaven]

Rune Factory 4 is my favorite game ever. The only thing I'd change is to have more interactions with Venti before she goes comatose. Like I'm supposed to give my life for her when I'm barely at 2 hearts? Really takes away from the story to me.

LET’S! TALK! ABOUT! VENTI!!

Dude I love this game like 5,000 percent but it does definitely have its flaws. I especially think there’s a l o t of lot potential that was lost with Ven and her relationship with the plot, but let’s focus on the issue you’re addressing: her going comatose without much a relationship with her. I totally agree. Let’s talk about it. LET’S A L L TALK ABOUT IT.

I’ll start with my long-ass opinion, but I wanna hear how y’all think about this. Because anon’s criticism is juicy. I wonder if other people would have ideas on how this could be better handled / if it even could be better handled than it is now.

Spoilers down below, so… Yeah, be warned about that.

I could make the argument that RF4’s plot is inherently flawed in design for the emotional weight that it’s trying to convey. Rune Factory 4 has an interesting dynamic where the “filler” is pushed into town events, where we can learn about all the different characters and their interactions before, after, or even during important scenes of the plot. Hell, you can participate in a festival and then decide to kick Ethelberd’s ass just to pass some time.

For some, this might be a good thing. On the other hand, you can clear through the game pretty quickly if you’re not dedicated to witnessing all the town events and hearing all the dialogue and participating in all the activities. Keep this in mind: the game expects us to believe that Frey/Lest would friggen sacrifice their life so that Leon can escape the Forest of Beginnings at the end of the first arc. This is how deep our relationship with Venti is supposed to go. Venti, however, remains comatose at the end of Obsidian Mansion until that moment. So given that, our relationship with Venti is supposed to be deep enough that we would sacrifice ourselves by the end of Obsidian Mansion; as we cannot converse with her after this point up until Leon is rescued. Frey/Lest refers to Venti personally after they have sacrificed themselves too, so it should be assumed that Frey/Lest did this act primarily for Ven’s sake, not necessarily for any other specific person in Selphia.

This immensely strong relationship doesn’t really seem warranted with such a quick plot in place. Keep this in mind: the first few playthroughs on Youtube finished Obsidian Mansion on the dates of Summer 4, Spring 29, and Spring 15. You COULD try and just mill around or experience the town to avoid the plot, but there are barriers: 1) At first, you’re only allowed one request a day, so you can’t occupy much time with that 2) Town events actually take a long time to trigger; you could wait uneventful day after day and not trigger anything at all. 3) Things like crafting and forging need objects that you can only find in dungeons as you progress the game, so you can’t bide your time trying to level up / get cool new armour/weapons either. At the same time, this game really, really shouldn’t push us to slow down by making some of these “extracurriculars” mandatory (Imagine the frustration if you could only progress the plot via way of “Memories” again and again).

So here’s the difficult question: How do we make Ven interact with the player more, earlier on in the story, without making the plot too long or too boring?

I was super interested in trying to think up with potential ways to fix a problem like this, so they are listed below. They may come with their own set of problems, but hey, it was fun to think about what could have been. These are all just casual suggestions, not meant to be taken seriously at all.

1) Trigger a town event with Venti early on. Like, within the first few days of playing. Remember “Shiny Memories”? Funnily enough, that was one of my first events triggered in my very first playthrough of this game. Seeing Ven save Doug from being a fukkin dork and falling off that roof really made me feel closer to Ven early on in game. It was definitely confusing later on though, when Doug got all pissy about Ven killing his village or something. I couldn’t believe Doug for a second because Ven had already shown kindness to him without need of recognition, so… Maybe making different, very casual, town events that don’t make me doubt the plot would be a plus.

2) Make a sidequest or two. What if Amber’s dungeon wasn’t the first dungeon you could go to? Or, even better, what if there was some kind of dungeon / area / plotpoint in the first arc that hints at what’s to come in the second arc? (Another big complaint of mine about this game is that Ethelberd seems to come right the fuck outta nowhere. But that’s a complaint for another time.) I’m just spitballing here, but having a few dungeons that are “just for fun” or even just to slow down the plot a bit could be a benefit; as long as they aren’t used in excess. Benefits could include rare crafting materials, or strong pets to use in plot battles. This might give players a few more days of interacting with Venven, thus, getting closer to her over time.

3) Swap the “Freeing Guardians” plotline with the “Finding Rune Spheres” plotline. In the first arc, we seem mostly concerned with saving the guardians, and then finding the rune spheres, and then saving Leon and finishing the first arc. What if you searched for the Rune Spheres first (Perhaps with a, hint hint, few more dungeons instead of using the ones the guardians are in?)? Picture this: Frey/Lest finds a sphere, and feels that it’s…very familiar, and very important, for some reason. But…What’s that? The sphere looks as if it’s kind of broken! As if there are other pieces missing… Aha! Maybe if you find the missing pieces, you could remember something! You go a-searchin’, and by exploring new dungeons, you have more time with Ven, and eventually stumble upon Amber by mistake.

4) Be risky with Ven’s relationship to the town. What if Venti resting on her ass and deciding not to be involved with the town’s affairs causes some unrest in Selphia? Not suggesting blatant fighting or anything, but basically like… People wondering why she can’t use her powers to help out people and make her town prosper? Maybe not having everyone like “Omg Ven!!! We love Ven, Ven’s so nice and loooove her 1000%” in the beginning. It’s cute and all like this, but like… What if Doug used her “laziness” to form a basis to his flawed logic? What if Venti was rumoured to have the power to, I don’t know, cure Blossom? Ven knows she totally can’t cure Blossom. If she was more powerful, maybe the runes in the Earth would make Selphia a healthier living space for Blossom?? I don’t know. But like. What if. What if Venti used to do all this shit to help the town, but slowly stopped. What if people think she’s just lazy. What if people don’t think she’s an angel 24/7. I mean, I get it. She’s a god. Before she was revealed to have a “cute side” to her, everyone thought she was this hard-ass or smth. But I mean. You can view your bosses or your teachers or your parents as people to admire, but still have complaints with them. You can love someone and still not understand some of their quirks. Ven could be a mysterious figure early on. Generate some interest about who she is or why she is. Then, when we actually are told “oh ye lol I was getting weaker all this time” it’s not completely out-of-the-blue because we WANTED to know more about her, because so many things already seemed strange about her.

5) Add some drama. Speaking of Blossom, why don’t Venti and Blossom have a tragic relationship? A heartbreaking relationship where only time will tell which one of them lives longer than the other? Make. Venti. Weak. Why CAN’T Venti show signs of weakness even before Amber is released? Picture this: In the beginning scenes, Ven shows off some of her power to Frey/Lest. Could be something fukkin basic; I dunno. Let’s use what’s shown in Shiny Memories as an example: Ven can use the wind to make people float a lil bit. Cool. That’s established. Few days pass, and the event Shiny Memories triggers. Ven DOES NOT help Doug, and he gets hurt. Frey/Lest confronts Ven, and wonders why she didn’t help him?? Ven tries to make up a lie, to show off that she isn’t as weak as she seems. When, in reality, she’s losing power and couldn’t help him at that time. Don’t want Doug getting hurt? What about an event where Frey/Lest just simply asks Ven to use her powers to help them reach a cup or smth from a high shelf. Ven grows weak, starts breathing heavily and struggling to maintain herself just by trying to use that simple magic, even though she claims to you that she’s fine. Here, Frey/Lest makes a promise to help Ven with whatever they are suffering with, but then Ven admits there’s nothing in Selphia that can help them recover. Frey/Lest acknowledges that this means that there must be something outside Selphia’s walls that could help Ven, and THAT’S when they decide to go to Amber’s dungeon.

6) Slightly change some of Ven’s dialogue. Venti has always seemed like a best-friend type of character to Frey/Lest. This would make sense if she was a goddamn marriage candidate (which she isn’t, ugh, I might get over this, one day), but since she isn’t, why not change her dialogue to be more motherly? “Frey/Lest, you’re doing such good work on the farm! I’m so proud of you!” or “Are you sure you’re eating enough? Please, take this.” or even like “I know this is a lot of work for you, please take some days to rest.” These are really cliche lines, but like, I hope you get the point I’m trying to make. A lot of Ven’s dialogue is really playful, which kinda makes sense since Frey/Lest is the only one to see the “real her”. But…at the same time, I can imagine us getting way more protective over someone who actively has been telling us to take care of ourselves over and over again. Ven kinda tells you to take care of yourself, sometimes, but there are times when she seems to be a bit… I dunno. A tsundere type, for lack of a better term? I mean, I think tsunderes are cute and all, Dylas’s dialogue is some of the funniest in game, but it’d be hard to convince someone to sacrifice their life for Dylas and only give them a month to get to know him, you feel? Meanwhile, I would murder ten people for Clorica. That’s not really on topic but it’s definitely a fact.

Who knows. Maybe the developers thought of these options and decided on this route because the other directions this plot could’ve taken had their own issues that couldn’t be solved. It’s fun to think of what could have been though. Highly recommend trying it.