#i am genuinely enjoying this game

[anakinh]

i should be allowed to hunt moogles for sport

[bubble-jasmine]

I feel like the writing in this game would instantly improve around the middle/endgame if Bachikin was allowed to cuss out Sigkin at length.

(At any point really, but especially after either battle with Jungle or after he drops the whole “yeah they have the Homobi robots because I gave them the blueprints and traumatized all those kids years ago. Anyways-”)

[quilleth]

Bioware made a mistake bringing Isabela back for da4 because like hell she wouldn't tell the entire da2 crew about what's happening with Solas which means they'd all show up ready to curb stomp him about Varric. Even moreso if hawke was left in the fade. That's two of their number down because of this fucker. Also Merrill should get to deck him specifically while also being like "what, like it's hard?" about fixing the eluvian that was blighted and cost her two of her closest childhood friends (potentially), her place in her clan, and her home. Again, going back far enough, because of him.

I just miss them 🥺

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

I love the romances in datv (Neve my Beloved) but I can't get over all the talk about how it'd have the most romantic romances in the series. They aren't bad but most romantic? I wish I didnt go into it with that expectation lol

Oof. Yeah.

My opinion on Veilguard is complicated, but when it comes to the romances...? I feel that, anon. I feel that so damn hard.

The romances are one of my favorite things about a Dragon Age game because it's a choice that can, when done well, completely change your experience playthrough to playthrough, y'know?

And for me there are a handful of romances where if I don't choose them, if I do an alternate playthrough...? I miss them so goddamn much. I miss them enough that I actively struggle to even finish alternate playthroughs. That's how much they've impacted me.

I'll always hold Alistair up as like.... the romance for me. Honestly, I think DAO set the S-tier of romances with him, Leliana, Morrigan, and Zevran as far as writing goes and how interwoven their romances are with the HoF's arc and the plot... they're not just fluff that's tacked on, it's not just, "oh, if you romance them, you get one unique scene toward the end of the game, and some different dialogue!"

I could go on, and on, and on about Alistair and his romance with my Tabris. Hell, even outside of the romance, just their dynamic in the game. Their friendship! I could write essays about the little nuances and how beautiful and tragic his romance can be, and the branching paths, hhhhnnngggggg you can have so many different endings with him!

In DAO, you have many opportunities to flirt. You can give them gifts, and special gifts give you cutscenes where you actually talk about the gift you're giving them. You can set the pace of the relationship. You have different paths you can take and you can discover cute things, like okay.... for Alistair, there's the conversation where he gives you the rose. If you go out with only him in your party, and trigger that, you can get special extra dialogue because you two are alone.

Like... they thought about that. They thought about the player taking just Alistair around somewhere. Why would they? Why would you?

Unless you're roleplaying walking around Redcliffe together to gather supplies to bring back to camp and accidentally talk to him, triggering the scene on the docks.

It's little things like that, special things, that make every playthrough with a different romance feel unique. It feels like the writers put so much thought and care into every situation you'd be in, they thought about how the romance would not only affect your playthrough, but how it'd affect the character you're romancing beyond just... ending the game with a partner.

Hell, it makes you want to replay the game because if this romance was this good, what are the others like? Y'know?

Which is WHY when I heard them make the very bold claim that Veilguard would be the most romantic, I had doubts... because they're competing with Alistair. They're competing with Morrigan, Leliana, and Zevran. Not to mention literally everyone else in DA2 and DAI...... except maybe Sebastian.

If there's one thing I can say about Veilguard's romances, it's that at least they're better than Sebastian's... which is not a high bar because Sebastian's DLC, can only be romanced by a lady Hawke, and from what I've heard/seen of the romance, they don't even get a kiss...

Look, if Veilguard wasn't a Dragon Age game, I'd say the romances are fine, good even... for what they are. Because they do have good moments! They're just lacking, and in some cases, feel unfinished... like there are scenes missing.

I romanced Davrin on my first playthrough, Lucanis on my second. My third playthrough with Carver as Rook is undecided, though I'm thinking either Neve or Bellara.

With Davrin I played an elven Grey Warden, and that really enhanced his romance with me because 1. surprise, surprise, CJ really likes the Grey Wardens and when the opportunity for another Grey Wardens in love story to happen, she picked it, and 2. It felt like Nesryn and him had actual chemistry when talking about warden things, which led into feeling they had chemistry outside of that.

With Lucanis, I played a Lord of Fortune because I thought it'd be kind of funny for this himbo of a man, the literal embodiment of sunshine, to be a pirate who then falls in love with an Antivan Crow. And I have..... feelings. About Lucanis' romance. Especially as someone who also is an Andersmancer. It's good, but also not. It healed parts of me, only to then do more damage when I realized that Lucanis feels like the AO3 version of Anders who is chill and controlled and Justice is also in love with you, actually........ and that brings up conflicted feelings within me.

Looking back at these two now, I prefer Davrin's romance. But the problem with Veilguard's approach to romance, in my opinion, is not just the lack of content. It's not just the feeling that some of the companions have better chemistry with each other than they do with Rook. It's not just the weird pacing of it all.

God, how do I word this.... when I play Tabris, Alistair is crucial to her arc. Absolutely crucial. Remove the slow burn of their romance, or remove their friendship, and she's a completely different person.

When I play Ed Hawke, romancing Anders is interwoven into his arc. The playthrough wouldn't be the same if they remained friends. The impact of the ending would hit entirely different. Then, when I play Aris Hawke, romancing Isabela adds such a different flavor to the story. It's like night and day. And they're both great, that's the thing!

I think Cullen and Josephine are my favorite romances in DAI because they're not traveling companions, they're your advisors. It's different, and it adds layers to their romances. I'm in war table meetings with them. We're leading this operation together, and I find those dynamics so interesting.

In my opinion, the romances do not add anything crucial to Rook's story. At the end of my second playthrough, I wondered if I should bother trying the others out... which is not great!

Though, honestly, a criticism I have of Rook is in both playthroughs I did, they felt like the same character with different skins despite me picking different choices. Different faction, different dialogue.

Carver's run is going a little different but I think that's just my brain filling in those blanks, which.... yeah. I feel like any depth Rook and the romances had was concocted in my mind because the game didn't give me much to chew on.

So even though I did two romances that feel different, Rook remains the same in the end, and like.... that's not something I can say about HoF, Hawke, or the Inquisitor.

There's always going to be headcanon and personal writing when it comes to DA, that's how fandom works, y'know? But unlike the previous games, this actively feels unfinished, and like it expects me to finish it for them.

Yes, you get cute, flirty banter with them, and you get the scene where they go to your room... and from what I've heard Emmrich actually gets a bonus scene so like good for him.

I mean that genuinely, too. Seriously, good for him to be the standout of having an extra, romance specific scene. I haven't seen anyone mention any of the other companions getting one.

But do I feel like the romances impacted Rook to the same level of depth? No, unfortunately. And it sucks! Because I do enjoy the companions! And the bits we do get of the romances, I like!

But do not try to tell me they're the most romantic in the series because they're not, I'm so sorry. I want them to be! I want them to feel fleshed out and interwoven with Rook's arc within the actual game, and not through headcanon! I see the potential, I see the intrigue of certain Rooks with certain companions!

I could go on and on about this, and I will if anyone else asks, but yeah, anon.... I feel you.

Also, I'd like to hear other opinions on this since I've only done two of the romances, so maybe there is more depth to be found that I just don't know about. Maybe I haven't found my golden combo yet.

Plus, I just like reading about other people's experiences with DA romances, I find it super interesting.

[ceaseless-watchers-special-girl]

still not over vi becoming an enforcer. no shut up i've never played league of legends i didn't KNOW this okay. i am in shock. i'll need 3-5 business years to recover.

[instantpansies]

wow i love fanfiction and shipping i wish romantic attraction was real

[katsigian]

⁺⊹𑁍˚𖥸 𝙒𝙄𝙋 𝙒𝙃𝙀𝙉𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍 𖥸˚𑁍⊹⁺────────

Hiiii everyone, we are so back.

First up, Valen baby. I recoloured his cyberware! All of that golden hardware he has - his forearms, his neural wiring on his face, his piercings, his wedding ring - finally match. I recoloured them to be the same gold as his eyes and he matches so nicely that I've ascended into heaven. I love matching and symmetry in OC designs 🫠

I also made Valen more freckle-y. I love freckles, so Valen's got even more on his shoulders and chest. Lastly, lore-accurate love marks; Valen's normally covered in both bitemarks and hickies. Why? Because Valen and his husband are (healthily) possessive of each other + leaving marks is a way for them to bond (they're also just extremely horny for each other). That bond with his husband is essential to his character, so I figured I'd add them in

More ongoing projects under here ♡

Second up, Vesper baby. Yes, my rarely seen second son is getting an awful lot of upgrades and will be reappearing soon because I missed him. He's back to being pink like his OG version! It'll be a little while yet before I've got him done, as I'm making him a new hair from almost scratch in Blender + giving him brand new tattoos. I'm very happy with how he's coming along so far, though.

Lastly, I'm recolouring cyberware for public release on Nexus! I really needed more variety when it comes to OC creation + I haven't seen recolours of these before. So I figured If Not Me, Then Who. There's two ready to go and I'll likely do more if everything goes well.

And that's everything for now!

Taglist ♡ if you'd like to opt in/opt out, please feel free! As always, there's no pressure to do these if you'd rather not. And if you've been tagged already/have done this already, then feel free to ignore! 🖤

@rindemption @noirapocalypto @westealtoys @quickhacked @cloudofbutterflies92 @opaleyedprince @mercymaker @nightbloodbix @sunites @vvanessaives @skelior @peaches-n-screem @spicyraeman @feykiller @florbelles @aceghosts @riikugan @devilbrakers @dani-the-goblin @elvenbeard @dickytwister @hibernationsuit @hiddenbeks @jerichoes @cybersteal @kharonion @aggravateddurian @hummingbirdsage @archonfurina @vanoefucks @seluned @gothimp @onehornedbeast @carlosoliveiraa @baldurians @thefrostyshepard @balverine2077 @magicmissiled @ancunine @ronqueesha @wormskul @vivanightcity @cyberholic77 @lilacmox @strafethesesinners @vincentmatthews @jaydenborn @sh00kspeared @crookedvultures @saintemarvel

[insomnova]

literally you're so right for hating solas because he's annoying you're so riiiiighhttt ppl are like "my man's so tragic 🥺" girl he called my inquisitor different and better than the rest of the alish i'm not forgiving his ass for that

they gave me an ugly bald white man with a forehead the size of his ego who walks around going "none of u guys are people lol. oh i didnt mean YOU though bestie you're different from all the rest!!" in a condescending tone of voice never mind the absolute DISDAIN in his words when he speaks about the dalish (hats off to people whose canon inquisitors are dalish y'all stronger than any US marine fr fr) and bioware expected me to just sit there and swoon like okay idk about you but that's a NO from me, simon!!!!!

soo funny bc he just gets more annoying the closer to the end of the game you get. at the start he was kinda the wise mentor figure with all this esoteric knowledge and then at the end he felt more like that annoying af college professor who wastes half his lectures and all your time talking about the good old days and getting on your ass if you don't buy the textbooks HE WROTE direct from the store instead of just using what you can like shut UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP bitch no wonder ur ratemyprof score is a single pathetic pepper BOOOO GET THIS CLOWN OUTTA HERE!!!!!! 🗣️📢

[ghosts-and-blue-sweaters]

hi grace!! just wanted to say i love your new icon! i know nothing about sonic except that maria and shadow are tragic somehow but they look so cute in that pic <3

raugh thank you!! 💛💛💛

OH MEREDITH MY DEAR FRIEND MEREDITH. GRIPS YOUR ARMS. THEY ARE SO TRAGIC. IN EVERY UNIVERSE. I will not give spoilers but oh Gosh.

The scene that my pfp is from is one of my very favorite scenes, not just in the Sonic movies, but across all shows & movies I have ever watched <3 It’s so beautiful and simple and profound and MARIA TEACHES SHADOW TO DANCE!!! I’M!!!! <3333333

[l1f3l]

I call this the nuclear family team

[skellebonez]

"To access guilds in our app, please join our discord to search for access codes!"

"Our community forum pages are no longer available, please join our discord for discussions now."

"In order to access collaborative features please join our discord to-"

STOP. Stop forcing people to use a second app/program to access features that should be built into your own thing! People want to be able to look for communities related to your game or app or whatever IN THE THING THEY ARE USING. We don't want to have to join your Discord to get an access code just to use the feature in your app! We don't want forums removed from your game and replaced by using a completely separate thing to talk in outside the game.

WE WANT ALL THIS SHIT IN THE SAME PLACE DANG IT.

[squea]

i tried so desperately to play ts4 again but for months maybe even years now i’ve had a bug where after 10 minutes of gameplay my game gets stuck at a cap of about 15fps. i used to just deal with it but i just don’t wanna play like that :( i’ve updated both my game, origin and all my mods and entirely reinstalled which is making me think it’s an actual piece of custom content instead or does anyone know any common culprits for this???

[morrigan-sims]

Btw, if you ever see me post about a book/movie/game/ANYTHING, that is an open invitation to talk to me about it. Tell me your opinions, talk to me about your builds and characters for video games, scream at me about good or bad scenes in books, shows, or movies. (Or if there’s a book/movie/game/whatever that you think I’d like, TELL ME. Please give me recs.) There is nothing in the world I love more than talking about media of any kind (except for talking about my OCs but I know that’s a harder ask.)

Also, PLEASE tell me about your dnd characters. Make them in the sims and tag me in the post. Infodump and tag me. Infodump in my DMs. Ask for my Discord and message me there. I mean it. I am on my knees BEGGING for people to talk to me about not just things I love, but things YOU love.

Send me an ask (anon is ALWAYS on), a DM, ask for my Discord, anything. I swear on everything I hold dear that asks or DMs are never w bother. (/gen)

I’m always down to discuss plot, characters, mechanics, worldbuilding, any of it. TTRPGs/CRPGs and sci-fi/fantasy books + movies are the center of my wheelhouse, but honestly I just love having in-depth discussions about things. (Oh and I could (and have, much to my friends and family’s dismay) talk for HOURS about Black Sails.)

[timegears]

answering your ask like this so it doesn't show up in any tags. being very negative here and i don't want to rain on anyone else's parade. also a lot of this is just word vomit so i have no idea how cohesive this is lol.

i will say i haven't played e0ts myself so take what i say with a grain of salt but everything i've heard about it (including from my wife who is a trusted source on this to me) it just sounds like it's very meanspirited. i've heard it won't ever shut the fuck up about ch@tot like for the love of god we get it already can you please talk about anything else. also not a fan of the way i've heard it treats the female characters (particularly team ch@rm and cr3sselia, making the former out to be corrupt idiots and making the latter an utter bitch) when the base game is already limited on how many female characters it has. especially when those scenes are used to hype up a male character like. okay.

i have more of a leg to stand on for zero. i haven't finished the postgame/main story section yet, so i won't comment on that, but i have finished the prequel aspect of it and. ghghh. the way this game treats disabled characters is really horrific. gulpin's death was genuinely so upsetting to watch as a disabled person myself. i don't see why we had to watch one of the disabled characters die violently onscreen while the able bodied deaths occur offscreen, so we're spared the details of those. it feels so masturbatory in how it wants to pat itself on the back for how it handles ableism but treats disabled death as shock value. and i'm not saying that disabled characters can't ever die ever, it's just how their deaths were handled in comparison to the abled ones.

and i'm not indigenous, so i won't put my foot in this too badly, but saying that "dungeon pokemon are more inherently violent because they weren't raised in civilisation" is. bad. like REALLY REALLY fucking bad. they even call r@mpardos the anti-indigenous s slur at some point iirc like. good fucking god. can we not parrot actual colonial rhetoric in this p0kemon game.

the whole thing with r@mpardos being uniquely evil just sorta spits on the messaging in se2. like the point is that separating people into black and white boxes of "good" and "bad" is meaningless because "good people" are capable of doing some really horrendous things and "bad people" are capable of doing wonderful things, which is just a realistic fact. and i give the base game shit for doing this with d@rkrai as well, so i'm not targetting just this fangame with this.

speaking of d@rkrai but brainwashing duskn0ir to be evil is such a boring direction they could've taken that in. him simply being afraid of death and using that to fuel his bad deeds is so much more interesting.

also HATE the way this game flanderizes c3lebi. i know the base game doesn't give her much but god if you could give the male leads a ton more to their characters (regardless of if i liked what the game did with them or not) then you don't have to make most of c3lebi's scenes be hammering in her crush a billion times. it's why i've actively grown to not like a lot of fut*re trio fancontent because of how misogynistic people are about c3lebi. i could fix her (make her more suicidal). with all this being said, i do like how it handles esp3on as another female lead (though i don't care for her dead teammates. maybe if the game didn't make them fatphobic and then try to make them sympathetic, i would've cared more lol).

one last thing is that i also can't stand hero in this game. oh my god they don't fucking shut up ever. this game knows that it doesn't need to have 20 entirely full boxes of dialogue from them in a row, right? they just drone on and on, and it's so tiring to read (god bless my wife for being the one to voice them when we stream the game together).

for the most part, zero has been really unpleasant to experience, especially as a disabled person, which is why i really don't like it being regarded as "basically canon." i won't say there's nothing i like about it because i actually like a lot of the shelter cave section, but once everyone leaves the cave, it nosedives straight downhill for me.

i'm giving e0ts a pass for now as it would just be unfair for me to give genuine critiques when i haven't played it myself (emery can sound off with her own much more valid critiques in the replies if they want).

i don't like to tear fanprojects so viscerally (especially as someone with a pmd story myself. i don't want to foster any hate in fandom that way) and please don't think that these critiques are me personally having it out for the creators of these games, but these being fanprojects doesn't excuse them from being criticized, especially on the more bigoted end of things (i do the same with official games, such as super's bad fatphobia issue). and them being seen as "basically canon" when they just feel much more meanspirited than the official games and don't capture their integrity just feels wrong.

[ayrennaranaaldmeri]

Weisshaupt mission definitively proving that da is at its sexiest when it's wardens and yet here I am feeling an unbearable amount of salt because we walk through a FUCKING WARDEN LIBRARY and they could've put in a fucking NOTE about the HERO OF FUCKING FERELDEN IN THERE. SO GLAD THE FUCKING JOINING CHALICE WAS RECOVERED FROM FUCKING OSTAGAR THOUGH.

[mariyekos]

Something that puzzles me is people who write fanfiction about media they've never actually experienced themselves (as in, games they haven't played, books they haven't read, movies they haven't watched, etc).

If you're interested enough in the series to write a fanfic, wouldn't you *want* to actually experience the source for yourself? So why don't they? I just don't get it. Do they just not have the patience to go experience the source material, or do they explicitly not want to, so they can live in their fanfic or wiki-inspired world? I'm stumped.