#i dont mind npcs in world quests

[flame-cat]

okay so my ENA theory is kinda out there and i dont feel like citing a ton of evidenceso just like. trust me on this and let me have it in writing so i can potentially say i told you so.

ENAs werent soldiers. they were servants.

i believe the world they exist in, ostensibly some form of afterlife, was once a bustling and charmed utopia. we see so many empty, vague cathedrals, ruins, deserts and wastes with evidence of what once could have been life, or is some new form of life. there are very few genuinely inhabited spaces, and theyre closely guarded and exclusive, or succumbing to their own hedonism and devolving slowly into madness.

ENAs notably appear to have a more primary side on the left which is always very polite and agreeable. they also tend to be happy to go on random quests, ultimately never serving their own personal interests or getting to know themselves unless under great duress (the power of potluck).

i believe ENAs originally were only one color each, serving as NPC butlers of sorts. theyre regarded as lesser beings due to being literally soulless- that is, beings constructed entirely within this afterlife-esque realm, with no real soul attached. as such, they cannot be forgiven of sin, nor be considered truly "alive" in any capacity. mannequins serve as recepticals for ENAs to be projected into in order to complete a given task- simply empty husks to be filled with code.

i believe some sort of great cataclysm occurred, or perhaps this realm has existed in such perpetuity that it has simply degraded over the eons. it is still relatively unknown that ENAs now have something of free will. perhaps their original "maker" or "master" no longer exists, and so they persist only as a remnant of an age long past, even forgotten by most. and so they are regarded as a mere nuisance, leftovers without purpose or free will, milling about and bothering anyone nearby to serve a goal that no longer exists.

over time, perhaps in gaining more experiences and achieving a base level of sapience, ENAs gained their unstable, emotional halves. an attempt at understanding what being alive is, what having a soul is.

with this in mind, it makes sense that ENAs are generally naiive, polarized, and unstable. think of meseeks from rick and morty. they werent meant to be alive this long!

and if ENAs are servants... they could be made to do anything.

anything at all.

[gold-rhine]

5.6. PARALOGISM SPOILERS

extremely polarizing feelings on this quest, ngl. i don't really have a problem with WHAT happened, but with HOW its happened.

first of all, pacing is crazy. after standing in a circle for 4 hours in a natlan finale we start doing ten million massive things in one hour, with almost no space for them to breathe or explore properly. this quest had less detalization than my bullet point inazuma rewrite. in fact, it feels like the writers did exactly bullet points in like one day and nothing else. i understand they were probs rushed due to change of direction with nod krai, but this is too much.

and tbh i dont even think it would take a lot to make this quest truly good. polish up an invasion sequence a bit, make it closer to natlan war section, add at least one actual cutscene. like the french gordon ramsey story quest had too many cut scenes, with special animations at that, and it tbh didn't need them, but they cant spare a separate cut scene for whole ass mond attack? hoyo, stop acting so cheap, we all know you have the money!

and then the main conflict, with albedo and durin. first of all. albedo saying that he considers himself a real human, just another type of human, and then saying that him killing susbedo is not a murder, bc he was NOT A PERSON??? babygirl, whats the difference between you two then? like he literally didn't have to say that, he could argue self defense bc that motherfucker tried to kill him and his friends. why dehumanize him and yourself?

and then framing durin as like ontologically evil, when all of his prev existing lore AND simulanka say that he was well intended, but with abyss aura that harmed the world just by existing. but now suddenly simulanka durin is the only one good, but actual durin is evil???? bc he's jealous of not being favorite child???? durin was thinking about how dvalin is beatiful and how he'd wanted to dance together while dvalin was killing him, but now hes pure evil bc of mommy issues, are you kidding me? bro did the writers of this quest even play simulanka? or take 5 minutes to read durin wiki page?? but even with that, in this very quest, venti says that durin feels like "an angry child". so you have an abandoned, tragic angry child lashing out and just go yeah, lets put him down, no attempts at reaching out??? what is this, hsr????

and like i truly think itd take like additional half an hour to fix and just a bit of actual writers effort. killing susbedo off screen is such a waste, and i'm not one of his fans or anything, i do not care about him personally, but he was a very well foil setup for albedo. and we exchange him for what? for fake copy of NPC no one cares about or knew before? literally why??? just washing 3 years of setup down the toilet.

instead of killing him off screen and having some durin mind controlled monsters (?????) dig him up for durin to eat, they could have just said he contacted durin himself. we know its possible! elynas is able to contact melusines through his blood crystals, same as dragonspine has, and even speak directly with the traveler when his heart awakens, and durin's heart is alive! bros, you already have the perfect setup, if only whoever wrote this took 10 minutes to read abyss dragons lore first! so susbedo could communicate with durin and teach him alchemy and influence his worldview!

albedo and susbedo could have had a confrontation that actually dramatizes albedo's conflict. albedo's answer to the truth of the world is that being a "real" human is about connecting with the world and other people, forging bonds and connections. which by itself is good character culmination and where it was always going, i always said that. but he just TELLS us that! instead, susbedo's philosophy could be the isolation, refusal to engage with the world, refusing to trust people bc he's afraid they will not accept him, and so instead using and controlling them. then it would be a juxtaposition of opposing viewpoints that SHOWS us albedo's arc instead of telling. and at the end of the trial susbedo could reveal the truth about albedo to try and turn ppl against him, but we could have mond people to accept albedo instead, bc they know him for years and he's friends with many of them! like that would be an actual logical conclusion of his arc, bc albebe, how are you gonna be like i'm a real human, truth is about having a life with other ppl, but you don't trust these ppl to not turn against you when they find out who you are?

and with durin i'm not even against durins merge, but they just introduced mini durin so rapidly, like RIP ppl who didn't play simulanka, and it wasn't explained in their "recollections" at all. and instead of just killing durin and replacing him with "better" durin, they could have communicated with durin, since hes whole theme is misguidedly lashing out, explain to him the situation. durin let himself be killed the first time bc he realized hes harming the world by existing, and he didn't want to, so they could have been like hey so in simulanka in special conditions we were able to clear abyss corruption from a version of you. we don't have fairy powers of life irl so we can't do the same exactly, but we can merge you with already cleansed mini durin, and we think this gives you the best chance to live an actual life as a part of this world, do you agree? like it wouldn't take much to write him to believably agree to something like that. like it would truly not even take that long to have that dialogue instead of putting him down like a sick dog.

[the-s1lly-corner]

Hello, could you do, gummigo x wife reader, where the two say goodbye before gummigo leaves with his brothers, to steal Maple Syrup from the Kingdom of Candy Canyon, but when they fall off the map with Pomni, he tells him about the reader Afterwards, when Caine kills Gummigo, I think, the team goes on an adventure again to the same place as Candy, but he finds the village where Gummigo lived. Pomni goes to look for Readee to tell her, and when he finds her, The reader invites her to come to the house, where Pomni discovers that they both had a baby, and Pomni doesn't know how to tell the reader.

pomni visiting npc!gummigoos wife!reader after caine poofs gummigoo

short post! not much to say here in the beginning notes lmao notes: reader is gn, maybe afab due to the baby but one can assume they dont have to be given digital world physics + npc stuff Cws: guilt

one can assume that gummigoo still exists, just poofed and sent back to the void waiting for when he needs to be used once more. though i personally think that if he were to return, he would not remember anything that happened in episode 2... so lets explore two ideas in this post! ill divide each by a gap

assuming gummigoo does not return in the quest that involves the reader, and pomni stumbles upon you and sees your child... oh god she feels so horrible. as far as she knows shes doomed gummigoo- and that he no longer exists. ragathas reassurance that he may come out again did little to comfort her

she cant bring herself to be around you for long

she wants to tell you, she feels like she needs to- but you talk like everything is perfectly fine. of course you would, you werent sentient. you had all of these false memories. to you gummigoo had only been gone for a short period, off trying to get the syrup to save your village

ultimately i feel like pomni may swallow her guilt, what if she told you what happened and the exact same thing happens to you? poofed. she wouldnt let you go to the circus, but does that really matter? does this place still exist when the circus members are there?

its all so suffocating, she cant stand it. and the fact that youre trying to ask her whats wrong only makes her feel worse- she feels like shes going to puke

she likely holes herself up in her room as soon as the adventure ends, trying to recover.. its not going to get easier, is it?

but on the chance that gummigoo is around once more, just without his memories of... everything he experienced that day..

its not much better, but at least pomni can try to convince herself that at least he still exists- even if not consciously. it kills her a little inside to see the three of you interact with each other

completely unaware that you arent real people

you talk about how your child is the light of your life

but theyre just lines of code

the visit is brief, she doesnt find much of a reason to stick around

theres still the thought in her mind, almost telling her that shes obligated to tell you and your family everything thats going on

but you look so peaceful and shes not sure she can handle shattering your reality and just leaving you all alone- she has to go back to the circus eventually and shes learned her lesson that she cant bring any of you with her

similarly, the idea of "do you even exist when you arent needed" plagues her mind- would telling you and leaving you here do anything? would you all just forget again? that feels... needlessly cruel

[archer3-13]

Iiiiiiii got through aaaaalllll the stormblood job quests. wo. and further more ho.

my advice to anyone doing this, outside of "get as many exp boosting items as you can", would be to only bother with picking up all the jobs far down the line. your soul will thank you for it.

like i only did it, cause i wanted to do all the job quests at relatively appropriate points in the story. but frankly very few of the job quests benefit from that approach storytelling wise so. yeah.

ranking the quests

dark knight. it gets off to a bit of a rough start, but its intentionally confusing nature works in this instance via returning to the jobs roots so to speak with soul partition. in this case, instead of the wol's repressed anger at always having to save the world, its the wol's repressed grief at the destruction and death that follows in their wake. and well the details could stand to be hammered out a bit, the quest on the whole handles itself quite well and has a show stopper ending that neither feels too overwhelming nor too easy and understated. ive heard it said that having the wol feel guilty over some of the figures myste summons is a lost cause, but thats rather missing the point. the point is not whether or not the wol is bad for killing them, so much as it is highlighting the very real sense of guilt that comes from such an action regardless especially when the humanity of these figures is constantly blasted into the wol's face.

samurai. solely because it makes me sad over what could have been if we actually got to play around in a hinagashi plot as opposed to it's kiddy pool in kugane. sadly it is also not a story i would cite as particularly memorable, which is a dire sign for the rest of the list frankly.

bard. the gay adventures between twink bard and twink lancer continue. another glimpse into "what could have been", in this case the fascinating world of geopolitics and cultural clashes between ala mhigo and gridania. blah blah, another example of how gridanias a lot more flexible and open minded then fans tend to make it out to be sure, but mostly i just find the subject of the autumn war fascinating as well as the topic of ala mhigo annexing land from gridania. theres a lot of story that could be built from that! that just isn't! fun! anyways, bard questline works and is also functional if understated.

astrologian. kyokashu is fun, and i'm always a sucker for the more weird supernatural side of things. its issue is that the front halfs offputting for no reason, and that its ending is just kinda eh despite some interesting mechanical play.

ninja. karasu continues to be the most fun character in these stories, and i like how the questline got ya doing more ninja stuff again. its ending definitely feels halfbaked though, if appropriate for something karasu would do. the thing holding it back is that theres not proper sense of escalation, even if all the cameos of previous npcs is fun.

dragoon. usually a highlight for me, sadly it was entirely inoffensive this time. not bad, just this is otherwise a kinda filler fluff kinda deal about helping a dragon kid get his mom and dad back together. cute dont get me wrong, and understandable given heavensward was "dragoon relevant story material, the game". just... kinda sad in relation to being the last proper dragoon questline.

warrior. i thought about putting it above dragoon cause i actually like it more overall. but then i thought about it in relation to the rest of the warrior questlines and remembered "oh yeah. this mess has been all over the place". so pretty good for stmb, but getting nocked down a point for "contexts" sake.

summoner. allagan robots and sentient tomes oh my. not a bad questline, but also kinda empty of anything interesting. everything the allagans show off is about per usual for what we've seen of them, and the sentient book is perfectly well adjusted and approaches everything that happens in a calm level headed fashion. this needed some kind of substantial dramatic hook, or to otherwise lean more into the fluff.

black mage. gets knocked down this far cause i feel it spins its heals on its interesting premise creating a dull overall story. on the other hand, it does salvage things by having some cute character writing all around.

machinist. getting to hang out with hilde sounds kinda fun, but it ends up being an aimless mystery plot that never gets off the ground. plus its final battle was weirdly annoying, and is just bizzare as a whole cause the lady randomly turns into a dragon and then is just not a dragon in the post battle cutscene.

red mage. left me with no strong feelings one way or another, and i feel it was a mistake to get so tied up in all this stuff on magic night freaks cause the story does jack shit with it. you had vampires, and you completely wasted it!!

monk. we are belabouring the fuckin point really, as this is all pretty much shit we've done before but with a new coat of paint.

white mage. normally im an advocate for the white mage questlines, but this one annoyed me in particular, mostly because i found the mother largely unsympathetic in her actions which mostly read as selfish, reactionary and controlling. at most i think her initial actions are understandable if impulsive. afterwards she just annoys me, not helped by her daughter being written as a "perfect lil angel who can do no wrong" kinda stock kid that hacks use when they dont want to write an actually interesting lil kid but still want you to care for them. everyone else is written pretty darn well, see the bard questline rankings about gridania, and i would rank this higher if the emotional heart of the story, the mother and her daughter, were at all written in a competent or compelling fashion.

scholar. made me realize that well i dont mind the nym characters, i actually kinda hate the lil glasses marauder whos attached to you the entire time. its an irrational hatred, but it remains all the same cause i find him both annoying and boring at the same time. another questline that feels like retreading old ground, but at the disadvantage of not being able to pick a lane which means the story runs out of steam by the time it gets anywhere. i always like learning more about adampor, nym and the magi city states however. just... this isn't a good questline.

paladin. suddenly we vear hard back into the gladiator stuff, cause i guess the paladin omegaverse just wasn't hooking anyone. the biggest sin this one commits is that it half assess its premise and has nothing interesting to provide. the actual plot is so inconsequential it gets wrapped up off screen, and we speed our way into a final fight with the blade of naid that was so easy and boring i felt genuinely kinda insulted. combine this questline with the heavensward ones sections about raising that lil elezen dude into a free paladin, and we might actually have something worth a damn.

and as a special side note for anyone who got to the bottom here. general thoughts on the gunbreaker and dancer job intro quests, which i am including separate and leaving unranked cause arbitrary reasons.

gunbreaker is... eh. its the samurai plotline but the teacher doesn't die and generally less emotionally investing. got me interested in whats gonna come up in shb though.

dancer made me think the plot was gonna go in a completely different direction at the start, but instead it just ends up being a pretty stock generic "the power of dance to move peoples souls and exorcise evil spirits" kinda deal. i do enjoy peoples reactions to the wol picking up dancing though, thats genuinely funny.

[soulhavens]

my running list of wallaru thoughts (plus one or two headcanons)

the trauma from sybil's speech ))):

the wallaru zeke quest i midnight oil - a slurry of plant-life and dream water, used in place of coffee.... the YW definitely is the Midnight Oil addict (caffeine addict yknow??) - they run on stress and Midnight Oil lol

i hate the sounds that the dingos make when we defeat them ):

Krokodile dundara tries to fight his own battles but the YW steps in... dundara kinda reminds me of moo bo (moo bu?) in that he comments on the wiz's uhhh.... battle-readiness

anyway it seems like the wiz has some pent up aggression that they're looking to burn off with battles

the kangaroo bushwhackers comment on how the YW takes their battle v seriously.... so no holding back on the YW's part

I think it'd be cool if we get to see our companions do some of the mob fights?

the bushwhackers are unionized!!

Fallen Arachna Empire... WHAT. "Great Prince"???? oh no

lol spiders of the multiverse. i see you KI, i see you

how did i know it was a con

fghjkkjdhg the loading screen for Rest by the Fire

daseinnnnnnnnnnn D:< i miss you

did we just get a cut scene for a cannonball-ed emu?

are we about to re-enact the emu wars LMAO

phett and cadd - i see you KI, i see you

when we're destroying the emu cannons... we're walking along quite a thin ledge. i bet the yw isnt in a great headspace here for a number of reasons

did we just get called out for being isekai-ed into the spiral???

i bet the outback makes the yw feel nostalgic for the aero plains (god i miss the aero plains..)

dasein )): "It is you! the real you" im gonna cry

aaaahhhhh "and what are my dreams, my unrealized reals?" "I want to be Something. I want to be good. I want to belong (everywhere)"

has the wallaru loading screen been changing as we go through the world? like it was just the poster and now its the poster with "ned collie was right" and i think thats super fucking cool

in hindsight it's probably cued into which area you're loading.... but it gives the effect of "its evolving as you play thru wallaru" which i like

the yw keeps nodding off and having dasein dreams, which makes me think that during this world the yw is just chronically running on a lack of Good sleep, yknow?

something about judge judi is throwing me off. i dont like her.

VEG???? not you ):<

wait actually? maybe not so bad....

who tf is the prince theyre talking about. i s2g.

oh goodie. corrupt government. didnt see that coming.

patrick warburton??? (no, unfortunately)

fought the law and won..... what an interesting badge. the yw is collecting so much trauma (:

bonesbury rules of magical combat?? (ok i know this is a play on john locke... but im intrigued by there being various sets of magical combat rules)

i love morp

oh god wait are we about to get into some matrix plots? yknow. cos morpheus?

"Even way out here we've heard of the one who walked the Reverie" i think its interesting that diff NPCs know the YW for diff reasons which is cool

"can't let anyone around the barrier with corrupted influences about" but we are child of light and shadow, divine paradox, touched by shadow.... hmm

me, staring at the magistreto, squinting: "...maestro? master? professor hex? the professor? is this another dr who reference??"

i like how small we are in the eucalyptus forest

dont mind me side-eyeing sandiago

did..... did we just watch an NPC get vored? oop no theyre alive

it amuses me so much that phasmanian devils can do the apollo spell (and it amuses me still that hes a chicken because apollo. a pollo. hah!) - also... thinking about how spells work again, especially when theyre based on an in-game character/npc/boss you fight... (coughcough the morganthe spells)

i am going to slap these judges and also these gold class guests

dasein stop breaking my heart ))):

"But you can brainwrite yourself. Just jump in the lake. See the scaries what haunt them when the sand hits their eyes." - oh boy... the YW is def not in a great headspace and everyone else can tell

okay so the dialogue box says "Sandiago camel" and "old one camel" but the mob title is "Feral camel" lol? wait wait wait old one??

hey sandiago im getting a bad feeling about you and morp too (rip me from approximately 13 notes ago)

"The Dreamer has only ever been seen by Wallu. Imagine what it could create if fueled by diverse experience?" oh no i'm getting a bad feeling about this

Freddie Croaker says to tell Judge Veg he says hi, but it doesn't seem like we as the YW do that? (at least not in the dialogue immediately following the instance..)

welp. morp.

"They built the Great Barrier because strangers came here, right up to the Dreamer itself, and made something horrible. An engine of evil it was, that could reshape the Spiral. Even the Great Tree could not perceive it. We could not allow such a creation." Oh no oh no oh no... i'm getting bad feelings b/c dasein... and the yw... and the old one..

"then we enter the dreaming to.." sandiago.... why are you trying to access the dreaming? and with morp continually being like "i feel like i know you" hmmmmm

its fucked up that you fight hostages but also i like the mechanics. i know that damaging the hostages is like breaking the aura on them which is like the ropes, but wouldn't it fucked up if you actually had to damage the hostages to release them

god these judges are sooooooo annoying

"Ten, nine, the Spiral hates Dasein" KI ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME SOB

"in these waves which are not water swim the thoughts which yearn to be real" i am sensing a major potential for YW angst right here

avatars of avarice... are we about to get into layers of hell/seven deadly sins or something?

sandiago was the one who guided the old one to wallaru... interesting........ ohhhhhh he was a founer of the cabal. wild.

i'd need to go back and do mirage since i dont really have an opinion on sandiago.... but more yw angst potential (:< this time with Betrayal

"This sapce is special. Its waters are not entirely real, thus not visible to Bartleby - a blindspot in reality." interesting piece of lore that i need to think about

oh are we finally cashing in on freddie kroaker's "say hi to judge veg for me"? nice

so far i do like the theme of "you can have done some Not Great Things in the past and still grow and change and learn"

ok wait judge veg's "I was always a fighter, a weapon to be aimed. First against the outlaws of Wallaru, then against unhealthy diets, then the Spiral itself. I don't know what to do after this." jdgkl;akdjfksoa;dkfja;dkf im - I think veg and the YW would reallly relate to the "a weapon to be aimed" line

"...because I'm a bad guy" not a big fan of this line, or of freddie kroaker in general..

freddie's plan was to remake a toxic, juggernaut crab..

the dreamer is bartleby but like different? hm "from his unconsciousness imaginings come new realities' idk how to feel about that

we get to connect dasein to the dreamer though <3

"Wizard, you are real. and so is he." ajdgkls;ajdka dasein and the yw real <3

"What are you doing here?" "We're here for you, to help you figure out where you belong" omgomgomgomgomg

dasein my beloved

"Was [our Walkabout] all you had hoped, Wizard? You did not face your demons, nor realize your truth as we all did." [insert YW's assumed dialogue here] "Haha, indeed, well said my friend. Your truth is to help others, as you demonstrated countless times in our journey. Your walk was for your friend after all." - I'm unsure about how I feel about this line too - in some sense I was hoping the YW would get more of their own conclusion, although i understand thats not possible with the way the wiz protagonist works

[ichiswords]

Brain Farted Notes: Strong from Fallout 4 in the view of a simp of a poser fan

Strong is just so… He is SUCH a fucking dream boat, man. He's just so cute and lovely, and ohhhhh my god I have never loved an npc this much since ever.

i've literally been playing nothing but fallout 4 the last 4 days, and the moment i came across Strong it was OVERRRRRR ESP with the char i thougth up for the main story campaign. it was literally too perfect

He is so fucking dreamy and deceptively cruel. But like, he's legit good!!! He's kind!!! He likes when you help people, and hates when you turn down helping others!!! He loves his brothers, even if he is pragmatic about getting rid of them if he seems them cowardly or lower than in honour. He protects himself!!! I don't know, something about some of his battle dialogue being "Stop hurting strong!" Is so charming to me, like YES!!! STOP HURTING HIM YOU MONSTER!! He likes dogs even tho he wants to eat them sometimes, he obviously is willing to learn judging by the constant voice lines of 'The world is larger than Strong knew' i hear whenever i travel lol, even if its misguided by the prospect of power. Even after being imprisoned by his brothers for wanting to learn more about the human milk, I dont recall him ever having anymosity toward them personally like ofc he fights and kills them to get out of the tower, but while you're talking to him in the cage strong never looks down or belttiles them sincerely. He's not 'they stupid! Not like strong!' He's just expressing how they dont understand how finding human milk could benefit all mutant kind!!! He doesn't hate them or see them as less than for this, he just feels frustrated they cant see what he sees!!!

Look, Its not like I want to particularly sleep with him, and even if I DID, mutants his kind don't have genitals (not that it matters for me specifically as I'd peg the hell out of him). How I see Strong's romance story line is completely void of sex. Idk, I read some comments about ppl being sad strong doesn't have a romance route, and as I was happy I wasn't the only one, that feeling was quickly squandered when I saw ppl comment like, 'oh, you won't get much out of this lol!! He's got no genitals, so too bad! Guess he's not so attractive now, huh?' And its like, NO! IDGAF THAT HE DONT HAVE A COCK OR PUSSY! I WANNA HUG AND KISS HIM, AND HAVE A CUTE LITTLE HOME TOGETHER AND MAYBE ADOPT 2 KIDS WITH OUR 20 DOGS, AND COMMIT SOME WAR CRIMES FOR OUR DATE NIGHTS IN THE WEEKENDS! YOU DONT GET IT ugh

ALSO! Im not saying that Strong is some gentle giant archetype, or that he's secretly moral or smth. He absolutely loves indiscrimenent killing, he loves being an asshole to humans especially. He's not a secret moralist super mutant or anything. but he's STRONG. He is who he is. Again, in the tower quest, is when I rly got that about him. He doesn't hold it against his brothers for imprisoning him and making fun of him, but he also doesn't change his mind to regain their respect and get let out the cell. He remains with his opinion and semi-respect to Rex for exposing him to the 'secret' of human milk.

He's just so fucking dreamy and im pissed ppl either like him bc 'ohhh big Dick monster!!' Or 'my little secret softie woftie!!'

like legit, as much as you can love a fictional character. I've paired strong up with this fallout char i made, Jin Kang (Real name Sujin Kang, but its primarily used by girls so he got embarassed by it. his mother named him that bc she thought it was a beautiful name, and his father, who was the one to actually know korean, didnt really care. Eventually he was just called Jin exclusively lol) . Pragmatic, family man, professional and outwardly polite but inwardly hates fucking everyone after what happened with Nora and Shaun. Anyway, yeah, Jin picked up the radio signal sent by Rex from trinity tower and went ahead to raid the tower in the guise of saving someone + codsworth in tow. He goes through the tower killing all the super mutants, and once he reaches Strong, and begins descending the tower, they fight side by side. he thinks that strong isnt bad as a meat shield, also good personal mentality, and once they descend to safety and Strong asks to accompany his journey, and Jin agrees. Codsworth returns to sancturary, and Jin begins to journey with Strong.

they fight more shit, help out some groups on behlaf of minutemen, some bonding in the wasteland, and then, they kill the man who killed Nora and kidnapped Shaun together. Jin sees Strong as a meatshield, but gradually begins to appreciate his self-tailored morals, getting surprised as he learns that Strong enjoys helping people, and through interactions, he can vicariuously live through strong with his rudeness to people, as Jin keeps things polite and 'kind' bc he's the general of the minutemen now, and he takes that responsibility VERY seriously anyway yeah. while, strong sees Jin as extremely annoying for his diplomacy and talk, talk talk, not enough fighting. but the feeling fades the momment Jin fights raiders or enemies, Strong's respect for him outweighs the slow moments fo what he perceives to be boring shit.

BLABLABLA fall in love, its domestic and sweet, and Jin can once again be the family man he was always supposed to be before the, well, fallout. And Strong learns that to be frank, he's also a bit of a family man.

Cause community is so important to Strong, he's got kind of a view that species should be loyal to fellow species members, but as he explored outside his species and their colonies, he starts realising that it wasnt species loyalty he was looking for; it was just community loyalty. he just liked community, and sharing species was the easiest way to make one, you know? plus he's super mutant and most other species dont like them, so they huddle together instead. now after being accepted by Jin and (most) the minutemen and their allies, Strong realises that he really just loved the feeling of community. Gradually he comes to enjoy the quiet within houses inbetween killing raiders and shit, seeing it as a, ig, 'booster' for when you ARE in battle, thinking about home and the family you'll return to. He still retains survival of the fittest mindset, but he's more open to respecting diplomatic methods bc Jin kinda taught him that its like an alpha dog move to be able to overwhelm your opponent socially, morally, whatever the fuck, even if he thinks its still below battle, which he belives is the ultimate form of species/community interaction and personal honour.

also, Jin absolutely ADORES Strong btw. This man is head over heels. HEELS. He's so fiercely protective over him, even through Strong is absolutely capable of walking through a barrage of bombs with only a slight frown and grunt. And in a way, i think Jin LEGIT thinks Strong is far more moral, good, than Jin will ever be. Cause Jin only does good things because it's expected of him from his role. But Strong TRULY believes that humans should help humans, he legit likes helping people. Like, if the player refuses to help this kid, strong will literally say to the player: 'Humans should help humans. Not good. Strong not like.' again, species loyality.

now onto Strong's kind of super mutant supremacy and his want to get the human milk of kindness to elevate super mutants and take over the entire earth and dominate everyone else, again, its bc he respects power above all. and he cares for his community insanely, thats why, mixed together, supremacy. He wants his community, which all he's known being super mutants, to overtake the world and dominate because that's the highest form of existence he could picture. But after the whole chara dev i wrote, he STILL wants ultimate global domination, but its not species supremacy. Just his community supremacy. He basically wants Jin to be a dictator lol, but obvi Jin won't really do that, and Strong bugs him about it but doesn't force him or anythin.

Anyway idk. this is just what i made up about Strong as BETHESDA DIDNT GIVE HIM A FUCKING COMPANION QUEST!!!!

this is all v jumbled, i dont fucking know what im talking about LMAO. im sure i forgot or misremebered some things BUT IDC!!!! AUGHHH IM SO PASSIONATE RN ITS INSANE!!! i dont know fallout lore, fo4 is my first, but maybe i'll play the older games and get into the lore properly, if only just to expand a bit on Strong. im v character motivated lol.

Anyway

I usually dont bother with OC x chara ships cause i dont care for that,

but this shit i made up IS SO TO MY TASTEEE (no duh, but more so than usual. i love this sm)

[irascible-iridescent]

Palia is really annoying in a way that makes me sad bc there is a lot to like about this game, but they just leave the most annoying stuff in the game like its normal. Like NPC asks u to find his sandwich and you have to look in up on the internet bc they couldn't be bothered to put a quest marker. It feels like they try really hard to make the game as long as possible without actually put any stuff in it. Like the maps are really big and you'll HAVE TO run around them for fetch quests and to get the rewards 10+ times a game session. Like you are constantly running through the endless fields and no this game with online mmo size maps doesn't have mounts or speed potions. Also no teleportation, u can have paid in gold teleport from "stable" to the "stable" but in the early game you are really low on money. They also decided that if you upgrade your tools they should loose their durability for some reason. You get stuck with a lot of quests bc they dont have a quest marker on the map! Or it just shows u an area that u need to run around for god knows how long. Lots of quests suddenly ask u for a resource you have never even seen before in your life. Also once again its not that fun to sit in front of your pc to run through endless forest of nothing. Kinda feel bummed out bc I really want to like this game. Crafting is fine! The insect catching is fun! Farming is alright. There are A LOT of fun and interesting characters to get to know. But also sometimes you would wonder why don't you just tell some of them piece of your mind about their cast system where everyone should only follow their path and never to stray from it. That's some creepy world building that I like, I like my lore dark, but also I would really like if I could say how messed up it is. But I just have to see a kid be lectured that he will never be anything more than his path dictates him.

[aprivateplace7]

Alright, Natlan act 5! Here I go~

So... on Reddit, i did see a few spoilers... Mostly that Capitano dies. & maybe we aren't getting him playable... idk. We might still get dead characters, i think. Bc it would be weird, like all the npc characters have a particular type of model, why would Capitano & Signora be exceptions to this? Esp since they r fan favs... like Signora is def dead, right now. Idk, but anyway...

Stuck in the Night Kingdom... off to a great start ._.

I'm playing in Cn (which i dont speak), but i still wish this part was voiced... Its so fun when Traveler actually speaks.

Wait... isn't the price of forging an Ancient Name the life of the maker??? ...Tbh i don't believe that Genshin will kill anyone... um, idk, playable? Not important cause... Like I'm a Honkai fan, so i know its Hoyo but Genshin itself doesn't seem the type...

So idk what will happen, but tbh i'm not worried about Xilonen or Mavuika.

I wonder what pyro Traveler will do... Its not like i'm using her seriously, but still. I always take her on my Archon quest team :3

Its kinda funny, but it does feel good as the Traveler to basically be a world-wide hero... Talk about making friends wherever we go x3

Oh... auntie Atea :(

Mavuika... 😳 lol, Ajaw is so fun to bully~ he is *the* most annoying character in the entire game...

Capitano... ok so, i think he's just trying to set the souls of his fallen comrades to rest. In the Night Kingdom maybe? Since in the dream, or vision, we saw them trapped outside it... idk, he gives off a weird vibe to me but i guess he's not a bad person, so i don't think he's up to anything sinister.

Kinich's eyes r so pretty... <3

Oh yeah, that reminds me... this doesn't make sense. How can the price of making an Ancient Name be the forger's life, but Xilonen has forged them b4? Kachina is saying she's an "amazing engraver", so like she's done it b4... Yeah, no way.

Wow... Natlan is almost over, but it doesn't feel that long... maybe bc I haven't done a lot of the quests/exploration? But this is even longer than Fontaine, & yet again its seemed so short...

They rly want us to walk back huh...

Aw Kachina, she's precious... Srsly, i love this child <3

Paimon gets me... feels like it just started, but its already almost over...

"Tumaini", "hope"... that's rly sweet ;^; i was wondering about it... i think it fits the Traveler ^-^

Citlali is surprisingly cute... x3

Aw, weren't we gonna eat dinner at Kachina's? :(

I feel like we just ditched her...

The death flags are *too* strong... its sus, Mavuika will be fine... actually, maybe Capitano sacrifices himself for her? Or like he dies in her stead...? Cause idk the circumstances...

Speaking of spoilers, mostly i don't mind them, but since i'm already so invested in Genshin i try to avoid them...

The literal lost souls... :(

Alright... its actually getting late, & i need to eat so... i'm gonna break here, idk if i'll come back tonight :v

[mello-bee]

hoi! i was scrolling (as usual) and saw your post about predictions, but more so my eyes noticed the drawing and went "ooooo pretty! what's the context?" so now i am here wondering if, these predictions could do the same for NPCs (especially jeht)

i'm not sure if you would like payment but i did notice you have a lot of Palestine stuff, i don't have money i can offer but i did remember i have lots of plushies i dont use! you probably know a lot more about this then i do, if you know a place i can give them to, ill get right to it!

-Hex

(P.S, this would happen either way, now that i've met ya, predictions not needed but help is still needed, i am not the brightest person.)

hi hex!! thank you for dropping by!! :D

not sure what you mean by "if the predictions could do the same for NPCs", do you mean you want predictions for Shneznaya's world quest NPCs like Jeht and Enjou? that sounds fun! and I was actually planning to add a few NPC predictions to the bingo card but my canvas was too small to fit that many ideas, but I wouldn't mind making another one exclusively for NPC predictions!!

as for the plushies you'd like to donate, it's very sweet! but unfortunately the Gaza Toy Drive shut down in 2017 due to not being able to deliver the toys to palestine, and while PCRF does try to give plushies to palestine, you can't directly donate the plushies themselves since they buy it using donation money :(

your effort is appreciated tho!! I hope your day is as lovely as you <3

[delicate-paint-stained-daffodils]

You know what actually I will (tragically I dont actually have many on my phone, they’re all on steam)

Wren is like an angel to me, the only even mildly put together person in that whole party, so utterly very in love with the world around her (and so horribly pathetically in love with that ridiculous vampire)

I find how compassionate and, honestly, happy she turned out to be pretty interesting as it is not what I had in mind at all when in the character creator. She was loosely inspired by Wyren, my first Skyrim character I properly played the game with, who was… let’s say rather miserable. Something about Skyrim and it’s weirdly executed narrative evokes such a lonely feeling, violence is pretty solidly the only solution to just about everything in skyrims quests and I found my character ended feeling very disconnected from most npcs, she was lonely and powerful and honestly evil, she found no value in life because the game forces you into that. But Wren ended up the opposite and I’m honestly so glad.

Could talk about the weird loneliness of Skyrim forever but I will not :) I will instead talk about the weird loneliness of the Dark Urge :)

I was admittedly not feeling super well during my first Durge run and it SHOWED, she could not make a good, fulfilling choice to save her life, I’d started the run knowing i was going to be a little evil as I wanted to see what an evil run looked like. Anyway she has like fifteen million things wrong with her and I’m in love with her. She made everyone around her worse except for Shart and Lae’zel, who only escaped her mouldy ass aura by her largely ignoring them 😭😭

She ended up romancing Astarion, but not out of genuine love, ironically doing the same thing he does to the player in act 1: taking advantage of their interest in you to have them protect you. He managed to save himself from the urge when she almost killed him, maybe her can save her from it too? Surely? Don’t worry about the fact that every time you look at Gale something in your chest shifts haha, dw about it, trust me you’ll be so happy with that soon to be all powerful vampire bloke! Hey! Stop feeling genuine guilt and remorse for your crueltys when gale looks at you! Pull yourself together wretched thing <3

She’s so self destructive it’s almost impressive. Anyway she ended up Bhaals chosen out of cowardice and self neglect, she doesn’t love herself enough to resist the urge. But she ultimately destroyed the brain, one good action, not redemption, no certainly not. But at least other people will survive. She’ll be punished of course, father could not forgive this. But they’ll live, each may make the world worse, but at least there’ll be a world to make.

Minthara forever ruthless in her twisted beliefs. Astarion a miserable fool who took power he ought to have let be, too much like her, may he rot in that grim palace. Gale a god, she can only hope he’ll claim her soul, better him than Bhaal.

There’s of course everything with Gortash (big durgetash fan) but this is already long rambly nonsense and I have so much to say about them. Only genuine love she ever felt and I’ll leave it at that, they deserve each other.

The dark urge to post so many Tav screenshots hmmnnn,,, I love my little women

[luckyavntrne]

i hope alhaitham's story quest revolves around him and not a random npc that we'll probably never talk to outside of the story quest

[4giorno]

jeht and jebrael my beloveds

[ganondoodle]

hold on, i cant just only ask twitter and leave some of you out of it-

as i want to get further into game dev im super interested in hearing other peoples opinions on stuff, so if you dont mind:

what makes a game chill/relaxing to you?

if you'd like to hear my personal opinion on that question .. well im gonna try and make my answer into a game at some point to thats that, but im gonna mention some games that have aspects of what i like alot, time limits and mandatory combat are big stress factors to me, as are decisions that have a huge effect on the story/characters

stardew valley is a beloved game to me, yet i have over 400 hours put into it and never saw the credits, bc i keep making a new file and play it to usually the 3rd or 4th year and then the late game stuff annoys me too much; the fact that there is that day time limit AND the energy limit is incredibly stressful to me, plus that combat is pretty much required and even moreso later on if you want to get all quests and such even tho its so clunky (to me) without you even being able to over level yourself is just agony to me like the quest of reaching lvl 100 of the skull caverns, i did it once technically, but my heart was beating out of my chest and i reached the last lvl a second before it reached the daytime limit and i blacked out losing a ton and not getting whatever waited for me there, i believe i stopped playing it for a long time after that (another would be not being able to complete all achievements if you dont want to sacrifice a whole file to it since its non reversable to my knowledge, like the joja thing, or if you are basically being forced to be a jerk to npcs tho that doesnt apply to stardew .. i think)

botw, my as of now fav zelda game together with the original wind waker, the atmosphere and how immersed i felt playing a game has never been so strong for me as this one, aside from some story elements and general criticsm of the zelda series the world and how it functions, speaking of game mechanics, is a huge inspiration for me, i love even the ever so hated weapon breaking and rain system, what sours it a little playing it to relax is that you are constantly swarmed by enemies, theres a bokblin attacking an npc every few meters, a camp that sees you from miles away, and at night you cant go two steps without a bunch of stal- enemies popping out of the ground, the only thing to circumvent this is wearing specific armor to trick them, but i'd like to stroll around dressed however i like, i know its environmental storytelling, but a mode to play after you beat ganon with little changes such as less or no enemies would have been cool (pehaps similar to activate like the master mode thing?) another nitpick is the lack of customization for your own home, although its not the focus of the game at all it would still be cool if you could actually choose some different stuff that isnt just dont or do build this

[iidsch]

quick rundown of my main criticisms (many spoilers below):

making a sequel of a game about exploration and not changing the world you have to explore already puts totk on very shaky grounds. yes they added a lot of new content, but hyrule remains the same at large, and as someone who thoroughly scouted every corner of the world, a large chunk of places stopped being interesting, to the point that I didn't even explore some of them.

this means that the new content has to be good to balance the reuse of the map, but i dont think it succeeds at this. the sky islands were very hyped up on the trailers but they ended up being really disappointing, there are too few of them, really scarcely distributed, most of them have the same layout/enemies/resources and the only truly interesting one is great sky island. the depths were a nice surprise, both in terms of aesthetics and gameplay mechanics, but when you realize the map is as big as the surface and that the mechanics and scenery are the exact same throughout the entire area, it becomes incredibly tedious. the few repeated mines and arenas, the one new mini boss, the boss rematches, the yiga quest, and the resources are the only points of interest but that's too little compared with how big the depths are. The caves were a nice addition, one that I actually wanted to see more in botw. I didn't mind that much how small some of them were, although they did get very repetitive; however I take issue with how poorly lit they were, which made navigating them really annoying, and none of the ways to light an area are good enough.

there are way too many things to do in totk and very, very few of them are interesting: 152 shrines, most of which were so simple and easy that they felt insulting; 1000 korok seeds that, although more varied than in botw, are still as repetitive and simple as in botw; 7 minibosses that get repeated ad nauseam until there are 269 of them, and barring the gleeoks, none of them are fun (especially those that appeared in botw); and 139 mini quests so forgettable that the game could exist without them and it wouldn't lose anything important. This is a severe case of quantity over quality and it eclipses the few parts that are good, since most of the time spent in the game will very likely go into finding shrines, getting korok seeds, defeating minibosses, and doing some side quests. It's even more infuriating when you think that the resources put into making so much boring content could have gone into making less but higher-quality content.

the new dungeons are far better than in totk but they still remain worse than the ones in previous games.

i have no idea who thought having the spirits of the sages follow you around was a good idea but i hope they choke on water.

the beauty of the game relies very heavily on its novelty, but once you get used to the scenery, the flaws in the art style become very obvious. the colors are too washed out and dull, the scenery is very repetitive, the world is visually empty and uninteresting except for a few places, and the weather, the bad lighting and this unnecessary but omnipresent layer of dust don't help make the game look nicer in the slightest. elden ring and genshin impact are far, far prettier than both btw and totk combined. even previous zelda games had better graphics despite their limitations.

never before has a zelda game had so much wasted potential when it comes to the story. botw/totk link is the most boring link in the entire franchise, and many characters in the story are very well-written but never get enough screen time to have a fully fleshed character arc or a good conclusion to their stories. the game shies a lot from advancing the main story or giving any new information with regards to the setting - npcs and other characters repeat the same thing over and over again (an example of this is the cutscenes after you defeat each dungeon boss, they are all the same except for mineru's). i also dislike many elements of the worldbuilding that seem to be there just for the sake of having new gameplay but the zelda lore is stupid so it's not that big of a deal

the final phase of ganon was such a letdown in terms of gameplay that it completely destroyed the little excitement i had built during the two previous phases, and I'm utterly dumbfounded by the fact that nintendo made the same mistake as in botw. the spectacle was not worth slowly flying around and then shooting multiple arrows at a target whose attacks don't even hit you.

botw and totk don't meet their scope. if it's a hardware problem, then nintendo either needs to release a new console or make smaller games, otherwise i highly doubt they will ever be able to make a vast open-world game that really fulfills its potential. but if nintendo has the ability to make a masterpiece but doesn't want to then uh. that's really bad.

i can't rate this game because ratings are stupid and the game has bod good and bad things but there's one thing i know for sure and it's that i'm never playing botw or totk ever again

so i finally finished totk and it was bad

[pthalomars]

Synopsis of Jay's Empire AU⚡⚡

[[Made by me and @culturalmochi ]]

The way it starts out is that Jay goes on a solo mission, finds the hard drive for Prime Empire, and gets trapped in the game.

Nobody knows where he went, so the ninja are desperately trying to find him.

Time in game moves a lot faster than in real life, so a few weeks for the ninja is a few months (close to a year) inside of the game.

Jay met Scott and he showed him the ropes of the game, but tried to subtly warn him about Unagami. Jay spent a lot of time leveling up and grinding so he could get high stats, but later found out that he wasn't able to leave or communicate with the outside world. Enter Unagami.

Unagami tells Jay that he sees potential in him, and that he's impressed with his progress through the game. They begin to have a sort of mentor/mentee kind of relationship.

Once again, time moves much faster in game. So jay starts to miss the real world and tells Unagami that he misses his friends. Unagami tells Jay, "if they were really your friends, they would have come back for you by now, wouldn't they?"

Later on, Jay is approached by none other than the ninja! His dearest friends finally coming back to rescue him and bring him home!

But as he spends more time with them, something feels... wrong. It turns out they're NPC's, and in his mission objective list, it says he has to "discard" them. So he does, and they crumble into little pixelated cubes. He levels up.

This repeats several times, each time the ninja dupes become more rude, indifferent, hateful. At some point they become so far removed from their true counterparts that the only thing in common they share is their appearances.

Then comes the time where Unagami is ready to open the game to the rest of the world. He brings Jay to help him spread the word by broadcasting an advertisement for Prime Empire.

That's when the ninja find out where Jay has been this whole time.

So the real gang enters Prime Empire and find Jay, who looks displeased to see them even if he tries to hide it.

Everyone is so happy to see him and to bring him out of the game, surrounding him with hugs and tears of joy.

But then Jay checks his objectives. "Discard the ninja". It's the same as it's always been, so he goes along with it.

But as Jay journeys with his friends through the game, he slowly comes to the realization that they aren't NPC's.. they're his real friends.

Scott, when he was first sucked in by the game, leveled up really fast and eventually gained the attention of Unagami. Unagami said he saw "great potential" in him and gave him access to the coding of the game. For Scott, this means he can essentially influence and change parts of the game, but not always by his own free will. With him being connected to the coding, that includes his thoughts, emotions, memories, trauma, etc. this connection also gave Unagami a way to keep track of where Scott was and what he was doing at all times. 

so eventually, Unagami wants to bring empire to the physical world, but he needs help getting the world out. he tells Scott his plan and Scott is like "actually, fuck this :)" and escapes from Unagami. in order to keep him from tracking his every move, Scott cuts off his own connection to the game's code. He hunkers down in his hideout and tries to plot a way to a)escape and b)prevent Unagami from taking over the real world. 

so finally, Jay enters the game! Scott finds him running away from red visors and picks him up and takes him to his hideout. Scott explains the general rules of the game, gives him tips on how to survive, glitches, cheats, all of it. but he tries to warn him about Unagami and Jay is too enraptured with the thrall of the game to pay any mind to Scott's warnings. Jay starts leveling up and progressing, very similar to how Scott did, and gained the same kind of attention from Unagami. he saw great potential in him. at that point, Scott says that Jay can't come to the hideout anymore, and Jay asks why. Scott says "i already told you, but you didn't listen to me." and so Jay goes to Unagami. Unagami promises him steep advantages in the game, protection, etc and Jay is going along with it because, to him, its still just a game. the gravity of the situation hasn't quite hit him yet. he doesn't know that he's trapped. 

so now, Jay and Unagami have a sort of mentor/mentee kind of relationship, and Jay very much fits into the role of the teachers pet. the red visors are **VERY** protective of him and will often accompany him wherever he goes unless he tells them to leave (sometimes they listen, sometimes they dont). There is one red visor who is particularly close to Jay. she goes with him everywhere and is the most protective of him compared to the other RV's. Jay tries to talk with her sometimes, and one day he asks her what her name is. her voice glitches out a lot, like something is corrupted in her code. she repeats "four o-oh four-r-r AA e-rror-r four o-o-oh four-r AA" and Jay is like "hmm.. rora? can i call you rora?" and she just nods at him. (Rora becomes important later!!)

so anyways, going back to how Unagami has adopted Jay as his mentee, Jay has the same kind of access to the game's coding that Scott does. including the influence of his memories and past traumas. this manifests in several ways, but one of which is how the NPC clones of the ninja interact with him. Jay has a lot of issues with self esteem and often fears that nobody really cares about him, finds him annoying, etc. so with each iteration of the ninja dupes, they become meaner and meaner until the only resemblance they share to their irl counterparts is their physical appearance. 

Jay (not realizing that Unagami is the one creating the dupes) goes to Unagami to vent about how he misses his friends and wishes they could join him in the game. Unagami tells Jay "if they were really your friends, they would have come for you by now. They probably forgot about you. but it's not you ever needed them anyways. here, you are powerful, loved by everybody, adored by the masses. in here, you are important." gotta love that gaslight gatekeep gameboss moment. eventually, Unagami is ready to bring prime empire to the physical world once he's seen Jay get to the same point that Scott was at. Unagami says that he needs Jays help to deliver the message, and that crossing the line between digital and physical means that Jay can go back to the real world while still maintaining the same power and reputation he has in the game. Jay agrees and works with Unagami to make an advertisement. 

this is the advertisement script: 

[Do you want to join Prime Empire?

“What is Prime Empire?” it’s a fully immersive, futuristic video game experience! Using the latest virtual emulation technology, players are quite literally part of the game. Customize your avatar, meet other players, level up, and compete in tournaments!

“But how do I join?” The answer is simple, silly! Prime Empire can be found in your arcades, in your consoles, even on your phones! You would have to live under a rock to not find your way in.

“How do I win?” Your quest is to seek out the legendary Keytanas. But be warned, there are challenges that you will face. Deadly forests, dangerous races, and more! Will you rise above the rest and claim your rightful victory?

Join today, but don’t delay! Only the first 100 players will get a chance to meet yours truly (winks). In the Super Star Rocking Jay event, I will teach you the ropes of the game, along with exclusive tips that will give you an advantage over other players!

Do you have what it takes? Prove your worth and become part of Prime Empire!] 

however, Scott has caught wind of the ad, and so he hacks into the broadcast and tries to warn everybody to "STAY OUT OF PRIME EMPIRE!!" but once again, his warnings fall on deaf ears. 

however, now the ninja know where Jay has been all this time! they manage to be part of the 1st 100 players in the game and go to the super star rocking Jay event. Kai, Nya, Lloyd, Cole, pixal and zane all get in the game. but due to their own coding, pixal and zane despawn and get plopped back in the real world within the first 10mins of the game. They spend a lot of time outside of prime empire trying to find ways to re-enter the game.

so now we finally get to when the (remaining) ninja meet up with Jay, and he is disappointed at best when he sees them. but when they surround him with love and hugs and tears of joy, it throws him off guard. all of the NPC's were never this kind to him. He checks his objective menu and a new notification shows up. "discard the ninja". same as it's always been. part of the objective has always been to "not let the ninja know that you know they are fakes." but after all of this time, Jay has grown tired and so he doesn't really bother trying to keep up appearances. he won't flat out say that he thinks they're fakes, but his demeanor is completely off. 

the ninja make it to okino and they start going through the forest, the cliffs, and finally the maze of the red dragon. throughout this time, there are several little moments that lead Jay to believe that these might be his real friends. he tries to write them off, but it keeps nagging at him. in the canon scene where Unagami pauses the game and talks to okino, its the same except its Jay that Unagami talks to. "just wanted to check in with you, everything is still going according to plan, correct?" Jay responds with "yes, but these ones are different. none of the other clones have acted so.. so close to my real friends." Unagami scoffs "these ones are just as fake as the others. make sure you complete your objective. we are very close to bridging the gap, and I wouldn't want anybody to hold you back from being at my side when we cross over." Jay agrees and the game resumes. 

Jay has the perfect opportunity to let his friends perish at the hands of the dragon, but something in him screams at him to help them win. he points out the scale on the back of the dragon, they defeat it, and Jay gets the dragon summon. instead of keeping it, he gives it to Cole. "i figure you guys will probably need it more than me. I've got higher stats, i can take care of myself." (that dragon summon becomes important later) so ANYWAY now its time for the speedway 5billion. but they don't have enough credits so they have to get some extra money. the gang goes to the dance battle, but! theres also a karaoke battle they have to participate in. Jay and Cole sing Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Tears for Fears (this song is also important later!) and they win the contest and get enough credits to enter the race. however... 

by this point in time, Jay is pretty sure that this group is his **real** friends, and he doesn't feel like he can go through with his objective anymore. besides, would clones really dance with him? sing his favorite songs with him? watch out for him when danger approaches? smile at him with such kindness and sincerity? clones wouldnt, but his real friends would. once again, his connection to the code means that Unagami is able to track him, and also take peeks into his mind. Unagami senses this realization and pauses the game again to confront him. "Jay, you must not let these clones cloud your judgement. you still have a mission to complete." Jay says "Unagami, these aren't dupes! they're really my friends, and they came back for me! i can't just "discard" them like you want me to. I won't!" "you WILL if you ever want to leave this digital space. if you will not join me in bridging the gap, then you will be left in here for all of eternity. the choice is yours, Jay walker." and with that, the game resumes. 

the ninja are all talking and they realize that Jay has gone silent. "Jay? you good?" Kai asks. Jay snaps out of it and reassures them that he's fine. but thats when he sees *him*. in the crowd of NPC's bustling about the city, he sees nadakhan. staring at him with that evil, calculated grin and begins approaching them. Jay's eyes go wide and his stomach drops. "are you sure you're okay?" Lloyd asks. "we.. we need to get out of here. we need to leave *now*" Jay says with a quiet, wavering voice. Just as he moves to flee, Nya gasps.

It was the scene of Nya dying. She was cradled in Jay's arms, muttering her last words before going completely limp. The master of lightning shook with broken sobs, clinging to his friend as if holding her tight enough could bring her back. That was the day that Jay Walker had lost everything.

And now, that moment was set on an infinite loop, broadcasted on every screen in the capital city of Prime Empire.

Jay was frozen, unable to do anything but succumb to his rising panic.

Nya was in a similar state, feeling the sharp pains of her chest that came from her old wound. She remembered dying, the pain and vulnerability. Now her final moments were in full display.

The rest of them gazed in horror and confusion, unable to comprehend what was going on. Jay thinks he heard Kai yelling, maybe he was asking why his sister was dying over and over again. Cole sounded like he was trying to warn everyone about the approaching assailants. Those of which looked like clones of the Misfortune's crew, including their tyrannical captain.

It was all too much. Jay felt his digital blood freeze in his veins, his air cutting off entirely, and his vision slowly turning to static.

Nadakhan. Nya. Tiger widow venom. Kai. Nadhakan. Nya. Zane. Cole. Nya. Lloyd. Nadakhan. Nya. Nya. Nya. N-

Jay's friends tried to reach for him, to help him, but then it happened.

An explosion of lightning burst from Jay's body, flooding through the city with blue and white pixelated sparks. And once the wave had passed, the city went dark. The screens that were looping that wretched day were now idle. The Misfortune's crew were nowhere to be seen. Jay had fallen unconscious. 

"What are you guys doing here?" Scott asked, his face contorted in concern.

"Scott, it- its Jay. He had this weird power surge and he-" Lloyd stuttered before him and his friends were roughly yanked inside of Scott's hideout.

Cole was carrying Jay's limp body, and followed Scott's instructions to lay him on the workbench. But not before he had thrown all of his tools and blueprints on the ground in a rush.

"What did you say? About a power surge?"

"It was-" Lloyd started again

"It was like he exploded," Kai cut in, "we've never seen his element act like that."

"The city, it went dark." Nya added.

"And there was something going on with the city screens, they were showing-" said Cole.

"My sister dying! Over and over again! That's not part of the game, right?!"

"Guys guys! Chill the fuck out, one at a time." Scott demanded. They all went quiet before Nya spoke up.

"The screens showed one of Jay's memories. One of his most traumatic ones. NPC's started changing into people that.. are related to that memory. They started attacking us from all sides. Jay had gone into a panic attack before he surged. That wave of power blew out the whole city's power and everything went dark. After that he passed out."

Scott looked at her with a look of dread.

"This is worse than I thought.."

"What do you mean worse? Scott, what's wrong with Jay?" Cole asked. Scott sighed.

"He's.. he's become part of the game."

"Like an NPC?" Lloyd said.

"No, not an NPC. His memories, his soul, his life force- it's bleeding into the coding of the game. His emotions and memories are able to affect the behavior of the game. Environments, NPCs, everything."

"How do you know all of that, Scott?" Nya interjected.

"Because he's just like me."

"What??" The ninja said in unison.

"When I first came into the game, Unagami wanted me to bring Prime Empire to the real world. To break out of this digital prison and conquer the rest of the physical world. I agreed to help him because I didn't see any other way out of this hellscape. He granted me access to the code. So I'm just as connected to Prime Empire as Jay is. My memories are there too.

But the thing is, is that I've cut myself off of the code. It's the only way I could hide from Unagami, since I had abandoned ship and didn't want to help him anymore. I'm a threat because I can affect the code.

But if I don't connect to it, I stay hidden.

But Jay, his connection is so strong by this point. Everything he does changes the game.

He's gonna be okay, for now, but I can't guarantee the same for all of you." Scott finished, his eyes sunken and tired.

"Wh- what are we supposed to do then? How can we get Jay out of here?" Kai asked.

"Beat the game. As far as I know, there's no other way out of here."

They all looked at each other, faces grim but determined.

"Well we can't leave here without Jay, can we stay here until he wakes up?" Said Nya.

"Absolutely not." Scott replied.

"What? Why??" Cole butted in.

"The longer you guys stay here, with h i m, the more danger all of us are in. Jay is part of the coding, Unagami can find him. And that means he can find u s."

"Well how do we wake him up? There's gotta be some way!" Lloyd pleaded.

Scott looked at Jay's unconscious form.

"Fuck, okay, let me try something." 

so Scott does the only thing he can think of that might work. he reconnects himself to the game's code in order to "plug in" to Jay and wake him up. when he plugs in, Scott sees Jay in a dark, endless room. he's crouched on the ground, sobbing and shaking

But thrashing from his body is manifestations of his trauma, like a horrible amalgamation that is distorting his physical form and its. Horrifying.

Scott looks at him and tries to approach him without getting hurt

He gets to him and he makes contact with his shoulder and then the surge of energy happens and he gets unplugged and shot across the room, and Jay wakes up with a start, chest heaving and his eyes still wet with tears. Cole is there right next to Jay, and Jay clings onto him like a lifeline. Kai wraps his arms around Jay too and they hold him and comfort him as best they can. Lloyd and Nya go over to Scott to see if he's okay. he groans and sits up, Lloyd and Nya help him stand. "what happened? what was that??" Nya asks. "I woke him up. but its not safe anymore. you guys have to get him out of here, or else Unagami is gonna show up and if he does.. well its safe to assume it'll be game over for all of us." 

"we still have to win the highway 5billion and get the second keytana." Cole says, "and we need cars." Scott sighs at this, "i've got cars you can use, i won't be using them very much anymore anyways." "what does that mean?" Kai asks. "did you not hear me? its game over. you guys have to get Jay out of here." Scott says. "Scott, you know the game better than anyone, we need your help. will you race with us?" Nya pleads. Scott is about to reject when he looks at Jay. Jay is looking at him with a look that breaks his heart. "fine. I'll race with you guys." 

so they fix up the cars and enter the SW5B and Scott is like "i guess if we're going in, i might as well get a new look." so he customizes his avatar (if u check my post with his redesign, thats the avatar he has, the glowing parts of his outfit change colors!) and they start the race! Scott doesn't have his own car, instead he's jumping from vehicle to vehicle and taking out the other drivers so that the ninja can win. he uses his baseball bat as a melee weapon but it can also shoot lasers! Kai still gets that loot box upgrade and has the running mech, and just like in canon, Cole and Kai get cubed. so does Scott, he gets run over lol. now its just Jay, Nya, and Lloyd and they make their way to the temple of madness.

then we have the fight. in canon its Lloyd and harumi, but in this au, Jay enters the arena instead. he gets in and the game picks his fighter. expecting it to be someone he's fought before, he prepares himself. but nothing could have prepared him for who he saw standing in front of him. it was echo zane. 

Nya stares in horror and Lloyd is confused. "who is that? that can't be zane, right? why would he be part of the game?" Lloyd asks. Nya can't say anything, and neither can Jay. Jay wants to give up, he cant fight echo. someone who helped him in the most dire of times, only to be left alone on that island for the rest of eternity. Jay had never gone back for him, and that guilt he felt had just kicked into high gear having to look echo in the eyes. but then echo starts attacking him, and Jay has to defend himself. Jay wins, and sees echo disappear after the final blow. the walls of the arena disappear and Jay falls to his knees. Lloyd and Nya move in immediately to help him up. "seriously, what the hell is going on?? why aren't you guys saying anything??" Lloyd demands. "we can't talk about it right now, Lloyd. we'll have to tell you later." Nya says quietly. her voice is tight and dies in her throat. Lloyd gets the hint and doesn't push it any further. 

so the three of them make it through the sushi restaurant and make it to the gate with the 3 keytanas. Jay, Lloyd, and Nya go to put in the blades and they open the gate. standing in front of them is none other than Unagami. "Jay, you have disappointed me. you were so important, so valued, and you have thrown that away for the sake of your so-called 'friends'. thankfully, there is still a place for you." Unagami says. "i don't WANT a place with you! you've hurt me, you've hurt my friends, you've hurt so many innocent people. all of those cubes? those are REAL PEOPLE! i can't let you do this Unagami. I won't let you get away with this." Jay says defiantly. Unagami sighs, "i was hoping it would not come to this. but if you chose to act this way, you will face the consequences. you will help me bridge this gap, whether you like it or not." and Unagami holds out his hands. an intense blue beam of light bursts from his palms and hits Jay square in the chest. the light is absorbed by his body and his form begins to glitch and spasm violently. mochi and i have called this the Blue Screen of Death. (tw for mild(?) body horror) Jay is overcome by the blue and his body begins to grow and distort, all the while he's screaming and his cries are glitched out and staticky. Lloyd and Nya watch, frozen in fear as their friend begins to grow to massive size, writhing in agony. Jay thrashes and knocks into both of them, sending them off the side of the platform and cubing them. the last two energy cubes join the gate and Jay crawls through. 

(with this scene, in the background, the lorde version of everybody wants to rule the world would be playing, just as a nice parallel to the song from earlier at the karaoke battle)

MEANWHILE, as pixal and zane attempted to find ways to get back into the game, find milton dyer, etc, zane gets captured by the mechanic. everything goes the same as it does in canon where the mechanic hooks zane up to the gate. 

and now, we get a look at where everybody who got cubed resides. Scott, when he was cubed, was greeted by Unagami personally. he criticized him for his actions and expressed his disappointment before ultimately locking him inside of a digital cell. Scott figured that this was how the rest of his life would be, trapped in a cage with no way out and no way to die. but then! Rora shows up. that corruption in her system from the beginning? that was her beginning to break away from her coding and becoming more of a person. she saw what happened to Jay, and she wants to help him. she breaks Scott out and they agree to work together to save Jay. but they're gonna need all the help they can get. together, Scott and rora free the ninja and all of the other cubed players and they make it through the portal. 

and thats where they see Jay, now as tall as the skyscrapers in ninjago city and wreaking havoc on the entire area. 

everyone looks up at him in utter horror and see just how corrupted he's become. he's wailing in pain as he drives his guitar down on building after building. thrashing and flailing, causing the structures around him to crumble and collapse. "how the fuck are we gonna fix this?!" Nya cries. "i can help." Unagami approaches them. everyone gets into fighting stances, ready to beat Unagami into the pavement. "i did not realize that corrupting him would turn out like this. i know how to fix him, but i need your help." "why should we help YOU?" Kai growls. "if you want to save your city and your friend from complete destruction, you *will* help me." and so Unagami explains that if they can lure Jay back through the portal, Unagami can undo his corruption and fix Jays "coding" 

so now the ninja are trying to figure out how to get Jay's attention and bring him back through the portal. it seems like nothing is working, and then Cole gets an idea. he starts singing the lyrics to everybody wants to rule the world. it seems to get Jay's attention, so he keeps singing.

the others hear him and they join in. now they have Jay's attention, and he's closing in on them. that dragon summon from earlier? now thats when that comes in handy. Cole calls the digidragon and rides it so that Jay cant crush him while he lures him back to the portal. low and behold, they manage to get Jay through the portal, Unagami purifies his "coding" and they return to the physical world once again. Unagami gets to have his talk with milton and all of the npcs+pcs that want to come out do, and the others stay in the game. the city is in shambles, the portal closes, and zane+pixal+wu reunite with the others. 

the car ride home is very quiet. everyone is exhausted, Jay is asleep and leaning on Cole's shoulder. they have a lot to talk about, but for now, they just want to sleep through the night. they make it home, go to their separate rooms, and go to bed.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand thats pretty much all of it!! theres a little epilogue that has snippets of what Scott, racer 7, okino, and rora do now that they're outside of the game, but thats just kinda there lol.

[neptrabbit]

i think they’ve rlly progressed in portraying npcs. two of the main npcs from this patch (dunyarzad and rana) are very likeable, so the endings of the archon quest & the world quest (despite how long it is) are actually quite emotional to me

in previous cases, the big problem is always that the npcs dont get a lot of development or we don’t know the npcs well enough before something terrible happens to them - for this reason, teppei’s death just didnt feel very impactful to me personally. we got to know zhiqiong a bit better before she disappears, but alas, still not quite well enough for it to hurt

with the new NPCS, they first have the entire act 1 set up for us to know dunyarzad - who she used to be, how she interacts with other characters, etc. (the contrast in personalities is also used effectively in act 2). you can’t really say her character has a lot of depth, but it is very effective. you can vaguely tell they are using some of the methods they use to flesh out playable characters

similar to rana - we have the entirety of chapter 1 to get to know her, who she is, how she interacts with the ppl in her life, etc. despite how absolutely ridiculously long the entire quest is, the characterization is effective

ofc with this, the quests have become noticeably longer, its a wild change from the prev archon quests & world quests, but ykw? i don’t mind as long as the story is good lol