#i know dragon age is about Choices and you should have still been able to choose between killing or sparing castillon.

[redlyriumidol]

more on why I think isabela's fade betrayal should have been different:

isabela's arc is about moving past selfish materialism and realising that there are more important things in life. love and loyalty are worth it-- and when it comes down to it isabela is incredibly loyal. that's why she returns at the end of act2. that's why she sticks by hawke while kirkwall is crashing and burning around them rather than skipping town and avoiding problems like she always has.

I just think that her fade betrayal was presented in a very superficial way. I don't think she'd betray a 100% friendship Hawke so easily, especially romanced, if some random person offered her a ship. All the other fade betrayals clearly represent profound internal struggles the characters are going through. Aveline's moral beliefs about the law and mages, as well as her guilt over wesley's death, are warring with her trauma bond/loyalty to Hawke. Varric was deeply affected by his brothers' betrayal, it haunts him because he loved his brother despite everything. Merrill has given all of herself, everything precious to her, over to restoring the history and lost glory of the elves. Fenris is consumed by hatred and a desire for revenge. the demons tap into this and really hit them where it hurts. So what about Isabela? Her story is much more than "haha i'm a sexy pirate i like ship lol"

Even adding a few lines from Miss Demon would have solved this. "you'll finally be free from Castillon. Nobody will ever chain you again. You'll be the one in control." SORTED. it's definitely in the subtext of her fade betrayal but I would have made this more explicit.

similarly, I think that in terms of narrative and character development, it's a bit unsatisfying that she accepts castillon's deal so readily in act3. I usually let her do it because my Hawke has a very laissez faire attitude to life and I'm fine with it I guess but imo it's a better outcome for her to kill him. (which iirc she does admit if u make her kill him) like sometimes you have to stand and make a choice to fix your problems instead of always running away. it would have been cool to have her come to this conclusion herself tho

[dalishious]

Dragon Age: Origins is still great today, and you should give it a try

I want to preface this post with an important disclaimer: I am not about gatekeeping, and I think that ultimately, you should play or skip whatever Dragon Age games you want. If even after this post you feel like Dragon Age: Origins just isn’t for you, that’s fine! That doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy the Dragon Age media you do want to consume, and it certainly doesn’t mean you’re any less valid a fan. But I personally adore Dragon Age: Origins to this day, and I would love to see more modern gamers give it a chance, despite it being from 2009.

It’s a great introduction to the world of Thedas

Dragon Age: Origins had the tall order of being the first in a potential franchise, yet it climbed those heights and beyond. It perfectly balances the need to explain the world setting and tell a story within that world at the same time, by organizing the plot into puzzle pieces. You, the protagonist, have to recruit different factions into your cause to save the kingdom of Ferelden, so each piece of the game has a different focus on those factions. It spoon-feeds the player information at an easy to understand and absorb pace.

Dragon Age: Origins also makes good use of codex entries for those of you who are big lore buffs and want even more information. Yet at the same time, it does not overly rely on the codex; all the most crucial parts of the lore that you need to know are included in your interactions with characters and plot.

The player gets to shape the story

The nature of those puzzle pieces also means that you have huge control over the story from start to finish, because the puzzle itself is shaped by you! The outcomes of each piece form the blueprint of the climax. The end of the game is reactive to the choices you make in the story throughout. (Mind you, a lot of those choices have been retconned in later games, but still, within the confines of Dragon Age: Origins itself, it’s still fun to see the outcomes of your decisions.)

The story itself is great

I would consider Dragon Age: Origins to have the most straightforward premise of all the Dragon Age games released thus far, with a strong identity linking the different main quests all together. You are a newly recruited Grey Warden, left to unite Ferelden against the big bad Blight after 99% of the Order within the nation is wiped out in a catastrophic battle. You may get caught up in dwarven politics, ancient curses, demonic possession, and plenty more along the way, but no matter where you find yourself, your motivation always falls back to that ultimate responsibility.

The characters are also great

Almost all the companions you’re able to collect along the way are very easy to love, or at least appreciate them for what they are.

Alistair is also a new grey warden. He is struggling with grief over the loss of his mentor, and the weight of having no control over his identity his whole life.

Morrigan is a witch who grew up isolated in the woods with no one but her abusive mother for company. Now she must learn to interact with others, and dependant on the player, perhaps even make a friend, lover… or enemy.

Leliana is a bard from Orlais, whose faith told her to assist the grey warden plight. But beneath the demure outward appearance, she has a much darker past she’s running away from.

Sten is a Qunari warrior who was taught that outside his culture, everything is backwards and nonsense, but he cannot return home until he has restored his soul by recovering his lost sword. Along the way, he may learn to appreciate or despise Ferelden.

Zevran was enslaved by the Antivan Crows as a child and made into an assassin. If the player can chip away at his nonchalant mask, they will find his past has left a lot more scars on him than he thought it safe to admit.

Wynne is a mage from the Circle who is struggling to deal with the nature of age, death, and life purpose.

Shale is a golem who was once under complete and total control by her former master, now learning what it’s like to be free, and wanting to uncover her forgotten past before losing that freedom.

Oghren is there too, unfortunately.

And the player character really feels like they are of your own creation. The choices you make, little and small, offer a lot to shape whatever kind of protagonist you want. Additionally, the benefit of starting the game with a different origin, and playing out that origin before getting recruited into the grey wardens, offers a lot of prompting to get into the roleplay!

The datedness can be easily upgraded with modding anyway

Do you find the combat clunky? There’s mods for that. Do you find the graphics too bland? There’s mods for that. Do you wish you could kiss Alistair as a man or Morrigan as a woman? There’s mods for that, too. Dragon Age: Origins is very easy to mod; most of them you just drop the files into your override folder and start playing. Otherwise, you use the DA Modder app for DAZIP files, which is also not that complicated.

A lot of people consider Skyrim to be dated without mods, too. I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with appreciating the ability to mod a game, as a positive point.

If you want to play, make sure you use LAA though!

Large Address Aware is a must-have on PC for Dragon Age: Origins.

For GoG or EA App/Origin users: You can just run LAA like normal!

For Steam users: You need THIS first

[notmeowse]

Solavellan ending and why I hate it

Major Veilguard endgame spoilers under the cut.

I beat the game two days ago and I haven't been able to stop thinking about that ending. I'm not going to get into the rest of the game's flaws. They've been covered at length. But all of those issues aside, the one perfect, untouchable thing I thought I had left as the game drew to a close was the Solavellan ending. After all, Trick wrote the original Solavellan romance and the incredible continuation of it in Trespasser. As lead writer, they were directly responsible for making it happen. I thought we had this in the bag.

So on one hand, my favorite Dragon Age romance finally reunited and disintegrated off into the sunset.

On the other hand, he did not choose her.

This is what ruined it for me. I know a lot of people have issues with her sacrificing her life to join him in the Fade, but that was really a secondary issue for me.

What was the point of their entire relationship if, in the end, when it REALLY counted, he was never going to choose Lavellan over tearing down the Veil? Why did it take Mythal, who he actually killed in the last game in order to take her power, to convince him? Where's the romance in that?

This literally just turned into the story of Lavellan and the elven god who did not love her enough.

Okay, yes, the gamified reason it takes Mythal to convince him is because Lavellan was tacked onto an existing avenue of dealing with Solas rather than being given her own separate option, right? At the end of the game you have the choice to either fight him, trick him, or (if the Mythal-related criteria is met) invoke the essence of Mythal contained in the statue. No Bring Out The Big Guns, Lavellan option.

In my opinion, she should have been the fourth option, only available to players that have an Inquisitor that romanced Solas and encouraged Lavellan to reunite with him mid-game. It would have required about as much effort to do this as it did to have him turn her down once again (which, I maintain defeats the entire purpose of the story being told here). That would have been the absolute easiest fix to this fucking mess.

I understand why Lavellan wasn't counted among his regrets and therefore wasn't in the Lighthouse murals (because he doesn't actually regret falling in love with her) and I acknowledge that getting real closure from Mythal is important to Solas's story, and that it did have its place in that ending scene. Whether she was a lover or a mother to him isn't really the issue here -- it's the fact that she holds sway over him where Lavellan apparently does not. Despite the fact that, again, he killed Mythal in the previous game, despite the fact that he couldn't bring himself to kill the Inquisitor for the anchor, despite the fact that Lavellan was the one single thing in the world that made him really want to walk away from his plans.

(Why wasn't the "I release you from my service" a conversation had between him and Flemythal back in Inquisition? And why is that essence of Flemythal (who now exists in Morrigan) suddenly so chill and pro-Veil? Do we not remember the reckoning that will shake the very heavens? The She was betrayed as I was betrayed, as the world was betrayed? I will see her avenged? No payoff? None? There's so much wrong and bad writing to unpack there, but this is still a Solavellan post.)

Back to him wanting to turn away from his grand plan. The fundamental difference between Mythal and Lavellan, in my opinion, is the way each of them saw him. Mythal asked him to change for her, to leave the Fade, to commit atrocities with her out of love and service. Lavellan only ever loved him as a man, never once asking him to change for her, never asking him to be anything other than himself. In the time they were together, he was able to be the person he wanted to be. It took a very specific set of circumstances and a very specific person that had to fall into place for that romance to happen, which is arguably what made her so special, and what made their time together even more so. It followed, especially with what we know now, that he would want to drop his grand plan to be with her.

In comes Veilguard, which introduced a parallel between Solas/Mythal and Solavellan. In the second memory, we discover that Mythal never once chose Solas over her duty to elvhenan (even when he begged her to lay it down and run away with him) and dragged him along with her to commit unspeakable atrocities (in her words, she broke him). Solas (at that point in the game, when we were witnessing the memories) had yet to choose Lavellan over his crusade, but quite literally loved her too much to bring her along with him. He would not let her do that to herself, he would not do to her what Mythal did to him.

Here's where I feel like I'm losing my mind, because I thought the point of that mural was to foreshadow him eventually choosing Lavellan, as he is very much not Mythal, and is very much looking for a reason to lay it down, to be proven wrong. I also thought the blurb in the Inquisitor character creation menu (who did you romance) was foreshadowing it, as well as the mid-game choice Rook can make to encourage her to reunite with him and change his heart.

So why didn't it happen? I can only assume because they didn't actually want to have any of our choices carry over, let alone the Solavellan option (which they should have realized from the start was a bad call and also fucking impossible to manage given that the game is a direct sequel to Inquisition). The fact that Lavellan is tacked onto an already existing scene rather than being given her own is evidence of this. However, even if she had to be tacked onto the Mythal scene and not given her own, a simple reordering of the events would have fixed the fucking ending. So it could have gone two (very easily manageable and not too much extra) ways:

Remove the part where he turns her down. Remove the entire thing. Morrimythal could have flown up to him before the Inquisitor even arrived on scene, we could have had our statue moment, and just when he thinks he's going to be all alone behind the Veil, Lavellan shows up, they reunite, and she goes with him. (Easiest way for Bioware to fix it imo)

Lav acts as the ace up our sleeve, a fourth option (and a second option to make him lay it down) instead of using the statue to redeem him. Mythal releases him from her service AFTER he chooses Lavellan, thereby releasing him from his guilt over her. I prefer this one. It should have been this. They could have walked away, they could have tied themselves to the Veil, either way works.

Now, I am among those that think the Veil should have come down, which would have rendered this entire thing moot, had it happened. But since Bioware is dead-set on maintaining the status quo in Thedas, it should have been this instead.

In writing this I wonder if I've been completely delusional over their relationship, but going by the reactions to this ending, it seems that what we got was not at all expected.

[rin-hanarin]

Ok, even I can't defend the three choices bs explained with a "Southern Thedas is an entirely different region and it's not relevant to what we want to show in the game."

Like. Ok, fine, there was a timeskip, you can either kill or not recruit half of the characters, they realistically wouldn't have been able to flesh out every choice since Origins, even though they kinda have to account for it still at least with Morrigan and maybe Alistair, etc etc.

Inquisition being this irrelevant though? The most recent one Veilguard is supposed to be a sequel to? The foundation of its plot? I know they're trying to appeal to new players, but that's a shitty decision to begin with, and would you look at that, so far it appeals to no one other than old players who love these games for the world and the story already. Honestly, they should've just called it Dragon Age 4 and sticked to making it a proper sequel where at the very least Inquisition matters as much as it was presented in Trespasser, or, alternatively, stick to "Dreadwolf" and stop pretending that this game isn't exclusively for new people and solavellan fans with everybody else being an afterthought in Bioware's very expensive fanfic.

Whatever these 100 gigs of the game even are have to be amazing now, new companions, quests and characters from the books should be godlike to make up for basically discarding 10 years of world states of the players who sticked around to even care about Veilguard, because clearly no one else does.

[amysgiantbees]

I just find it strange that the developers chose to rewrite Wyll. I love new Wyll I think he's fantastic and I don't necessarily want the previous version. But I find it bizarre that there was somehow so much negative feedback about old Wyll that they risked completely rewriting him.

Now I love all the companions. This is not Dragon Age Orgins where I debate recruiting Ogrun every time. But I just find it strange that the reason given was Wyll's negative feedback when most of the other characters have been unpopular too. Like Lae'zel is infamously unlikable to a great many people.

People love to bully Gale and there's even lines in game that call him pathetic. The DEV's in the IGN interview even agreed that Gale killing himself can be a good ending, " I really liked Gale setting off the bomb with the brain, and actually that felt like the right ending to me.

AS: In many ways it is, yeah." Which feels problematic to say the least, like I get supporting player choices but suicide is never the "right" way to do things.

Or even I'm pretty sure I remember Neil Newbon talking about how he was sure a lot of players had killed Astarion permanently in their playthroughs.

Then there are people being absolute freaks on the internet about Halsin all because he's polyamorous.

Like these characters are wildly popular too but they certainly have their haters. So why did they lack such confidence with Wyll? The best source I could find on early access Wyll is this article https://gamerant.com/baldurs-gate-3-wyll-early-access-story-change-karlach-explained/. It says that this change was made to make his story stronger, make him more unique, and give him more complicated emotional ties. Unless he was really basic before they did not accomplish this. He has less content so his story lacks the depth the other's do. It's also inconsistent, with you being able to put him off being a duke by telling him he'll be too power hungry which he has never been. His emotional ties are rushed. He never really confronts his father, having the tadpole do most of the work and never hashing out his feelings beyond that he's fine.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. According to the article he was meant to have a dark side like Shadowheart "According to the panel, depending on whether players allow him to go through with killing Karlach, he will become a radically different companion instead of if she is recruited." Which would have been cool but if they didn't have enough time to do that maybe they should have tweaked what they had.

Plus, according to the article in early access he was "a straightforward hero who develops a violent side regarding his patron or goblins." This article too show's that his early approval matches current Wyll pretty well except for dealing with Aunty Ethel and more goblin hate https://fextralife.com/baldurs-gate-3-early-access-companions-guide-wyll/.

I just don't know I just find it so frustrating that it was the black main character they chose to tweak and ran out of time to complete his story and still haven't fixed it with a patch. And in the IGN interview the devs kind of sounded like there wouldn't be anymore patches and it's just frustrating. Wyll deserves just as much content as any one else.

[sampirism]

talkn bout my opinions on rook and varric and roleplay and feeling disconnected (roleplay in a game sense not the freaky sense. sorry) - SPOILERS FOR ENTIRE GAME, BEWARE. this post is WAY too long. sorry about that too.

it's very evident that bioware/EA wanted an action/adventure game first and an RPG second, but let me type at you.

i hate to say that i didn't feel particularly sad about varric's fate, due to the structure of the game. it is, in hindsight, completely obvious that he was not alive! i just hadn't been thinking about varric much at all the entire game because you have limited opportunity to talk to him in the infirmary or when he plops around barefoot when everyone decides to sit at a table and talk about how fucked we are. i genuinely forgot he was there otherwise.

he barely feels like a guy himself. because there's no personalized worldstate, any specific mentions to events or characters might be jarring to the player who may have made a different choice along the way.

no one talks about how sorry they are about varric because they CAN'T or the twist is completely revealed. even with another DA2 character in the game (who my hawke romanced. who is now dead in the fade. glad to see you're LIVING IT UP ISABELA!!! (I'm jk. a little.))

there's no response rook can say to condolences outside of "oh, thanks" without the game fully revealing its Twist, because "I'll tell him you said hi" and "he'll be up and walking in no time!" are only reasonable responses from a Mourn Watcher, and even then, should still cause your companions to be a little alarmed. the closest we get to this is the inquisitor making reference to lost friends, and rook visually registers it, but its swept under the rug and moved on from immediately.

(i know we're all mentally unwell in this lighthouse repressing our feelings but jesus christ)

despite spending two games with him and enjoying him as a character, I struggle with feeling much for his loss AS my rook, because i found there to be no meaningful connection between him and rook. i was only told i was supposed to have one.

the game wanted so badly get the ball rolling with an immediate threat, its at the expense of roleplay. you could argue that da2 and inq also started with Immediate Threats but you are also very limited in the choosing of your backstory in those games.

rook was deliberately designed to be more open-ended, with more similarity to origins, but still gave you a prequel where you felt what your life was before The World Began To End.

there's this conversation you can walk in on with lucanis and davrin, where they're talking about their worst jobs. there are three dialogue for rook I think and i can only remember two but they were "I don't want to talk about it" or "man I have the dreadwolf in my head". (I... honestly think the third option was very similar to the second one but I have a very bad memory. sorry)

i played a mourn watcher mage. i had to have done some messed up spirit stuff. some bone shenanigans. not able to mention my Down With Nobles rebellion at all. i halfway expected it to be revealed that my rook was just like a shitty pawn (haha) and actually all her memories are fake and not real. but obviously you meet people from your shared backstory and they do know OF you but they don't really know you

in mass effect 1, there were some unique missions related to both the backstory and psychological profile you picked for shepard. they were short, and nothing happens like that in 2+3 that i remember, but they are unique to your character and are something at least.

no one really asks you much more about yourself! mourn watcher rook is literally Found In The Crypts as an Infant, an incredible mystery that you have to fill in the blanks yourself, which could be something someone wants-- but i personally like my characters a little more predefined in a game such as dragon age. vague history worked for me in games like skyrim and fallout new vegas, even baldurs gate! but makes me feel wholly disconnected from the story and group here.

there was a fair amount of dialogue choices for mourn watcher, especially with Emmrich-- talking with emmrich was one of the few times my rook felt like A Person-- but there were other times that my companions seemed to think emmrich was the only necromancer/watcher on the team. (i even specialized in death caller!)

by containing all the dialogue with companions to ! markers and outings, it's weird to be unable to have any conversations without being able to provide personal insight, whereas some NPCs in inquisition actively asked you about your past.

its particularly noticeable because of lucanis, whom my rook romanced. the dude has a lot to say about nevarran culture and the necropolis and such, and we can have zero conversations on the matter lol.

maybe this is like, really a mourn watcher thing? maybe it feels better as a crow or a warden. but if you offer me the choice to be a freak crawling around in a tomb. i am going to be.

TLDR: i really feel that a prequel mission, a recruitment by varric then a timeskip, a personal quest tied to the consequences of your backstory, something, anything, to make rook feel like an actual part of the world, was a necessity and sincerely a missed opportunity. if you actually read this far, thanks!

[combefier]

the thing that really gets me about how bad the writing for rook in particular is is that it would take so little effort to make it better. and it would probably make the writers' jobs a lot more interesting, too. you should be able to piss off your companions. in every other dragon age, you can piss off your companions. you can piss them off so badly that they try to kill you. if you just sort of fail to impress people one way or another in da2, you can end up having to fight your best friends to the death, or have one of them peace out after prompting an invasion of your city. the ability to have conflict with your companions wasn't always handled WELL (trying to talk to cullen about mage rights in dai comes to mind, as does trying to talk to dorian about slavery beyond the one conversation), but the option was there. it seems like the only way you can piss off your companions here is by making tactical disagreements they don't like. there's no room to have a personality some of your companions find off-putting, even though there are multiple points where your companions are put off by one another. purple hawke we're so not back. and the reason can't be "well you had to be someone varric would choose," because varric's best friend was hawke and there can be very many different kinds of hawke.

you're given a fascinating backstory and it will not come up beyond occasional comments relevant to your faction. mourn watch rook why does your backstory almost never come up i would tell people that story all the time. it's like dming for a player who came up with the most rich backstory you've ever seen and then watching them ignore it every time you dangle plot hooks in front of them. bioware do you remember what you wrote. bioware u good???? the sanitization of various factions aside because that's its whole own post, it would be so easy to give a dialogue here and there where rook could show more of what sort of rook they are by letting them reflect on their backstory. it would be so easy to write aggressive answers that are actually aggressive.

i've spent enough time in editing that i've just been trying to figure out if there's any possible motivation beyond a lack of investment in their own story, or a shocking paucity of good editors in their work environment. is it because the way they designed the game necessitates that everyone be there at the end? but you can still fuck up the ending by making the wrong choices there, à la me2, and you were allowed to piss people off in me2. if you can get people killed at the end anyway, why not let the choices you made and the responses you chose matter beyond "did you do enough sidequests?"

at a certain point, it's just confusing. they know how to do this, even if they don't always do it well. the lack of any real room for agency or personality or conflict is just... odd. this is also leaving aside how easy it would have been to incorporate SOME past choices from past games per their previous work. bioware i just want to talk

[diminuel]

Not to keep yapping about my thoughts, but, to throw some actual comfort into the angst. Prev post 1 Prev post 2

I don’t think Dragon could ever stop caring about Crocodile. Partly because of his guilt and shame, but also I think after a while he starts to realize he loved Crocodile for more than the escapism he offered. I don’t think he could after forget that. But he would probably resign himself to “Crocodile hates me, I’ve hurt him enough. He’s living a different life now. I can’t disturb that, I have no right to.” So just accepts he lost Crocodile and his chance at a family.

So I think Dragon would be more than willing to start a healing journey with Crocodile. But it’s all up to Crocodile whether it happens. Crocodile has a lot of pain to process and heal from. He has a lot of things he has to change his perspective on. He needs to see Dragon is willing and able to take accountability.

I truly think Marineford changed everything. I think it would have give Crocodile a new opportunity to really grow, and unpack his past. To finally truly heal instead of running away from and ignoring it. To see his baby.

I am really unsure how much Crocodile ever let himself truly feel, he probably just coped with it all through anger and shame. Never really wanted to process or understand, just push away and forget. I do also think no matter how much he shames himself for it, I can see him still admiring Dragon or at least not forgetting those cold quiet nights of them being together, loving each other.

So Crocodile has his heart-to-heart with Iva after Marineford. Iva punishes Dragon for his past choices. After sometime of them both moping, Iva suggests that it might be helpful if they both start talking. It doesn’t even have to be about any of the past. Just a simple, how are you. And if that can be good, maybe they can both finally address everything together. Iva probably has to take up the role as mediator, as he sees both sides and knows this can be good for them. Looking over Dragon’s shoulder, making sure he’s behaving.

It's definitely going to be a long, exhausting time before anything is truly better. But I can see them working it out. I’m sure Crocodile would be anxious to EVER make an intimate promise like before. So I don’t see it happening unless he can truly heal, and it’s what he wants and things will be good for him.

I don’t think Dragon would try to initiate any sort of like “hey I think we should talk again, or be partners again.” As that’s not really his call. Crocodile needs to feel he’s respected and in control here to build back trust. So I think Dragon would be pleased with anything Crocodile is wiling to give him. Whether that’s with the label “Partners” or not. I can definitely see them working something out.

(But I can def see them having long nice calls of just taking and being in each other presence. And or meeting up occasionally, and just fucking LOL!!)

Yeah, I think the perspective that distance and age brings might take some of the edge off of Crocodile's anger. He might be more understanding of what both of them got out of the relationship and he might also come to understand just how vital it to stay dedicated if you're leading an entire (sort of secret) organization. He understands how some things, even the most important and most precious things, will have to wait. Because they could wait, no matter how much it sucked to be pregnant and alone there weren't the lives of thousands at stake. (Crocodile was probably also isolated with only the midwife there to keep him infrequent, professional "company". Of course he withdraws into himself and stews in all the discomfort and loneliness and bitterness). But Dragon could not communicate that and Crocodile could not see it.

He does now. And maybe he does at times wonder how it would have been if they had overcome that. Because he did feel good with Dragon before everything crashed and burned around them.

But Marineford tore up a lot of wounds and despite it all, how is he able to cope with the choice Dragon made? A dead baby might have been a loss to put behind them and eventually move on. But a very much alive baby, that lie, the abandonment of it to the whims of Garp and Mountain Bandits?

The talking with Iva there as mediator would definitely help (especially since Iva will just be obnoxious and push and not let them sit on their resentments. He needs Dragon focused and it's in Crocodile's best interest to also figure this out.)

But yessss, phone calls and conversations and fucking. Hey, they've got a lot of pent up energy. And both of them probably haven't gotten laid in years. What's the worst that could happen?

[subastian-swallows]

HLC ROMANCE — WHAT WE DESERVED

Ominis Gaunt — Head Empty, Thoughts

This has been requested by the lovely @tinaexe and obviously NEEDED! Like the Sebastian one, I feel like as a fellow BioWare fanatic — romance is my forte, in games! Ominis is a little harder as most will be based on what if’s, as unlike Seb, we don’t fully get a developed relationship with him in the game. (We kind of are friends at the end?) So because of this, we only truly see him expanded through Seb’s quest line.

So, let us begin at the beginning:

If you decide to be in Slytherin, you meet Ominis in the Common Room. I actually really love this interaction! I think it’s a nice way to set him up as a character, but would have loved more dialogue options — a big thing the game failed on. I understand it wasn’t their aim, but more dialogue, more choice, would make relationships develop more and make your own character feel more real. I think the only bad thing about this interaction, is that he is too sweet straight away (HERE ME OUT LOL) Ominis comes off as someone who is very picky with his friends, I would have loved to have him more indifferent here — just for a lovely enemies to lovers type thing. Think Morrigan from DAO but more tame…way more tame lmao. (This is just me, tbh it fits his character that he’s kind. I also like the idea that he’s extra kind because of how he grew up — but easily snaps if upset) If you aren’t meeting him here, it would also be DADA! I like the idea that he would make fun of Sebastian losing here, perfect opportunity for romance points — the curiosity of you beating Sebastian would win points with him for sure. Flirty-ish dialogue could be added here!

Now, I’ll do gifts first this time — mainly because we don’t really spend any time with Ominis lmao, so from here, apart from some quests like the scriptorium etc will be my interpretation! With gifts for Ominis! I like the idea of him being a sweet tooth, so the idea of being able to buy sweets from Honeydukes would have been so neat for this. (This would the small relationship point add on.) for bigger gifts, I like the idea of him being into more refined artefacts! Like interesting things you find on your journeys. Think:

Sculptures/art type stuff: x20 romance points

Flowers: x10 romance points

just for fun lmao — dark magic artefacts: -30x romance points

Unlike Seb, Ominis should be harder to romance! I stand by the idea, that he is hesitant and feels more complicated when it comes to love. Considering his upbringing, bringing down the walls is the first step! This is where more dialogue plays into part, remembering things that are brought up later — a big bonus to romance points!

Now interesting idea, re-meeting Ominis in Hogsmeade! I think with an Ominis romance for it to work alongside the plot — it would be mostly through Sebastian. (Drama for all those that love both — me everyday battling my inner demon of wishing to romance anyone else, but Alistair in DAO!) I like the idea of him interrupting your visit with Sebastian and perhaps helping alongside you and Sebastian with the troll! Would have been really neat to see more action from him. Flirty dialogue could be added, but it would be met with a flustered/confused Ominis.

This is where we linger from the quest line a bit, because well let’s be honest, Sebastian would never let Ominis know he’s taking you to the restricted section. So, this is where I kind of make it up. I think a small quest would work here with Ominis OR simply another one on one conversation. This could be where you learn a little more about him, if you picked the right dialogue OR you could upset him. I think a big part of this game would have benefited with a main character that had more choice. Even in Mass Effect you get two options, sometimes three — same with Dragon Age Inquisition, but the main character still feels more real, simply because of the choices! A quest for Ominis here, could be anything really, maybe he’s in the library and needs help with something or you find him in the DADA tower needing help etc.

Undercroft, baby! Here is the thing, I love the idea of Sebastian still taking you here — but like Sebastian’s one, Ominis should have caught you in the act! I would have loved to have him pissed off and you have to work your way out, but actually getting the chance, rather than him automatically not believing you or giving a shit. This would be the first instance of where romance points matter, if you have enough he apologises and takes it out on Sebastian, if you don’t, he takes it out on the both of you and is grumpy.

Scriptorium. This is the quest. I would feel like this is the major quest to determine whether you are locked into a romance arc with Ominis and I could even agree that this would be where you’d lock in either of the boys! I’d like to think that this quest should have had more chances to side with either boy, depending on who you wanted and what you believed. It needed more banter, comforting dialogue where you could commend Ominis for helping you both and it would have been perfect for flirty dialogue — making him all flushed and shy. This would also be where he starts to see you as something more, if you pick the right dialogue. Perfect opportunity for Ominis to take care of you when Sebastian crucio’s your ass.

Relic moment. OKAY! Here would have been so perfect to show that your romance points mattered. Imagine that depending on how you’ve interacted so far, it would determine if he would trust you or not. He was too trusting at this point, TBH. He knows how Sebastian is, not you and so this felt a little strange to me. So the idea, that at this point your romance points mattered, to determine if you had to curse him would be HUGE. Because if you had to curse him, I’d love to see it be a huge factor that he can’t be end goal. By this point, I think you also have to be completely against dark magic and Sebastian using it. This would be big points for Ominis’ romance.

Conversation about Sebastian it’s Ominis! Worried! You express what is going on, the mine situation etc. This would be where Ominis is more shy and clear with his feelings without actually telling you, if your romance points are high enough. A gift from him? A ROSE?

Solomon quest, rip. Ominis would need you to be fully on his side here. You would need to have the opportunity to support him in this and with dialogue omg I hate it. Still agree with being able to stop Sebastian, having enough romance points with Sebastian, to the point of stopping him before he does anything — would tie into if you could complete Ominis’ romance. I like the idea that they tie in together here and you had to have thought about both throughout. Ominis and Sebastian are practically brothers, so it makes sense.

THE ENDING: You could only get a good ending IF you save Sebastian, I just think it’s very fitting. If you can stop Sebastian, I feel like Ominis can really open up. If you don’t I think he would be toooo heartbroken for a romance. If you succeed, you get the kiss and hug scene and he shows his appreciation for you — thanking you for being there for him RIPP

Bonus: Winter Ball like Sebastian — only agreeing to go with you if romance points are high enough. ALSO, I like the idea of a moment to stick up for him or he sticks up for you. BECAUSE CUTE.

I might have missed stuff and more definitely could be added, but this is the basic romance plot line — that could have worked. We just needed more dialogue, more options and more quests for him!

[phoenixeclipse-lmkau]

Phoenixeclipse Pirate AU - Mk's Adventure Chapter 5 - Ao Mei Joins The Brotherhood

Ao Mei won’t loose her best friend so she convinces The Captians of the Brotherhood to allow her to join the crew with MK.

Mk had just jumped in front of his brand-new Captain so he was staring Mei in the eyes. Her gaze was filled with anger, with pure fury at the mere thought of him abandoning her for these two. Her teeth were gritting together in a way that irritated Mk’s ears as she glared at both him and the two behind him, more so the two behind him.

“Okay, there is no need for such hostility,” MK tried to calm her down with a grin.

This was a very delicate situation; his idols were here as well as his family. He didn’t want them to fight especially knowing that Mei wouldn’t be able to stand a candle to either of them. The two Monkey Kings had years of training, and experience ahead of her by a long shot. Hell, they were probably around his own mother’s age if not older.

“They are trying to kidnap you!” Mei yelled her eyes flashing green as she lifted her sword, pointing it towards the monkey kings.

“MEI!” Mk shouted fearfully as he jumped between the blade and the monkey kings.

“Who do you think you are little girl?” Macaque asked slowly, his gaze flickering between the boy and girl in front of him. ‘She has spunk and she seems close with him.’ A smirk threatened to form on his face.

“Kidnap me!? They gave me a choice!” Mk shouted back, hoping to convince his friend to put her sword down.

Mei stared at the monkey trio in front of her. Her eyes still glowing dangerously as she gritted her teeth, her best friend was about to leave, her brother was about to leave. No, she was not going to let him leave without her.

“Take me too,” Her words caused MK to freeze up, his eyes widening.

“WHAT!?” Pigsy shouted in shock.

“MEI!?” Tang yelled, unsurprised but wishing everything that was going on was wrong.

“Take you too? And why should we do that?” Wukong asked, his eyes narrowing as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“MK is my best friend, I won’t let him go on some awesome adventure without me,” She responded confidently fully aware that the six eared monkey demon was looking her up and down as if assessing her.

“What do you think? Should we allow this dragon girl to join our crew?” Wukong asked a smirk soon playing across his face.

Macaque allowed his smirk to cover his face. She was a brave young woman or possibly just stupid but the loyalty she showed to Mk made him think about what to do. If most people pointed their sword towards the monkey kings, they would have been dead by now. However, MK was standing right there and clearly cared for the girl so that wouldn’t work well at all.

His ears fluttered for a second when suddenly he took a step to the side. In a mere few seconds, a flash of blue landed onto the ship. Azure Lion had chosen to join the conversation it seems. The lion stood to his full height with a bored look on his face. Everyone on the ship quickly turned to the large demon who had joined in uninvited. He turned to the Monkey Kings and opened his mouth to speak. Before he was able to speak Mei interrupted with a loud and confident tone.

“Let me join your crew. Me and MK are a pair! We stay together and there is no way I am going to let you take him if you don’t take me too,” She growled, the sword in her hand not moving from being pointed at the monkey demons.

“How dare you point your blade at The Captain of The Brotherhood!” Azure growled angrily.

“Stay out of this pussy cat,” Mei growled back just as angrily.

“PUSSY CAT!?” Azure shouted in shock. His eyes went wide, the dark purple shimmering in shock at the audacity of the young dragon. Her attitude reminded him so much of… Peng.

“MEI!” MK shouted at her clearly upset by the rudeness of her tone.

Howling laughter filled the air. Everyone turned to Sun Wukong who had fallen onto his back in a fit of laughter. His mate joined his laughter, clutching his stomach as he laughed. The anger and the irritation of her initial interruption had calmed down and laughter was the only thing that was heard from the two monkey demons.

MK couldn’t have been more mortified, his best friend just called Azure Lion a member of the Monkey King’s crew a pussy cat. He honestly couldn’t believe that she did, or well he could but he didn’t want to. He chanced a glance at the lion demon to see his face a dark rosy red from either embarrassment or rage he wasn’t quite sure. His lack of movement to attack made him think it was the former.

“You know what? I think I like you,” Captain Wukong said only as his laughter calmed down.

“She had wit that’s for sure,” Macaque nodded approvingly with a finger to his chin as he thought.

“You can’t possibly be thinking to allow this mortal to-,” Wukong waved Azure’s clear concerns away as he jumped to his feet and walked towards the girl, only to be blocked by her monkey demon brother.

“What are you going to do?” He asked, his golden eyes flashing dangerously but there was an underlying fear behind them.

The very thought of MK being afraid of him, had him frowning slightly. They didn’t have a plan on what they were going to do with this cub, but they wanted him to trust them. There was no reason to be afraid of them, at least he had no reason to be. MK was a monkey demon, he was safe with them. As he glanced at the dragon girl behind him, a soft smile covered his face. Oh, he was protecting his friend, of course how could he not have noticed.

“May I have both of your names?” He asked casually, dismissing the cub’s concerns.

“What?” Mei asked confused, didn’t they already know by now?

“MK, and Ao Mei,” MK responded without missing a beat. He wasn’t going to tell them his real name, or Mei’s. Not yet.

“Mei, I have a single test for you if you wish to join our crew,” Wukong smirked, it would be simple but he wasn’t going to allow someone who would only slow them down to join his crew.

He watched his mate from the side of his eye and seeing the nod of approval he turned his full attention to the Mei and MK. He made sure to keep MK in his sights, he could tell he wouldn’t leave but it was never too bad to keep him in sight. They were going to leave with the cub no matter what, if he had refused then they would have had to be a little more drastic, but since he agreed they could keep things civil.

“What do I have to do?” Mei asked, and for the first time she looked nervous doing the best she could to cover it up with her confidence.

“Hit me,” He smirked at the shocked look that spread across her face.

“Captain, what is the meaning of all of this?” Azure spoke up clearly not understanding.

He however shut up when Wukong turned to look at him with a gleam in his eye. It should have been obvious; he couldn’t kill her and she was just a child so how else was he supposed to test her? At least a test that was quick. He wanted to go back to his own ship, he wanted MK where he belonged.

“Azure please keep your mouth-,” A flash of green filled his vision as Mei slammed a fist into his shoulder, barely able to make it move.

“What the MEI!?” MK shouted in shock, stumbling from being run past so quickly.

Slowly Wukong turned his head to look at her. She attacked while he wasn’t looking, she fought dirty. Her face held a shimmer of fear in it clearly shocked that he didn’t even budge. Slowly he turned his head to look at her, their eyes met, and she jumped back in fear.

“BAHAHAHA!” Macaque’s laughter was almost worse than Wukong’s, kneeling on the ground his laughter bubbling out of his mouth.

MK jumped up and ran in between Mei and Sun Wukong again to protect her. However, to his relief the pirate captain didn’t attack like he was worried he would. Instead, a face splitting grin covered his face ear to ear. His eyes glittered with approval, rolling his shoulder to test if he felt the impact and it appeared that he did.

“You have a lot of potential girl. A sabotage was not what I expected but~ Good enough! Welcome Mei and MK to The Brotherhood Crew! Come on, let’s return to the ship,” Captain Wukong grinned joyfully, reaching his hand out for MK specifically to take.

The Monkey demon looked down at the captain’s hand and with a grin he accepted it. He was terrified of his family getting involved with this, but there was an excitement that he could never dare to deny. He couldn’t wait to start this new adventure, and it was with his best friend too. With a single glance over his shoulder, he looked at Pigsy and gave him a short nod before the shadows enveloped the teens, Azure and the two immortal monkey demons.

“NO MK! MEI!” The shouts of the merchant group were barely heard as they disappeared into the darkness, a calming warmth wrapping around the crew.

[icebrooding]

I'm having some rambly thoughts about Isgarren and Commander because I feel so many certain kinds of ways over this dialogue

Isgarren: You brought the world to the brink of ruin. Do you realize, if you hadn't killed Zhaitan... <Character name>: Do you not see what the Elder Dragons destroyed with every cycle? The lives they ruined. <Character name>: You didn't witness the terror they wrought firsthand. You hid.

Because of this dialogue.

Mabon: Isgarren is fearful of intervening with the dragons. When Sidony stopped him that night... Mabon: Mm. I remember that morning, I think. Flickers of sunrise... The carnage, revealed. Zhaitan's call. Mabon: Thankful that I don't remember the loss. I feel it, but I don't remember their faces... Should I? Mabon: Isgarren possesses an...urgency that I can't place yet. We are too weak to fight a dragon, he says, yet we fortify... Mabon: It's as if he's both wounded and killing time... Maybe I'm projecting.

And the dialogue when you talk to Isgarren himself:

"We didn't age well. And we lived a very difficult experience... Of all my thousands of years of self-reflection, I barely spent my adolescence among them. I parted from the horde after..." >...After? "We once tried to fell the dragons. The Elder Races of Tyria. The Seer doyen, Sidony, cried for war. But...just before we were to aid the mursaat in their attack on Zhaitan... Sidony decided against." "The mursaat never forgave us, and I empathized with that. They were turned to bone scraps and bile... But they would hunt us for thousands of years after. A few hundred of them, for all of us."

Just... the Commander is right to feel like Isgarren was just allowing the world below to rot and suffer at the hands of the Elder Dragons; but the Commander also doesn't know Isgarren's history. And Isgarren very much has seen the terror the dragons brought.

Isgarren wanted to go after the Mursaat and Forgotten, to help them when they faced Zhaitan. And he was made to stand down. His dialogue implies that he left the Seers not long after Zhaitan completely destroyed those who actually went to face him.

He must have known. He must have seen, because he describes it in a visceral way when he needn't have to. He knew the aftermath of this dragon tearing apart two powerful races, culling them to fractions of what they were.

And it scared him.

The fact that Mabon uses the word 'wounded' to describe what he thinks Isgarren comes across as, makes me think Isgarren was carrying a lot of guilt. Maybe not for himself, per-se, but in a vein similar to Mabon's own thoughts of Sidony:

Mabon: I was reading about Sidony in the archive—leader of the Seers during the rise against the dragons. Mabon: When he decided to pull back from the assault on Zhaitan... I wonder if he knew the consequences that would evoke? Mabon: Even if that choice was likely the wiser one... We still feel the ripples of that decision. Mabon: Most likely, we'd be dead. Maybe the mursaat wouldn't have fled, though. The Seers wouldn't have declared war.

It could have been Isgarren was feeling wounded over the fact that, perhaps, if the Seers had gone through with it, the outcome could have been different. Maybe less would have died. Maybe Zhaitan would have been killed. It wasn't likely, but it was a possibility.

And instead what they have at that point is every mursaat still alive thirsty for his blood, and likely Mabon's too, for betrayal. What they still have is an Elder Dragon that's shown them what happens when you try to fight back.

And at some point, he must have learned that the Elder Dragons were necessary to be kept alive for the magical balance of Tyria. And I think, like the Commander did, like everyone else did, it took a lot to digest and grasp.

So then they're at a point where, yeah, maybe the Ward and the Wizards might have been able to taken down the Elder Dragons... but they couldn't. They shouldn't.

And Isgarren is so old, thousands of years, that of course it was going to affect his perception of life. Mortal life, in particular. The world below could be torn apart by the dragons, but it would shape into something new. That had to be the way of things, and they had to accept that. As long as the world kept on going, that's what matters.

Focus on the outside threats, while the world remakes itself from the inside. It's the lot they have, no choice but pragmatism. Saving the world from the Elder Dragons would mean ripping it apart at the seams. The world had to suffer in order for itself to continue to exist.

So, while the Commander is justified in finding this mentality horrific, in being upset and outraged that someone so powerful never intervened in the suffering of those below, they are fundamentally wrong that Isgarren has never seen what the dragons have done to the people of Tyria.

Because, ironically, if Isgarren never had, then none of this would have existed.

If the elder races had not chosen to confront Zhaitan, the Mursaat would not have been nearly wiped out. The tensions with the Seers would not have built. The war would have never happened. Isgarren wouldn't have left the Seers. He wouldn't have met Mabon, or at least their relationship would never have been what it became in reality. He likely wouldn't have had the drive to conceptualise the Wizards and the Astral Ward.

Zhaitan's destruction, as it always would throughout history, molded so much of the world. And its impact on Isgarren led him to where he is now.

So I think, this is a time when the Commander is, albeit not without reason, the unfair party. Assuming that Isgarren does not comprehend the suffering of those below. But that's because that's what would make sense to them; they can't fathom leaving people to hurt, especially if they understand the pain themselves. And if Isgarren is supposed to be a hero, is supposed to care for Tyria and want to protect it, but ignores the biggest threat it has looming over them, then he must not actually understand the gravity of the situation.

When really, Isgarren's life has been shaped by their destruction, learned that it was a necessary evil, and has had thousands of years to come to terms with it.

[invinciblerodent]

currently kinda chomping at the bit a little over two lines I found while re-reading my old Dragon Age fic notes that never ended up seeing the light of day-

"It is better to die thinking you were right, than to be faced with the wrongness of your actions."

and

"Andraste's Herald, Andraste's punishment."

and I hope against all hope that I didn't fucking doom myself to needing to make a fucked up decision in Veilguard the moment I decided that my (overall good, but impulsive, passionate, and somewhat naive) Inquisitor (who had just learned that he was used, lied to, and stabbed in the back by one he thought a good and respected friend)(and was a Reaver hopped up on a bucket of adrenaline) would stumble through that last Eluvian more or less blinded by pain, fear, and a murderous rage

like.... I'm sure he's calmed down quite a bit since then. he was barely 25 during Trespasser and will be like 33-34-ish during Veilguard, he's a whole-ass different person. he's been through the mental health ringer, a year(s?)-long obsessive chase, and an additional 5-6 years of mutual domesticity with the love of his life. surely what he once said in anger isn't reflective of his feelings now, and it isn't going to come back to bite him square in the ass.

like, he's a good, forgiving man. his judgements (all of which Solas was there to see) are evidence that he has an endless supply of second chances he isn't frugal with handing out. but for that, he needs to be able to think about it, and in that moment... oh, boy, in that moment, he was not thinking about it.

"I'm coming to stop you", in that moment, is such a perfectly Ray thing to say, I can't even bring myself to change it in my headcanon, but the closer release draws, the more anxious I get, and the more I hope that that moment's slip won't cost him his life.

(maybe I'll just headcanon in that it haunts him, too, that moment. not just in the "I should have ran him through while I still could" sense, but also in the "I shouldn't have said that- I don't know what would have been the right thing to say, but I shouldn't have said that" sense.)

(maybe he sometimes still lies awake at night, listening to Dorian's soft breathing beside him, and replays that moment over and over in his mind- but every time, he stops before he could say those words. as if to hope that if he thinks hard enough, if he's just clever enough, he can retroactively will into existence a line that'll stop all this madness before it would have ever began. as if coming up with the right words in the right sequence then and there could have convinced Solas to stop, step back, and let it all rot where it stands.)

(It's wishful thinking, but despite knowing that if it comes down to a choice, I know very well what he'll pick, god, do I hope he makes it through this alive.)

me @ my already-darling Rook right now-

[jazzymarie1006]

You know a TMNT Character I wanna see again who hasn't appeared in a LONG time?

Robyn O'Neil, April O'Neil's older sister!

And oh boy does ya girl have IDEAS!!

Appearance

Since April's color is yellow (with green at times) in most of her appearances, I think Robyn's color should be Cherry Blossom Pink (maybe with a bluish green?). That way both sisters can wear light colors.

Hairstyles, only two opinions for now (if you wanna go with Irish-American or African-American). I am opened to more ideas.

Clothes, a couple of casual and formal styles.

Personality

Her original on is "She's an outgoing but somewhat unorganized and irresponsible woman"

Of course I'm changing that!

She's over protective, but it comes across as bossy. She's still out going, but this encourages her to work harder than she needs to.

She's also incredibly brave and daring when she need to get stuff done.

Interests

She has many hobbies. Drawing/Painting, Fashion Designing, Sewing, Cooking, Dancing, Origami, Parkour, Doing Gymnastics, and Martial Arts.

Ninja Weapon of Choice

I can totally see Robyn's weapon being the Su Yari

Story (Warning: ANGST!)

Robyn is April's 16 year old sister (April's 14). It's been just the two of them when Mr and Mrs. O'Neil died when Robyn was 14 and April was 12 after Purple Dragon thugs broke into their home.

Ever since then, Robyn's been taking small job to support the two of them.

Since the Landlord of the Apartment they lived in is good friends with the O'Neil family, they let the two girls stay there, so they won't be separated through foster care.

The Landlord didn't want Robyn to pay rent, but she insisted and hasn't missed a payment yet.

A year after losing their parents, Robyn would go to work after school, unaware that April was making utterly interesting friends.

Of course Robyn would know of April's new friends because she always talks about the five teens and their father.

Not bringing up that that the four boys are mutant turtles, Mr. Hamato's a mutant, and Karai's the only one who is human.

Robyn doesn't meet the Turtles and Karai until she's leaving her job at the local Pizzeria. When Purple Dragon thugs try to mug her.

She able to hold her own again two of them, but that's when the other three try to jump her.

Robyn's shocked when a girl who looks like she could be April's age comes to her aid by jump from the sky and kicking the thug behind her to the ground.

An even bigger surprise came when a human sized turtle with a blue mask also jumps from the sky and takes out the the remaining two.

Robyn can't help but react with shock.

"Oh my god, those sightings of large turtles is actually true!"

"This is my brother Leonardo. And I'm Karai. April's gonna be so glad that you're okay, Robyn."

"You're April's friends?!"

"Well I ruined the surprise. Got anything to say Leo or are you just gonna stare at girl-"

"IT'SNICETOOFFICIALLYMEETYOU!"

Realizing he said that quite loudly, Leo quickly recovered his composure, almost as if he's trying to ask cool.

"We should regroup with the others."

"Are you trying to make your voice sound deeper-"

"Let’s go Karai!"

Robyn manages to stop the two 14 year olds from leaving.

"I'm going with you. My sister's got alot of explaining to do."

"Oh! Okay!"

"They're not that far from us actually."

As the three of them walked, Robyn has been questioning the two.

"So you've known my sister for over a year and this wasn't the first time you've stepped in to help me?"

"Yeah, every night when we go to play basketball, April asks two of us make sure you get home safe."

Robyn couldn't help but sigh.

"Of course she would..."

"Yeah, this was just the first time you've caught us. I'm honestly shocked that I jumped in before Leo considering-"

"Oh look! The others are up ahead!"

After five minutes Robyn, Karai and Leonardo got to April and the other mutant turtles.

"April O'Neil, explain now!"

"I will, but first I see you've met Karai and Leonardo!"

"H-hi..."

"Really Leo? That's all you could come up with?"

"These three are Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo,"

"It’s nice to meet you all. Karai told me how you made sure I left work safely, thank you."

"Nice to meet ya."

"I can wait to show you my comic books!"

"Calm down Mikey, don't overwhelm her."

"Well Robyn O'Neil, it is nice to officially meet you."

"Good work Leo, you got a sentence out!"

"Shut up Raph!"

And that's when Robyn O'Neil became a friend and allie of the TMNT along with April.

She often considers it to be better than dealing with High School drama.

Especially when it comes to dealing with her ex boyfriend Colin and the three Dalindas; Akane, Kendra and Taylor.

But she has her friends Angel and Irma there to make it more bearable.

Relationships

Family

April

Robyn loves her little sister very much and is very protective of her. She goes out of her way to work hard and make sure April's able to life comfortably.

April often has to remind Robyn that she has to take care of herself as well.

When April decides to become a Kunoichi, Robyn insists on becoming on too, to be sure she can have April's back no matter the situation.

When April shows interest in journalism, Robyn's of course incredibly supportive.

Friends

Irma and Angel

Irma and Angel have been friends with Robyn ever since the three were little kids.

The two were even there to comfort Robyn and April when they lost their parents.

She couldn't keep the fact that she met the Turtles a secret from the two, especially since it was Irma's sighting photos that made her aware of them in the first place.

Karai

Robyn and Karai are quite close. Karai will often ask Robyn for older sister advice.

When Robyn becomes a Kunoichi, Karai makes sure she's the first to spare with her.

Karai loves it when Robyn makes her outfits.

Karai is often invited to the girls only sleepovers at Robyn and April's place.

Leonardo (Leo)

Leo has a not so secret crush on Robyn. While Robyn is the only person unaware of his feelings, she does respect Leo as a Ninja.

Because of Leo being April's age (two years younger than Robyn), she's very protective of him and the others.

Leo's also quite protective of Robyn as well. Even after she becomes a Kunoichi. She has to call him out when he goes easy on her during sparing sessions.

As a young teen (14-15) Leo's really shy about his crush on Robyn, but as he gets abit older (16-17) he begins to playfully flirt with her.

Some of the many things Leo likes about Robyn are her determination, bravery, kindness, and understanding.

Raphael (Raph)

Robyn and Raph become quite close. When she finds out he's secretly great at knitting, she gets him supplies whenever she can.

Raph is quite a fan of Robyn's artwork. When she finds this out, she draws some pictures for him and encourages him to ask for more if he wants

Raph often vents to Robyn whenever his brothers tease him.

When Raph decides to become Nightwatcher, Robyn's the only one he tells about it.

Donatello (Donnie)

Donnie and Robyn become fast friends quickly due to them both being very hard working.

The two are excited when finding out they have favorite Anime in common.

Robyn often sneaks Donnie into her High School, just cause he wanted to see it.

When Donnie creates the Turtle Tank, he gets Robyn (when she gets her driver's license) to save it, to make sure it isn't crashed. Donnie even makes sure he's the first one Robyn teaches how to drive.

Michelangelo (Mikey)

Robyn gets along quite well with Mikey. When she's stressed, he tries his hardest to make her laugh (and is often successful).

When Mikey loves her cooking, she happily teaches him how to make the dishes himself.

Mikey loves it when Robyn plays video games and reads comic books with him.

The two absolutely adore each other's artwork.

Master Splinter

Robyn respects Splinter very much, he respects her as well for not only taking care of April for as long as she has been, but also becoming a sorta older sister figure to his sons.

When Robyn decides to become a Kunoichi, she encourages Splinter to train her harder than the others because she's older, buy he refuses.

The two often share tea recipes whenever they can.

They even like to make origami flowers together.

Jason (Jase)

Even though Jase's older sister is Kendra (one of the three Dalindas), Robyn has no ill will towards the 14 year old.

When Donnie and Jase develop feelings for each other, she's so supportive and tries to set the two up on little dates they'd be comfortable with.

Mona Lisa

After their first encounter, Robyn and Mona Lisa don't like each other at first due to a fight they had when Mona Lisa came to earth.

Later on Robyn becomes friends with the alien Warrior Princess.

She's quick to notice Mona Lisa and Raph developing crushes on each other.

Renet

When Renet comes from a portal with no way back to her home, Robyn takes her in without a second thought.

Robyn becomes quite close with Renet very quickly.

When Renet comes really close with Mikey, Robyn's over the moon.

Shinigami

When a 14 year old Shinigami was one of Shredder's minions, Robyn aided the Turtles, Karai and April in some of their fights against her. Robyn was quite hesitant to find her at first.

After Shinigami finds out that Shredder was just using her for her magical abilities, she leaves and finds her way to Robyn's place of work and begs her for help.

Robyn quickly takes the young girl in of course.

When Karai and Shinigami begin to develop crushes on each other, Robyn's shipping them so hard!

Casey

Like Shinigami, a then 15 year old Casey was a minion of Shredder's who was often sent out to fight the turtles, Karai, April and Robyn.

When he finds out that Shredder was actually the one who had the Purple Dragons kill his mother and little sister, he obviously betrayed him and left.

Robyn tries find Casey a please to leave, but he refuses her help. While it does like a while to trust him, but when he earns her trust, the two become friends.

When April starts to develop a crush on Casey, Robyn teases her a little, but is also very supportive.

Venus (Vee) & Jennika (Jenn)

Vee and Jenn are mutant turtles of The Shredder's creation. When Robyn sees that Shredder went as far as to create child soldiers, her heart arches for the two small girls.

When the TMNT Team save the twins, Robyn wants to take them in, but knew the two would be better off leaving with the Hamato family.

Enemies

Colin

Despite not dating for that long (2 and a half month during Freshman Year) Robyn and Colin didn't break up on the best terms.

The Shredder

While Robyn is terrified of The Shredder, she will help the TMNT Team fight him whenever she can.

The Purple Dragons

Robyn wanted to avenge her parents by going after the group on her own. Of course, the team manages to talk her outta of it, promising that they will all bring the Purple Dragons to justice.

The Three Dalindas

Due to the Three Dalindas being spoiled with the money the Purple Dragons take from hardworking people, Robyn doesn't like trio very much.

Akane

When there’s a fight involving the Team and Shredder's minions, Robyn often ends up fighting against Akane. Robyn is disgusted by how much Akane worships The Shredder. Every time Robyn bests her in battle, Akane makes sure to glare at her during school hours.

Kendra

Kendra purposefully tries to antagonize Robyn by pretending not to know her name (they've been classmates since middle school), but Robyn does stick around long enough to care, which infuriates Kendra.

Taylor

Robyn hates how much Taylor flaunts her (purple dragon crime) money. While Robyn doesn't wanna deal with Taylor at all, Taylor is an envy-seeker and is annoyed when Robyn doesn't react the way she wants her to.

What do you guys think? I'm open to more ideas.

[fruityfinch]

Okay here are my thoughts on the new dragon age game thus far! I love to talk about my opinions!! There’ll be some spoilers:

My main gripe thus far (and it’s possible this will be addressed somewhat later in the gameplay, but probably not to my satisfaction lmao) is that it does NOT feel like a sequel to dragon age: inquisition, which is what I personally wanted. I can understand why this is. It’s been like a decade since DAI came out, and making this game strictly sequential might alienate new players. I wanted it to be more like the original mass effect trilogy, whose games really do connect up, keep more or less the same cast, and lead into one another, but I guess that just isn’t dragon age’s style. I mean, in part this is probably because you’ve been able to make so MANY choices at this point that it would be nigh-on impossible to write voice lines and storylines that accommodate all of them. So I get it. But it’s FRUSTRATING.

Instead, there are SOME familiar characters, but they are bizarrely detached from previous events - they acknowledge they know each other from previous encounters, and have name-dropped the inquisition MAYBE one time, but that’s it. That’s IT. At one point the protagonist asks Varric if he knows anyone who can help in fighting evil ancient mages, and he’s like “no I can’t think of anyone, so you’ll have to recruit people yourself,” which is like, WHAT THE FUCK. Extremely fucking aggravating!!! What are you talking about!!!!! We were just IN Tevinter, contact Dorian! Contact Vivienne! Contact Leliana and Josephine!!! Hawke!!! Merrill!!!! You know SO MANY PEOPLE who could help, Varric, AT LEAST you could be like “yeh I do but they’re all busy fighting fires elsewhere… so you’ll have to recruit people yourself”.

It’s a bad sign that you do not have to connect this game to the events of previous ones. At the start of DAI you had the option to either connect the game to save files of the previous games, or to manually go through a website and choose what happened in those games, and these things had some influence on what happened in DAI. For this game, you create and name your inquisitor in a character creator so they’ll presumably show up at some point, but that is IT. (And they don’t look the same because I can’t remember exactly what they looked like lmao). I HAVE a save file on my console from DAI - I can’t import it or relate it in any way to DAV.

Events, both major world-reaching ones and smaller personal ones, are irrelevant, I guess. What happened to your warden? Who took the throne in ferelden? Did Anders live? Did you support the chantry? Did you recruit the mages or the templars? Who did you arrange to be the next divine? I bought the DLC for DAI (so I could finish the unfinished story) where I decided to dissolve or persist with the inquisition - did that matter? Nope. Did I tell Solas I was gonna persuade him, or that I was gonna fight him? Who cares?? Varric was viscount of Kirkwall last time I checked, but it hasn’t been mentioned ONCE - what’s up with that, has he resigned? Wouldn’t it be useful if he still was, and could provide resources and connections that way?? Or, like, doesn’t it matter that he’s sitting in the fade instead of running his city??? Nahhh, don’t worry about it, you don’t need to know aaaaaany of this stuff! Who did the inquisitor romance? Doesn’t matter. What if I romanced Solas, isn’t that sort of important? Apparently not!

Given all of that… it’s a little hard to get fully invested in this game. Because this Thedas is only very superficially the same one I’ve played in before, so how can I be that invested in it? And if I know my choices don’t really matter in the long-term narrative, why should I care that much about choices I’ll be making now??

You also can’t have a casual chat with anyone anymore. So far I have been unable to have a conversation with someone where I find out where they’re from, what their experiences are, what they think about uhhhh fuckin ANYTHING, etc. You can only converse with them when the game decides they have something to say, and these conversations last less than two minutes, and are ONLY about things that have JUST happened. This is making it hard to connect with them, and I do feel it’s another way the game is shielding itself from having to acknowledge the previous games in any meaningful way. Mage circles? Templars? The tevinter imperium? Dalish elves? Who the fuck is Varric and why was he in charge? Ehhhhh don’t WORRY about it!

AND FINALLY (and this is really driving me insane): so far, it appears that the writing direction for Solas has taken a sharp left turn, with no warning. It turns out that he WASN’T the bad guy trying to destroy the world, he was keeping some REALLY bad guys locked up, and YOU blew that for him, you IDIOT!!! Like, the game did SAY at the beginning that you all thought he was trying to tear down the veil and that’s why you were stopping him, but then it turned out that wasn’t what was happening, and after that point it hasn’t been acknowledged again. It isn’t explained so far why we thought that, or why it might have turned out not to be the case. You’d think Solas would have mentioned it to Varric during their off-screen conversation, but I guess he didn’t. Like. I thought this game was gonna be about opposing Solas and either persuading him to stop, or killing him, while making use of the inquisition’s reach. And, see, the reason I thought that is because that’s what the previous game SAID was happening. But actually that ISN’T what’s happening. And Solas smugly tells you off for thinking otherwise, and your protagonist is like, “yeah I guess I blew it :/“

So I was given information and facts and character arcs to act upon, and I acted upon them (and had no CHOICE but to act upon them, that is the GAMEPLAY), and then the game has pulled the rug out from under my feet, and while I’m lying stunned on the floor it’s turned around like, “oh that’s what you thought, huh? You fucking idiot? You god damn stupid son of a bitch?? WRONG!!!!”

Like, unless much later in the game Solas is gonna be like, “okay thanks for resolving all that. I was on a side mission before tearing down the veil, and you ruined my side mission, but now you fixed it, so back to my overall plan: tearing down the veil”… what is HAPPENING here. No one in-game is TALKING ABOUT IT. You talk to Solas occasionally and you can’t bring it up. You can’t talk about it to your companions (since you can’t really talk to them about Anything). Is Solas still going to be a problem? If he’s not… WHY THE FUCK NOT? What happened?? WHAT’S HAPPENING

And those are my main gripes. 😘

[crows-of-buckets]

Dav spoilers below the cut!! (Up to just before leaving for the anderfels)

Okay I've gotten off for today so I wanna ramble a little bit about my playthrough so far!!

I am geniuenly adoring it so far! Alot of the problems I have with inquisition are non-existent, the combat is fun, the characters are likeable. Sadly the purple rook options aren't as much of an asshole as I would like (purple Hawke you will be missed) but they are nice! The writing so far has been solid imo.

I really like that the cameo characters aren't taking up too much space. While I do get excited to see them, I don't want them overshadowing the new characters, like they kinda did in previous games. The cameos are also way sooner than I was expecting!!

So far I've only had one instance of "that is NOT what I meant to say" with the dialogue wheel which I count as a win (when I recruited lucanis I said 'ill keep an eye on you' thinking it was out of concern 😭 that may have just been a skill issue on my end tho. I reloaded that save so fast). I also really like the romance dialogue options so far. They aren't so overwhelming cringe that it makes me wanna curl up and die inside (I am staring directly at you Hawke who SAYS THAT to a man who's BOYFRIEND JUST DIED). They all feel very nice and flirty in a way that isn't in your face. I am also really REALLY liking the companion writing so far. All of the characters are charming and I'm already more invested in them than I was in the inquisiton cast sorry 😭

While Rook does talk a lot on their own, so far it all feels very in line with what Revari would say. While I do miss being able to control everything the PC says, ik logically we'll never get a dragon age game like that again so it's not something I was expecting. Very happy nothing feels glaringly "they would not fucking say that"

I I thought the lack of worldstate choice was going to be more glareingly obvious but tbh i kinda forget about it for most the playthrough. It still sucks that there isn't more worldstate options, but yk I can't change that

Lucanis is already really growing on me!!! He's just a silly little guy and I am a SUCKER for them. Born to be a chef forced to be an assassin frfr...

Neve gallus obviously has my whole heart if you didn't know. The longer she's on screen the more I love her. She hasn't left my party since Bellaras recruitment quest.

Very interested in Bellara. For a hot second I thought her brother was going to be Felassan so I was mildly disappointed that it wasn't 😭 although ultimately making it a new character is a better narrative choice.

I LOVE that you can encourage Lace's abilities!!! I have a feeling that how you tell her to channel her abilities (whether through joy or through fear) is going to affect the outcome of her story... Also love that if you show optimism about her abilities she also shows excitement about them

Varric and Rooks relationship is so sweet to me!!! I mean he calls them kid you guys should know I was gonna be a sucker for it. While I know that's probably annoying for older Rooks, it works for Revari. I'm also very glad he has a distinct different relationship with Rook than he did with Hawke and The Inquisitor. He's clearly very fond of them and it makes me happy idk. Also the sheer fucking difference between the way he acts towards the Inquisitor (even one he's friendly with!!) and rook is so funny. Inky really is just his ex boss huh 😭

I've only talked to Solas twice so far but I'm already more invested in his and Rooks dynamic than I was with him in the Inquisitor sorry 😭 I didn't romance him so he didn't really do it for me in Inquistion, but I'm low-key looking forward to seeing him again. His little jabs in the second talk after you "exchange verbal spars" is so fun, and I think it really hammers in the "Solas reflects back the people he interacted with". He did it with the Inquisitor, and is doing it again with Rook, but it's SO much more interesting to me in this game so far idk. Maybe it's because he's responding to specific comments? Idk Revari is a bit of a shithead so. I don't think Revari hates Solas, but they are a bit wary of him.

The voice acting has been very solid so far as well!! Nothing that's glarely bad to me at least. I also really like some of the facial animations; while some of them can feel a bit flat in general conversation, some of them are REALLY good. There was a bit where Dorian started snarking and he curled his lip. And another where Rook opened their mouth like they were going to talk but didn't. Idk the facial animations are REALLY standing out to me. This is so much better than the previous games I am not even over exaggerating. Dragon age "Every character wears an ugly sneer all the time" Inquisiton you will not be missed... Obviously it's because the technology is better but it is really really obvious how much attention went into the faces I am here for it

The combat is so fucking fun. Ik it won't be everyones cup of tea but I am having a BLAST. It didn't take me very long to get the hang of and it's very satisfying to play with.

I am also fucking LOVING how relevant your backstory is!!! Like yes!!! I am a shadow dragon!!!! There's so many additional dialogue about it even just in casual conversations! I never felt like the game forgot about it. Rooks connection to their faction is great and I love the fact that they know people and people know them. Shadow dragon rook ily 🫶

I really like how much it feels like this game remembers what you've done. From Lucanis remembering your preferred drinks (Revari likes their coffee STRONG) to Varric feeling like he let you down after you encouraged him, so far it really feels like what I'm doing is sticking and that makes me SO fucking happy.

Final thing!!! This game looks absolutely fucking gorgeous I keep getting blown away by the views. I do wish I could zoom my camera out a bit more just to take everything in bc it's SO big I love it!!! So far it is geniuenly meeting my expectations and I am SO FUCKING RELIEVED. I have been so worried it was gonna be dogshit for WEEKS

[purplecritter]

Dragon Age: Vows and Vengeance (Ep. 2)

Official episode transcript here

My notes while I was listening under the cut... Spoilers ahead!

Right off the bat: what is it with Dragon Age and all the cursed blades?!

“Creature of fire” + Harding using ice arrows specifically makes me think Rage Demon but if that’s the case, it’s cool that it’s talking I guess? Most of the talking demons have been Pride or Desire… Though it having minions is a bit 🧐

“By the Stone” & “Thank the Stone” did we ever know Harding thoughts re: religion? In DAI she did use “Maker only knows if he’s even still alive.” (The Threat Remains), and “Maker knows they’ll want help.” (HLTA, Crestwood) She’s a surface dwarf but maybe the exclamations remained as a casual cultural thing?

I was reading the wiki to see if this ^ is addressed at all and SHE HAD A MABARI????????? Fereldan wife material fr

“The tremors... The pain... The anomalies… The Veil grows thin, little one. Enjoy your victory, while it lasts. Your world is coming to an end.” So that’s the second reference to something going on underground (assuming it’s related to episode 1’s “People have been saying the ground be feeling like it’s gonna give”). I wonder if Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain were conscious while “trapped”? Are these tremors caused by them, and was Solas warned by his spirits that the Evanuris prisons were unstable? …Wow talk about taking a sentence and running with it. Watch this have 0 correlation lol

Uhhhhh so it’s interesting that Harding still uses “Inquisition Scout”! I don’t think V&V is set much earlier to DATV and I also don’t think they’d take a stance on the choice to disband in Trespasser (plus she mentions a “former Inquisition spy” later), so I believe that regardless she’s still attached to her title especially since she’s been so focused on hunting Solas!

WAHOO I love the imagery of a scout hunting for the (Dread) Wolf! And she subscribes to the “I can fix him” school of thought 🙂‍↕️ I think Ali Hilis (her VA) in an interview a while ago did say that among the befriend/banish/romance options she’d go for “romance” for Solas lol

Oof what if Harding has a little fear of the Fade after DAI 😭

I know they said Bellara and Lucanis will cook for the Veilguard but I 100% believe Harding has some good skills there

It’s interesting that Elio can keep track of Nadia (or at least that’s how I’m interpreting her continuing to hear him call out her name) while in the Fade! I wonder now if having a special object might act a little as a beacon? This might add a thick layer of angst for whoever was left after Here Lies the Abyss…

“Not to be cruel but hardly anyone survives the Fade” that was directed at me wasn’t it…

Raven’s Brook = new location mentioned! A small village/outpost perhaps?

Mh okay so Veil is thin because we have a cult. Cool cool, so why did the cult form? 👀

“Nu es fyr geirum // Grar upp kominn // Vefr, verbjooar…” chanted by the cultits. I don’t recognize this as similar to any of Thedas’ languages? But a google search leads to an anonymous poem from Middle Ages Scandinavia. For those who want to look it up: Anon Darr 1V (Nj 53). If anyone can provide a translation I’d love to see, I was only able to translate it from the swedish wikipedia article. The whole poem should be: “The web is taut / to alert of manfall, / from the cloud tap of the boom / it rains blood. / Now over the spear / the gray is tense / the warp of the life thread / which weavers' shoes fill / with that of the Valhalla god / reddest weft.” (bolded the parts that are chanted in the episod)

The mayor & the townsfolk collaborating with the cultists to be spared, remind me a little of Sahrnia (Emprise du Lyon) in DAI (the town's leader sold the inhabitants to the Red Templars in exchange for supplies)

The Deathless One will be pleased by the human sacrifice. “You know what will happen if the Deathless One goes Hungry”. “To the Deathless One! I shall live forever!”. “The moon’s still dark, maybe there’s time” “The Deathless One looks forward to your [Nadia’s] blood in particular” “We do what we do because we must [...] I  will enjoy the look in your eyes when the sky opens up, and the last thing you see is the Black City shimmering on the horizon.”

I am heavily Disliking this “you’ve been marked” and “serving the Deathless One is the greatest honor a mother can have” and “don’t let my daughter get marked” and “take all the children”

Oh Drayden’s got a mouth on them. “I shall grow on you like an Elfroot” I NEED MORE THEDAS PICKUP LINES. Also there's way too much attention on them and their banter with Nadia for them to not be a persistent/recurring character, like I imagine the rivals to begrudging allies to friends to romantic tension (one sided or not)

I like that Nadia’s recklessness isn’t just a random trait but it’s motivated by her resenting people for not acting when her mother was sentenced to death. I’m looking forward to see if in her arc here she’ll learn to act in more “subtle” (?) ways or if this impulse will get her in trouble more!

Drayden got grenades?! I assume it’s more similar to the ones we got in previous games rather than with gunpowder because I don’t think the Qun would be quite so reckless to write down the recipes for Gaatlok in random books lol. Still impressive tho

My mage-senses are tingling for Drayden but it might just be because we don't have enough nerds in Thedas that aren't also mages 😔

VARRIC NAMEDROP. “We got something brewing and he needs my help.” so this might be right before The Missing or they’re hinting at the prologue of DATV!

Final thought: I'm very 👀 at the title referencing the cult of the doom blade while in the episode they don't reference any particular doom blade, just this Deathless One. Might be a red herring with how prominent the red lyrium & blue lyrium blades have been, but I expect this to come up again in the podcast or the game