#i still hate ds3...

[knightscanfeeltoo]

NK Playing with Messmer's Snakes with Wings...

(I don't think NK would think anything that looks like a Lizard or Dinosaur with Wings sometimes are Dragons to him but maybe when he was Younger...)

[katyspersonal]

Gotta point this out for certain though, SOTE is definitely not the first time Fromsoft was creating the story with the direction of "well we thought it was the final draft, but we then decided to continue it which resulted in a retcon that makes it awkward"! Dark Souls 3 IS this thing too!

Dark Souls 2 pushed very hard for the idea that Drangleic was build on the ruins of countless kingdoms that raised and fell for absurd amount of cycles on the earth where Lordran stood all this time ago! This is why there are so many weapons and sorceries owned by characters from Dark Souls 1 "whose names were long forgotten" and more importantly, this is why "Old Ones" are reincarnations of Gwyn, Nito, Witch of Izalith and Seath! Not the first reincarnations, mind you, as Vendrick also beat them up back in his time! Literally the "How many times do we have to teach you, old man" moment hdhygnm

But, Dark Souls 3 kinda retconned this into a situation where all these magics, objects and legends just mysteriously got washed into Drangleic through all these traveling people, and "names being forgotten" is just a severe case of long distance and lack of communication with their places of origin... all while Anor Londo and Lordran literally still exist this whole time and only very few people had enough braincells to just go there ghthfyh (Aldia to convince Lothric to not be a Melina, Bearer of the Curse for some reasons but they told the world about Lucatiel, Creighton moving in Irithyll and.... fuckin Gilligan to become father to Sulyvahn, it isn't even a joke..)

And it makes the Old Ones + Daughters of Dark really funny because it just makes the original Four Lords and Knuckles Seath still end up in the same place after having somehow traveling away from Lordran despite not being quite themselves anymore. It is like fate. They are always destined to meet again only to be beaten by some human. Red strings of HATE.

And yet, it isn't as if DS2 and DS3 are just two variants that are both sequels to DS1 and you just choose which variant you like more! Dark Souls 3 calls back to Dark Souls 2 too much, DS2 events happened and their aftermath is in DS3 plot. The thing is.. here, Dark Souls 3 existing after all this doesn't make the overall trilogy story bad, but it does make it awkward, and absurd in some places! How everyone "forgotten" people who literally lived overseas and are still remembered there. (And imagine how much more awkward it would be if they DID include Patches in DS2 like they planned to! xD Also more fuel for me to not consider Queen of Lothric to be Gwynevere as to not create a character who ran from her problems twice, from the same problem :p)

I guess my point here is like... Fromsoft just kind of does it, and they might do it again. Dark Souls 2 was developed with the idea in mind that it would be it, every character in it hammers it into your brain, but then Dark Souls 3 happened! And it good that it did, the whole game is a meta commentary on what happens when people don't let the story end! And Elden Ring, by Miyazaki's admission, was created with cropping a lot of lore, plotlines and some characters (like Messmer) from original vision as the game was already too massive... but then they decided to make DLC with those ideas anyways! That likewise created retcons of some ideas that had previously fell into their places very neatly and made stories of Miquella, Malenia, Radahn and Marika flow less conveniently, but! they!! didn't even know at the moment!!! that they'd get to make the DLC!!!

I think they always could just do it again; give their product everything just in case if it flops and sequel/DLC doesn't get made, so the standalone thing feels self-suffucient! Fromsoft just looks like they don't take calculated risks but always act through the prism of "assume it already didn't sell well", and never abandoned this philosophy even while making base Elden Ring! Despite how much their reputation was proceeding them by the time! And honestly, when I understand there is likely pattern, it is hard to be mad at their decisions or how awkward they make the story. Like, yeah, sometimes the "the product made as if it already fropped" and "the surprise sequel/DLC" bits are practically Frankensteined rather than blend harmonically, but that's their thing! It isn't a perfect philosophy of creating their stories, but it is individual, and no company or specific writer could ever be perfect. (I think to truly enjoy someone's unique approach is to accept the sharp, inconvenient bits too rather than trying to "fix" it into perfection, but that's just my perspective on creativity process)

[maranigai]

character ask: ornstein?

(also unrelated, i would like to hear if you have any thoughts about dragonslayer armour)

Honestly, my only thought about the Armour is that its original owner was that one dragonslayer from the Sacred Oath item description (you know, the guy who presumably served NK and Ornstein) and was probably executed by Gwyn after NK's betrayal, but I never had any deep headcanons about them.

Unlike Ornstein, heh, the man has been my favourite DS paper doll for ages, so...

favorite thing about them

His relationships with NK, but as far as I know, my perception of said relationships is... not exactly common in the fandom. You see, I hc that NK was everything to Ornstein before his betrayal. The master, the tutor, the god - an entire life in one person. And then he left without taking Ornstein with him, leaving him alone to deal with Gwyn's rage and the consequences of betrayal. This was what broke Ornstein as a person, entirely - and what he never forgave NK for. So yes, even after the betrayal, Ornstein still saw NK as his only true lord, the person he had sworn his soul and flesh to - but he hated him with passion, for the lies, for the abandonment, for that damned sacred oath and the impossibility of getting freedom from it. Ornstein had hated NK for so long and lost so much to this hatred that when he finally met NK, finally learned that he was genuinely sorry for leaving him... to Ornstein, it didn't matter anymore, because nothing really mattered. And even when NK freed him after all, it still didn't matter. To me, their story is one of caged loyalty, hollow love and betrayed trust without redemption; I admit this is a more tragic take on them, but I love it this way.

least favorite thing about them

Ornstein as a character consists mostly of my own headcanons, so obviously I like them all lol. But what I don't like is the lack of a normal one-on-one bossfight against him and no, Old Fanservisslayer from ds2 does not count. I mean, come on FromSoft, he's the bloody captain of the Gwyn's four knights, he could easily be on the same level of a fight as Gael or phase 3 Friede, and he's a recurring character in every game of the trilogy, you could easily fit him in as a proper boss somewhere in ds3! Pls sign my 8 year old petition to replace the Ancient Wyvern at the Archdragon Peak with Ornstein.

favorite line

The man doesn't have any lines in canon, so I'll reference my own fanfiction because I can.

Some oaths can only be broken by death, master. And I’ve been walking here for too long.

brOTP

Two of them, actually. The first one is Artorias, who once saw the broken ruin of a man consumed with paranoia and hatred and decided that screw it, this guy is friend shaped and needs an emotional support (cheers for him for at least partly restoring Ornstein's faith in people after NK's betrayal). The second one is Gwynevere, who was there when her brother first brought his new apprentice to Anor Londo, and remained by his side throughout the ages, untill the final days of the final apocalypse in Lothric kingdom. So yeah, Artorias was the one who helped Ornstein not to fall into the despair, at least for a while, but Gwynevere was the only one who actually knew him as a person.

OTP

Surprisingly, Ciaran, in some unhealthy "enemies with benefits" type of relationships. Ciaran doesn't trust him and thinks he's a traitor like his liege who somehow gained Gwyn's forgiveness only to betray him later, but this also means she doesn't care much about Ornstein as a man with actual emotions, and doesn't feel guilty for using his company to distract herself from her own tragic unrequited love for Artorias. Ornstein himself appreciates her brutally honest approach and, frankly, is lonely and broken enough to accept even this surrogate of intimacy. So yeah, if you think this pairing is some sort of fucked up angst, you're correct, it is.

nOTP

Gwyndolin. I hc their relationships to be cold. Very, very cold. For Ornstein, Gwyndolin is a boy who's trying to play for his master without having any actual right to it - and Ornstein is sick of having masters. For Gwyndolin, Ornstein is a dangerous beast on a very thin chain, basically uncontrollable and unpredictable. So when Ornstein left Anor Londo, it was a moment of relief for both of them.

random headcanon

Ornstein was a ringed knight before NK noticed him and took him on as an apprentice. For this reason, he was always out of place in both Anor Londo and human lands, even before NK's betrayal.

unpopular opinion

I believe, my hcs on his personality in general? My Ornstein is cold, paranoid and bitter man with no trust in people and very little personal devotion to the gods of Anor Londo. He's not a completely emotionless monster of course, but he's still far more morally dark than most other versions I've seen in the fandom.

song i associate with them

I failed to pick only one, mea culpa.

Лора Бочарова - О Магии и Предательстве (but I couldn't find this thing on youtube in remotely descent quality, so without the link, sorry)

Мельница - Рукописи

Мельница - Кащей

favorite picture of them

This art by azotho

[fllagellant]

Hey . Sorry . I know the technical reason why War and Strife have little wings in game vs Death and Fury not having them is due to gameplay and control schemes and just . World building ( like how you get the horse first thing in ds2 but you don’ t need a horse until midgame in ds1 . I don’ t wanna think about what they did to rampage in ds3 . ) but also I have the Urge to give it a lore reason in my head so :

War uses his often due to the fact he’ s the only one in the four that dresses much more heavily and with more armour . We already know he hates / dislikes climbing and the others ( At Least Strife definitely has ) has told him that he needs to dress lighter in these regards to make climbing / traversing hard to reach areas easier . His wings are his counterbalance to everything else . They give him that bit of ease to reach places that would be more difficult / near impossible for him to grapple to . Also I think he enjoys being able to float ominously . Why else would he fucking do it . Also he has small ones on his Chaos form and I think they might not function like his actual set of wing . But are there probably to let him look a bit larger . Intimidation method .

Death rarely uses his because he’ s much more skilled with climbing / jumping / scampering / etc . He doesn’ t need wings to carry him an extra few feet or to let him cross a gap , he’ d rather find a way across that allows him constant movement . He dresses super light to allow himself to manage to clear gaps with some leaps and a bit of fun Parkour . He’ s also the oldest so there might be this sense of trying not to rely on too many things that aren’ t like . Explicitly him . Also I think he likes showing off . His Reaper form clearly uses them and it’ s probably a mix of a) it’ s just easier to use them and b) intimidating . Like the one place he’ ll wing out is to be scary .

Strife I think probably uses their wings the most . They seems to rely a Lot on speed while fighting and , while being moderately armoured , still has enough heft to their armour that certain thing would be unachievable unless they had the extra boost the wings give . Their fighting style benefits from , almost , elegance leaps and spins . Their wings would just aid that style . Make them harder to catch . The wings just seem like they fit into their way of moving more . Their Anarchy form lacks them and I think it’ s the one place they won’ t benefit from them . Since that form is the one time they behaves more like a tank than anything else

Fury seems to use them the least and I think it’ s because of how versatile her whip is . It allows her to cross gaps she normally would have no chance at . The Hollows also help erase the need for them . I think that she does have them , but it’ s rare for her to have a reason to use them at all . She has so many other ways to access things and move around that the wings probably conflict with how she normally does . So she just . Doesn’ t . Her Havoc form does have a small pair of wings , like War’ s Chaos form , but I think she has them for the same reason War does too . The wings are small and seem like they’ re not there to be used to fly , but she has them to appear bigger . Idk how much more intimating she needs to be she has whip claws for hands but go girl go !

[alltheoutsinfreeeee]

inspired by/blatantly stolen from this post

little bits of thoughts and details, as well as spoilers, about each below

Favorite Game of All Time: Final Fantasy IX! From characters to themes to soundtrack, while each parts on their own might be inferior to other games, in its full package nothing will ever beat out FFIX for me. I love this game with all my heart.

Favorite Series: The Tales series~ Their stories always manage to capture me, the character designs are iconic... They might be trope-heavy and sometimes predictable, but its MY trope-heavy and sometimes predictable game series.

Best Soundtrack: Ar tonelico II. This was actually very hard and AT2 does still have several contenders. TWEWY, Terraria Calamity Mod, Pokémon... In the end AT2 won out for now because. Well. It's not often a soundtrack is a huge deal in-universe, songs have their own conlang(s) with grammar and everything, and the soundtrack was specifically designed to sound like it was produced on in-universe instruments as opposed to real life ones. Why did I pick AT2 instead of 1 or 3? It's my favorite and I'm biased.

Favorite Protagonist: Niko OneShot and Kirby! Feel good characters that always make me smile. I would die for them. (hey who's that hiding in there, where did he come from--)

Favorite Villain: Magolor, Kuja, Ardyn. My boys, my chew toys. I would die for them, but for entirely different reasons that for Niko or Kirby, and if I hear anything bad about them in my presence I will throw hands. (in my head anyways, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and i shy away from online confrontation. just hope i will never meet you offline because in that case WILL argue in their favor with you for hours.)

Best Story: Finding Paradise. I adore the characters, the game makes me cry everytime I play it, it left even more of an emotional impact than To The Moon did, I have never felt more personally attacked or seen by a video game, let's move on.

Have not played but want to: Digimon Survive I own and have started, but lost motivation a few hours in. I still wanna finish it one day because I keep hearing only good things about it and I'm a sucker for character development and insect Digimon. OMORI I also own and also have finished one route, but I haven't gotten to the hikkikomori route yet. One day. Kirby Squeak Squad/Mouse Attack I genuinely have never played and wish to change that one day. Sassy mouse phantom thief with cane and ice magic? That's entirely my aesthetic.

You Love Everyone Hates: Final Fantasy XV and Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. In both cases I think the hate has mostly subsided by now, but I vividly remember many people disliking both games to an unfair degree. Neither are as bad as people made them out to be.

You Hate Everyone Loves: No :3

Best Art Style: CrossCode, The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog and The World Ends With You. I like anime artystyle and I'm proud. CrossCode is beautiful pixel art, TMoSTH is so unbelievably cozy, and TWEWY is just *chef's kiss*

Favorite Ending: After careful deliberating I went with Ar tonelico 3. The culmination of an overarching story of three games, connecting with the Planet, making up for sins and ultimately taking the first steps towards salvation. With Ec Tisia sounding in a new age as the credits roll. Beautiful.

Favorite Boss Fight: Sister Friede in Dark Souls 3. * disclaimer that I have never actually played DS3, but I love everything about this fight. Setting, atmosphere, dialogue, music, surprises... Truly peak, even if maybe a stereotypical answer to this question.

Childhood Game: Ocarina of Time, Final Fantasy VII and IX. Most N64 Mario games as well as Pokémon Crystal could be put on here, but I feel like those three are the ones that stuck with me the most.

Relaxing Game: OoT and Kirby again, but also Pokémon Platinum. OoT might sound weird at first, but with the soundtrack, the fishing pond as well as the ranch there really are a lot of cozy spots in the game. Kirby doesn't need an explanation, cozy and relaxing are a core part of the series. Platinum is here because of the soundtrack and nostalgia. It's my for now unrivaled favorite Pokémon game.

Stressful Game: Bloodborne and In Stars and Time. Bloodborne is self-explanatory, but also it's my favorite out of the Soulsborne games. In Stars and Time isn't stressful in the same way a Soulsborne game is, ISAT is emotionally stressful (positive and complimentory). My favorite video game party in several years.

Game you always come back to: FFIX, Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess and Platinum. Kingdom Hearts and TWEWY can also be on here, but the space is a too small.

Guilty Pleasure: The Ar tonelico trilogy. Not because the gameplay, story, music or characters are bad, but because there are some. Let's say outdated anime tropes in it. If you can live with some unnecessary fanservice and also less than stellar localizations in favor for genuinely amazing worldbuilding, and fantastic characters and songs, I am lovingly putting the games in your hands.

Tons of Hours Played: TWEWY, Platinum and Tales of Vesperia. You guys don't know how obsessed teenage me was with TWEWY. Platinum is, again, my favorite Pokémon game. And I wouldn't ever have gotten started on tumblr if it wasn't for Vesperia~ I keep gushing over Symphonia and the Abyss, but Vesperia's my go-to Tales game. Not one character I dislike in the whole party. They are all my children. Yes, even the 35 year old.

[palebloodcvrse]

Dark souls/bloodborne crack theory (that might make a bit of sense): Seath is in bloodborne

First lemme get the nitty gritty out of the way:

DS and BB are connected. Marvelous chester is proof since he implies ds is the "past" of bloodborne. And the painting of the new world in ds3 was made of "the blood of the dark soul"

Anyways... From what we know about Seath, we know he can never truly die and only turn into a different entity. We get his soul from freja in ds2. In ds2, manscorpion tark explains that "Long ago, there was a being with powers similar to ours.

The creature took the form of a spider.

But I don't know where it disappeared to.

Perhaps it was seduced by madness." And that

"Our master was a tragically lonely soul.

Eventually, his solitude eroded his very reason.

In the end, he never understood…

…what it was that he truly lacked."

Its heavily implied to be seath the scaleless.

And yes ds2 is canon idgaf what anyone says idgaf if you hate the game, its still canon bc lucatiel's mask, the drang equipment, a painting of nashandra and the faraam armor set exists there. Not to mention all of earthen peak

Now how does this tie to bloodborne?

We know seath can change form right? What if he transposed into something in bloodborne. He could be oedon, he could be the moon presence, he could even be kos. Who fucking knows.

Almost everything in bloodborne that has white flesh or an otherworldly origin has blue magic... and is weak to one thing. B o l t damage

Guess who else was also weak to lightning? Thats right. DRAGONS IN DS

Discuss.

[6ad6ro]

ufo 50 and dark souls part 2:

in isolation, the games can be hard and that's fine. ufo 50 is weirdly the perfect platform for this, because if i hate half the games, i can just go play the other half. so what's my problem? it's influence. the wild success of a game sometimes changes the gaming landscape. like back to the example of dark souls, i loved demons souls. i thought ds1 was pretty bad in parts bc they made it way too hard, but it was still fine because worst case i had an issue with one of two games in a series. nbd right?

wrong. the fanbase had gotten so fucking toxic. "git gud" went from a meme making fun of the tryhards into a legit thing adopted by casual gamers. twitch helped fuel this, like the whole "pro gamer" thing combined with the fact that people liked watching streamers get mad. everybody was watching people play these games, and the streamers loved playing these games. because even though the games enraged them, they were making money. because of all the free advertising, the game sold like crazy, even if on average people only played it for an hour or so before giving up. and, unlike demons souls, you could play ds1 on almost anything. souls became "mean design streamerbait" the series, "hardgame" the meme. it quickly became one of the most talked-about series in the world.

then ds2 released. the difficulty was more moderate, feeling more along the lines of demons souls. there were a lot of changes, and tho imo it's gameplay wasn't as good as des, and it's world not as cool as ds1? it was definitely an overall improvement over the latter. it even had a sort of convoluted optional "hard mode", which should have made the ds1 fambase happy. but they weren't. they HATED it. just for the mere fact it wasn't the same as ds1. they wanted nothing but ragebait. they wanted another game they could brag about beating. another reason to say "git gud".

occasionally you'd see actual thought out criticism of ds2, talking about how some of the bosses were less interesting and the game was too tanky? but most of it came down to blind "this game isn't as hard". and at the same time, miyazaki ran a poll asking if the fanbase wouldn't mind if he started putting difficulty settings in his games, because obviously this whole difficulty thing was having a negative impact on the design. if he just had a separate "easy mode" and "normal mode", everyone could get what they wanted, right? but the fanbase had become far too idiotic. they flipped out. "basic accessibility features?! not in MY game".

so miya relented. and ds2 hadn't sold nearly as well as the company hoped, so miyazaki took a break from developing bloodborne, and quickly threw together a rushed "remixed version" of ds2. it was so poorly balanced, like one of those shitty fanmade doom maps where they throw 20 bosses into a room and say "have fun". and the moronic fanbase loved it, calling it a "return to form". i think at that point he just accepted that for his games to be successful, they needed to be seen as dogshit hard.

he released bloodborne. and tho it was the easiest souls game yet, it won people over on the aesthetics. and had a bunch of difficulty spikes to fool people into thinking the whole game was even harder than the earlier games. it was a runaway success, and he also started development of ds3 with bb's success as a blueprint. but back to the main topic, things had already gone way too far. souls had become far too big an influence, too big a moneymaker.

[deathrooteater]

Would you share more about your beloved Ophidius? Anything your heart desires, little tidbit or big lore! I just think he's neat :]

oh boy! there's a lot to talk about on his front, tho, to be quite honest, most of his lore has been born because of a roleplay discord server i'm in

nonetheless, here's some more stuff:

Ophidius hates the demigods for their abuse of power, thinking them all the same, except for Godwyn.

He does hate Ranni for the above, but not for her part in Godwyn's murder. In his grief and subsequent grief-motivated plan, he fabricated a whole story of how Godwyn's murder was "Destined", and Ranni was just a part of that "Destiny".

Despite being both manipulative and quite easy to anger, he tends to be polite to a fault. Someone (probably Godwyn) taught him manners and he has stuck with them.

His mother, the Gloam-Eyed Queen (who in the aforementioned server, is still present, just bodyless like Melina) at one point tries to apologize to him for her callous and cruel treatment he got, but he rejects the apology and basically tells her to fuck off.

He participates in the Radahn Festival as one of the people you can summon.

Unlike his Apostle brethren, he fights with a greatsword, found among the things of the late knight present in his backstory. Time has infused it with the capacity to light itself with Black Flame on command.

The Heretic's Sapling spell is one of his most precious belongings, since he created it with Godwyn's help.

On the Demigods topic, Miquella gives him cognitive dissonance. How can a Demigod be kind?

If he dies, he would definitely be made Tarnished. If whoever hands out Grace can pick the Dung Eater, why not a Godskin Apostle?

I imagine his moveset as a combo of the Godskin Apostles, the Abyss Watchers from DS3 and Slave Knight Gael from the same game, with a few new tricks, like the Black Flame Breath.

that's about all i have rn. thank you so much for the ask!

[knightscanfeeltoo]

I'm probably the Only One who does NOT like Rellana because she reminds me Too Much of F*CKING Sulyvahn...

(I know Rellana is a Completely Different Character from Sulyvahn but I don't care...)

[plainandgeneric]

thoughts on dragonslayer ornstein?

I think he's pretty neat!

He has one of my fave armour designs of DS1. And I do have a soft spot for knights that wield something other than a longsword. Plus his dynamic with Smough is really fun. Two very different people, that would have otherwise hated each other, made to guard an empty cathedral till their death. I was a bit sad when things got retconned in DS3 tho.

However, I do admit that in comparison to my numerous soulsborne favs, Ornstein does take a bit of a back seat. (I think I've only posted him once or twice on this blog?) Still, I've got some headcanons for him, I put him in my AUs, and I've even got a fic or two about him somewhere in the endless pit that is my WIP folder.

[miquellah]

For the character ask, I wanna hear YOUR thoughts on Priscilla! ❄️

iirc i think you still haven't cleared ds3 last i saw. some teeeny spoiler mentions here but ive tried to be vague as possible where ds3 is regarded!!!

favorite thing about them. the way she says "the denizens of this world are kind" and then goes so far as to exemplify that herself. not all too many optional bosses in souls, or at least ESPECIALLY in it being a choice to engage with them after you meet-- but while priscilla wants you to GET OUT of the painted world, she also doesn't strike you until you raise your weapon first. based

least favorite thing about them. nothing honestly. i sometimes hate how fandom treats her as a waifu but that's it lol

favorite line. they don't have nearly enough dialogue for these questions!! see above line about the kindness of her denizens tho

brOTP. MAN THERE'S NOT MUCH TO WORK WITH... i do wish her dynamic with yorschka could be seen, if as her sister or her mother or otherwise. and surely gwyndolin's gotta be in the mix SOMEWHERE

OTP. priscilla and ME. otherwise im sure there's some niche rarepairs that could probably tickle something for me

nOTP. priscilla and seath or whatever. i still dont know enough of what ships she's actually got established lol

random headcanon. i feel like... her, shanalotte, yorschka, and the painter girl are all experiments along the same line. manufacturing an "ultimate firekeeper" or "great soul" as someone who can feed the flame and link it for an indeterminate amount of time therein. or perhaps priscilla herself was among the very first of prototypes, before we get to shanalotte's era where such a mission is especially dire. this would also track along with her original concept of being a firekeeper-esque role too methinks

unpopular opinion. man shut up about her feet already

favorite picture of them. no fan art comes to mind recently that's rocked my socks off, but even just her concept is soooo gorgeous. i love you babygirl

[malicious-fisheeves]

I was tagged by @bombcollar 👉👉

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I have 16 after the purge

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

337,149

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Almost entirely Dark Souls and Elden ring, with one Kingdom hearts fic.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Accession (Elden ring, my ugly baby) - 352

Wondrous Fool (Dark Souls, Ornstein/Artorias) - 180

The moon is the mother of pathos and pity (ER, Carian fam) - 168

Such is Our Curse (DS3, Lothric and Lorian conspire) - 96

Wolf's Bane (DS supernatural au, more arnstein) - 95

5. Do you respond to comments?

I used to do it more but I've been weirdly shy about it lately

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hm. Arguably none of them are terribly happy? Moonfic series is currently Up There however.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Faults in Memory has a bittersweet ending, otherwise Wondrous Fool ends on a low key ominous note after a fairly happy fic, so?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Hm not particularly? or if I have I've forgotten.

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

Not anything I'd post

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

Not really? However I did write a super natural investigator au with a background of capitalist decay for Wolf's Bane for a Dark Souls fic, so.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I believe someone translated Accession into Chinese, and the fic I wrote w bombcollar did too! I never oppose translations.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

(waves at Delta) - I also in general consider my works collaborative on some level. I joke on twitter about the scrunt philosphers but everyone's discussions have really made me re-think certain aspects of The Lore.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I'm not a Huge ship person tbh (I did enjoy my Arnstein fics but no longer have very many strong feelings on it as a ship).

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Wolf's Bane and the Faults in Memory rewrite linger on the edge of my brain every so often. I can see myself potentially getting back to Faults once more KH news comes out again but ehhh...

Accession's is more of a WIP I want to slide under a rug.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I've been told I've had strong characterization and am good at juggling perspectives! also foreshadowing

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I should kill my darlings more often, if it's not a one shot it can get Real long Real fast. I also wish I was better at getting Weird and abstract

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

If I had a better grasp on other languages I could maybe see myself using it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

So secret lore, in the ye old days I wrote MLP fanfiction. Since lost to time.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Recency bias but I am very proud of the moonfic series insofar. I also actually still have a soft spot for To the Foot of A God, its the first time I really played with perspective (it's in 2nd person)! which I since have loved as a tool

Tagging: @princeparakeet and also anyone else who'd like to participate, this was fun!

[sapphic-scylla]

I’ve done a lot of Soulsbornekiro posts but I don’t think I’ve ever written a Game ranking. So here goes. Reminder that this is opinion based on the thousands of hours I’ve sunk into these games. Enjoy!

All Souls Games Ranked from Best to Worst

Dark Souls 3- This is a no brainer for me. EVERYTHING I love about the Souls games were on full display in DS3. The scale of the fights, the lore, the weapons, the environments, the aesthetic. DS3 will always win for me in every regard.

Sekiro- A spin-off, sure, but such a creative presence in FromSoft’s anthology. The combat was unique while still having the classic Souls flair. It also forced me to learn its combat system and when you learn it, it’s such a satisfying victory. My only gripes were that it didn’t have DLC and that it wasn’t a longer game.

Dark Souls 1- Where it all started for me. Looking back on it, it’s probably the easiest on this list for me, but it’s still a very solid entry. I love the nostalgia it brings me as well as it setting the pace for a lot of lore and moments we see in future games. I wish it had gotten a little harder in the remastered version, but I can’t complain past that.

Elden Ring- A lot of my moots are probably surprised to see this down this low. Mommy Malenia is a shining star and definitely tops a list of my favorite souls bosses, but looking at the rest of the game, it fells short in some respects. A lot of the bosses are either way too easy or brutally difficult and not always for the best reasons. The lore and boss scale is great, but a lot of solid play styles get drowned out by the rising difficulty and it becomes a cheesefest fairly easily. Also, I’m annoyed by a lot more bosses in Elden Ring than most of the games on this list and it’s not because they are difficult.

Bloodborne- This is where I will lose A LOT of people. People rank this at the VERY top of their lists for a lot of reasons and are probably gonna be completely lost as to why this is down this far. Don’t get me wrong. The lore is great, the environment is good, Lady Maria is perfect, the weapons are fantastic, and people know I love cosmic and eldritch horror stuff, so you would think I’d love this game. But for me, what really shafts this game is the balance, the combat, and the walk back. One of the first weapons you get practically makes every other weapon in this game meaningless if you let it, my favorite weapons come at the END of the game (#rakuyobitchfolyfe), the combat and dodge system bones me about as much as it helps, and the fact that blood vials are a consumable? Not my favorite design choice. I don’t like having to refarm my healing options after having to trek through Cainhurst or the Fishing Hamlet and if I’m slamming my head against the Orphan of Kos, it dampens the experience to have to go back and refarm blood vials because I ran out. There were a lot of things that could have been executed better and it probably wouldn’t have been as bad if these issues weren’t so blatant.

Dark Souls 2- It’s the design choices. I don’t hate DS2 as much as a lot of people, but I’ll admit the game did not come off good to me when I first played it. The hollowing system actively frustrates me to this day, the quantity over quality bosses leaves a lot of nebulous memories, the open-ish world hurts me a lot more than it helps, and the weapons were really meh compared to the rest of the list. It’s definitely not as bad as people say, but there were some questionable choices here.

Demon Souls- The walkback hurts in this game. The system is great, but again consumable healing is brutal. It also is a lot of punishment unless you know the gimmicks that each boss has and once you know them, it kinda waters down the experience in an unsatisfying way. At least in DS2, you have Estus and can always have a healing option, but Demon Souls’ LOOOONG walk back to boss rooms and exhausting areas really wore me out of love for this game quickly.

[don1sir]

Character i've been working on for the past couple of weeks, its a guard counter build that is sort of inspired by the Dragonslayer Armor from ds3 (one of my favorite bosses). I found a combination of certain armor pieces, that being the exile armor and any of the tall knight helms, that make me look larger than I actually am and I think its real cool. Screenshots was taken post Morgott, he is now in Farum Azula. Also apologies for the low quality screenshots, I am using an xbox one i've had since I was still a teenager 😭

Taking the chance now to say that I hate the fire giant so much and I never look forward to fighting him. I don't even feel any sort of accomplishment after beating him and it always leaves a bad taste in my mouth, also knowing that I need to fight the godskin duo next is painful.

[lunareiitic]

Yes. I'm still talking about Limbus company.

Based on reception, I think Limbus Company is going to experience the Dark Souls 2 effect. Have you ever tried teaching someone dark souls through Ds1 or Ds3? It's miserable. Y'know what DS2 was hated for? Having lifegems and enemies that are humanoid. Y'know what helps you learn dark souls? Extra healing and enemies with transferrable patterns.

Limbus Company is much easier than Ruina. It is not a cakewalk. But people who really enjoy this gameplay are gonna find that Ruina rewards them for mechanics they've already learned.

[valkyurii]

Comments for Boss vs Boss are wild. I love when it's Maliketh vs Malenia or Mohg vs Malenia and then suddenly people aren't at all bothered by DD or Bloodboon Ritual. Or even better when people say stuff like it's unfair for Malenia to heal but Mohg can keep his stuff. Like get out of here.

It’s honestly so annoying. I try not to look through the comments to much but somehow I always do and end up getting mad. Granted there’s usually people calling out those who make the double standard comments, but even still it’s annoying. Maliketh and his ability to melt health bars in only a few hits, Mohg depleting over half the bar all the while healing practically back to full. Even Radahn with his nuke that does around 10k damage. Honestly Malenia has like zero poise and can get staggered out of attacks so easily which can make her vulnerable. That being said even when they turn off her heal she still manages to destroy everything with the exception of Maliketh for obvious reasons. But still these people have this constant hate boner for her so of course she’s terrible and everyone else is perfectly fine according to them.

That one channel is the worst though so I usually watch the Nameless Ring or sometimes Garden of Eyes. He ported DS3 bosses into Elden Ring and that was interesting to watch. The Midir fight especially was so cool.