#it shown in the writing of his dlc

[mistyscenter]

I love that this fandom doesn't understand Baxter's character, I adore how they patronize him,a whole ass adult, for facing the consequences of his actions.

I love how people make him feel like a sad little baby when he leaves mc as if that's not something he made extremely clear. I love how people treat this 19 year old as if he's not old enough to understand the consequences of his actions. I love how Baxter is aware of his flaw's but feels like he can't break them because people only see him as a tool and this fandom reinforces that.

I love how people will get mad at Nico for doing the cardinal crime of being 6 years old but will baby a 24 year old Baxter. I love how people make him this charismatic rich guy when it's shown that he's a hot mess that doesn't know what he wants. I love that Baxter's whole character arc is about his self sabotaging tendencies and how everyone ignores that. I love that people fell in love with the mask he had for most of the dlc.

I love that this fandom lacks reading comprehension skills and understanding of nuance characters, great job everyone for not understanding how writing works :)

[waloeders]

also thinkin abt sussy often...hes so. fascinating to me in both char terms and selfship terms like? i need to get into his winged form so i can bite him

[kaija-rayne-author]

Dragon Age, as a series, deserved so much better than Veilguard.

Spoilers for Veilguard and maybe other DA stuff.

Obligatory 'I'm not an asshole' disclaimer. Feel free to jump to the cut if you've read it.

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I was on media blackout while I played DAV. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

Note. None of my writing on DA, but especially DAV, is edited. This is just my off the cuff writing. I don't have the time, energy, or heart to edit them properly.

The Solavellan romance deserved a much better end than 'die and go to fade prison'. I agree that Inky would likely be happy to leave. She's as traumatized as Solas for having to lead when she didn't want to. But I needed more than a craptastic Romeo and Juliet ending.

I refuse to do the heavy lifting for the writers. If it wasn't shown in the game or in supplementary materials, it didn't happen. Showing us the story was the writers' and devs job, not mine.

I mourn what will never be, even as I work on a Solavellan fix it fic.

How could they betray the IP so badly?

How could they betray their fanbase so badly? The fanbase that kept hope for that game alive for 10 years. I've seen so many people saying they've lost their interest or passion for the entirety of Dragon age. That they're not even remotely interested in another game because absolutely none of the choices we made in previous games matters anymore. They've wiped everything clean... or blighted it anyway. (I have absolutely no interest in another DA game. Not with Epler/Busche/Weekes involved. And whoever designed that ridiculous fighting system.)

The only way I could possibly be interested in another game would be if they loudly decanonized DAV, gave us a DLC (they've already confirmed there will be no DLC) that showed us Solas and Inky happy and not in a horrible place. One that showed us that somehow, something changed for the elves.

But that's so unlikely it's laughable.

The elves deserved a better ending. Are the survivors still enslaved or living in alienages? What actually changed for the elves except the largest portion of the Dalish being dead from blight? (That’s a real elvish win, isn't it?)

I'm a stubborn person. I refuse to let Epler's 'hate-revenge on Solas fan fic' ruin something I've loved for years. I still have the first 3 games. I'll make an actual happy ending and a decent romance for Rook in my fic.

And by the fact they paid a fortune to big gaming magazines while denying game keys to bigger honest reviewers... they knew.

They knew gamers wouldn't like it and tried to blow so much smoke up our asses with the interviews and AMAs.

How do they even sleep at night?

I'm a creative too, I write, do graphic design, digital (learning) and traditional (good) art.

My stories are important to me. They deserve not only an ending, but an ending that respects the characters, lore, and world that I've created.

My readers deserve that, too.

I, as the creator of my stories, deserve a decent, respectful ending.

Dragon age deserved it, too. A good, well thought out, and well written ending to the story of the Dreadwolf storyline, which, if you're paying attention, is intertwined through all 3 games. It's not just in Inquisition. One that made sense to the collected Lore, his struggles and mistakes, his literary role as an anti-hero.

I would never be able to do what they've done to a beloved series. I could never knowingly mislead fans like they did.

It's just a really painful reminder that beloved stories can be utterly destroyed in the wrong hands. And a reminder that there's so much talent and skill in Fan fic.

Busche worked on the Sims. No wonder the companions often feel as interesting as wet cardboard. Most Sims NPCs do, too. (I actually enjoy the Sims, but the NPCs aren't why I like it.)

And she had the gall to blame 'culture wars' and 'identity politics' for why the game is tanking. Rather than take ownership of the incredibly bad calls made for DAV.

It's just gross. I wish I could stop thinking about it. But Dragon Age got me through some tough times. It means a lot to me.

And it just deserved better. So did we.

[xamiipholia]

Since it’s been a year since Burning Shores came out, some thoughts on Seyka:

TL;DR: Great character, really happy with her as a love interest for Aloy. They do some really interesting things with her that I never really see addressed so I wanted to talk about them.

She is tangibly shown to be much more of a match for Aloy through gameplay. Compared to other npcs, she solves things faster, does more damage, is a much more formidable melee combatant, faster climber - she even has a fucking Valor Surge using her Focus that does pretty significant tear damage to large machines like Slaughterspines. Environmental storytelling- Seyka’s skiff has at least 2-3 Tiderippers’ worth of parts, meaning she’s been out on her own killing the things to build boat motors, and she has some ambient dialogue that strongly suggests she’s fought and killed Slaugterspines before. Is some of this npc tech advancements in Burning Shores? Maybe, but it feels intentional. 

Seyka has a natural probing curiosity about the old world that for the most part Aloy’s other companions didn’t have without some significant hand-holding from Aloy to get them started, and some of her close friend (but not base team) characters just don’t have at all. I don’t mean this as a moral judgement, everyone is different and has different strengths and priorities , but it’s absolutely critical that a partner for Aloy have that kind of curiosity - it’s such a big part of her character. While she lives in this new world, she’s never going to be entirely a part of it. Like she says, she finds belonging in individuals, and not really the tribes. I don’t really see Aloy settling down in Meridian or Mother’s Heart. She needs to have a life of exploration and discovery and Seyka seems cut from that cloth too, whether she was always that way or being marooned gave her a fresh perspective.

Seyka did risk death using the focus and decided to do it anyway- in Rheng’s notes he calls for capital punishment for her. The threat is never *too* present but honestly I think that’s a broader critique of the series and pretty consistent with the writing of conflicts in Horizon. I agree they could have played up the dramatic tension a bit, but this is a person who weighed the risk of a military execution by a totalitarian state and immediately decided it was worth it to save her sister and others. I think Aloy can intimately relate, given what she went through for Beta.

Even though it’s a DLC, she has a TON of screen time, probably comparable to Kotallo in HFW, and Horizon does SO much storytelling through gameplay and ambient dialogue. I think she’s given a LOT of narrative space to breathe. She’s also has her own musical cues and leitmotifs that do a ton of foreshadowing work through the DLC - in terms of musical cues and framing she’s very associated with the acoustic guitar, and the flute melody in ‘Her Sky, Her Sea’ has for Aloy and Seyka the same function that ‘It Can’t Last’ does for Ellie and Dina in TLOU2 - next time you play Burning Shores, listen for it. That and the guitar cues from ‘The Idea of Home’ and ‘For His Entertainment’ do a lot of emotional work. It’s great stuff.

Okay and lastly- YMMV on this one - I’ve def talked about it with friends before but I don’t think I’ve said it on Tumblr. I’m a firm believer that meta narratives and the way that stories are situated and created in our own world matter and that art deserves to be taken seriously and dissected. I love Horizon, but it, and Aloy as a protagonist, are absolutely drenched in white savior and colonial storytelling tropes. Every time I play Frozen Wilds, all I can think of is Jack Sparrow going “and then they made me their chief”. There’s a lot of iffy stuff in the games, as much as I absolutely love them. We’ll have to see how H3 goes, but Burning Shores is MUCH better about this and honestly Seyka is a huge part of it. The story centers itself on a queer woman of color who is pretty tangibly presented as Aloy’s equal with her own strengths and weaknesses throughout the story and takes the lead just as often if not more than Aloy does, which I find really refreshing. It doesn’t entirely fix Aloy’s white savior issues but I think it’s a really good move for the narrative that continues the themes found in HFW about community and connection.

Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds (2017)

[buffaloborgine]

I think the main focus of Death Mark 2 isn't the hopeless love (teacher-student love or man-spirit love) but rather the answer to the question "What's the real goal you are aiming for?".

See, Death Mark 1 and NG don't touch this, because spirits are just people's lingering grudge the gangs just go to clear all that to save themselves.

However, Death Mark 2 touched this aspect. Because love without a purpose is empty, and such student-teacher love and man-spirit love are both good example for it. Students are too young to understand their feelings and teachers of course are beyond that age and as Douryou (or Kabi Shibito) said, "Teachers that fall in love with students are disgusting". Of course, man-spirit love is more obvious, this love doesn't lead to anything and doesn't end well too.

Yashiki has been struggling to find an actual reason to continue investigating the spirit cases. This was shown in Red Riding Hood DLC, as he plunged along with Mashita without having any real motivation for it.

The question is finally answer in Death Mark 2, as Yashiki concluded that he wanted to reach his hand as far as possible to as many humans or spirits alike. We saw this kind of enlightenment with Mashita in Red Riding Hood DLC, as he figured that he is fit for investigating spirit cases but it wasn't made clear, although it is also made clear in Death Mark 2 as well.

Another point to note on this is the writing on the spirits. They aren't pure malevolent like some in Death Mark 1 and NG, namely Shimi-O, Miss Zoo and Kakuya but rather similar to Hanahiko, Kurachayome, Urashima Woman and Killer Peach - They want to be saved. In NG and Death Mark 1, this aspect isn't touched, and you have to figure it out yourself, in Death Mark 2, it's shown blatantly. I have to say that makes the story of spirits more sad and depressing, as after all, in the end, they were mistreated people who sought salvation.

I hope that clears out some confusion.

[shade-of-vermillion]

Gonna be honest. The DLC ending isn’t as out of left field as people think it is. (Spoilers under cut)

Yes, even the Radahn part. There is some evidence for it in the base game. Specifically, we know Miquella had or has ties to the Carian Royal family. We can infer that from two pieces of evidence, 1) Loretta’s presence in the Haligtree and 2) the description for the Miquellan knight’s sword. In the case of Loretta, you could of course make the argument that she sought him out on her own while looking for a place for the albinaurics, but with the sword, I think to go as far as to model a sword intended to be given to his knights after Caria’s implies he had contact with or at least a great deal of respect for someone from that house.

I’ve seen people in the past posit this as evidence he and Ranni were in cahoots but frankly I don’t believe their goals are aligned even in the slightest. Ranni after all believes that the best path forward is to reject godhood utterly and leave the lands between so that mortals can decide their fates on their own, whereas Miquella in the base game has literally been growing his own Erdtree, a new system to replace the old rather than a rejection of the system altogether.

I know there has also been a lot of upset about how Godwyn may have made more sense as his lord consort, however I believe Radahn was chosen specifically as a way to save Godwyn. In the base game through exploring Castle Sol and looking through the descriptions for the gear of mausoleum knights we discover the possibility of returning soulless demigods to life via an eclipse and find out that Miquella was working towards making one happen to bring Godwyn back. Radahn is shown as capable of binding the stars to prevent Ranni’s destiny from coming to fruition. He could probably force the moon into position in front of the sun if he wanted. If Miquella’s goal really was to restore Godwyn with an eclipse it makes a lot of sense that he would tap Radahn to force one to happen.

As for the Mohg thing, come on now. Gideon gives you the recipe for the bewitching branch the second you tell him you visited Mohgwyn palace. If it was just because Miquella was there he could’ve given us sleep pots or sleep arrows or maybe one of the rings of light spells. But no, he gives us the bewitching branch. How the hell else am I supposed to take that.

Honestly I also don’t think this ruins Miquella’s writing. I think it just makes him more interesting in the long run. He does have good intentions, but pursuing godhood requires dirtying your hands. I also don’t think this undermines his connection to Malenia or his drive to see both of them healed. I just think he’s more complex than people thought he was at first brush.

[puppetofdreams]

Lies of P Overture Trailer Frame-by-Frame Observations/ Analysis

I mostly wrote these notes out as I watched the trailer, so I end up contradicting myself in earlier points. These were all wrote out very roughly because I am just so damn hyped about this ahhh!

overture n. 1 an orchestral piece at the beginning of an opera, play, etc. 2 an introduction to something more substantial. - This could be relating to Romeo, since he is associated with the King of Puppets, who is found in the Estella Opera house, it could signify the beginning of him and Carlo's friendship. Maybe we will be given more insight into their lives at the Monad Charity House. It could also mean the uncovering of the more significant, darker inner workings of Krat (Zelator Laboratory perhaps?) Or, it could just be referring to the DLC itself, how it's bringing more content and all to the game. We'll see.

- P holds a heart-shaped trinket of some kind. I initially thought it was the Moonphase pocket watch, but the designs are far too different. This trinket contains a white magic inside what looks like an orb in the center. It is covered by swirling branch patterns, and is cased inside a blue, heart-shaped outer wrapping. A magical white butterfly bursts out of it. We have never seen white coloured magic before in the game, so I wonder if it will act as an anti- Ergo of some sort? Ergo is the purified essence of a person's soul. Could this white magic serve to heal or cleanse the people who are either afflicted by the Petrification Disease, or by the Alchemist's experimental disease?

- P appears to be standing at what looks like the Path of the Pilgrim, where the golden Stargazer is, because of the old wooden shack situated behind him. He looks surprised as a group of white butterflies lead him down along a path. The white butterflies could also serve as his guide for the DLC, but wouldn't that eclipse Gemini's role? Maybe the butterflies will reveal hidden paths to different locations (perhaps relating to someone's memories?) and Gemini will be there to react to new information, or just yap at P lol.

- It's very snowy here. FOXES!! P walks up to the edge of a cliff, overlooking a massive snowed in city. Based on the shape of the rooftops, this could be the area to the left of the Cathedral's balcony that everyone was theorising about. Gemini says "how can it be WINTER all of a sudden?" Good question. I have no idea. Maybe the experiments being carried out in that laboratory looking building later on could have caused this sudden shift in weather. The railway or tram line that connects to the large round roofed building has, what looks to me like flat giraffe cutouts and other small animals behind them. Could that building be the Monad Charity House, since that sort of animal imagery could be associated with younger children? Or, could it be a very fancy circus? (In hindsight, it could be the Hall of Adventures shown later). There are lots of hot air balloons floating around, though the people riding them have probably died by now from hypothermia.

- A tram is seen travelling towards Hotel Krat. This might serve as a means of transport between the hub area and the DLC area. The tram might take us to that snowy city.

- A male voice says "Sorry? You want to know the year?" He sounds a lot like Vander, so this confirms that Arcane and Lies of P take place in the same universe /s. A new NPC, probably will be met at the beginning of the DLC. This line of dialogue may confirm that the DLC will take place in the past, in someone's memories. It could be Carlo's memories. Oh my God, I'm getting so excited writing this I need to calm down. This shot depicts a carnival, once again all snowed and frozen over. The electricity still works though, so Carlo and Romeo can still share a romantic moment on the ferris wheel. More hot air balloons, nice.

- A Pistris submarine is lowered into the water. I don't think this takes place in the Relic of Trismegistus though, only because there is a flight of stairs to the left, which aren't present in the current day Relic of Tristmegistus. Another male voice says " What a pleasure to meet a Stalker worthy of the name. It's been far, far too long" He sounds a bit like Neil Newbon to me lol. Balder's Gate 3 is canon to the Lies of P universe too, it seems. Perhaps this NPC has witnessed first hand P's fighting prowess, and is complimenting him on it. Or maybe he's talking to a different Stalker NPC.

- Okay, I only just now decided to look at the description of the video, and yes, it will take place in the past, in the lead up to the Puppet Frenzy. The Legendary Stalker will be P's guide for the DLC, which is very exciting. I've always wondered what she was like. Maybe we'll get to spar with her later on in the DLC. Perhaps she could teach P new combat skills (such as that CRAZY Puppet String x1000 move at the end of the trailer).

- P walks into a dilapidated building, with a banner hanging above a Woolly Mammoth, the latter of which has a body impaled on its sharper left tusk. The banner says " Hall of Adventure". It gives me very similar vibes to the Grand Exhibition. This place could be a museum. Maybe P will have to fight off the reanimated remains of long extinct creatures here. I can imagine them bursting out of their glass cases as P walks by. Also, a sick new Legion Arm is being worn by P here. It looks very frilly and elegant, but I can't tell what it will be able to do. I also want to appreciate P's amazing drip here. One of the most annoying parts of becoming human is that you need to keep yourself warm in freezing weather. The pain is all too real, P.

- Kitty!! This might be a baby Spring! You can get a better look at the Legion Arm here. It looks like a double barrel shotgun. I like the juxtaposition of such an elegant, innocent looking arm having a built in shotgun. Well actually, maybe it's very fitting that such an elegant arm would have a shotgun built in to it, as shotguns require a lot of precision to wield effectively, nothing like spraying acid everywhere with Pandemonium.

- A feminine voice says "Oh, my forever friend. Help me to hold your hand and dance!" P proceeds to slay on the circus dance floor. There is a clown puppet, seemingly some kind of Jack-in-the-box spraying out confetti. The sign behind it probably says show your talent or something. The voice has a robotic sound effect to it, so this could be either the clown puppet saying this, or a different, more hostile puppet, wanting to "dance" with P in battle, and hold his hand after he is destroyed. Maybe these two puppets will be one in the same.

- A blue string of light follows P as he walks through a big archway. It stops just short of his face. Judging by the next shot, this could be the giant winged puppet leading him towards something or somewhere. Actually, no, it's the Legendary Stalker I think!

- Oh my God, oh my God, I'm freaking out so bad right now. A voice, that I'm assuming belongs to the Legendary Stalker, says " You're not the puppet i was expecting. Who are you?" She wears a glove of some kind on her left hand, which allows her to puppeteer the massive angel puppet which flies around the room. The architecture looks similar to that of the Grand Exhibition, with the glass dome ceiling. Her glove reminds me a LOT in Geppetto's hand in that cutscene before the Nameless Puppet fight. Her skin has turned a light shade of blue, possibly from overexposure to the Ergo she uses to control the angel puppet, or any other puppet really. Do you think she will try to take control of P at some point? Either with malicious intent, or as a method of showing him how to pull off some new combat tricks. She looks so badass.

- There is a giant, monstrous cocoon which had been chained up, but the chains came undone. The statue of a face in the background looks a lot like the statues found throughout Arche Abbey. A strange creature begins to hatch from the bottom of the cocoon. It reminded me a bit in how Calamity Ganon hatches from its cocoon in BOTW. A male voice says " I heard she was looking for... for someone!" The voice sounds gelatinous and distorted, so this could be coming from an NPC who is half way through the Alchemist's mutation process, like how Atkinson was.

- P is standing in a room within the frozen laboratory (the Zelator Laboratory maybe?) I can't tell what that giant falling object is. A container, with an enemy inside? As I look at it more, it seems more like a hydraulic press, meant to alter the laboratory's environment in some way. It descends slowly, and rotates. The next shot shows objects which look more like descending canisters of ice.

- In this shot there is a tall, gooey, bloody alter? Composed of human bodies. Very One Reborn- esque. There is a little candle flame present in the bottom left corner. Perhaps this is part of a sacrificial ritual? For what, i wonder. To banish the Petrification Disease? The body at the top of the alter looks very happy, with their arms embracing the sky. Blood drips onto their head, the source of this blood being out of shot. A male voice says "Legendary..."

- The voice continues with " She stepped up only because no one else could." I was wrong about the previous woman with the angel puppet. THIS woman pointing the rapier at P is definitely the Legendary Stalker. She looks exactly like the woman in Carlo's memories on the beach leading up to Arche Abbey. The feather, the outfit, they're all the same. Her and P are standing in a very cosy looking building, with a stove fire and a nice little work bench with a lantern sitting on it. I think she will be suspicious of P to begin with, but will eventually learn to trust him as time goes on. It must be weird for her to see the boy whose dead body she stood over before, now approaching her, alive. "She stood up because no one else could." She clearly has a deep desire to protect the defenseless people around her, so she must've felt very guilty about what happened to Carlo. "If I had known this would have happened..." as she said in Carlo's memories. Perhaps taking P under her wing and teaching him all she knows will help her get over her guilt of not teaching Carlo to fight all those years beforehand. Also, her and Gemini may have some very interesting interactions with one another, as she clearly has a history with him, and is the only character who interacts with him in the base game other than Sophia.

- P fights a giant mutant which appears to have its head encased in a yellow substance (oh god please don't inflict Disruption build up). There seem to be empty canisters along the walls of the room. P is wielding a new weapon, ready to perfect block any attack that gets sent his way. He pulls off a perfect block, which still sends him flying backwards, so this mutant is STRONG. The room actually looks really like the supposed boss room in the scrapped section of the Relic of Trismegistus, judging from the shape of the room and the mesh floor. The mutant looks like it's wielding a spiky whip, possibly made from its own flesh. P whips out a trumpet with a red flag tied to it. At first, I thought it was attached to the Legion Arm, but he actually just pulls it out of his pouch. Maybe it can disorient the enemy, or summon in backup for help?

Okay, I just got my answer, Alidoro shows up. This Alidoro is probably the TRUE Alidoro, Eugénie's brother, who i really want to know more about. Do you think we might see Parrot then alongside him at some point? It would be really cool to see them interact, knowing what will eventually come to pass between them later on. The same male voice says " Too many Stalkers were lost to that evil." Could this actually be the True Alidoro speaking to us? What evil is he referring to? The crimes of the Alchemist's? He clearly doesn't hold them in high regard judging from what he has to say about them when interviewed by Medoro for the Venigni newspaper. He has insider knowledge on their disturbing practices, so it would make sense he'd say this.

- P is in the laboratory again, facing off against someone wearing a ram's head, wielding a badass hammer. I'm thinking this may be a fight against another Stalker, as they both seem to be standing at equal height to one another, though that might not matter since Nameless Puppet was similar in height to P. The person just gives off Stalker vibes, and I'm hoping we'll be able to loot their attire. Many pipes are visible underneath the mesh floor of the arena.

- P is standing at the edge of a frozen lake, readying an arrow shot with another new Legion Arm. A large mutated shark monster with feet leaps out of the water towards P. Why would a shark be in a frozen lake? I think I might have gotten the location wrong, or maybe the monster isn't a shark at all, just an aggressive fish found in a lake.

- A mutant that looks a lot like common depictions of Frankenstein's monster slams a ball and chain down on P. I think P is using another Legion Arm in this fight, or maybe it's another weapon type. It looks like Wolverine's claws. Actually, yes, it definitely is a new weapon type, since the particles it emits after pulling off that big attack look like the ones that come off of Fable Art attacks. Whatever this new weapon is, it totally obliterates the mutant, so I'm looking forward to trying it out.

- THIS is the creature that emerges from the chained cocoon. At the start of the shot when it was hanging upside down, it looked a bit like Bongo Bongo, but after it fell down it looked more like Metyr, Mother of Fingers. Suffice it to say, I have no clue what this thing is lol. I only know that it's GINORMOUS. It may be the biggest boss in the game. I've just now noticed that it actually has a face.

- A feminine voice says " I'll do whatever it takes. You're survival is all that matters." This one has an English accent, so this myst be the Legendary Stalker speaking to P. She also says " Nothing else comes close, not even in my life. I swear I would be late." These lines don't seem to connect to one another, and may be spliced together from other pieces of yet unheard dialogue. The "Late" part is similar to what she says over Carlo's corpse in the beach memories: " I'm sorry. I was too late..." She knows that P has the capability to put an end to the suffering of the people of Krat, so it seems she will give P all the wisdom she has, and teach him all the combat techniques she knows, to help him in whatever trials he may face in the DLC.

- P unleashes Puppet String x1000 on a poor mutant in the snow. There's nothing else to say about this, other than that P is now at Malenia levels of insane.

I am exhausted now. I've been writing about this the very second I woke up this morning. I would love to hear everyone else's thoughts on this trailer, the summer cannot come any sooner!!!!!!

[cristaq]

Beating a dead horse, I know, but I saw that Activision changed Soap's bio to confirm his death in the reboot timeline. Damn, what a massive disservice that is to a character with so much potential and history. How can random people on the internet write infinitely better plots than the ones that are actually paid for it? :(

Corporate gaming sucks. As long as graphs shown at the annual shareholder meeting go up, everything goes. And I am ready to bet that 95% of them have never played a good game.

Sorry for the rant, but I grew up with these games and characters. And now they use them as nostalgia generators and kill them off for shock value. I believe that characters that are ingrained into video game history should be treated with respect.

Video game stories are like any other stories. They are tales made to be retold and enjoyed so I agree with a reboot actually! I think it is great that so many other people got to interact with these characters in a new light. But killing off your assets is not the way. Bad writing at such a high level is not the way. Creating a DLC and marketing it as a full game is not the way.

There are other franchises that managed to reinvent themselves a bit and become relevant again. We can talk about DOOM or Ratchet and Clank for example, but there are so many others out there. Unfortunately, you can only create soulless art when you yourself are without a soul.

It's probably not that deep but it still sucks.

[awhisperofbluevn]

Is the game nsfw? or sfw

I realize I didn't put this anywhere on this blog or game page even though it's an important topic, that's my bad. I'll add it to the pin post for all to see, thank you for bringing it up so I can adress this message to everyone !

This game (and by extension, this blog) is meant to be SFW.

Though, I suppose if I had to set a limit of age, it would be 16.

Since it is still a horror themed game, there will be depictions of violence, blood and death (as seen in the demo) but no gore nor explicit sexual content will be shown for reasons I'll list down below.

So I'll ask everyone to please remain tame with your questions. If you're not sure of the limit, just ask, I promise I don't bite (unlike a certain someone).

Now if you want the reasons :

I have neither the confidence nor the skills to write/draw gore or sexual content, even in my own language.

I don't want to police who interacts with my game or blog. I have minors following me on Instagram where I first advertised the game and character, and I don't want them to be redirected to a media that is not suitable for their age.

The love interest is not human. Though it could be interesting to explore this aspect as it would add a new layer of characterization, it adds a whole new challenge. I would have to adapt to his unconventional anatomy and habits in detail compared to a human and as of now, that's not really something I'm comfortable with because I feel like it could be a slippery slope since I base a lot of his traits on actual animals for credibility purpose.

Far in the future of the game, I may consider adding a DLC or something that would include NSFW elements if people express interest AND if I'm comfortable enough, but it would be locked behind a paywall. At the end of the day, it's up to anyone's own discretion to respect the rules and boundaries set, but I don't want to give an easy access to unsafe work to minors. That won't dissuade the most determined ones, but it should filter them at least.

Tl;dr : Base game and blog SFW ; possibility of NSFW DLC (?) in the far future but no promise.

[yournextflame]

Elden Ring Theories: A Retrospective

So, enough time has passed for me to form my opinion on Shadow of the Erdtree and revive this blog. But before posting new theories based on the DLC lore, I decided to take a look at my old speculations and see how well they aged.

Does the Greater Will even exist? ✅ In this post, I compared the Greater Will to the Big Bang and suggested that it might not be an actual deity, but rather an attempt by the people of The Lands Between to explain the world around them: the creation of the universe, the fall of meteors, evolution, and the natural order. The Shadow of the Erdtree continues to present the Greater Will as a scientific concept described by the inhabitants of a fantasy world, allowing players to decide whether it’s a god beyond the microcosm or just an empty circle in Count Ymir’s hat, a mere projection of human imagination

The outer gods are natural forces. ✅ 🟡❔While the Greater Will's cosmic origin was emphasized even further in the DLC, the motives of the outer gods were tied even more strongly to earthly concepts. I have many thoughts about the outer gods and godhood in particular, but one of my ongoing ideas is that they manifest human emotions, given how perception and sacrifices shape reality in a material way in the Lands Between.

Elden Ring and Color theory: ✅🟡❔ While I disagree with some points I made in this post, many of my observations were quite accurate. One clarification I’d like to make is that the scroll sigils indicate the heritage of magic rather than its source of power. I also appreciate the DLC narrative that suggests all the differences are actually man-made.

Translation of Marika's echoes from JP, ✅ The DLC gives Marika such human and deeply personal motivations that reducing her to a mere puppet of an evil outer god feels like an insult to the collaborative work of GRRM and Miyazaki. I must admit that my initial reading of her character was too harsh; I even questioned why FromSoft would write such a one-dimensional character. However, I’m very glad that The Shadow of the Erdtree gave Marika awesome depth without depriving her of agency.

My musings upon Helphen's Steeple design and DLC predictions ✅ 🟡 Well, the Shadowlands are described as a place where all kinds of death come only to be suppressed, and the Shadowkeep, as pointed out by the community, very much resembles the design of the Helphen. You can even find Tibia Mariners' boats here. It’s not the exact version of the spirit realm I predicted, but it’s very close.

Small bonus: Even though I insisted that the DLC should be centered around the spirit realm, I pointed out that exploring Godwyn's story beyond what was shown in the base game is pretty unnecessary.

What's wrong with Ranni's Two Fingers? ✅🟡❌ Right direction of thinking, wrong conclusions. One of the biggest reveals of the DLC is that everything is wrong with the Fingers and their mother, Metyr.

Children of the Erdtree 🟡❔I'm not sure what to make of it. The DLC continues to toy with the Empyrean connection to plants, from the special properties of Marika's people's flesh to St. Trina being a literal flower, but it never makes any direct conclusions.

Bells and Bell bearings ❔ The connection does exist, but it should be explored in greater detail.

Candletrees, Miquella, Death and Sleep 💡❔✨ Now that the DLC has revealed Miquella's plan to replace Marika all along, it’s astonishing to realize that my earlier discovery about Necromancer Garris — who likely collaborated with the Black Knives — had Miquella's butterfly and candletree in his basement is actually quite wild

What is Crucible? 🟡❌❔Although the nature of the Crucible is still a mystery, I think my old theory that it was a different tree is not exactly right. I’ve even started to wonder if the Crucible and the Primeval Current are just different names for the same thing.

Some of my old takes haven't aged well, but if anything, I'm glad that Mohg isn't the "walking uooohh 😭💢 joke" I used to call him. However, my opinion on Miquella was surprisingly accurate. For two years, the fandom preached that Miquella wanted to abandon his godhood, making me seem like a major contrarian for insisting that godhood was still his ultimate goal (at least because it would be pointless from a writing perspective to create another Ranni).

I still believe that characters like Marika and Miquella are primarily vehicles to deliver Miyazaki's and GRRM's ideas regarding civilization development, human nature, religion, and philosophy. So, whatever faults they have are the faults of the concepts they represent. Nevertheless, *Shadow of the Erdtree* did an awesome job of elevating these characters from mere ideas to something more human and relatable.

My old description of Malenia is so relevant, it hurts.

Mohg, Radahn, Rykard and Snakes 🐍 Honestly, I'm not sure if Messmer was initially planned by FromSoft or created specifically for the DLC, but looking back, it's pretty funny that I noticed something weird going on between the demigod brothers and the serpents.

Elden Ring lore is a disaster 🤡 Elden Ring story is such lackluster that it was rewritten with the first day patch on top of the giant mountain of cut content. I’m not sure that DLC, if there will be any, can fix this mess or give any proper answers as it seems that writers got too much carried with the idea of making story as vague as possible.

Someone was overdosing on doomium.

To my surprise, the DLC managed to address most of my old frustrations. While I do wish certain things had better foreshadowing or were explored more, it still did a good job of filling many gaps in the base game lore that were making me frustrated. Looking back, I think some of my grudges over the lore were no less important than my theories because they served as a good indication that something was intentionally left unexplained. It seems that the gaps and ambiguities were not oversights but deliberate choices.

As I explore the new content in Shadow of the Erdtree and revisit my old theories, I will also share my thoughts on the new lore and its impact on the narrative. This fresh perspective has already sparked some intriguing insights, and I am eager to see how these revelations will reshape our understanding of the game’s world.

[transdreadwolf]

hello hello, and happy thedasweekend! uwu how about renehn/emmrich and the rook story time dlc: aldwir prompt of: Rook fighting a new creature from the forest that the magic has mutated? hope it's fun!

-broodwoof

Thank you, and happy thedasweekend! This one took me a minute to start, but I really enjoyed it! I don't write a lot of action scenes, so it was good to flex those writer muscles.

For @broodwoof & @thedasweekend!

Renehn ducked behind a tree, panting, and nocked another arrow.

"You all right?" they called out.

"Yes, dearest! Excellent shot!"

Renehn blushed despite themself and the situation. All they'd wanted to do was show Emmrich around Arlathan Forest.

Just the two of them.

He'd shown them the Necropolis, after all. Even brought them to meet his dead parents, which was… maybe a little morbid for a first date, but Renehn didn't mind it.

They were starting to think they liked a little bit of morbid. They certainly liked Emmrich.

More than that, Renehn thought they might be starting to love him.

Just a bit.

He was certainly a gentleman, and that was something they weren't used to, at least not from their romantic encounters. It wasn't as if the people they'd slept with were course or rude, not at all. It was just that there was something different about Emmrich.

So, with the help of Lucanis and Bellara, they'd packed a meal, mostly Dalish food, and invited Emmrich to go with them to Arlathan. He'd been delighted, or at least, it seemed that way. The two of them had left Manfred behind with Neve to look after him, and set out to go on a date.

At first, things seemed to be going well. Emmrich was interested in seeing more of the forest and learning more about its history, yes, but he mostly seemed interested in Renehn.

It was after they ate — Emmrich enthusiastic about trying new food and even more so about Renehn's history — they went for a walk.

And that was when they met the Varterral. Renehn had heard of them, of course, in tales handed down by their clan. But there was something wrong with this one.

It was huge, for one, almost twice the size it was meant to be. And the air was heavy with magic; abilities no Varterral should possess.

"I need you to distract it while I line up a shot!" Renehn shouted. "Can you do something with fire or lightning?"

"I have just the thing!" Emmrich said loudly. "Are you ready?"

"Yes!"

"One moment!"

Renehn heard the crackling sound of lightning building, and grinned. They knew he would have something up his sleeve.

When they heard the Varterral scream, a terrible sound, they leaned around the tree, taking aim with one of their special arrows.

The Varterral was cracking with lightning, staggering backward, away from Emmrich. Good.

They let their arrow loose, and their aim was true. It pierced one of the Varterral's eyes, sending yet more lightning through its body. Distracted by pain, it didn't notice them darting forward, a flask in each hand.

Renehn through the flasks, with exploded into flame upon contact. The Varterral let out terrible cry, and collapsed to the ground.

The forest was silent.

"Well," Emmrich said. "I certainly didn't expect that."

[homestuckreplay]

Sburb Cat Necromancy DLC Unlocked

(page 441-442)

8/5/2009 wheel spin: Parent Bad :( verdict: INCORRECT

This was only a two page sequence but a LOT happened, so I gotta get into it.

Rose's house covered in snow is a BEAUTIFUL panel, lots of detail for such a low contrast color scheme. I am convinced that half the reason for Hussie making Rose live in a house Like That was so they could draw cool art of the house, and I'm not complaining. It's August and I'm sweating and looking at this gif still makes me feel like frosty nights and holidays are on the way.

WE GOT A ROSE AND GG CONVERSATION. FINALLY THE SET IS COMPLETE. I guess I don't need to write a sequel to this now, and I was laughably wrong about a couple of things - I had Rose giving GG information on Sburb when in fact it's the other way around, and I had Rose being a lot more skeptical of GG's mysterious knowledge than she actually is. [But I was totally right about them talking about pets and about GG mentioning that they're not as good at games as John and Dave, so I'll take a C on this.]

Some key facts we learn from the real Rose-GG Pesterlog: Rose's birthday is in winter, she lives in a place where it snows (possibly New England), John is the person who got her into knitting (just a few months ago), and she was knitting something for him as a gift, but didn't finish in time (the contents of the purple box on p.218). This is so cute. It felt when we met her like knitting was the most 'normal' of Rose's hobbies, and this explains why. It also shows that John knows her really well, given that he knew she'd enjoy it, despite it being nothing like her other interests. Rose has clearly thrown herself into it, completing the princess doll reconstruction, the laptop cozy, and assorted clothing items in just a few months, but she still hasn't finished John's present, probably because she struggles more when there's 'strong sentimental value' to her creation.

I think Rose is the best at banter of all four characters. Dave is not good at banter, he's responding to his own brain more than to his conversation partner sometimes, but Rose has shown the ability to bounce off all three of the others in a witty back and forth (see p.187 and 333), which is cool of her. And Rose and GG are both associated with being, honestly, smartass know-it-alls who at least believe they have more knowledge than others, although they do this in very different ways, so it makes sense they would try to outwit each other.

But it's really hard to get a read on how much they like each other. GG seems so nice and earnest even when they say things like 'you see not everybody always means the opposite of what they say the way you and dave always do' which from most people would be a jab but here feels like a patient explanation. Yet they didn't get Rose a birthday present despite working on one for John for 'years', and their 'tip' for Rose, while interesting, is explicitly something she should 'talk to john and dave about' instead of an offer for Rose and GG to do something together.

On the other hand, Rose has some expectation of a gift, and clearly puts value in GG's esoteric knowledge, given that she's far more open to believing a scientifically improbable prediction when it comes from GG. It might be that they both see the relationship differently - GG doesn't consider Rose a close friend but is still very nice to her because of their general demeanor and people skills, while Rose who is only nice to a few people interprets GG's kindness as the two of them being closer than they really are.

So, despite asking 'whats sburb??' on p.169, GG was the person who tipped Rose off to its release. This clears up some stuff on Rose's end, but only adds more suspicion and question marks to GG's whole deal. With Rose, it clears up why she was so fixated on sprite prototyping, what she meant on p.440 about this whole mess being Jaspers' fault - as he was Rose's first motivation to play Sburb - and her focus on necromancy, as this concept was specifically how the game was introduced to her. To be fair, 'childhood cat necromancy' fits her whole deal a lot more than 'immersive building simulator' does, and I like the idea that Rose - and by extension, John and Dave - got into Sburb through a secondary mechanic and not through the game's main purpose. It really makes it feel like they all stumbled backwards into this story.

It also explains why Rose is playing this game inside the mausoleum, right where Jaspers' corpse is. If she's planning to prototype him with a sprite, as the text is strongly suggesting, it makes sense to keep him by her side. 'I would describe my feelings toward the animal as lukewarm.' you absolute liar, you are braving a forest fire for the chance to see this cat again you big softie.

[rallamajoop]

What if Shadow of Rose isn’t actually a sixteen year time skip? We know Rose has a lot of the same symptoms as Evelyn. Wouldn’t it also make sense for her to be so ostracized if she were aging faster than her peers?

I like that you're asking the question, Anon ‒ the same thought has occurred to me too! You're correct that nothing in Shadow of Rose is dated (or if it is, I missed it too). The possibility that Rose might have aged at an abnormal rate isn't that out there either, considering that we know Eveline's apparent 10-year-old age was artificially maintained, and that she aged rapidly without those treatments. Rose isn't Eveline, of course, but who knows what's true for her? (I mean, one hopes at least any accelerated aging Rose might face will cut off at adulthood, but still.) Miranda's experiments have clearly frozen people at the age they were when experimented on too, which is further proof the mould can fuck with aging in various ways.

Regardless of when Shadows of Rose is actually set though, I'm not surprised that we aren't given any hard dates. Resident Evil is a rare franchise that's always aged more or less in real time: events like the Raccoon City Outbreak are still referenced as taking place in the 90's, and RE8's Chris certainly looks like he's pushing 50 these days. (I also suspect this is one reason why all those fans clamoring for a return of Jill or Claire haven't got their wish yet: letting the fanboys deal with how both women should have aged just as much as Chris is more than Capcom probably has the balls for.)

But if Rose really is, say, 16 in SoR, that puts the date around 2037 (the wiki uses this year, but as usual cites 0 sources, so is likely bullshit). And that's just a little awkward from a continuity standpoint, because SoR would also have us believe that not only is Chris still alive and working well into his sixties, he's apparently still working with his Dog-Dog squad too. That could be a problem going forward, because it really limits what the franchise can realistically do with Chris for the next solid generation or so.

It's not just Chris, either: selling the audience on potentially-world-changing future major bio threats is going to be that little bit harder when we "know" that there's a future in canon already, and that future looks like SoR.

So it's very much in Capcom's interest to play a little coy with the dates for SoR. Fans can't come to them complaining that (say, for example) RE11 comes along and tells us Hound Wolf disband in 2035 when we don't actually know for sure that SoR is set later than that. It may well be one of the reasons why we don't see any recognisable faces like Chris or Mia in the DLC: the time gap is more ambiguous if we don't get to see how much they've aged. Besides, keeping them unseen leaves RE9 free to have them lose an eye or gain a sexy new scar without contradicting anything SoR's shown us already. And if the timeline does get tight, they've always got the option of going back later and telling us that Rose actually does age unnaturally fast, and in fact SoR is only 4 years after RE8. When writing for an ongoing franchise, leaving that sort of wiggle room for later installments to explore is often the best policy.

But all this aside, is there anything to suggest that Rose does age fast, or that SoR is set closer to the present than it looks at first glance? The biggest flaw in the theory would be that baby!Rose is already six months old, and seems to be developing at a normal rate. She's recently started solid food, she doesn't seem to be crawling yet, let alone walking (Ethan makes a comment about dusting out the spare room before Rose gets mobile) ‒ from the outside, she looks pretty normal. Given the range of different ages at which babies hit different developmental milestones, that doesn't really prove anything, but no points in our favour so far.

Surprisingly then, the single biggest indicator that a serious number of years really have (probably) passed is, well, this guy. Remember K?

You wouldn't know it, but he's apparently a member of the same incarnation of Hound Wolf Chris is leading in RE8 proper: apparently K = Canine. Honestly, I didn't even make the connection until I found out they had the same voice actor (Conner Marx), 'K' appearing in the credits for SoR only under the name 'Canine'.

But in my defense, they've done their level best the mask that connection, given that Rose calls him only 'K' in the DLC, while Chris was calling him 'Canine' in the main game. And it was consistently rendered in subs and text as a six-letter-word: 'Canine', never 'K-9'. Nor is this helped by the fact that unused concepts tell us he's a dog handler called Charlie Graham (written in katakana next to his pic), or that the voice actor's performance in the two stories is so wildly different.

Heck, for all I know, maybe 'K' and 'Canine' are two different characters played by the same VA, and the SoR credits used the wrong name. They're both dark-haired, blue-eyed white guys, but the resemblance isn't that obvious (they don't even use the same eye texture ‒ because you know I'd check that). Conner Marx also played Sebastian, the guy with the crutches from Louisa's house, so it's not like Canine is his only role either way.

Assuming they are supposed to be the same guy though, 'Canine' does seem to be one of the more prominent members of the team throughout the main RE8 storyline, not that you'd know it without applying the Hound-Wolf No Mask mod to reveal the team's faces. He's the guy who jumps Ethan and gets judo-flipped in Moreau's area, the guy Chris tells to check out what the BSAA's up to at the start of his section, and the guy in the chopper at the end showing Chris that bioweapon under the BSAA helmets. So he's arguably one of the more logical characters to bring back. Conveniently, you can watch all those scenes with their faces revealed in this compilation video if you're interested.

(Naturally, when I'm playing with mods, Chris does not escape unscathed either. Alt-costumes from RE5 are TOTALLY canon, convince me otherwise!)

While I'm on the subject, can I also mention what a terrific job Conner Marx of bringing K to life in SoR? It's a real shame that everything we learn about K is retroactively proven to be one of Miranda's illusions. She's really upped her game since mimicking Mia back in the original RE8 opening (but then, when Mr. Denial himself is your only audience, why not phone it in?)

But getting back to the original point, K/Canine is the one character who does at least appear to have aged by a solid decade or two in the intervening years. You know, if you compare his SoR appearance to concept art, and that unseen head model that doesn't actually appear in the original RE8 at all.

So here's the thing I want to underline: unused concepts and models you have to hack the game to see are not canon. They can be interesting, as a window into the evolution of creative intent, but no-one should feel beholden to them. There clearly were some plans to reveal the faces of the Hound Wolf squad in RE8 that didn't make the final game, or they wouldn't have distinct faces modelled at all ‒ there's even a storyboard suggesting how it was meant to happen ‒ but it's still hard to guess how 'finished' those face models really were. There's no reason Capcom couldn't completely redesign the whole squad between now and whenever we do officially see their faces in a later RE title (assuming we ever do at all).

So basically, there's nothing to prevent them from coming back a few years from now and telling us the K under the mask in RE8 always looked like the middle-aged guy from SoR, if they want to. The info they've actually given us leaves that open, for now at least.

But in the meantime, the fact K's model appears to have been aged up a good decade plus is probably a decent indicator that SoR is probably intended to be a long way into the future, and that Rose probably ages at a normal rate. But it never hurts to keep your options open. The less concrete lore you have, the less risk of contradicting yourself later on (as so many 'facts' from guide books often do). More is not always better, just because some fan wants to be able to post a definitive RE timeline on Reddit or something.

So yes, as usual, I have taken an innocent little question and spun it all into a whole lecture on unused concepts and some of the realities of writing for a franchise! (Look, if you're reading this blog, you should what you signed up for at this point.) But to reiterate: I do like the idea that Rose may be younger than she appears! It may or may not be intended, but there's certainly nothing in canon to contradict it, and it's a very interesting possibility all on its own.

[kaibutsushidousha]

Could you elaborate on why you said Ibuki's writing got a lot of mileage out of the latest El-Melloi?

Volume 7 of Adventures, the most recent El-Melloi book as of this question, has a scene demonstrating how a god sees the world. Gods can know anything by seeing past, future, and alternate timelines as their eyes perceive the world full of what I can best describe as spiritual Wikipedia links. With temporary access to a god's eyes, Ergo tries to learn more about Shirou and "clicks" links that show him practically every route of Fate/stay night.

I'd argue the most prominently featured god in Type-Moon is Fate/strange Fake's Ishtar. Ishtar demonstrated aspects of this since volume 3, with her searching through other timelines to find which would be less harmed by her removing Gugalanna, until she finds a Babylonia Singularity (world not connected to anything) and pulls from there. But she uses her divine eyes openly in volume 8, the one written more concurrently with Sanda's divine eyes plotline. There Ishtar notices multiple times that Rin has a link to herself thanks to FGO but chooses not to "click" that link while she's busy with other things. Then in her last moments, she uses the link in the arrow that killed her to be able to see her shooter.

This ability to see people's pasts at will is something Ibuki is passively shown to do a lot throughout the DLC, with her being able to find and summon the ghosts of Ming and Shimabara to fight in Zheng's and Chiemon's routes respectively, and the part I commented about: main story Ibuki choosing to join Iori's party based on what she saw happening in the DLC timeline.

There's another, more spoilery reveal of Adventures 7 that connects directly with Samurai Remnant, so I'll keep this one under the cut.

One of the long-term questions of Adventures was "Why Ruo doesn't have memory saturation too?". And then volume 7 reveals that his trick is that he doesn't have a trick. He was a god from the get-go. Any human who tries to use the power of a god will have memory saturation without exception. Which brings us to Saber, who:

A) Has Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi as a Noble Phantasm which makes them a temporary kami.

B) Is full of holes in the pack of basic knowledge they were supposed to have a Servant.

Iori's Valentine's scene has this to say about it:

"It's a real bother, let me tell you. It was no different back in the times of the Waxing Moon Ritual. I never have sufficient knowledge inserted in my head. Even I can tell something is up with that, so I questioned the Child of Ibuki about it, and she answered that the more a wielder draws the… "perks" (whatever this word means) of the Divine Sword, the more is subtracted from them."

The drawback of the sword that makes a temporary god overlaps quite neatly with the natural and inevitable consequence of wielding the power of a god in a human body, wouldn't you say?

[howlingday]

Sorry to bother you with this but I have no writing skill and you're the first one I thought of when I had this idea so

Have you played or watched the ending for God of War Valhalla? If so do you think you could do the ending with Jaune?

No need to apologize. It's not bother at all. And the best advice I can give you about writing is to keep doing it and to draw inspiration from other works. That said, I hope you enjoy this work I am about to present. Now, that said, I did, in fact, see God of War: Ragnarök: Valhalla. And it was probably the most perfect DLC we could get for God of War story-wise, since it covered pretty much what was missing from the story, which is Kratos becoming the better man he should have been shown to be. And now, here we have it. Kratos becoming who he was meant to be. And now, I present to you,

--------------------------------------------

JAUNE ARC, THE NEW GOD OF WAR

This battle, like all others before, had come to an end. Jaune Arc, the God of War from the Kingdom of Vale, lifted Winter, the War Maiden of Atlas, over his head and threw her to the ground. As she rolled across the floor, she found her way to her knees. Jaune closed in with his fist held high, ready to strike her down. However, her hand caught his. There was a bit of struggle on her end, and with heavy pants, she spoke.

"Enough, Jaune." She said. "I yield."

Jaune took a step back, then reached forward with his hand. Taking his hand, she was pulled to her feet. With a smile, he nodded.

"Well-fought."

"Let's see what the relic has to say about you." Winter brought forth the relic she was charged to protect, and it's blue mist began to swirl around the two. Once more, Jaune's past was revealed, beginning where it ended with Jaune's victory over the maddened Ozpin. "After you slew Ozpin, Beacon had fallen. The Maiden of Vale was dead by your hand, both of them, and yet you survived."

"Not without my own attempt on my life."

"No, but the question remains why you continued to fight." The image changed from the fallen Beacon to Jaune falling from the highest point of the tower. "Why did you continue to live, even when you were so committed to ending it all?"

"I had lost everything, but..." Jaune swallowed. "But there was something else for me. It was little, and it seemed useless, but it was all I had left."

"And what was it?"

"Hope."

"Mm, hope." Ozpin said, standing by Jaune's side. "Hope, however fleeting it may seem, can prove to be more powerful than any weapon on Remnant. It was all left within you, and you chose to bring hope back to Vale. To all of Remnant."

"And you have brought hope to Atlas, too." Winter gave a small smile.

"I should have died." Jaune said. "It would have been fitting. But it didn't happen."

"Because you still had hope, and that hope lived on through you. Since your attempt in Vale to your triumph in Atlas, you have brought hope to us all. Regardless of any relic, whatever magical power it may hold, anger and hatred and love and joy and hope all live in each and every one of us, whether we are meek and mortal or mighty and monstrous. And yet there is one last question you must ask; which will you choose to let guide your actions?" The mist fell, leaving Jaune face-to-face with the Winter Maiden. "Every decision we make shapes our world."

Jaune gave a grunt. All this time, all this struggle and pain and near endless pain had led to this moment, just as this moment would lead to the next one. Jaune Arc held onto his hope and had grown since his time as a God of War in Vale. Since his attempt to end his life. Since the beginning of his new life here, in Atlas.

"I understand now."

"And?" Winter asked.

"And I'm ready go inside."

Winter smiled. "Excellent."

Jaune walked up to the massive door, the same as he had before. Except it wouldn't be the same, would it? He had changed since the first time he entered, and he changed the last time he entered as well. As he pushed, the doors that once felt heavy suddenly became light and easy to push. Entering the dark room behind the doors, the world fell away, leaving only himself inside the darkness.

As he continued to walk forward, a little began to glow from above onto himself. Except, it wasn't himself. No, Jaune was staring at his younger self, who was sitting on an empty throne, clutching the same red bandana tied to his hip. Jaune stopped, expecting anything and everything he could, except for this.

"What... can I say to you?" Jaune began, speaking to the seated Jaune. "I remember the day I first took that throne. All that it meant. And all that it didn't. I... was the God of War. The God of Pain. Of Suffering. Of Destruction." He looked away. "Jinn said I would always chase a redemption I know I will never deserve. But what does that make me?" He glanced to his younger self. "A God of Fools. A God of...."

Suddenly, he found Pyrrha's sash in his hands. He turned it over, once more remembering how soft her hands felt in his. How sweet her breath smelled to him. How warm her blood felt as it fell from her cold body. Her final words to him were for him to trust destiny and to have...

"...Hope. When all else is lost..." He turned to his doppelganger once more. "You... lost everything. And everyone." He felt his body tense as his anger built the closer he got to the throne. "And you became..."

The younger Jaune shifted in his seat, blue eyes glaring at blue eyes. No... No, Jaune stared at Jaune. It didn't matter what kind of Jaune he was speaking to, whether they were younger, older, seated, standing- It didn't matter because he was still Jaune. Anger filled him at the realization.

"There is no excusing you and what you've done!" He shouted. "You became-!" Finally, Jaune's remaining words died in his throat. "I became." He turned away, realizing who he had been shouting at, who he had been fighting against since his ascension to godhood.

"What now?" He whispered. "Should I, the same Jaune Arc, sit down on this throne? Should I take? Yell out? Lead? Submit myself to service?" The final words danced on his tongue. "Service. In service." He looked once more to the sash in his hand. "If... If I lose everything and everyone, will there still be enough of me left so that I don't become you?" He shook his head. "I don't know." He nodded. "But I have hope."

"You..." He turned once more to the throne. "You are cruel, and arrogant, and selfish." His fury subsided. "But you are more than that. There was always more to you than what others saw. You are more than that."

With a deep breath, Jaune stepped forward once more. The once glorious throne of Vale had long withered away to it's barest stones. Seated upon the throne was a red sash, and taking it in hand, he touched the throne. He then turned and lowered himself to sit on the throne. With a shaky breath, he knew this was where he belonged.

Holding onto hope, he had become the new Atlas God of War... and of Hope.

[pessimysticrw]

The Watcher DLC - Personal Dissection

[SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED BASE GAME/DLC] Oh goodness me, Videocult has decided to drop a nuke on my already rotted brain due to this game and now I shall dissect this yummy meal bit by bit like the picky eater I am (in a good way this time though). And yall are coming with me because I said so. Really, this is just a great place for me to get my thoughts in order... cough. A lot of this is speculation! If I can find anything confirmed, I will try and write about it when I can.

Steam DLC Description

Let's start with the obvious- this basically confirms new creatures, regions, etc. This place seems to be in a completely different area than both the base game and Downpour slugcats, with new creatures to boot. I will go over the revealed regions/screenshots in more detail further down.

The descriptions states "the world beneath your feet cracks and crumbles", and while this could be linked to the Void Sea, the thumbnail art and font for the DLC's steam page and trailer depicts the Rot, and I am doubtful such an obvious detail would be thrown in there without it being present. Rot is only present where iterators are, and the only iterator we know of (in detail) to have the Rot is Five Pebbles, who got it by trying to rewrite himself. SRS gave him the pearl, but whoever wrote it is unknown, and I am highly doubtful it is 5P or SRS where this slugcat takes place in. It could be a pre-existing iterator like NSH/SOS (doubtful, but i suppose NSH would explain how Hunter got the rot if that is canon), a new one that also read the information that 5P and SRS did, or maybe even the one that originally wrote it that failed the experiment themself. This is a lot of speculation though and we will only really know for sure when more information is revealed. Take all of this with a grain of salt! I am just rambling possibilities.

New Regions

New regions are seen via screenshots on the DLC's Steam page. I will be attaching the screenshots here as well as what I speculate on what they may be/entail.

Starting with these two regions here, as it seems to match the most with the thumbnail art. At first I thought it was the foggy region below, but upon closer inspection this wall-like region incorporates more blue colors, fog/clouds are present, and would make the most sense for the rot to be present if this is indeed an iterator's wall.

Credits to shrinkshooter on Reddit for the enhanced image to the right.

This region looks reminiscent of 5P Memory Crypts, only in daylight. Whether this region serves a similar purpose to ancients is unknown. I considered the possibility of it being in a similar placement like 5P, but I am unsure if that would make sense due to the fact that 5P's shaded citadel is underneath his superstructure- hence why it is so dark in that region- when it clearly isn't here. (It could be completely separate from and not relating anything to Shaded Citadel entirely though!)

Mysterious looking underground region filled with green water. It's water guys. It better be water. Please no more acid, I'm begging.

This area immediately made me think of Spearmaster's start of their campaign, or it could be something reminiscent to Moon's Submerged Superstructure. Drainage System/Undergrowth also comes to mind.

Two desert-like regions are depicted here! While some speculation on the region on the right is it being a snow biome- I personally believe that this may be in face a dust/sand storm. Dust storms were planned during Metropolis' development in Downpour, but were scrapped in favor for the day/night cycle instead. Additionally, the snow particles present in Saint's campaign look drastically different compared to what is shown here. Additionally, there is Developer Commentary that talks about these dust storms for Metropolis. The dust storm effect looks different compared to what is shown, but it could have been possibly reworked to suit the region's look. Who knows though! Could just indeed be snow- but the entire area for this campaign looks to be generally warmer.

This region looks reminiscent to Sky Islands from 5P. Something to note is the lack of nearby iterator cities. This could mean two things: this campaign takes place far into the future, with surrounding iterators having already collapsed. Or...

It could be located on an desert island, right next to an ocean. Where all the water could have gone from this area will honestly be up to speculation until more information presents itself- however the seemingly coral-like structure to this region seems to point to this. It would also explain the lack of visible iterator cities in the background of the previous mentioned Sky Islands reminiscent region.

Additionally in one of the thumbnails for the DLC, water is present below the slugcat. (Then again, rain/water is present for all of em besides Saint eh?)

Additional Notes

An echo-like effect is seen around the slugcat in the previously mentioned thumbnail, as well as in the ripples in the water around it