#it shouldve been a dlc

[mio-nika]

I cannot believe they actually named it Pathologic 3.

Like. THE CHOICE WAS MADE.

[eggslamwich]

If I’m being 100% honest I’m not mad Miquella is a villain I actually really like that way his villainy manifests

I just think everything to do with consort Radahn is stupid af

[errorwarblesrr]

I WANT THIS OUTFIT IN TOTK SO BAD

I can DIY my own train now I miss the funni train game </3

[ohsweetflips]

on the one hand i love harping and moaning over missed opportunities for previous dragon age companion cameos bc sometimes bioware really whiffs it (i long for the world where merrill is the eluvian expert instead of morrigan) but. on the other hand. sometimes it’s like. why would that character show up. answer quickly. the answer can’t be that it’s because you like them. it feels very reminiscent of having to accept that our wardens will never make another appearance.

[classicsonic]

i wish dj grooves had more attention in the game. my bestie...

[tuliptiger]

Idk if I would recommend totk over botw if I'm being honest. I didn't find the emptiness other people have mentioned feeling, and when it is there it feels natural and not at all awkward to me. It felt peaceful, it felt thematically correct with the world and what was going on. Totk doesn't, it's awkward and a Frankenstein of a beast. It can be jarring, awkwardly and uncomfortably open and boring, and for all of the new features it feels less fun to play. It feels like the developers tried to do a sandbox type game and failed on every front.

I didn't want to find botw in totk but unfortunately I'm finding too much and not enough of it in it. I wanted it to be it's own thing. It just feels wrong. It feels like it failed at everything it tried to be and became the things it didn't.

[ind1c0lite]

I literally got art related to it in the queue rn but GOD Phoenix and the 7yg is SO fucking interesting to me, Im so interested in how he got up to that point in aa4 and the events that lead up to his final trial with Zak and just OUGH- he should've stayed more cryptic in every game after aa4 why didn't they keep at least that aspect of him!! I'm so mad

[fairestwriting]

Hey hey! First off, I love your writing. It’s really fun and silly and skrunkly, which is also why I wanted to send in a request!

I wanted to ask for an Idia x reader comfort type thing? For context, a game I love is currently doing a rerun banner for a costume I really really want. I saved for a year to try and get it because I failed last time and, low and behold, I didn’t get it now either

I do still have time before the banner’s over but it’s just kinda disheartening after I tried to save for so long and still didn’t get the costume (especially cause I’m f2p)

The actually scenario doesn’t have to be this specific but I feel like, if anyone were to understand my plight, it would be Idia

Hope you’re doing well :))

thank you sm :'3 i realized only when i was done with this that it shouldve been a scenario/fic type post... that ones gonna be in the works for tomorrow cause i was doing another hc/scenario hybrid before i got to this one oops .

also i understand you so deeply im also f2p in everything i play and not getting your special little guy or the costume for them is. SO much more painful than it has the right to be what the hell 😭

Idia Shroud

He's definitely been in your shoes, maybe even recently. He does spend on his favorite gachas every now and then, but with the amount of games he plays and the speed at which banners come out, he can't just sink all his money into gacha currency. Besides gacha, there's also new game releases and DLCs after all! And it feels better if you actually earn your win, too.

It goes without saying that he's going to be hyping you up before your pulls, whether through messages or live, and that you'll be exchanging screenshots with each other too, so he knew how much you were looking forward for this one banner. He's made it known he's your biggest supporter.

Even if it's not something he also plays, he feels the loss when you're all out of pulls, and the character you were hoping for never comes. He's not really the best at comfort in general, that applies both over text and in person, but you know he understands the feeling.

He reaches for you a little awkwardly, depending on what it looks like you want to do about it. What would it be better to offer? Encouragement for reruns, or ingame currency for a few more pulls? He wonders nervously while he tries to pick whatever looks better for your case. If he happens to have the character that you wanted he'll actually apologize and definitely offer a few extra pulls.

Honestly, he finds that it feels even more sad than the times he fumbled his pulls. He'll scour the internet for any talk of reruns and send it to you within the hour, and if he finds none, he's always here to commiserate.

if you wanna support my work, you can buy me a ko-fi or commission me!

[miquellah]

ok ive seen a lot of people going "man, why wasnt ___ in the dlc too, they totally SHOULDVE been there. i sure wish there was more lore on them!!" and im holding a finger up to you. shhh... shhh. let me tell you the secrets of soulsborne lore

it's context. it's ALL about context, and how everything comes TOGETHER. even if a character is not explicitly stated or shown in one section, if there is something to do with their surrounding lore area, you can still find more information and more context to their character. the whole core of the soulsborne lore style is "giving you only JUST enough of what you need, and then you figure out the rest". for example,

take malenia. ive seen NUMEROUS complaints on the fact that she wasn't present in SOTE, or how she was cheated by not having any real direct mentions at all. but her whole placement was within the base game, we see and fight her there, and her "arc" is open-ended, but essentially finished. so, no, i don't think there was any priority for more to her in the dlc, because that's just not how this formula works

BUT. what DO we have to work with? for one, we have the kindred, and we have moore. what do these characters say about malenia? again, we are told of how she abandoned them; of how, essentially, she was a mother of sorts, and she was given children that she never wanted. furthermore, we have more insight into those children themselves, that they are NOT all just mindless, evil rot-worshiping creatures, but full lives of their own. and that they are also dealing with the abandonment she dealt them.

from here, we can then search through many other connected trails, and discern further aspects of malenia, her character, and the surrounding mechanics of her rot. indeed, as miquella's twin, and with him being the focal point of the dlc, she WAS given placement in the dlc at all; further more can be discerned by examining miquella, and his proximity to her. there's actually a lot to work with!

and this is how it works for many things and characters. it may not be the most EFFICIENT, or straight-forward means of context and lore, but if it's something you're into, it's so fun. SOTE actually covers soooo much ground, there's likely very little at all that isn't adjacent to some other base game lore/character at all. go now, with my little tidbit, and search and sniff to your heart's content

[tealmaskmybeloved]

My Unorganized Thoughts About Pokémon Scarlet and Violet DLC: Part 3

MOCHI MAYHEM

M̸̤͇̓͂̓͐̓̄̑̆̽͗ơ̸̡̧̧̛͉̻͈̮̹̥̤̠̤̿͌͆̏̅̐̒͋̽̄̉͜͜͝c̸̙̗̱͋́͋͌̾̀́͐̾͋̓̾͜h̶̢̩͈͕̮́̔̎į̸̢͓͎͕͕̱̆̉͗͜͜͝ ̸̼͔̑̈́̎̐̔͒͘m̸͈̜̠͕͙̱̣͕͐́̉͌͑̽́̑̐͊́̀̕o̶̧̢͉̪̦̊̈́̄́͐̉͐̐̚̕̚͠͠c̷̢͍̫͈̥͚̯̱̈́̿̀̏ḫ̷͊̿̊̄̌i̸̲̝̯̗̪̺̻̘̇̍̂̀͂̀͒͛̌̔̈́̕͜

T̸̘̽̈̐̈H̸̗̗̗̀̍Ë̶̥̰̯̥́ ̸͇̮̂̋̀̓S̵̊͘͜T̴͈̹̏̄̊̉Ȍ̴̬̬͖̄R̶̟̬͈̻̍̆͐̆Y̶̟̍̍͒͋

Probably my least favorite out of the trilogy.

Which is weird considering how much I love the possession trope and my boi Pecharunt.

But the way they just did it felt like a giant middle finger to me and everyone else who even remotely liked the Toxic Chain Kieran Theory.

First off, Kieran does not get possessed, in fact, he's the only one to NOT get possessed. Ironic.

Second, what the characters do when they're possessed... well... you've probably seen it by now

They do the fucking chicken dance while screaming "Mochi".

Which.... yeah. It's stupid, it's embarrassing, and I do not like it.

And yeah I can see why some people might enjoy it, but I just don't.

Oh but it gets worse (or better, depending how you feel about this)

So with the whole town under Pecharunt's control (and them doing the stupid dance) the player and Kieran go to stop this mayhem and get people back to normal. Boom, the end.

So, why don't I like it?

It's just... embarrassing. Gamefreak has hyped up Pecharunt and made them out to be a legitimate threat.

It could've been cool with Pecharunt slowly spreading its control to both people and Pokémon and wanted world domination.

We could've have an actual evil Pokémon in a main series game instead of an evil team! Pokémon are sentient, they're intelligent, they know the difference between right and wrong.

But, we didn't get that. In fact, this meme I made perfectly sums up how I feel

Point is, they hyped up Pecharunt out to be this puppet master, this shady manipulator, this evil Pokémon who desires control over people and Pokémon, but also gives them what they want. It stole Ogerpon's masks and killed her trainer for crying out loud!

Oh, which reminds me!

T̷͍͊̉̇͛H̷͂��̩Ẻ̶̱͇͖ ̸̖̤̠̻͛Ṵ̵̱̊̑̑Ǹ̸͎̺̋̈̕T̶̟͒͌̀͝O̴̞͉͍̰̓͊L̸̦͗́̈́̕D̴̼͍͜͝ ̷̀ͅS̸̰̬͓̙͆̋͝T̸̛̯́̈͝Ỏ̴̲̠͠R̷̘̻̕Y̷̢̐ ̴̛̜̼͋́̓Ŏ̸̭̙͓̍̔̿F̶̢̫̦̄̔ ̸̨͙̘̇̀P̵̩̬̄͂̈̕Ē̴͓̟̘͓̓͘C̶͔̽͐̔H̶͖̜̓̎̉A̸̲̹͓̭͊̓̇̽R̸͖̔̓̈́U̷̘̖̫͐̂̅̏N̶͍̰̋̕T̸̢̿

If Mochi Mayhem was Gamefreak giving us the middle finger for liking the Toxic Chain Kieran Theory, then this is them curb stomping us to the ground.

If you had ANY more hope that Pecharunt was this manipulative evil gremlin, then it's better for you to just give up that hope so you don't end up crushed.

So, in this YouTube video we learn that Pecharunt was raised by an old couple and since Pecharunt wanted more love, it gave the old couple its mochi and it made them greedy. The couple then tasked Pecharunt to steal Ogerpon's masks and bring them back.

See guys? Pecharunt was told to get the masks by the old couple! The old couples greed were responsible for this!

They really couldn't have Pecharunt be evil by itself, they had to pin the blame on the old couple. And yeah, Pecharunt was greedy, it wanted more love. But STILL

And yes, I'm aware that the old couple is a reference to the Japanse story of Momotaro, but this shit SHOULDVE BEEN EXPLAINED IN-GAME

I should not have to go watch a YouTube video to figure out its basic motivation!

I even thought of an idea where if someone could take Pecharunt to the crystal pool they could see the old couple again. It would not only explain Pecharunt's motivations, and give Pecharunt some closure.

Ṱ̷̢͕̘̥̓̕H̶̤̽̈̂̈́̿͘E̶͉͎͇̮̼̭̟͒͒̆͑̅̄̀̚͠ ̷͇͉̭̝̘̹͖̼͇̙̹̲̺̦͌̐̌̏͂̌͛̄͌̾̃̕M̷̨̨̧͎̫̪̜̭̯̺̬̥͔̲͒̓̒̊͆̈́͌͗̐Ǔ̶̡̖̜̖̏̆̏́̎̋̈̓͑̕̚S̵̨̨͔̠̖͐͆̄͜Į̶̧̡̛̜̲̘̘̙̠̠͇̮̳̐͐͗́̀͗̐́̐̏̀̐͝C̸̪̖̜͖̱̜̰̻͚̟͍̮̋̇̏̀̀͋̐̂̒̾ͅͅ

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The music is a banger. I like how Pecharunt's theme is similar to the Loyal 3, it's about the few connections the game ever makes.

S̷̡̛̤̞̟̥̮̆͒̀̉̔̋̂̀͂͘̕͘U̶̪̰̯̞̲̟͖̭͖͓̺͚͇͋͛̈́̂M̴̨̨̧̛̟̖̖͙̞͙̀̄̄́̅́͗̓̏͘̚͠M̸̦̯̦̱͎͙̲̞̌̆́̍͘A̶̡̛̜̙̘͙͍̪͐̿̎̑͐́͐̾̍ͅR̷̢̩̘͇̳̭̺͍͙̮̬͉̱̰͐͜Ỳ̷̧̨̮̱͓̺͎͛̌

Is it finally over? Can I see the sunlight again?

Jokes aside, I'm ready to get this done with.

So yeah, Mochi Mayhem.... it wasn't the best in my opinion. It just felt too silly, and didn't take the whole possession thing seriously. I didn't really feel anything about canon Pecharunt other than a mild inconvenience.

I know some like Mochi Mayhem and that's fine! It's okay for people to like how things went!

I just feel a bit disappointed. But I suppose that's the danger with fan theories, it gets your expectations too high.

Nothing was really explained. I'm not expecting them to spoonfeed the audience, but I wish there was more things that were explained!

The Untold Story of Pecharunt, The Loyal 3 and Pecharunt's connection, what brought the Loyal 3 back, these are things that should've been explained in the game.

Gamefreak, if you're going to have some red herrings in a story, there needs to be some foreshadowing to help cancel it out. When all of the evidence points to Kieran getting possessed/influenced and Pecharunt being a legitimate and intimidating threat, you can't expect us to NOT be disappointed.

I guess the only positive I can say (besides the music) is the interactions between the Area Zero gang and the Kitakami siblings was fun. I enjoyed that.

But yeah, those are my thoughts.

Plot: 3/10

Characters: 5/10

Music: 100/10

Pokemon Lore: -2/10

Overall: 3/10 (I'm being generous here)

[goji-pilled]

i need to draw the carian siblings again after reading that post like their whole family is full of love... it shouldve been so obvious that radahn would pull off a stunt like holding the stars for the sake of his sister... ESPECIALLY after the dlc...

[ithinkthiswasabadidea]

Well! After 3 and a bit weeks, and an unknown number of hours (but I think it's at least 125+) I've finished The Outer Worlds and its two dlc's. I have to say, going in knowing nothing had me quite surprised by where this game took me!

Like with most games I play, below the cut is my (rather long, actually) review/final thoughts, including the good, the bad, and whatever is inbetween 🚀

In no particular order:

Combat, while repetitive after a while, was still quite fun with all the different weapons, damages and companion abilities. I somehow managed to turn a lot of it into a stealth shooter, sniping headshots whenever I could, which felt like I was going against the grain of the 'chaos and anarchy' theme that the game so loved to remind me of 😅

The looting function in first person pov was.... kinda annoying tbh. And sure, I don't play a lot of fp games, but it left a lot to be desired in general. I also felt like the field of view wasn't quite right?? I had to fiddle with it a fair bit to get it to feel better

The beginning chapter to get the Unreliable up and running was a really good introduction!! Lots of good characters and introducing important decisions early! A tad long in my opinion, though technically that's on me for wanting to uncover every secret of the region and finish all of the quests there before leaving

The complexities of Monarch's socio-political issues, and the Iconoclasts Vs. MSI feud and all of the illegal(?) creature experimentation..... too much of that went over my head 😬 The info was very spread out and hard to put together a timeline or list of facts as to what happened on Monarch and why. I think the ratio of time spent on Monarch to information gained, was quite off, and I'm still not sure if I fully understood everything that happened during that part of the story

It's hard to say whether the stakes felt decently well balanced for the time and emotional commitment invested. On the one hand I'm glad there wasn't a greater sense of urgency, or I think it would've spoiled the side quests and exploration aspects; however, I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling like there were (at times) significant issues with pacing, and narrative structure at some points

It felt suitably rewarding to just explore and solve quests as I went around at my own pace, without there being a serious looming threat or timer running out

I think the dialogue and character quirks and options was where the game really shined! ✨️ Both for the Captain and the companions and npc's. I loved the options we got to choose in dialogue, and how much the companions could add to that in their own way. Conversation was a tad slow at times, but nothing terrible

In terms of companions - fantastic stuff!! Do I think we shouldve been able to romance them? Surprisingly, no. Maybe a quick tryst at most, but otherwise I don't think romance would've added anything further to the game

All were strongly made, and unique. Very obviously, Max and Felix were easy favourites, and I loved how they played off each other, both before and after Max's quest completed

Max was very perplexing, it was super interesting to watch his transformation as he uncovered truths about the colony and his faith. I almost wish he didn't lose so much of his rage after his quest, just because I enjoy seeing why angry characters are angry

Felix, when digging deeper into his characterisation, had a lot of great depth. Sure, he's a generally happy and enthusiastic companion, but you can see just how deeply and emotionally he feels about certain things, which made for some real heartfelt moments

I loved Nyoka!! Spending a lot of time with her on Monarch was very fun, and I really liked her personal values and morals. I feel she was very well done for how much later in the game she came in. Kinda wish we could've helped her with her alcohol dependency though 🙃

Parvati 🥺 such a lovely representation of asexuality. She very much felt like the angel on my shoulder whenever I had her in the party, and it was easy to understand exactly where her compassion came from

Ellie..... listen. I appreciate that she was headstrong, stuck to her guns, and didn't take any shit. But her personality/attitude just wasn't my favourite. I just don't really fuck with characters who only care about themselves

As for the overall tone of the game, not needing to take too many things seriously was quite refreshing, and then when the game DID provide quests or lore that was more grave in nature, you got a good sense that the information was important to take in

I was somewhat disappointed that the main mission was so...... uninvolved? Like most games you feel as though the main mission takes precedence most of the time. In this game it felt like it took a back seat, the ENTIRE game, and was padded around with faction or character or side quests

My favourite questline though, as I've mentioned before, was the SubLight one for Lilya. It was a deeply satisfying quest to finish as it amped up the uncertainty of what was going on and being experimented with, behind closed doors and red tape. A really well done sense of foreboding that came creeping in. The pay off at the end was an interesting one, and I'm certainly not mad about the choice I made, I felt like it was the right one

Really big fan of the music and sounds, the main menu track is delightfully on theme, and the track when bringing the Hope back was sooo beautiful (songs that make me think of the game: Another Dimension, Last Man Standing and See The Sun - all by Mascot. Someone get that band on the TOW2 ost!!)

The attention to detail and extra embellishments on the dlc's were really nice to see, like you could tell that they'd worked hard on adding extras in and making these stories better, more detailed. Came across really well in dialogue 👏

Speaking of dialogue, some of the stuff on Gorgon was so funny, I loved it. A Sprat named Matt is the legal owner of the Sprat Shack Bar??? Brilliant

It was great to hear more companion comments as we went about, and while talking to npc's, super fun to check in and hear their thoughts more frequently

The Gorgon dlc big secret about the marauders was sort of ...... weird? Disappointing? Disproportionate? It just didn't feel like it quite fit somehow. All the build up for... that? Otherwise the atmosphere and the rest of the story was very cool, it was just the actual answer to the mystery that threw me off

For Eridanos, you can't imagine my joy at seeing the whole crew moved in to the penthouse suite, like that was so cute 😄 we should've been able to interact there more

The Eridanos story was a lot lighter and more silly to go through, really playing in to the Inspector role/trope, while the infected enemies were creepily good

I think it was also a better build-up to pay-off ratio than Gorgon, very satisfying to figure things out clue by clue and piece it together

Overall, I did enjoy the game, though I have mixed feelings. I can understand why the game is either really liked, or not liked. The balance between serious and silly was a little jarring sometimes, but I see why it was presented that way. There were a lot of great things like characterisation, dialogue, building up the factions, enemies, allies, etc. However the narrative itself, particularly its pacing and level of importance to the player, left a lot to be desired more frequently than it should've

The concept and story led to a unique and adventurous game, and with remarkably touching and in-depth end credits, which was very satisfying to see where all my choices and consequences led to

I can see both the flaws and strengths of The Outer Worlds, and I'm sure the team has tackled those things to bring us TOW2 in an even bigger and better game! 🚀🌌

[comidyye]

'I will go into detail if asked'

PLEASE DO. I MUST HEAR YOUR GRIEVANCES!

It must be said!

OKAY HI YES

SO i mentioned glitchtrap was robbed,, Both vanny and glitchtrap had their roles stolen, and glitchtrap is my favorite fnaf character, so i have Beef

(Note: Uhh for this rant im keeping with the idea that vanny and vannessa are the same person. Also everything i say is very biased for these three. I know i wont get what i want, but i can dream..)

What i mean by that is for the entirety of help wanted and special delivery, Glitchtrap and Vanny got alll the exposition for them to be the new modern fnaf villains. After pizza sim, we can all agree Afton's physical mind and body as we knew it shouldve been destroyed. it was the mark of a new era for fnaf, and we needed new villains!! so the old William was to be replaced by a digital copy of himself, malhare

he was introduced in help wanted. and vanny was introduced in the dlc. Their roles were helped solidified in special delivery, as the emails there revealed They were behind everything going wrong with the animatronics (as well as more general info about all three of them)

then, the trailer for security breach dropped. theres afton talking, but it has to be glitchtrap, right? ( both because 1 We didnt know about burntraps existence during the time and 2 i still think its actually glitchtrap because theres No Way Peepaw burntrap is speaking that clearly.) And vanny was made out to be this big bad villain who. Actually had a major impact..

Then the game came out and threw all the good characterization (Especially for Vanessa) out the window 💥

glitchtrap is only seen in princess quest. but princess quest was already a thing in mobile help wanted, so..

vannys presence is laughable, but heres the thing about vanessa- Her lines that were cut from the game fit her Description from the AR Emails a LOT More. she was nervous, she knew what was happening. and she wanted to Help gregory. But.. you dont see that in the final version of security breach.

The only thing that does them all justice is the therapy tapes. But they deserved so much more...

And then burntrap and the blob exist. Theyre.. whatever. But i felt like they really took the spotlight off of who was Supposed to be the main villain and it makes me a bit sad . Robbed again

i Reaally hoped Ruin would give them what they deserved (even if i knew it was never going to happen), but instead of doing that or tying up loose ends (like the blob) They added more to the pile with Mxes and The mimic(?). (I KNOOW thats what fnaf does, but that doesnt mean ill stop complaining) and vanny and vanessa and malhare are nowhere to be seen

tl;dr In all, glitchtrap and vanny were set up to be the new big bads in help wanted and special delivery, But now it feels like glitchtrap was simply a one-off villain, and Vanny didn't really do.. like anything important at all

they had tons of potential taken away by burntrap, the blob, mxes, the mimic, etc 💔

[evillesbianvillain]

"SOTE is way too hard" "The bosses are bullshit" "The lore has been retconned and I don't like it" "Miquella shouldve married his other dead brother" nah, the only real issue with the Elden Ring DLC is that it didnt have Patches

[bunny-heels]

oh i should give my thoughts on Final Draft since i finally finished it. spoilers below

so the ONLY thing i didn't like was that there wasnt a lot of new manuscripts or videos to find. i probably missed a couple pages because i didnt look around as much, but i am sad that the 3rd Darling video is gonna be for the Lake House and the 2nd Door video is gonna be for Night Springs. i dont mind waiting to see them but i wish the collectibles menu didnt list it as incomplete cause its not even in the game yet. but i'll gladly wait to see them.

okay on to actual thoughts.

finding the dark poems on the surface world was a big splash of whiplash, and i liked how they were placed throughout the game, especially with the order of how i switch realities, it felt perfect.

the beginning with Saga telling Casey that she used to be into geology and she helped Logan with a science fair project, but basically did it for her and Casey going "oh thats basically a CRIME, Anderson". that was adorable. i love their dynamic so much it hurts.

ALSO IM SO HAPPY THEY PUT IN THE LINES FOR THE SALT SHAKER MEMORY. i'll come clean and say i've heard the audio before from when my boyfriend went through the files, but it made me so happy to hear it in-game. Casey is so fucking cute. and the fact that Saga notes that Casey doesn't joke around with literally anyone else, showing that he trusts Saga so much. i love this man i love him i love him i need to nibble on him like a dog nibbles on a plush toy

Darling's videos were very fun to watch. i loved that he didn't really care that he was trapped in the Dark Place because to him it was just a new thing to research and make experiments with. i'm assuming after he realized Alan sounded like him that he tried not to think about too much at first, but that's definitely going to be something that fucks with his brain later

Darling and Zane fucked for sure im convinced of that. if i had to pair any other characters together besides Saga and Casey then it's Darling and Zane. fucking Zane saying Kippis as he takes a drink with him too. i'm killing this man. theres apparently a theory that they both created Alan and that's why he looks like Zane but sounds like Darling. if thats true, then Sam Lake is a fucking genius for making it that a brilliant artist and an advanced scientist made the stupidest writer son on the planet and it somehow worked. at least the one thing they have in common is all three of them deep down have selfish bastard tendencies.

but even if Alan's a bastard he loves Alice so so so fucking much and it was literally their love and memories of each other that brought them back together along with Saga putting some sense into him to actually think about others, not just him and Alice. i hope Alice is doing okay and that she got to be reunited with Alan as soon as possible.

Tor and Odin showing up in the Dark Place was adorable, and im so happy that apparently they're fine with Door now, after what happened in '88. i'm assuming what brought them to finally come to an agreement was that they wanted what was best for Saga and Alan. i hope Logan and David get to meet Tor and Odin at some point in-canon, even if its off screen. i'm still curious on what's gonna happen the next time Alan and Door meet, or when that's even gonna happen, but i guess that's either gonna be in the DLCs or even in Control 2. i also hope Tim gets out and gets to finally be face-to-face to Door, which is probably also gonna happen in either DLC or Control 2.

finally the ending. i thought it was perfect. i've seen people say it was too easy and that there shouldve been more ambiguity. i'll be honest, i think the ending is a perfect blend of closure and opened interpretation. Alan finally got out and Logan is alive now, which is wonderful, but now it's the question of what's happening outside the writer's room. what's going on at the Lake House? why did the FBC go dark? did Tim get out? are Saga and Casey now going to be dragged into the FBC full-time because Kiran deputized them?

we also still don't know what happened to Darling after meeting with Tom [at least i havent cause i refuse to watch the leaked third video]. is Darling gonna be able to figure out his way through the Dark Place? is he gonna get the chance to meet Door and Tim? is he gonna indirectly cause Jesse or Dylan or both of them to go into the Dark Place in Control 2? is Darling being the Dark Place a good thing at all? does he ever figure out how he ended up there after trying to stop the Hiss? is he aware that Trench is gone and Jesse is the new Director?

i think the most the ending does is just show that Alan's part in the RCU is MOSTLY done, at least for now. to me this looks like a chance for him to show up more often in other things and to maybe help with what's happening at the FBC. the most i hope for him at the moment is he meets up with Alice again, and ESPECIALLY meets up with Barry, though i hope the Blessed organization haven't done anything to him, which is another thing that i hope gets touched on.

anyways i'm very happy i finished it im so excited :]

[heat--end]

beat the scarlet/violet DLC! i havent done some of the bigger postgame stuff yet, but ive beaten the main story, which is really the important part

ill leave my longer thoughts under the read more to avoid spoilers

honestly, i really like how they handled this DLC. i think part of me likes kitakami as a place more, but this is also a really nice little spot. the terarium is a cool place, the pokemon in it are cool, etc.

what i REALLY liked was the story, as well. ive talked about this with a lot of other people, but SV's main theme seems to be getting yourself too lost in your own desires, so much so that you don't realize what happens, and this continues that. ambition is a great thing, but pushed too far, it can put others at risk. i think kieran's character is fantastic in this regard. it genuinely makes sense, and it's no surprise he ends up the way he does, and his desire to look up to the player becomes warped and corrupted because he wants to be better, he wants to achieve the dreams he's seeing the player reach, etc.

it's really interesting stuff. i really, REALLY like it, honestly, and i love how they handled briar in the way, too. briar literally gets so invested and excited about terastialization research that she's putting *three children* at risk. she actively realizes this and apologizes, and i like that they highlighted this. it's a neat theme, and i think the DLC tackles it really well

like the lore and extra stuff introduced is cool, but i feel like always, the character writing shines really well here. it's nice to see a bit of old kieran peek back out, him falling into old habits, but then we see him lose himself again as SOON as a sliver of a chance for him to be better than the MC arrives. for that, i'm a huge fan, i think they did a really good job there

also, big fan of BBQs. scratches that "i want to do PLA tasks forever" itch just enough to be satisfying

the one thing i wasn't a fan of was the battle difficulty, however. now, keep in mind, after asking my friends for some help i WAS able to adjust my team and have strategies to beat them and all that, but MAN, this is WAY too drastic of a leap in difficulty compared to base game, IMO. it'd be one thing if this was optional, but this is the main story.

now, keep in mind, i don't mind if they want to make pokemon games harder. i think it's a good thing. challenge and all that. but when base SV wasnt... ANYTHING like this, it is VERY jarring for them to like, legitimately start using competitive movesets and strategies and all that, without so much as a means to prepare you for it. i feel like there's gonna be a lot of people who just get hard walled by some of the battles, and idk how i really feel about it.

i AM glad this is here, but, i don't think it shouldve been the DEFAULT. some kind of toggle or even having these be post-game battles wouldve been great. but having it be the main difficulty scaling feels really bizarre in comparison to SV's base difficulty. hell, kitakami wasn't nearly as bad as this. it's a leap that is very, VERY drastic.

(and yeah, i did get fucked up bad early on, but keep in mind this is coming from someone who first tried kieran, who is the hardest battle in the DLC. so it's not like i was just playing poorly all the time)

also stellar as a tera type is kinda just whatever i feel. idk not really as interesting as it seemed to be. it's cool lore wise, but even then it's just like... eh, neat, i guess LOL

all in all, i really liked indigo disk. it wasn't the most mindblowing thing ever, and i feel like i MAYBE liked teal mask more, but honestly, it's not by a huge margin. it was pretty good, i had a good time. i'd say it won't win over anybody who already didnt like base SV, but it's worth if you like the base game because it improves on a lot. honestly, i think i like the DLC more than i do the base game, and i already liked SV, lmao