#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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[csphire]

Okay, I'll say it. I don't like the idea that post epilogue, Dammon is just banging away at his forge alone, still holding a torch for Karlach. This isn't some comment made in jealousy at all, but one meant to say Dammon deserves better than to be some kind of thirst joke afterthought.

At the epilogue party, the game makes it pretty clear she's with Wyll if alive and not romancing the player.

In a DLC, Dammon is the perfect candidate to become an Artificer companion-hells maybe even become an origin option too! But most of us would settle for him to be simply a companion and romanceable like Halsin and Minthara or just a romanceable NPC that's not some one-time fling. He's someone we can visit on the daily most of the time, so yes, it can work.

But why? Because he deserves to be wooed and romanced by Karlach, Tav, one of the other companions, or hells all three at once. To say he can't be romanceable because he would lose his mystery is pure bullshit. Sorry Frazier, but it's true.

Gaw! It's so frustrating when a solution and an opportunity are all right there, and it's overlooked or ignored. He can be BOTH romanceable and mysterious when all that's needed is to write him in a way that leaves the player yet not Tav or Durge in the dark.

Dammon could even be written in a way where the player questions if our fav blacksmith could be up to no good. Let the fandom sweat over and argue about whether or not we should help him with some mysterious mission. Have him outright refuse to elaborate on it. Let him be equally tight-lipped about all he was forced to do or willingly did to survive in the hells when working on infernal machinery. This way, Frazier can play what he loves to play the most, and that is at least a potential bad guy. Well, not mean to the player but instead a character some might find almost as sketchy as Astarion is viewed would be fine.

*sighs* Why does he need to be romancable to everyone too? The simple answer, all of us could use a little bit more sunshine.

If I could say one thing to Frazier, it would be, "Karlach is not the only touch or affection-starved character out there. There are so many real people who need a Dammon in some form in their lives, even if it's only fictional. Karlach and Dammon's story is important to us. A Dammon and Tav/Durge story is just as important, too. These stories of love and friendship all need to be shown and celebrated. Plus, Dammon comes off as warm, thoughtful, and supportive, and so many of us out there really desperately need that-the more the better. We need it to feed our hopes to keep trying and open up our hearts again. So let him help fix heal more than just one heart, please. We all want to see him grow just a little more because he's such a fantastic character so far."

[milkiedimitrescu]

yall I just had a whole shadows of rose dream of alcina helping rose in a way during her journey 😭❤️(i wrote this as a fic before but never finished it. But I may rewrite it in the future to look onto that 👀)

(slight long post warning btw)

ANYWAYYYSSS!!!

This dream was quite short so it starts off with Rosemary running from one of those faceless monster things and there is this orb (alcina) that is roaming around helping rose with her every need. Then the dream cut to Rose about to be attacked by this big ass dude right here:

But THEEEEN, orb alcina comes in to save the day and swarms the monster, uses some sort of sketchbook (using some sort of telekenisis), draws HER arm holding a damn glock AND THEN THE THING COMES TO LIFE WHAT THE FUCK??? Naur cause alcina was swarming the monster at the time just to distract it and she even went as far as shooting the thing with a damn drawing and the drawing was shooting damn bullets. Alcina the orb tells rose to Run and get out of here or something. Rose does just that and thats when the dream cut off and I woke up.

To give more detail on how Alcina looked as an orb, it was basically this photo right here. I tried to find a more accurate one.

Now, my thoughts and theories!!! Because now i have lots of thoughts about this dream and whether or not I should bring this idea to life.

What I am theorizing is that the lords are all little balls of energy that can go invisible and visible. Similar to ethan in the original Shadows Of Rose DLC, they are able to write messages on the walls leading whoever is in the megamycete with them in order to lead them to the right direction. They are able to manifest themselves into their normal human walking type forms whenever they please. They can just basically do anything as an orb. The Lords can also speak as an orb also as shown in my dream, (alcina telling rose to run even though shes a fuckin ball of energy flying around).

My thoughts are plain simple. I'M INTERESTED AS FUCK AS WHAT MY BRAIN HAS CREATED WHAT. The storyline of this dream was so god damn interesting like i swear to god I might write this shit.

Possible??? Fanfic remake of "How Shadows Of Rose Should Have Been" storyline???

Alright... I know I mentioned this a million times already but I still cannot get this idea of my dream of shadows of rose being a fanfic. I will just write out how the storyline would play out only in the beginning, since I do not want to spoil anything.

The story begins with Rosemary walking to the dude on the bench like the original game and they start talking and stuff and then she mentions how she wants to get rid of her powers. Rose even went as far as calling herself a freak and the man assures her she is not a freak and we will find a way to make that happen. And now cut, they are now at the lab where this tiny piece of the megamycete is stored inside a jar glowing on and off as to show it is still alive.

The man explains that the megamycete might be the key to getting rid of her powers. That she may have to go INSIDE the megamycete in order to achieve that. Rose asks how she should do this? Well, the man explains to her that maybe she should close her eyes and focus on the jar while reaching her hand to it. He comments that this is only his guess as he does not really know if this would even work or not.

She did just that, and it worked. Her whole vision went white and she woke up in that one place in the original DLC where she was surrounded by windows of memories of people. She even saw her mom and dad arguing over something. She heard voices, lots of voices getting louder and louder as she fell through the atlantic void that is under the ocean. She couldnt take it anymore and told the void to SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! Yes I will make her curse here just for shits and gigs

Now... She wakes up inside the same lab. But there is catch. This wasn't the same lab as the previous one. It was a copy of it. A more dim light version of it. She called out for the man and she was only left in silence so she went through the door that was in front of her.

The door led her to the dungeon and remember how Alcina was the one to be behind those closed doors?(If you had read the fic before ofc. If not, that is alright. Just take this as a spoiler.) How when Rose found the key to help the supposed woman who was trapped in a room and even going as far to go inside the room and nobody was there. Well is is more different in the remake.

There was also a giant puddle of mold in which a giant hand grabs rose by the feet and then....

Her vision goes black. She begins to wake up and she was in a white void... Not just any white void... She was in a field of white flowers with grey grass surrounding her. Rose realized she was laying down and got up and now looked everywhere. There was no end to this black and white field of grass and white roses. She went on to explore until she came across a strange orb floating in mid air. She literally asks herself what is this and touches it and suddenly it explodes. White light everywhere to the point Rosemary had to squeeze her eyes shut.

When she reopened them... the orb was gone. And her reality began to crumble before her eyes and she was now back in the dungeon. She was in the same room she found herself in and was right next to the giant puddle of mold. When she turned around to leave, guess what was there?

The same orb. Now it was talking to her. Telling her to follow it. Rose only stared in awe.

AND THAT'S ALL!!! hope ypu had fun on this journey with me yeah💀👍 Milkie out.

[katyspersonal]

I ended up playing more SoTE after a break of several days, actually some interesting progress but also two-parter!

1) Went to Scorpion River catacoms on accident while trying to explore that interesting area with RED Kindred of Rot, and was lowkey disappointed.. because it is a repetitive one. :/ I believed the previous catacomb featuring Godwyn lore was unique! But this one's purpose is to give you another Knight of Death weapon and another variant of talisman by Godwyn @ his Knights! 🙄

^....and also another Messmer's Knight Spirit Ash variant, when Andreas is the hammer-wielder variant! Though the bit about personal attachment by Messmer is a cool one! Same unique ash energy as Ogha or Finlay I suppose

2) Okay MAYBE this catacomb wasn't THAT repetitive since it featured unique mechanics of goddamn Basylisk statues shooting THESE GODDAMN STUPID EYES

3) Also if a second person in this world exists who has weird fixation of collecting everything even if they will never use it.. do not grind the Lion-mask Imps for the helmet. They do drop their swords, but not their helmets. Their head piece is FOUND in this catacomb!

Basically it is exactly what you think - it is on one of the platforms accessed by jumping on the spikey plate as soon as it got down and then getting down fast enough when it moves! Just boost your death resistance here since it is in the room with the rocky bridge!

4) Okay so after that I finally decided to go to the Finger Ruins now that I've learned it was accessible by normal means!!! That was so cool! Really large place with many nooks though;;

5) At first I thought these were snakes with arms and legs, but no! They're lampreys!

(Really liked how I could get this angle gfjyhf)

6) Whereas most of these enemies sorcerer (?) variants used the spell I wasn't familiar with, one of them was using exactly the same purple spell as ringed Fingercreepers use! I took screenshots of it and usually when I have to screenshot something too fast for the phone I just then take a picture of THE screenshot on my phone gfghvv This time I forgot, but yes I still got it on PS! This is really interesting though? I wonder whether lamprey people adopted it from Fingercreepers, or, since only ringed Fingercreepers can use that spell it were lampreys that taught them and gave them a catalyst!

7) I was running around the area for a while instead of getting straight to the point, staring at these formations wondering whether they are cracked eggs (of lamprey?) or the fingers:

I assume that they are the latter by now! They in many places look like they are digging out of the earth, they vary in sizes and often look multilayered more than cracked! Also since these giant fingers are also rocky and are shown broken sometimes!

8) This is actually really funny how there are canonically characters that were obsessed with researching Fingercreepers to the point of insanity, considering how I kept breaking my mind trying to figure them out at least four times gfhbbbgfb

And there is a ghost near which you pick it that does state these ruins are their place of origin! Damn my pre-DLC thoughts on Fingercreepers aged like MILK, granted today I finally nuked the post. XD

I am definitely writing it in the list of the times ER's lore transcended the narrative and effected the reality x) *looks at people who were brainwashed to think Shabriri's solution was good* look who is talking

9) Who wish to become fucking WHAT??

Just another normal day in the Elden Ring universe I suppose hfhtgghjh

10) Got this talisman after ringing that big bell:

I thought it was an odd choice of the reward, but I guess not really? Okay so, I returned to Ymir about it and,

11) Well I saw this 🌛

So he gave me a map and the talisman, and then had new dialogue about Marika and Miquella, further explaining how Erdtree thing was corrupt / doomed to rot from the start to explain why Miquella had to remove all of it from himself to actually get anywhere! That makes drop of that talisman from the rock less random.. They've connected the dots, they've connected them.

12) I start to understand why the girls like him so much from what I've seen, this guy really thinks on some other plane x)

13) The talisman that he gave also reminded me of Sellen's monologue about primeval current and how everyone were children of the stars after all and needed to return to them!

Honestly that stuff was one of my favourite niches to think about, and what I did not expect from the DLC was returning to these themes! Feels very comfy! Like, I got something I did not even ask for only because I didn't even hope for elaboration :')

14) He also could teach two new spells after this, that are basically just variants of one another:

I haven't tested them yet, but sorcerer lamprey in the Finger Ruins were using these sorceries I believe! They were also pale blue and ricochetting!

15) After that I of course wanted to get to the next Finger Ruins already, so I asked @val-of-the-north how do I get to that spot on the map without passing the Shadow's Keep.. Turned out that I don't. 🤡 That is pretty much the area I've been avoiding, but yeah, I had to make my way to it now! That's on the next post though I am out of screenshot spots 🌛

[handsome-jacks-bottom-bitch]

Alright, let's talk about Easter in November, and by Easter, I mean easter eggs. The Borderlands franchise is chalk full of them, some obvious, some not. I'm gonna go over some of my personal favorites. Note, I'm not gonna go over EVERY easter egg, as that would take all day, so instead, I'll include the others in some future posts.

First easter egg I want to tell you about is in Borderlands 3. It's real easy to find, as it's a whole quest. Ever watch the best movie of all time, The Room, created by the best mind of anyone's generation, Tommy Wiseau? No? What are you doing with your life?

Well, regardless if your cultured or not, Tommy Wiseau makes a special appearance in his own quest "Buff Film Buff", located in Devils Razor. This quest becomes available once you've completed the main story quest "Blood Drive". The whole quest entails you helping Tommy Wiseau, or "Buff", get his film on the big screen for all to see, instead of the Calypso Twins propaganda videos.

Next easter egg is a smaller, more obscure one, but I still thoroughly enjoyed stumbling across it. In Borderlands 2, in the head hunter dlc "T.K. Bahas Bloody Harvest", you can come across a fun egg to classic horror films "The Blair Witch Project", "The Ring" and "Poltergeist". Scattered about the map are three televisions to find, and upon approaching them, little scenes will pop up referencing the films. They can be found in hidden, off the map areas.

You ever watch a movie and at the end, you sort of just sit there and think "what the hell did any of that mean?" Well, that was me watching Stanley Kubricks "2001: A Space Odyssey". So, imagine my confusion when I stumbled upon the all infamous monolith in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. If you head to Stantons Liver, search out the cave to the east of the map. It'll be chalk full of torks, so you'll know it when you see it. There will be a little opening towards the back of the cave. Hop in and follow the path, until you find it. The monolith. There will be some enemies in the area, so take them out, and then touch the monolith. You'll touch it about three times, each time taking you to a little area referencing different scenes from the film. At the end, you'll be greeted with a weapons chest, and that all too weird baby in space.

This particular easter egg is probably one the most known ones, but it's also one of my favorites. It first showed up in Borderlands 1, and even made a comeback in Borderlands 2, offering a little challenge if you go find it. I'm of course, talking about the hidden Claptrap of Fyrestone. In the town of Fyrestone, you can climb up onto a little fence when you first enter. Make it up to see onto the cliff, and you can find a green Claptrap unit waving and greeting you. Fast forward to Borderlands 2. Return to Fyrestone and follow the same path, however this time, you can approach the unit. Unfortunately, due to Jack destroying the product line, the Claptrap unit is now dead. However approaching it will reward you the challenge "Hey! Over here!" for 5 badass points. There's also a red chest waiting for you!

Those are just some of my favorites, but I don't want to make this post *too* long, as I could write all day. I'll make posts about other easter eggs in the future. In the meantime, I'm working on a thesis of sorts as to why Handsome Jack isn't as terrible as he may seem, and also a detailed telling of his entire backstory, working through all the plot inconsistencies that have shown up throughout the games.

[ihhfhonao3]

So sorry to the reddittor who spent a lot of time writing this out but it was too funny to not copypasta. Og credit to u/Warrior-Servant on Reddit, god bless you and I hope this was fun to hand type out

If you're a WrightWorth shipper and the idea of Feeny and Edgy in a romantic/sexual position with each other warms your heartstrings or rocks your socks, you may want to turn back now.

​

​

​

People are often mislead by their emotions and biases. In the Ace Attorney community, one strong example of this is the Phoenix Wright x Edgeworth shounen-ai (boys love) ship. Unfortunately, it not only just doesn't make sense, it contradicts canon and their characters.

I'll just spell it out for you:

CONFLICT

OF

INTEREST

Seriously, how uncomfortable would you as a defendant feel if your defense attorney was a lover of the prosecutor in charge of the case against you?! I know I would look for another lawyer and fire Phoenix as soon as I learn that information.

On the prosecution's side, how would the state (or prefecture) react to knowing that the attorney tasked with bringing justice against an accused is the lover of the accused's counsel?! The people would demand another prosecutor to ensure justice will be done. It doesn't matter if Edgeworth would totally believe such a relationship wouldn't cloud his judgement-sometimes perception is reality, and the fact of him being a lover just wouldn't "look good."

Edgeworth has shown time and time again that since his successful defense, he does his duty for whatever the truth is, no matter how harsh it may be. He formally accused Athena when she was accused of being a murderer, even if it would psychologically damage her, because if she truly committed a heinous crime, then he would do what he must. Similarly, he even resigned at one point because it was the right thing to do at the time.

Now you WrighWorth shippers expect a reasonable person to actually believe that this very same Edgeworth who would accuse trusted confidants of his friend to be murderers and resign the very career he is devoted to for someone else's sake would prosecute a case where he feels deep emotions and intimacy with the defense in an adversarial system? Hate to break it to you, but that wouldn't happen.

There is also the implications their relationship would have with each other. 1-5 is one such example; Damon Gant is a highly intelligent investigator, which is how he rose to the rank of Police Chief; he knows Edgeworth (at least) very well, and since Phoenix and Edgeworth didn't suspect him at all at first, he should know that Phoenix and Edgeworth would be lovers; if they were, he would call for a mistrial in a desperate attempt to throw away the case against Lana Skye once he started to become a suspect to the defense and prosecution. Not only that, but all cases where Phoenix is the defense, and Edgeworth is the prosecutor could be declared mistrials if they were lovers due to a conflict of interest.

Having your adversary be your lover would have a detrimental effect on professionalism. As was stated in case 6-DLC, the power of love is strong; so strong, that if a case's prosecutor and defense counsel had a romantic relationship, professional boundaries could be blurred, leading to biased decisions or actions.

The court is also a place of impartiality and fairness: if the public or the court perceives that the attorneys' personal relationship might influence their actions, it can undermine trust in the justice system, which contradicts the very fact that Phoenix and Edgeworth are trying to fight against corruption and "the dark age of the law."

Attorneys are also meant to be confidential to their clients-if the defense attorney was the lover to the prosecutor, than the information given under lawyer-client confidentiality is not secure if the defense has a deep and intimate relationship to the adversary.

There may be concerns about collusion or unethical collaboration between the defense attorney and the prosecutor to achieve a particular outcome in a case. This could result in unfair treatment for the opposing party or miscarriages of justice.

Many legal codes of ethics require attorneys to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Engaging in a romantic relationship with opposing counsel could be seen as a violation of these ethical standards.

The public expects legal professionals to uphold the highest ethical standards. Romantic involvement between opposing attorneys could damage their professional reputation and the reputation of the legal system as a whole.

​

Ironically, if WrightWorth were true, then they would be complicit in the dark age of the law, with a legal system allowing prosecutors and defense lawyers who are lovers to preside over legal cases. Seriously, how messed up and corrupt would that be?!