#lunar plays Baldur's Gate 3

[lunarreverb]

Just finished the silliest BG3 run that was.... not really a speedrun, but a mess-around solo run to see what happens if you effectively skip Act 1 and 2 (to the extent possible) and recruit nobody. Here's Bunnie the gnome; she's quick like a bunny!

Some of the most interesting things I found under the cut!

If you immediately jog over from the Nautiloid to the mountain pass area, Shadowheart will catch up to you and try to party up.

You can reject her company, of course; if you do, the artefact just appears in your inventory later after this brief cutscene saying ''you got the plot device.' The Emperor never addresses this at all but I have to assume it just looked at the both of you liked your main character energy better.

(For her part, Shadowheart will hang out indefinitely in front of the path to the mountain pass, insisting that you need her to come with you. She never seems to realize that the artefact ditched her, but seems to have the 'shielded' effect on her for as long as you can still go back to that area to check on her, so idk. I assume she dies/ceremorphosizes at some point after you leave the shadow cursed lands.)

If you leave for the mountain pass without encountering Raphael, he just shows up in your camp, and you do NOT have a choice to go to bed without speaking to him, lol.

What happens to Lae'zel is SUPER interesting. If you don't encounter her in the cage outside of the grove, the game gives you a second chance by setting her outside of the monastery, wandering around.

If you don't join her there, either, you will find her at the entrance of the Shadow-Cursed lands, extremely dead. I imagine this is just the game's way of making sure you see she's dead, but I would have assumed for sure that without player intervention she would've died in the zaith'isk? I wonder what sequence of events is implied by this? Maybe she broke out of the zaith'isk on her own, escaped the creche, but had nobody to warn her that she needed a torch in the Shadow-Cursed lands? Maybe the gith sent her on an errand before they let her have a turn in the cleansing machine? Unclear!

Your dream guardian comments that it's impressed by your efficiency by skipping over the grove entirely:

This is different from what it says if you actively durge the grove, where it insinuates that you did what you did to infiltrate the cult and asks whether or not you have regrets about that.

If you don't go to Last Light Inn at all, you can meet Jaheira for the first time at the bridge to Moonrise tower. She does NOT react well if you answer her question by saying "I'm busy, get out of the way"; this will aggro the Harpers (understandably). I ultimately decided to sneak around the back and I didn't canonically meet her for the first time until after defeating Ketheric. She will automatically join your camp for the one night on the way to Baldur's Gate, but she will leave forever (leaving you a letter saying "bye") once you get to the Lower City if you tell her at Moonrise you don't want her in your party.

She does not survive the events of the game if you do not let her join your party, it seems. (I did not pursue the Minsc storyline and I do not know if it's possible to prevent this outcome that way.)

This next bit is REALLY wild; in all of my other playthroughs, I don't think I ever tried defeating Gortash before I disabled the Steel Watch. You can defeat Gortash at his inauguration, and the Absolute will immediately be your bestie about it and will helpfully murder any of the witnesses (including Ulder Ravengard, I think; I took care not to kill him but he vanished anyway.)

The next thing that happens doesn't actually make sense but is interesting nevertheless. Once Gortash is dead, the Steel Foundry is automatically blown up, and the Absolute speaks encouragingly to the player through the Steel Watchers:

I'm actually stumped about how the Absolute can control the Steel Watchers without the corresponding tadpoled brains in the Foundry (which I have to assume got crushed in the rubble?) Oh well. In any case, the Steel Watchers are friendly and will even be allied with you if you get into any scuffles with the Fist, until you kill Orin. After you kill Orin, every Steel Watcher is immediately hostile AND will sic the Fist on you, too.

(Funny story, I actually managed to down one of the Watchers next to the Steel Watch fan group on the north end of Wyrm's Crossing and uh. The Watcher blew up one of the fanboys. Oops. RIP Trinigan Gazotts.)

I kinda want to write a whole post about just this, but Shadowheart's parents are still put up on display in the House of Grief basement in spite of the fact that she is almost certainly (?!) dead and/or a mindflayer by this point:

You can talk to them but you cannot help them in any way. I'm aware that this is just a tease for Shadowheart's plot, but I want to nitpick this so bad. The Sharrans have regular prison cells in the building; what is the point of hanging up these two on the Spencer's Gifts lights indefinitely? Whatever bummer vibes Shar is getting off of them can not be enough to pay for their magical upkeep. Do the Sharrans have to take them down at mealtimes, or are they fed with sandwiches on sticks, or...?

The love test at the circus is NOT interesting; the dryad assumes that you are in love even if you are forever alone and gives her usual sales pitch about bringing the one you love to her.

If you didn't save Wulbren or Barcus, the entrance to the Ironhand Gnomes' cave is just blocked off.

Astarion's unfortunate end if you don't recruit him has been covered in great detail by other posts, but I will remark that it is funny to kill Cazador yourself as a gnome because you have to hop up to stab him. It's also very, very funny to see Cazador explain his whole evil plot to you, random gnome woman who just showed up, if Astarion isn't around. This man is desperate for somebody to think he's cool, so I guess he'll settle for attention from the cattle if he's gotta.

Volo still shows up tied to that trolley cart by the foundry, but there's no angry mob around him.

If you haven't encountered the inquisitor at the creche, or the avatar of Vlaakith in the shadow cursed land, they both show up in the Elfsong's basement

There is no hag plot if you did not encounter Ethel. The captain at the Blushing Mermaid is just as she seems, there's no hag lair, and Vanra and her mother want nothing to do with you. There's no hag support group; that house has a group of random hostile thugs in it instead (with a tenuous tie-in to Ninefinger's Guild).

In Act 3, Raphael will totally say "listen here you little shit" if you hassled him outside of the mausoleum in Act 2 by, oh, I don't know, casting Silence on him? (after which he does NOT give you the Yurgir quest, he just leaves).

Bluurg and Omeluum do not show up at the Society of Brilliance's lodge if you did not meet them in the underdark in Act One, but there is a letter indicating that they will show up later. I checked, and Omeluum is also not in the Iron Throne.

Nothing funny or new happened with Orin. I threw her in a pit. BUT worth mentioning? You can skip the entire Bhaalist powerword kill trial if you just send one invisible party member through the area and just find the warppoint near the temple afterward. You're welcome.

If you get to the epilogue alone, Milil will comment that he expected more guests, but Withers will speak as if multiple people are there no matter what

Also, if you are a lonely little mindflayer, this has no effect on the refreshments offered at the epilogue party. Mindflayers can drink alcohol, apparently, but obviously nobody is here to eat all the food Withers put out. WTF, pee paw.

And I think that's mostly all the was interesting or different in this run. It was a fun challenge!

[tearfallpixie]

Trust and Love Side Chapter - Vinnys Stream

Tags: @nerdraging4point0 @thesazzb @synthetic-wasp-570 @circle-with-me @beaker1636 @itsjustemily @witchyweeb34 @agravemisstake @cookiesupplier @cncohshit @faceless-mirror @nonamessblog @yournecessaryevil @black-damask1999

@lyschko666 @vinyardmauro @skulliecadaver-blog @some-daniela @latenightmusiclover @rye14-blog1 @somewhere-diamond @Shilohrosechicken @abiomens @awkwardalex @rumoured-whispers @miss570

“Guys, guys. Think about it though, wouldn’t it make more sense for the solar eclipse to be the one where the moon reflects the light and the lunar be where the sun is behind?” Vinny exclaimed, arguing with his chat on stream. He had been having this conversation for the last 5 minutes while Ricky and Liv were out in the living room. They knew to give him his privacy while streaming so that there were no questions about why they were hanging around his place. However what the fans didn’t know was that he had a door to his room out of view of the camera so if they really needed him they had access to him.

“You guys are ridiculous. It makes more sense when the moon is the one in front for a lunar eclipse.” He huffed shaking his head. He heard the tell-tale signs of his door clicking open so he looked up to see Liv walking in. He cocked his head to ask if everything was ok. She shrugged and pointed to the living room and then slashed her neck with her thumb as if to say she was going to kill Rick. Vin casually covered his mouth to hide his grin and went back to focusing on his stream as she settled in his bed. He smiled softly as she laid there scrolling on her phone. He loved moments like these where she just hung out in the same room with him as he gamed. “What?” He asked, noticing a fan in the comments asking him if he was ok. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just thinking. Forget about the moon and sun. I don’t care anymore.”

He continued playing Baldur’s Gate 3 while chatting with the audience for a while longer until he saw Ricky walk in with a giant smirk on his face. Vinny watched him carefully, now realizing that he and Liv were up to something, but he was only two hours into his promised 4 hour stream so he had to let it go for now. What he was not expecting was for Ricky to crawl into his bed and start filthily kissing Liv, tongue and all.

“Hang on guys. I’m going to go grab a drink. I’ll be right back.” He muted his mic and stepped off screen, crossing his arms over his chest. “What the fuck are you doing, assholes?” He snapped.

“Nothing Vin? We’re just kissing. Right Rick?” Liv giggled.

“Of course, baby girl. We wouldn’t dare risk distracting Vin from his stream.” Ricky purred, grinning at the drummer. Vinny was about to say something, but Rick cut him off. “Better go get a drink Vin. Don’t want to make your audience wait too long.” Vin growled and left the room before coming back with a can of sprite and glaring at the pair entangled on his bed. He went back on camera and clicked his mic on before sitting down.

“I’m back. Where were we?” He was able to get through another 15 minutes before he heard a barely audible gasp coming from his bed. He looked over to see that Ricks hand was up Livs shirt and was massaging her boob as his tongue dove deep into her mouth. Those fuckers. They were teasing him, and he couldn’t do shit about it because he couldn’t just abandon stream. He took a deep breath and tore his eyes away from the tantalizing sight. He shifted a little as his pants started getting tight from the sight of his boyfriend and girlfriend making out in front of his face. His eyes flicked back to them to see Rick dragging Liv into his lap and pulling her shirt over her head.

“Fuck.” Vin whispered as he stared at Livs beautiful chest being cupped ever so gently by a beautiful red lace bra. Ricky looked over and flicked his eyes to Vinny’s camera as if to stay ‘Pay attention’. Vinny turned back to his stream and sank in his chair to slightly block the two from his vision. He clicked to youtube and put on the Dracula flow video to help distract him but it was to no avail as Ricky unclasped Livs bra and sensually pulled it down her arms before taking one of her perky nipples into his mouth.

Vinny reached down to palm his growing hard on and to try to will it away somehow but seeing his girl so exposed and vulnerable prevented that. Ricky saw him focused on them and not his stream and smirked, licking a path from Livs nipple up to her neck where he started sucking and leaving purple bruises on the exposed skin. Vin saw Liv look at him through hooded eyes and mouth his name making him double over.

Vinny, you ok? You don’t look so hot

One of the subscriber messages spoke. Vinny sat up and looked at the screen with a sheepish grin.

“I’m ok. I think the long as fuck tour is catching up to me. I’m just a bit under the weather but I’m good enough to keep streaming.” He said. His eyes flicked over to Rick and Liv once more to see Ricky mouth ‘good boy’ to him, making him blush. He turned back to his computer and clicked off the video to go back to Baldur’s Gate where he attempted to woo his companion but failed miserably. “YOU GUYS TOLD ME TO SAY THE BLANKET!” He yelled at chat. To be honest he had only seen a couple messages saying it so its what he clicked that to get through the scene. He had wanted to get the character for his character, but his brain was very obviously somewhere else.

“I just want my character to have a good girl.” He complained, looking into Olivia’s eyes as he said that. He could feel her shudder from the words and smirked to himself. “I just want to find myself a good lil mama to take care of.” He saw Ricky roll his eyes and drop Liv on her back again before crawling down and pulling her lacy panties down her legs. Vinny leaned off screen and hissed. “Don’t you fucking dare.” He was just far enough away that it didn’t get picked up by the mic at all. Rick gave him an innocent smile as he propped up Olives leg and placed a gentle kiss to the inside of it. “Fuck you, dude.” He pouted, pulling back. He cracked open his can of sprite and took a sip to clear his salivating mouth as he watched Ricky leave bruise after bruise further into Liv’s thigh.

At that point Vinny gave up on gaming and just started playing different music and youtube videos to pretend to be watching. His eyes were 100% trained on the way Olivia was squirming and letting out airy gasps at Rickys kisses. He made halfhearted comments to keep the stream engaged but he was too far gone. He watched as the guitarist started licking at Liv’s entrance, his hand going to palm at his now extremely strained erection. He huffed and gave in, unbuttoning his pants to give himself a little relief.

“Dude this page knows what they are doing. They create absolute stupidity and it works because they get views.” He responded to a random comment. He clicked onto another video and looked back to see Rick licking into Liv like he was on death’s door and he was eating his last meal. Vinny watched as his beautiful girlfriend toppled over the edge of her climax and started to come down. He thought she always looked the most beautiful post orgasm, when she was short of breath and gasping for air.

Ricky helped Olivia slide her panties back up her legs and put a shirt over her naked torso which Vinny recognized as one of his grey shirts that was baggy on him, so it looked massive on her. He started to relax, thinking maybe they would leave and it would be done for but he was sorely mistaken. Rick whispered something in Livs ear while looking at him and he raised an eyebrow. The guitarist smirked and so did his sweet little angel and he got worried all over again. He watched as Liv crawled off the bed and under his desk so she was nestled sweetly between his legs. He glanced down to see her giving him her dangerous doe eyes and he silently pleaded with her not to do what he was thinking.

Unfortunately, his telepathic powers were for naught because next thing he knew he felt delicate little fingers tugging him out of his boxers and stroking him. He bit back a groan and glanced over at Rick who was leaning against his headboard with a smile. At this point he was not in a position where he could easily mute the stream and scold them so he just had to endure the delicious torture.

“My exhaustion is starting to get to me guys. I might have to cut this stream short. I’m so sorry.” He mumbled. He noticed Ricky move quickly to the door and then towards him. His eyes widened and he internally cussed him out, knowing what the asshole had planned.

“Hey Vin! Are you streaming?” Ricky asked loudly. He stepped into camera view and pulled up the extra chair Vinny had in his room.

“I didn’t know you were coming over.” Vinny tried to keep his voice cheerful.

“Your roommate let me in. I was in the area so I thought I would stop by.” Ricky smirked. “Hi chat! How is everyone?” As he asked that Vinny felt a wet appendage start caressing the underside of his member and he jerked a little.

“You ok there?” Ricky asked with a smile.

“Fine. Foot just fell asleep.” Vinny offered with a quiet voice. He was sure if he spoke too loudly a moan would escape him.

Ricky! Where is Olivia?

“Olivia? She’s … home enjoying some ice cream.” Ricky grinned viciously. Vinny groaned as there was a hum from the devil below him, sending vibrations up his dick.

“I guess I should go guys. Ricky must want to hang out.” Vinny tried but Ricky waved him off.

“I just got here! I don’t mind hanging out with your chat for a while.” Ricky said casually, patting him on his back.

“But i-its late. D-don’t you need to get home to Olive?” Vinny attempted one more time. He made a point to not call her Liv in public because that was a special nickname just for him and he wanted to cherish that.

“Not at all. I actually texted her before I walked in that I was going to hand out with you for a while.” Vinny cursed his quick thinking and dropped his head onto the arm that he didn’t realize was on the back of his chair. “You ok Vinny? You look a little pale.” Ricky asked in mock concern.

“Fine.” He gritted. “Tour exhaustion is just catching up to me.” He huffed as he felt lips slide half way down his member before pulling off again and repeating the process. “Fuck.” He practically whined.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just r-remembered I had to send out fan packages today but I didn’t.” He covered.

“You better get this exhaustion under control soon, Vin. We go on another tour in a week and we need you at peak performance.” Ricky teased him, moving a hand to his thigh and rubbing it slowly.

“Trust me. I think I-I’ll be fine.” He quickly switched the song to something a little noisier incase any unwanted sounds escaped his lips. He felt the brush of a tongue on the underside of his member before his eyes went wide, feeling the added addition of a piercing. He quickly looked over to Ricky who was grinning at him innocently. He grabbed Rickys hand and squeezed it, pleading for mercy as his climax rushed upon him. He gritted his teeth as Liv went back to suckling on his dick, making sure the piercing brushed his sensitive tip. When it felt like he was going to explode Ricky brushed his hand away from the mouse and quickly blinded his camera and muted his mic.

“Fuck!” Vinny snapped, pulling Ricky into a sloppy kiss as he released his climax down Olivia’s throat. He pulled away and dropped his head to the guitarists shoulder as he gasped heavily. When he opened his eyes and looked down at the devil between his legs, she was just smiling like a pleased puppy. “I hate you both.”

“No you don’t.” Ricky murmured, still smiling at him when he clicked the camera and mic back on. Vinny glance over and closed his youtube tab before expanding the view of him and Ricky to full screen. “I think we’re going to call it a night guys. Vinny is completely exhausted and needs to get some sleep. Sorry to cut the stream short.” They watched as the goodbyes poured in before waving and ending the stream.

“You guys are fucking assholes.” He muttered.

“Are you mad at me?” Liv asked with the biggest doe eyes he had ever seen.

“That’s bullying.” He pouted. Olivia slid up from under his desk and settled herself in his lap.

“Baby, I didn’t mean to upset you. I just wanted to make you feel as amazing as you make me feel.” She batted her eyelashes at him.

“Next time, not during my stream.” He scolded, wrapping his arms around her waist. “That goes for you too, dick.” He looked over at his boyfriend.

“You love my dick.” Ricky snickered.

“I love it in my mouth.” Vinny popped off making all three of them burst out laughing.

“I can arrange that.” Ricky threatened.

“Maybe later. First. I want to take advantage of my beautiful girlfriend that you sprawled out in front of me when I couldn’t do anything about it.” Vinny stood up with Liv still in his arms and threw her on the bed before dragging Ricky into another filthy kiss and falling back onto the bed with her.

[augusts-sketchbook]

wanted to upload some old art of Lilith (non tav version) because I've had such a great time playing a version of her that exists in the BG3 universe! I've never really managed to be consistent with any of my OC's except her. She's my girl<3 (Lil bit about her under the cut)

Lilith exists in a universe I created for a webcomic idea called LUNAR. I have been sitting on like a million ideas since late 2022 (curse of the ADHD to never finish anything) and BG3 has genuinely sparked my interest in it again :') It's very heavily inspired by DND (as that's what Liliths backstory originally was for) with a vast array of characters and stories to be told. The heart of the story is love and survival, and even though its a big unfininished mess, baldurs gate has given me the inspiration to take another crack at it. So maybe i'll post more about it soon!! Hopefully a more coherent explanation lmao

Also I need to update her sheet to include her pronouns - Lilith is canonically trans/non binary and goes by she/they! I'm toying with they/them excl. but for now she is still working for her :blue_heart: :pink_heart: :white_heart:

[mercy-mercie-mercymorn]

TAVS.

bg3 spoilers ahead!

aurora (gold dragonborn cleric of mielikki) grew up in the woods, far away from the city. she likes animals and once spent three days chasing a unicorn, just to see what it did. on a diplomatic trip to stop logging that was infringing on a grove once considered sacred to mielikki, she got abducted. pokey sticks and fire breath quickly proved to be the best way to make her way through her new life. on the way she fell head over heels for the two dumbasses who got fucked by the Hells. so they decided to start saving people, hunting things. and now it's wyll and wyll's wife aurora and aurora's wife karlach's family business. yay hell polycule!

(aurora is the reason i call wyll my wife. he's just. my wife <3)

kassandra (seladrine drow warlock) has never been to the underdark. she has a cousin there, on her mom's side, maybe? she grew up in baldur's gate and made a career for herself as a shrewd businesswoman (she makes jewelry; that's how she got warlockéd). using people's impressions of drow against them is like her primary skill and it works surprisingly often despite the fact that she is 5'3" on a good day and has the face of a disney princess. she also has the animal skills of one. aurora is steve irwin, kassandra is cinderella. karlach and kassandra were instant besties, which evolved in the sapphic tradition of "surely she doesn't mean it like that haha" until kassandra just straight up said she wanted to make out with karlach.

(i haven't finished her playthrough yet because i'm afraid teehee)

winter (avariel [mod, winged elf] bard) is your manic pixie dream girl. i stole her name and most of her appearance from Winter The Lunar Chronicles because i am a silly little criminal. winter has never met a problem she could not make marvel-esque quips at, much to shadowheart's eternal chagrin. desperately wants karlach to teach her that silly tiktok dance she's always doin So Bad. her adventure is a very strange change of pace for her because she was previously a tavern waitress/occasional entertainer when there was literally no other option. as such, she does not know how to use weapons really at all and makes everyone else protect her (insert pleading face emoji). anyways, she's the golden retriever gf to shart's black cat gf.

(her wings get in the way of every cutscene but i still love her)

marie (human durge paladin) is like if tinkaton was a person. she hates the murderhobo ps5 in her brain and loves weird little guys (gale). voted most likely to cry at dog food commercials. i really haven't played much of her, so i haven't decided on much backstory for her.

(i just think she's a little funny)

the one that only sort of counts.

cynthia (tiefling wild magic sorcerer) is literally just my OC who got isekaid to faerun. the only people who know this are the """dream guardian""", the gods, and the three dipshits and their lame goddess. she's there to cause problems and live up to her old nickname: Godkiller. her fake persona, Lady Cynthia Tav, is from a little town on the coast and enjoys the finer things in life. her most fervent desire is to have a spray bottle so she can get astarion to stop that (at any given moment, "that" ranges from mild horniness to wanting to violently murder people). she is beginning to understand what it was like for her brother to raise her.

(don't have many pics of her, but she's the most frequent subject of my drawings)

there's a bunch of more in my notebook that i doodle in while playing

[zorkaya-moved]

navigation: baldur's gate 3.

WARNING ! this verse is based only after playing bg3's act i and the writer does not know the deep dnd lore. all the information about lunar sorcery and astral elves was taken from wikis and quick research. all is created for fun's sake and for roleplaying/writing on tumblr.

Upon reaching the crashed Nautiloid's center, you find a woman standing above the surviving mind flayer. However, before you can say anything, the creature is set on fire. The illithid's screams echo in your head through the tadpole's presence but it silence down with a moment.

When you meet the woman's eyes, you notice they shine in gold. Your tadpole is ringing in your head, showing you images of cold-hearted destruction, you feel nothing as you can see the strike against the mind flayer. You see several people die in front of you, but you have no desire to help them.

You feel powerful, you feel hollow.

Your head hurts, you must stop reading her mind, you must stop, you must not be consumed, you must step away—

Your pain stops. You can breathe. She smiles at you...

???: Another survivor? Ah, yes, I remember you from the Nautiloid. Good job in taking care of the tieflings' general. You do understand how fucked our current situation is, yes? I don't need to give you a run down?

Who the hell are you?

Pardon but who are you?

For someone who's about to lose their life, you talk too much.

[ARCANA] Your powers... They're unlike what I've seen before.

???: Aw, you're such a charmer. My name is Zarina, my last name is of no importance to you. Say, would you be interested in letting me join your little merry band? It'd be quite a shame to travel alone with a tadpole in my heart.

Narrator: You were not given a chance to reply.

𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐔𝐍𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐃 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍.

o1. OF HIEMAL MOONS & DEATH'S LULLABIES (PT2) (PT3) — general background knowledge about zarina, her status in faerun/baldur's gate, and her past.

o2. OF LUNAR SORCERY — short headcanon about stats and what zarina is known to be proficient in. (tba)

o3. EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD — first impressions of bg3 companions.

o4. COMPANION QUEST SUMMARY — the title explains everything. (tba)

o5. CAN YOU MAKE THE ICE QUEEN SMILE? — approval and disapproval, how to gain zarina's high approval if she were a companion? (tba)

CURRENT RAMBLINGS THAT WILL BE USED FOR THE VERSE BUT ARE NOT YET FULL METAS:

Current short draft of Zarina's BG3 verse. + More in-depth study fo the future verse with better explanations of her past. You can find the main information here.

What can you expect from Zarina's companion quest?

Current rough draft of how to gain Zarina's favor or have her disapprove of your character.

A tidbit about Zarina's travels.

A small ramble about how long Zarina's been to Faerun post Astral plane.

[the-wardens-torch]

So I was gonna spend an hour or so writing about how Baldur's Gate 3 is still eating up what would normally be my FFXIV time, but then I looked at Baldur's Gate 3 fanart for 57 minutes so now I have to be brief because sleep schedule and worknight and whatnot.

Yeah. Just thought I should put something here... anything. I have been playing FFXIV, but mostly just to boss retainers around and make veeeeeery slow progress on my Island Sanctuary despite the fact that IS actually sucks and everyone knows it. I haven't actually done a duty (hehe I said "done a duty") since before I left for my 2 week vacay... over a month ago.

I still haven't unlocked the Lunar Subterraneananfnwena or the Abysmal Fracker, not so much because I'm not interested (FFIV was my first FF title and is still a fave of mine, after all) so much as I'm still just... too lazy? I know there's stuff to do, but I just kind of... squint and crane my neck back to watch it fly over my head, until I'm tilted so far back I just... fall over and lose interest. Then it starts over again. I feel like an exceptionally stupid dog sitting between two kids that are throwing a ball back and forth.

"Oh hey, its that thing I like... Maybe I should chase it. Fuck, its gone now. And now I'm on the floor. Might as well take a nap zzzzzzzzzzhuh are they throwing it again? Shit, I should get up."

Anyway, I'm on playthrough #2 of BG3 and I absolutely adore Karlach and Gale. I don't want Astarion anywhere near me, although if he had his own TV show I'd watch the fuck out of it.

Long story short, I guess Fal is still on ice for the time being. Although I prefer to think that "on ice" means that he's currently doing things he enjoys more than adventuring, which is most things; instead of this.

I like to think he's doing fun stuff like collecting books, writing music, slutting around The Quicksand, playing gigs in Limsa, unexpectedly showing up at friends' houses with wine and funny stories, etc.

(fun fact: this was the first screenshot I took on my new PC)

[diversegaminglists]

Eldrich/Cosmic Horror/Lovecraftian Themed Games

Still a WIP and not everything has been sorted yet.

Major Theme (Serious/Horror):

Alan Wake

Alone in the Dark Franchise

Alpha Polaris : A Horror Adventure Game

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

Anchorhead

Aquaria

Arcane Mystery Serial (Link goes to the first episode, the rest of the series can be found in the sidebar)

Arkham Nightmares

Astray

At the Mountains of Madness (Early Access)

Ayumi: Enhanced Edition

Bayonetta (The creator the angels keep going on about isn’t an Abrahamic god...)

Blackbay Asylum

Bloodborne

Bloodrayne 1 & 2

The Breach

Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game (Upcoming game due 2018)

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (Basically an adaptation of the Shadow Over Insmouth with slightly less racism, the PC port is very buggy because it was made by literally one person after studio closures, but there are fan patches to help.)

Call of Cthulhu: Prisoner of Ice

Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet

Cards of Cthulhu

Cata Cthulhu

Chronicle of Innsmouth

Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross

Chzo Mythos (Yahtzee’s adventure series)

Clive Barker’s Jerico

Clive Barker’s The Undying

Clockwork Express

Conarium

The Consuming Shadow

Crawl

Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason

Crysis Franchise

CTHON

CthulhuMud

cthulhu fhtagn

Cthulhu Realms

Cult of Cthulhu (Mod for Plague Inc. Evolved)

Daily Chthonical

Dark Scavenger

Darkwood (Early Access)

The Dark Stone from Mebara

Darkest Dungeon

The Darkness Within Franchise

Dark Souls Franchise

Dawn of War

Dead Space Franchise

Deadly Premonition

Demon’s Souls

Dead by Daylight

Deathstate

Demonbane Franchise

Demon’s Souls

Discworld: Noir

Doorways: Holy Mountains of Flesh

Downwell

Earnest Evans Franchise (Hastur)

The Elder Scrolls Franchise (Most obviously with House Dagoth in Morrowind and Skyrim’s Dragonborn DLC)

Elder Sign: Omens

Elder Sign: Portents

Eldrich (Roguelike where you explore a library and enter worlds inside several Lovecraft books)

Eldritch Hunter

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem

Euclidean

Eversion

The Evil Within

Evolve

Fallen London

Fallout 3: Point Lookout (DLC)

FEAR Franchise (Alma herself)

Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Gloom (2017, not to be confused with the 90s Amiga Doom clone)

Green Mirror

Grim Dawn

Half-Life Franchise

Haunted Hotel 4

The Hound of Shadow (Text Adventure)

The Hunt for the Red Cthulhu

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker

Inner Voices

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

The King of Shreds and Patches (Text Adventure)

Kingdom Hearts (The Heartless, The Nobodies and Kingdom Hearts itself)

Kingdom of Loathing

The Last Door Franchise

Layers of Fear (This is really up to interpretation of the game’s plot but it uses many of the traditional story devices associated with “lovecraftian” horror and there are rats in the walls.)

LIMBO

Lobotomy Corporation (Early Access)

Lost Souls (MUD)

The Lurking Horror (Text Adventure)

Lusternia (free 2 play MMO)

Magrunner: Dark Pulse

The Majesty of Colors

Mansions of Madness (free steam version of the board game)

Marathon Franchise

The Moaning Words

Monria (MMO)

Mystery Of Mortlake Mansion

Mystery Stories: Mountains of Madness

Mythos: The Beginning

Muv-Luv Franchise

Nasuverse Franchise (This includes games like Fate/stay night and Tsukihime)

Necronomicon (An old Japanese game, haven’t found an English translation yet, but including for completeness)

Necronomicon: The Dawning of Darkness

The Necronomicon & Necronomicon - Book of Dead Names

Nexus War (defunct) & Nexus Clash

Nightmare on Azathoth

The Nightmare from Beyond

NoseBound

Oracle of Tao

Oxenfree

Pandora's Tower

Parasite Eve Franchise

The Park (Set in the same universe as The Secret World)

Path of Exile

Pathways into Darkness

Penumbra Franchise (From the same developer as Amnesia: The Dark Descent)

Phantasmal: Survival Horror Roguelike aka Phantasmal: City of Darkness

Phoenix Point (Upcoming 2018)

Poacher

Pony Island (It’s the Devil rather than a Lovecraftian style monster, but it features many of the usual devices)

Prey (2006)

Prey (2017)

Prototype Franchise

Quake (Shub-Niggurath)

Quest Fantasy

Red Haze

Resident Evil 4 (others in the franchise may qualify but 4 is the most obvious)

Reveal the Deep

The Rise of Cthulhu: Demo

Robert D. Anderson and the Legacy of Cthulhu

Rogue Stormers

Sanity: Aiken's Artifact

Saya no Uta (A man has an accident that makes him perceive normal people as horrendous eldrich monstrosities and then he meets a girl who... looks like a pretty girl. Rape and sexual assault warnings.)

SCP Foundation Games

The Secret World (MMO)

Secret World Legends

Shadow Hearts Franchise

Shadow Over Isolation

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened

Shikkoku No Sharnoth (Looking at screenshots I think this one might involve tentacles. Possible sexual assault warning.)

Shin Megami Tensei Franchise (including Persona 1, 2, and 3)

Shoggoth Rising

Shrouded In Sanity

The Shrouded Isle

Silent Hill Franchise (The town itself is alive even before you consider all the other thingies)

The Sinking City (upcoming game)

Siren (aka Forbiden Siren) Franchise

Skullgirls

Sons of Uruzime

South of Real

Splatterhouse

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Franchise

Strife

The Suffering Franchise

Sunless Sea

System Shock 2 (The Many)

Tales From the Void

Tattletail

The Terrible Old Man

They Bleed Pixels

They Breathe

This Book Is A Dungeon

Tormentum - Dark Sorrow

Transistor

Twisted Lands: Shadow Town

Undertale

Utawarerumono Franchise

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

VHS

Wait - Extended

We Need to Go Deeper

The Whisperer in Darkness

The Worry of Newport (Mod for Crysis 1)

X-COM: Terror From the Deep

Themed but Comedy/Non-Horror:

Army of Tentacles Franchise

Baobabs Mausoleum Ep. 1 Ovnifagos Don´t Eat Flamingos

The Bizarre Adventures Of Woodruff And The Schnibble

Cthulhu Saves the World

Flappy Monsters of Lovecraft

Hearthstone: Whispers Of The Old Gods

Howard Phillips Lovecar (Early Access)

Leave Cthulhu Alone

Lovecraft Word Search

Magicka: The Stars Are Left (DLC)

Mormonoids from the Deep

Pray For Death (Playable Cthulhu)

Project Starship

The Rapture Is Here And You Will Be Forcibly Removed From Your Home

Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse

Tesla vs Lovecraft

Where is the Lovecraft?

Wynken, Blynken, Cthulhu, and Nod

Minor appearances:

Age of Decadence

Ancient Domains of Mystery aka ADOM

Baldur’s Gate 2 (Planar travel, the Demogorgon, and probably the final boss)

Battleborn

Beyond Good and Evil

The Binding of Isaac Franchise

Blood Franchise

Borderlands Franchise (Some of the vaults have big nasties in them, some of the raid bosses also qualify)

Bravely Default

Breath of Fire IV

Castlevania Franchise

Cookie Clicker

Copy Kitty

Crusader Kings II (Yes, really)

Cultist Simulator

Deadly Rooms of Death aka DROD Franchise

Destiny (The Vex and The Darkness)

Destiny: The Taken King (Raid bosses)

Dishonored Franchise

Defense of the Ancients aka DotA Franchise

Dragon Age Franchise

Drakengard Franchise

Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun

Dwarf Fortress

Pikmin Franchise (Final bosses)

Elona

Epic Mickey

Etrian Odyssey Franchise

Everlong

Fable (Jack of All Blades)

Fable III (The Crawler)

Fable: The Journey

Fatal Frame 2 (An optional boss in Survival Mode is the malice from the hellgates made manifest, rather than a ghost)

Final Fantasy Franchise (It would be easier to list which games don’t have some kind of cosmic horror eldritch abomination things in them. The most obvious ones are Jenova, Sin, and The Cloud of Darkness)

Five Nights At Freddy’s Franchise

Grey Goo

Guild Wars Franchise

Half-Life Franchise

Halo Franchise

Hatoful Boyfriend Franchise

Homeworld: Cataclysm

Immortal Defense

Jak 3: Wastelander

Knights and Dragons

La-Mulana

Legacy of Kain Franchise

League of Legends

The Legend of Spyro: Dawn Of The Dragon

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

LittleBigPlanet 2

Lunar: Eternal Blue aka Lunar 2

Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis

Mass Effect Franchise

Metroid Franchise

Minecraft: Story Mode

Mother Franchise

Mugen Souls Franchise

NeverWinter Nights 2

Paradigm

Pathologic

Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium

Pokemon Platinum

Return to Krondor (The God of Evil)

Rift (MMO)

RuneScape

SaGa 3 aka Final Fantasy Legend III

Scribblenauts Franchise (You can summon Cthulhu and Shogoths)

Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator

Shadow of the Colossus (becomes more and more obvious towards the end of the game)

Slash Em Extended

SMITE

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

SoulCalibur Franchise (The Soul Edge and SoulCalibur themselves)

Stories Untold

Terraria

Thief: The Dark Project & Thief: Deadly Shadows

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

Warcraft 3

The Witcher (Dagon)

World of Warcraft

Xenogears

Xenosaga Franchise

Easter Eggs only:

Civilisation VI (A steam achievement)

PAYDAY 2 (A Cthulhu mask)

Dating Eldrich Monsters (both serious and non-serious):

Cthulhu Saves the World

Demonbane Franchise

Dra+Koi

Saya no Uta (A man has an accident that makes him perceive normal people as horrendous eldrich monstrosities and then he meets a girl who... looks like a pretty girl. Rape and sexual assault warnings.)

Unsorted:                                                                                                                 

Sonic Adventure

Sonic: Unleashed

Space Station 13

Spectrobes Franchise

The Stanley Parable

Star Control Franchise

Starbound

StarCraft

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Stellaris

Sundered

Sword of the Stars Franchise

Tales of Vesperia

Tentacult!

Turok Franchise

Touhou Franchise

UFO Afterblank

Warcraft Franchise

Warframe

Warriors Orochi

We Know the Devil

Ys Franchise

[virginieboesus]

My Top 7 RPG Series That Aren’t Final Fantasy

It’s no real secret that I love the Final Fantasy games! I mean, the first game that I finished on stream was Final Fantasy VIII. Final Fantasy Tactics is my third favourite game of all time as well. But, let’s all be honest; the series gets discussed so much that it really does overshadow other RPG series out there.

After all, there is a metric tonne of RPGs out in the wild for you to enjoy. So, for today’s post, I wanted to put the spotlight on my top 7 RPG series that aren’t Final Fantasy! So, let’s get to it, shall we?

7. Chrono

We are going to start off this list with another Square series; the Chrono games. Now, I was torn between whether to put Star Ocean, Valkyria Chronicles or the Chrono games here… However, I didn’t really enjoy the newer Star Ocean games, and whilst Valkyria Chronicles was amazing, the series quickly went downhill (and I haven’t played the newest one yet). So, when I actually thought about the fact that we are looking at the series as a whole, the Chrono games come out on top.

Chrono Trigger is well known for being one of the best RPGs ever made, whilst Chrono Cross generally doesn’t get anywhere near enough love. These two games are both masterpieces in their own right, with deep and confusing storylines, plus great combat. Personally, I prefer Chrono Cross myself, but I am more than willing to admit that I am weird.

6. The Forgotten Realms

Next up, we have the Forgotten Realms series of games. This series includes but is not limited to Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Icewind Dale. All of the games are great Dungeons and Dragons video games by themselves, but when you add them together and look at the campaign setting, they are even better! The alignment system is brilliantly implemented, and the combat feels amazing unique.

The stories, which are incredibly important for any RPG, are well presented as well. There are certainly a few negative points, and some of the games will test your patience with the sheer amount of character customisation as you progress, but I love them all the same!

5. Lunar

Another series that is very close to my heart is the Lunar series of games. The series started out on the MegaCD with Lunar: The Silver Star, before getting a sequel called Lunar 2: Eternal Blue. These games were then loving remastered and ported to the PlayStation, which is where I first experienced them. These versions were called Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete. Since then, the games have been remastered and ported multiple times, showing just how beloved the games really are.

The animated cutscenes and voice acting help to bring the characters to life, and whilst the older versions of the game were certainly challenging, you would find yourself so enthralled that you would just keep trying. There’s also a decent splash of humour in the games as well, to make sure that it isn’t always dark in tone.

4. Dot Hack

Anime is incredibly popular; that is a pretty redundant statement these days. However, when I was growing up that wasn’t really the case. Instead, anime was something that you were bullied for enjoying. This was also true during my teenage years as well, so when I found the anime .hack//SIGN and really enjoyed it, I didn’t really mention it to anyone. That’s a shame really, because I probably could have gotten more people to both watch the anime and then play the first set of PS2 games.

These games are pseudo-MMORPGs. You can “log in” to the game to play, or “log out” and read emails from other “players” or chat with them on a forum. The developers did an amazing job at creating the world around the MMO featured in the game, as well as making the pseudo-MMO portions of the game feel realistic too. The combat is simple to pick up but takes time to master, and the trade system with other “players” is genius. Admittedly, the game’s levels aren’t much to look at in terms of beauty and uniqueness, but everything else in the games makes up for that!

3. Wild Arms

When I was a kid, if you had told me that a J-RPG series that mixes demons, magic and Spaghetti Westerns together would end up being one of my favourites, I would have laughed so hard you’d think I was crazy. Yet, here we are, talking about Wild Arms. The first time I played Wild Arms was shortly after completing Final Fantasy VII for the first time. I was looking for my next big J-RPG to sink my teeth into and spotted it on a shelf in Blockbusters. It looked intriguing, and since it was a rental, I was more than happy to give the game a try.

Since that day, I’ve played the large majority of the Wild Arms games, were 2nd Ignition being my favourite in the series. Sadly, the Wild Arms games never really sold well in the States or Europe, meaning that the series effectively died (with the exception of the recent Mobile game). This means that the games can be pretty expensive these days. However, I would definitely say that they are worth it!

2. Megami Tensei

The penultimate entry in this of a great RPG series that aren’t Final Fantasy has to go Megami Tensei. I recently said on Twitter that I rate Megami Tensei and Final Fantasy at the same level in terms of my “RPG love”. Both series are absolutely massive, with Megami Tensei featuring all sorts of takes on the RPG gameplay. The most famous sub-series of Megami Tensei is the Persona games. Persona 3, 4 and 5 launched Megami Tensei into the limelight far more.

However, I still prefer the original PlayStation Persona games, as well as Lucifer’s Call on the PS2. But you know what? The greatest thing about Megami Tensei is the developers were always finding new ways to add customised designs and a wonderful look & feel. This style and design of Megami Tensei games have become synonymous with the series, showing how much the developers care about the franchise as a whole.

1. Shadow Hearts

And so we come to the final entry in tonight list; the Shadow Hearts games. These are some of the darkest RPG make in history, dealing with loss, suicide and much more. The games, despite their comical nature, can create some really dark and lasting memories. There are so many events in the games that will forever be stuck in my head, like the tale of Li Li or the way in which Shadow Hearts 2 ends.

Starting with my favourite game of all time, Koudelka, the series hits the ground running when it comes to dealing with dark tones. From there, with the first Shadow Hearts, your very first town that you reach turns out to be run by a bunch of cannibals who then switch into being demons. Oh, and the opening video is incredibly violent, with soldiers getting sliced apart and the hero getting his arm cut off but reattaching it. So yeah, Shadow Hearts is definitely one of the darkest yet strangely comical RPG series I have played.

But that’s not all. The characters are all really well developed and the story is surprisingly good. The translation of the first game isn’t great, as to be expected, and the graphics haven’t really held up well, but the series overall is most certainly worth your time.

And That’s All Folks

Those were my top 7 RPG series that aren’t Final Fantasy. The top 2 of them might have been obvious for those who have read this for a while, but that’s only because both of the series deserved a lot more attention that they received.

What are your favourite RPG series? Let me know in the comments below!

from More Design Curation https://www.16bitdad.com/blog/my-top-7-rpg-series-that-arent-final-fantasy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=my-top-7-rpg-series-that-arent-final-fantasy source https://smartstartblogging.tumblr.com/post/183955774790

[smartstartblogging]

My Top 7 RPG Series That Aren’t Final Fantasy

It’s no real secret that I love the Final Fantasy games! I mean, the first game that I finished on stream was Final Fantasy VIII. Final Fantasy Tactics is my third favourite game of all time as well. But, let’s all be honest; the series gets discussed so much that it really does overshadow other RPG series out there.

After all, there is a metric tonne of RPGs out in the wild for you to enjoy. So, for today’s post, I wanted to put the spotlight on my top 7 RPG series that aren’t Final Fantasy! So, let’s get to it, shall we?

7. Chrono

We are going to start off this list with another Square series; the Chrono games. Now, I was torn between whether to put Star Ocean, Valkyria Chronicles or the Chrono games here… However, I didn’t really enjoy the newer Star Ocean games, and whilst Valkyria Chronicles was amazing, the series quickly went downhill (and I haven’t played the newest one yet). So, when I actually thought about the fact that we are looking at the series as a whole, the Chrono games come out on top.

Chrono Trigger is well known for being one of the best RPGs ever made, whilst Chrono Cross generally doesn’t get anywhere near enough love. These two games are both masterpieces in their own right, with deep and confusing storylines, plus great combat. Personally, I prefer Chrono Cross myself, but I am more than willing to admit that I am weird.

6. The Forgotten Realms

Next up, we have the Forgotten Realms series of games. This series includes but is not limited to Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Icewind Dale. All of the games are great Dungeons and Dragons video games by themselves, but when you add them together and look at the campaign setting, they are even better! The alignment system is brilliantly implemented, and the combat feels amazing unique.

The stories, which are incredibly important for any RPG, are well presented as well. There are certainly a few negative points, and some of the games will test your patience with the sheer amount of character customisation as you progress, but I love them all the same!

5. Lunar

Another series that is very close to my heart is the Lunar series of games. The series started out on the MegaCD with Lunar: The Silver Star, before getting a sequel called Lunar 2: Eternal Blue. These games were then loving remastered and ported to the PlayStation, which is where I first experienced them. These versions were called Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete. Since then, the games have been remastered and ported multiple times, showing just how beloved the games really are.

The animated cutscenes and voice acting help to bring the characters to life, and whilst the older versions of the game were certainly challenging, you would find yourself so enthralled that you would just keep trying. There’s also a decent splash of humour in the games as well, to make sure that it isn’t always dark in tone.

4. Dot Hack

Anime is incredibly popular; that is a pretty redundant statement these days. However, when I was growing up that wasn’t really the case. Instead, anime was something that you were bullied for enjoying. This was also true during my teenage years as well, so when I found the anime .hack//SIGN and really enjoyed it, I didn’t really mention it to anyone. That’s a shame really, because I probably could have gotten more people to both watch the anime and then play the first set of PS2 games.

These games are pseudo-MMORPGs. You can “log in” to the game to play, or “log out” and read emails from other “players” or chat with them on a forum. The developers did an amazing job at creating the world around the MMO featured in the game, as well as making the pseudo-MMO portions of the game feel realistic too. The combat is simple to pick up but takes time to master, and the trade system with other “players” is genius. Admittedly, the game’s levels aren’t much to look at in terms of beauty and uniqueness, but everything else in the games makes up for that!

3. Wild Arms

When I was a kid, if you had told me that a J-RPG series that mixes demons, magic and Spaghetti Westerns together would end up being one of my favourites, I would have laughed so hard you’d think I was crazy. Yet, here we are, talking about Wild Arms. The first time I played Wild Arms was shortly after completing Final Fantasy VII for the first time. I was looking for my next big J-RPG to sink my teeth into and spotted it on a shelf in Blockbusters. It looked intriguing, and since it was a rental, I was more than happy to give the game a try.

Since that day, I’ve played the large majority of the Wild Arms games, were 2nd Ignition being my favourite in the series. Sadly, the Wild Arms games never really sold well in the States or Europe, meaning that the series effectively died (with the exception of the recent Mobile game). This means that the games can be pretty expensive these days. However, I would definitely say that they are worth it!

2. Megami Tensei

The penultimate entry in this of a great RPG series that aren’t Final Fantasy has to go Megami Tensei. I recently said on Twitter that I rate Megami Tensei and Final Fantasy at the same level in terms of my “RPG love”. Both series are absolutely massive, with Megami Tensei featuring all sorts of takes on the RPG gameplay. The most famous sub-series of Megami Tensei is the Persona games. Persona 3, 4 and 5 launched Megami Tensei into the limelight far more.

However, I still prefer the original PlayStation Persona games, as well as Lucifer’s Call on the PS2. But you know what? The greatest thing about Megami Tensei is the developers were always finding new ways to add customised designs and a wonderful look & feel. This style and design of Megami Tensei games have become synonymous with the series, showing how much the developers care about the franchise as a whole.

1. Shadow Hearts

And so we come to the final entry in tonight list; the Shadow Hearts games. These are some of the darkest RPG make in history, dealing with loss, suicide and much more. The games, despite their comical nature, can create some really dark and lasting memories. There are so many events in the games that will forever be stuck in my head, like the tale of Li Li or the way in which Shadow Hearts 2 ends.

Starting with my favourite game of all time, Koudelka, the series hits the ground running when it comes to dealing with dark tones. From there, with the first Shadow Hearts, your very first town that you reach turns out to be run by a bunch of cannibals who then switch into being demons. Oh, and the opening video is incredibly violent, with soldiers getting sliced apart and the hero getting his arm cut off but reattaching it. So yeah, Shadow Hearts is definitely one of the darkest yet strangely comical RPG series I have played.

But that’s not all. The characters are all really well developed and the story is surprisingly good. The translation of the first game isn’t great, as to be expected, and the graphics haven’t really held up well, but the series overall is most certainly worth your time.

And That’s All Folks

Those were my top 7 RPG series that aren’t Final Fantasy. The top 2 of them might have been obvious for those who have read this for a while, but that’s only because both of the series deserved a lot more attention that they received.

What are your favourite RPG series? Let me know in the comments below!

from More Design Curation https://www.16bitdad.com/blog/my-top-7-rpg-series-that-arent-final-fantasy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=my-top-7-rpg-series-that-arent-final-fantasy

[lunarreverb]

Just spotlighting this one funny screenshot I found - this is one of the rare times in the game where my warlock Tav's patron (the Great Old One) ever comes up in the game. To my recollection, outside of characters conversationally mentioning that Tav has a warlock pact, my Tav's patron comes up when:

my Tav calls to it for help and it does not care at all that Jaheira is doing vine bondage on her

It encourages Tav to stick her arm into the slimy Moonrise hole because it is excited and curious about the Absolute

and, as shown above, when it wishes to express that it hates Dribbles the Clown

Honestly, amazing. The fact that Tav's patron is comparatively hands-off, but reserves one of its rare interjections, the only time it wants to CAUTION Tav instead of being indifferent to her peril, to express an extraplanar dislike of the clown is *chef's kiss*

[lunarreverb]

Okay, so I just found a, uh, substantial difference in BG3 depending on whether you rescue Oskar Fevras in Act 1 or not. I had assumed rescuing him was the optimal course of action, because it seemed altruistic to free him at the time (and I wanted a real painting of Astarion to show him his face). What was my actual reward? A house full of ghosts and a headache! (and, a crappy generic "painting" item that wasn't even as cool as the circus statue you can get.)

Guys, if you don't free Oskar in Act 1, here's what happens instead:

Oskar is broke as hell, but alive, operating out of Nine-Fingers' Guildhall selling counterfeit paintings. That's a little sad. He sends a letter to Lady Jannath asking for her to let him paint her again; he appears to have been left on read.

BUT, Lady jannath is fresh, she is moisturized, she is thriving. She is hosting an art show in her home! There are unique interactions and dice rolls with NPCs in there, living their silly little lives! No ghosts, no skulls, no bullshit! But wait, there's more!

If you can sneak around a chamberlain and get up into the attic, you find (and steal!) a totally unique painting in the secret room:

Not only is this painting unique, it's worth 1300 gold. You can run it back downstairs and sell it to Lady Jannath herself!

I double checked just to make sure I didn't merely overlook this painting in my save with a freed Oskar. When I unlocked the room in there:

Nope! Just spooky shit!

I'm kind of at a loss for what the story's implied moral is between these divergent outcomes. Artists will make your house spooky, so don't bother? Love can overcome a house full of smashed shit and dead people? Unclear!

Updated to add: It's been pointed out to me that the individual paintings that Oskar will do for you if you freed him and completed the quest can be sold for 1000 gold a pop, and is repeatable between party members. Honestly I just never thought to sell them, because it feels like an item that SHOULD be flavor, or a cosmetic for your camp.

[lunarreverb]

Running through the House of Hope, and this time just for shits and giggles and I went in the back way to Hope's prison and killed the jailers before doing anything else. Her reaction is as hilarious as it is deserved.

[lunarreverb]

Up way too late finishing this run with my half-orc girl. Happily ever after with her sweetie bear! The ending with a romanced Halsin is just SO sweet <3

[lunarreverb]

I ALMOST wiped to the Steel Watch Titan last night, it was so close to a TPK. I just had to record Halsin smooches with Neblinae just in case any more rocks are gonna fall on us, everyone dies.

[lunarreverb]

Did I stay up irresponsibly late getting through more of Act 3 last night? Yes

Did my half-orc cleric finally have a nice night out with her new, right-sized elf boyfriend? Also yes

[lunarreverb]

I'M SORRY?? I definitely did not find this my first playthrough, holy shit?? Always returns to your hand? No fall damage? Causes explosions?? +3m movement? Excuse me????

Where you find it under the cut:

You have to pickpocket the djinni at the circus, stealing his mage hand ring. Then you spin the wheel, and win; he gets mad and sends you to Jurassic Fucking Park and this trident is in a locked chest near the portal on the way out.

WHAT.