#mark's playthrough was the worst

[wild-flowerhoney]

"what reason do you have to hate ashley" what reason do i have to LIKE the bitch

[loldope19]

ok so I finally finished the second ending of Until Then (turns out it has 3 overall) and uhh...

...remember when I said I don't see how the next endings could make me feel much worse than the first one?

holy moly it got worse.

as in **WORSE**!!!

turns out the one thing that could make me cry more than a truck accident was another accident AND a missing person!!

in ONE NIGHT!!!

and Mark's mental state throughout the whole affair is just so hard to watch that I wanna give the guy a really big hug 😭😭

so now I'm basically terrified of what the last ending will probably hurl at me--

[wild-magic-oops]

During my first playthrough I got Elminster's Act 1 scene and immediately after that I headed directly for Act 2, walked a bit and took in the spooky atmosphere and the sense of uneasiness and wrongness of it all, fought the creepy shadow monsters that attacked some of the Harpers, and then Gale's exclamation mark ! popped up and I was so nervous that maybe the spell to calm the orb down hadn't worked correctly or that the shadow curse was messing with it. And smack in the middle of this dangerous horrible land was absolutely the worst place for a problem to occur, and poor Gale if that was indeed the case. Not to mention that I was still nervous that I haven't even been given the option to talk him out of a suicide yet.

Turns out he was just horny on adrenaline. Immediately changed the whole vibe of everything, 100/10 scene, no notes

[curioussubjects]

I just finished Veilguard, and...I'm really not sure how I feel about it?

All in all: good game, had fun, but still didn't quite hit some of the highs it wanted to hit and it's still not as good as DA2

(Spoilers galore below for everything)

The Good:

Pretty game is pretty;

Love the codexes, especially the ones written by companions or with their commentary;

Speaking of, the Mementos had so excellent tid bits of lore flavor to them, as well;

Regrets of the Dread Wolf was a damn good quest;

Some truly funny party banter;

I actually thought it was really easy to figure out who my Rook is as I played the game, which was much harder for me to do for my Lavellan in DAI;

And speaking of Lavellan, she was in character she WOULD say that she WOULD do that. Bless;

Everything about Nevarra and the Mourn Watch, I wish there was more content there because I was so into it;

Orb and dagger mage is really fun to play, which was VERY surprising considering I don't play close range ever;

I also really enjoyed destroying blight boils for some reason lmao;

Petting cats (they PURR WHEN YOU DO);

Assan <3;

Taash being so autistic;

Teia and Viago my beloveds;

✨Friendship✨

The Solavellan of it all;

And Solas, too. Love that sadsack disaster man;

Maybe this is super basic of me but I liked Varric's narration...idk it's comforting;

Honestly, just Varric in general was a bit safety blanket in a nice way for me because the game feels overwhelming at first;

There's no party like an all Dalish party!

Exploring -- loved finding all the fun details in each location, and I know I didn't even do enough in my playthrough;

I'm weak for stories about guilt, fear and regret. And I'm even weaker when those stories are so obviously about forgiveness and moving forward. Also love. Always love.

The Bad:

The pacing. I've said this before but DAtV could've used a more explicit arc structure or have quests note which level they're meant for or SOMETHING because some times it seemed I was doing quests too early or too late for when I was in the main story. I also thought events kept oscillating from happening too fast or too slowly, and it very much did get in the way of immersion;

The romance. Literally what are you doing Dragon Age that you fumble the romance. Granted, I only romanced Davrin so far, but I'm getting the sense from looking through the tag that maybe Lucanis' romance also feels a bit off? Honestly I have so many issues with the romance progression for Davrin that it's its own section;

I hope this is only a Veil Jumpers issue, but I thought Rook was so separate from the faction. I felt very little connection to them;

I've seen some people point out NPCs talk to Rook like they're a child, and while I don't really agree with that I do think Rook doesn't have enough opportunities to be knowledgeable in their own right. Especially annoying with a mage Veil Jumper Rook! I miss the Inquisition perk dialogue options that let my Lavellan be a smarty pants;

Holy overdesigned armors! Yikes!

Not all areas are as well developed as the others: Rivain is the most egregiously empty and underdeveloped, but I actually thought Arlathan Forest was super lifeless too. So was the Lighthouse! You get the early game discovery bit and then nothing ever again and it's like oh that was really it huh (and the stuff we did get was so good please more?);

I hate to say this but BioWare missed the mark with Rook's place in the group. The companions seemed connected to each other, yeah, but Rook was like some cross between group therapist and not-so-undercover boss. There was none of the warmth Hawke got from their companions (or the Inquisitor, for that matter!). The game really needed 1. a lighthearted party hangout cutscene and 2. companions coming together to take care of Rook (the fact this isn't even a thing in the romance is bonkers to me);

Taash's personal quest being about choosing between being Rivain and Qunari as if that's how culture works is Bad Actually;

The worst minimap I've ever seen in a game wow;

Also: give me back my beacon marker;

The gods were in a regret prison but what were their regrets exactly we just don't know.

The Bad (Romance Edition):

Again, the pacing! Incredibly slow to start (and not in a slow burn way, mind!) and then super fast in the last third of the game;

In fact, the romance seemed to be running on a completely different level than the rest of the story. The last romance scene was incredibly out of place tonally, especially.

The first two romance titles for Davrin are "Thrill of the Chase" and "Hot and Bothered"...and like WHERE????

Davrin never writes about Rook as a romantic partner or as if he has any concerns with the relationship...which we later find out he has, but was news to me;

Tbh, the romance felt like an afterthought. There were cutscenes that in any other DA game there would've been flirting options, for instance, but this time there was nothing (what do you mean Rook can't make a flirty comment when Davrin is shirtless working out with Taash? It's low hanging fruit!);

Not nearly enough flirty banter between Rook and Davrin, which is nuts considering their personalities;

I'm really super disappointed with Davrin's romance, which sucks because he's actually perfect for my Rook and I really like his character. There was so much potential for a really fun romance that was both tense and sexy, but also sweet. But no. Secret good Davrin romance that exists in my head save me.

The ???:

Southern Thedas got scorched when the North didn't how?

Please tell me who was catfishing Andraste;

Making enemies super aggro on Rook unless you specifically have companions taunting was very weird.

[downwithpeople]

bg3

bg3 was good. even if it wasn't good it's hard to deny that it became a key facet of my life for the past two weeks.

i'm gonna say bg3 isn't smart. it's like ordering a family meal from a fast food restaurant and slowly eating the whole thing yourself. it's a deeply stupid game and if it wasn't for how well it generally carries across the spectacle of the thing i think i would have written it off as a shameful attempt to remaster dragon age inquisition. the opening cutscene, with the nautiloid plowing into hell pursued by dragons, really got me hype for the whole thing.

i came into bg3 halfway through my second rogue trader campaign and bg3 feels much sloppier in the moment to moment play. this is because much like dnd 5e itself, bg3 is trying to be a simulation which sometimes makes moving around the map feel like herding four stupid cats. the plus side of this is that sometimes you can move and interact with the environment in a way that kinda feels like rennfaire hitman.

the mystery of the tadpole and all the weird mindflayer shit is cool. that it eventually becomes a fight against three evil power rangers combining their evil powers is a mark against it. i think the story as a whole suffers because instead of just focusing on the mindflayers, the emperor and maybe the githyanki, we have a separate bad guy for act 2 and two more completely different bad guys for act 3. it's like when an OVA for an anime comes out and it's all original story; yes the main plot is still important but let's spend 90 minutes fighting THIS guy! i also felt like the final choice the game presents you, to either side with the emperor or set prince orpheus free, is completely artificial. the emperor isn't stupid and he knows everything about you. he repeatedly insists that he wants to be your ally and your friend. all that, but he's still awfully quick to flip allegiance on you and embrace assimilation into the hive mind. for what? he's wrong about orpheus and stupid if he hasn't seen gale cast Magic Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

i found most all of the companion characters to be very likable. i romanced shadowheart and wasn't disappointed. i was set up to hate astarion and gale but the latter is fine and the former is one of the most well-written, well-acted characters in the whole thing. i didn't care much for halsin, because he's a boring druid guy. i also didn't care much for jaheira, who doesn't join your party until the final act of the game and who i know nothing about because i haven't played bg1 or 2. the same is true of minsc, but minsc is fun and not a fantasy CIA agent.

the pacing of the game is a little odd. act 3 should by rights be the shortest act in terms of mandatory boss fights. the reality is that if you're even remotely completionist you're going to spend half of your playtime there. it's densely packed with sidequests and punchlines for set-ups from 50 hours ago, and if you're invested in the characters at all then you feel obligated to see their shit through. you also have some of the worst fucking quests and setpieces in the game in act 3, like oskar's stupid ghost mansion or the disappointing fight against orin.

i just started my dark urge playthrough and i'm ready to durge all over these suckers

[mythaura-blog]

Development Update - May 2024

Hi folks, Miyazaki here with our development updates for the month of May. Our backend development continues to plug along incredibly well: Koa and Sark introduced several new key functionalities, including the implementation of our New Game+ system (and all the mechanics that entails), leveling algorithms, and skill trees that will allow you to choose the moves that your beasts bring with them into battle.

We've also got the results of the Winter 2024 Ko-fi rewards, the June astrology overview, the announcement of our second ever Custom Color Contest, and more. Read on to find out more!

(I also realize I didn't actually post our April development update here...please find it in this post if you'd like to read!)

New Special: Banding

Bold stripes and flecks mark the hide of Beasts sporting our newest Special, Banding. We'd love to see what creations you come up with in our Beast Creator, and look forward to sharing something Banding-related in a near-future update...

Tongue Color Update & Unicorn Expressions

Some of you may have noticed a change to the Basilisks in the Beast Creator—their tongues now have blue tongues with a gradient, like some real-life skinks and snakes.

There are certain colors on the color wheel that will impact the mouth and tongue color of all Beasts. This was driven by us creating lots (and lots...and lots and lots) of different Beasts as we test various backend elements and realizing that some colors didn't look quite right with normal mouth coloration.

This is demonstrated below on the young Unicorn, whose base color is Patina. We're excited to be able to show you all the finished Unicorn expressions—huge shoutout to Luci, Kymara, and Koa for knocking all of these out. Expressions are a huge undertaking for the team, but we really feel like the end result when playing the game will absolutely make all the work worth it. (:

Spring 2024 Rewards Reveal

Our Spring 2024 rewards have been completed and are ready for their public debut! Thank you to the Ko-fi Sponsors who voted on the different Glamour and Companion concepts, we appreciate your support and feedback.

Spring 2024 Glamour: Chinoiserie

Spring 2024 Companion: Gossamer Campanula

Spring 2024 Solid Gold Glamour: Young Unicorn

Mythauran Astrology: June

The month of June is referred to as Darksun's Dominion in Dragon culture, representing the month with the most sunlight in the far north of the continent—one that still finds the sun eclipsed by the moon most days. This month is also associated with the constellation of the Prodigy and the fluorite stone.

Mythauran astrologers say those born under the sign of the Prodigy are born with a powerful blend of ambition and charisma, visionaries who leave an indelible mark on the cosmic canvas with their grand aspirations and magnetic presence.

At their best, Prodigies are dynamic, confident, and insightful. At their worst, they can be overly bombastic, condescending, and pompous.

Custom Color Contest

In honor of the new color change that we made to a Beast's tongue/mouth, we're opening another Custom Color Contest. We want to offer the opportunity for you to make a permanent impact on Mythaura's color wheel!

This contest is free to enter, and only has the following parameters:

Only one entry allowed

Fill out Google Form by Friday, August 23, 2024 at 11:59pm PST

The dev team will reach out to the winner on September 1 to begin the color design process. Winner will have until September 23, 2024 to complete their color design. Please feel free to use our PSD file, if you'd like!

Winner will also receive 3x copies of the Empemeral Ink that matches their color's base hue (Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Green, or Violet).

We're so excited to see what you come up with!

ythaura V0.28

Added ability to equip gear as apparel, so it can be used cosmetically only if desired without consuming a gear slot.

Added playthrough functionality, which tracks player progress and NG+ status.

Created initial beast creation process using NG+ status.

Created skill tree infrastructure and ability for beasts to learn skills.

Experience & leveling algorithm added to eventually power beast level ups.

Various cleanups and system upgrades.

Thank You!

Thanks for sticking through to the end of the post, we always look forward to sharing our month's work with all of you--thank you for taking the time to read. We'll see you around the Discord!

[dantemightcry]

Finally Finished Dragon Age 2

After getting part way through Inquisition, I decided to do a series playthrough of Dragon Age. I just finished DA2 and I think it might be my favourite of the series.

Things I LOVED

Hawke is a stellar protag. Coming from Origins where I had a lot of freedom in characterising my HoF, having a much more set character was a surprise. Hawke manages to pull off being a self insert despite being restricted to a set backstory.

Containing the game to Kirkwall would sound like a downgrade compared to Origins, but I might actually prefer it, or at least I can't see it as a negative. Visiting the same people and places constantly made me feel connected to the city in a way that Origins couldn't do. I often struggle to feel like a resident in rpg worlds where I tour the country, but I got to know Kirkwall and I cared about its people.

I could write a post for each of the Companions(except Sebastian). They truly are the worst found family and I love them for that. I appreciated having all their different beliefs and values. Aveline was often the good influence my mischievous Hawke needed, Fenris and Merril added nuance to my opinions on mages, Isabela and Varric reminded me to consider what's best for me. Anders managed to grow on me, thankfully I didn't get into the mess of him getting butthurt over rejection.

Things I didn't like

I know that this game was made in little over a year, so I don't hold too much against it.

The maps are VERY repetitive. Closing off and opening paths did little to add variety to levels.

Speaking maps, I found entrances and exits quite inconvenient in some places, namely Darktown, which doesn't have an exit right outside of Anders' clinic. Dealing with long walks to exit maps made doing side quests feel more like a chore

The epilogue was too short. I get that it's because everyone disappears and Varric is a biased narrator, but I didn't feel enough closure for the companions I've come to care so much about.

Finally, my pettiest peave with the game: Custom Hawkes don't get the blood mark on their nose.

Conclusion

I truly loved my time with this game and it might be the first RPG I replay in the future. I'm super excited to try Inquisition again now that I've been through the first two games

[mikustan27]

persona 4 is a good a good game but it’s even better when you can understand how centered it is on TV. now a days, TV is such a dead medium and im pretty sure thats why some personafans mark it as having the worst story, when it doesn’t ! it just has a story that doesn’t hold up in the modern day. you have to think about how reliant we used to be on tv when persona 4 originally came out. a big celebrity announcement ? TV or magazine ! breaking news ? TV or news paper ! wanna buy somethign but not imperson ? TV !!!!!!! its all television !

((persona 4 rambles under cut !!!!!

each arc is based off one or more tv trope (yukiko - gameshow/childrens media, kanji - gay stereotypes, rise - soft core corn, ect ect) !!!! and what makes kubo such a great plot point is how his dungeon is so out of place from the rest. instead of being based off tv, his is based off older video games ! it’s an immediate telling that something’s different ! its not TV !!!!

teddie is the most blatent television archetype, being both a classic mascot and the flirtatious dream boy seen mostly in anime (see tamaki suoh from ouran high school host club and pre-mob teru from mob psycho 100) (i didn’t understand this during my first playthrough and thought it was random as shit that there was a twink inside the bearsuit) ughhrhrhhhhhrhrhhrhh i love teddie

so much of personal 4 is based on TV, and this js where the other major theme of persona 4 comes in. reaching out to the truth !!! as stated before, we used to be so much more reliant on tv, and its easy to take whats said on tv as truth when so many lies and rumors are spread through the medium. kids beleived the midnight channel showed their soulmates, when that is a lie !!!!! all of the red herrings in p4 r important to the theme !!!! do u see !!!!!

this is why i hope a persona 4 remake does not happen. no ones gonna get it if we dont watch tv man . i think at its core persona 4 is abt media literacy (thats a point idk where else 2 put sorrgy) maybe none of this made sense…, i just NEEDED to get my thoughts out man it was killing me

pls keep in mind that i am fairly young and tv wasnt a big part of my life for much of the time i canremeber !!!!!! it could be fairly obvious to older folks but not me ,,

[listenheresweaty]

uhhh for the hc requests limbobur cos he makes he go feral and i just want hime to have some comfort

Someone made a fangame of Limbobur, btw! It's called "Limbo: The Saddest story in the World" (i think. there is a playthrough on youtube. about 42 minutes).

Since he's receiving comfort, I'll assume that the reader has died and joined him in limbo

His reaction is going to depend on how long he's been there, and how much he knew you before he died.

If you were dating/close and you die during the late beginning (2-3 year) of his time in Limbo, you've stumbled upon the worst of Limbobur. It's when he's screaming himself hoarse, clawing at the walls, trying again and again to board the train no matter how many times that invisible force knocks him back. He's a mess. He doesn't want to return to life, exactly, but he really, really wants out of the train station. When the train rolls in with your soul in tow, he runs towards it, thinking that it's for his escape. Instead, it pushes him back again--- and pushes you in as well. You stumble into him, and he clasps his arms around you by instinct, staring at you uncomprehendingly.

Wilbur's almost disappointed. But no matter. At least he isn't alone anymore, as he cradles your face and bombards you with questions--- what do you see? are you really dead? are you with him? can you see him? hear him?

He obligates you to help with his escape attempts. Maybe if there are two people running at the doors, it'll work. Don't bother trying to argue. He isn't going to miss out on an opportunity to escape this hellhole just because you are acting all apprehensive.

Early Limbobur has so many breakdowns. He doesn't react when you hug him, only muttering, rambling on about how much he wants to leave, all his thoughts and theories on limbo so far--- but when you try and pull away, he sits up so quick it startles you half to death. He grabs your arm and looks at you with wild, pleading eyes, terrified you were about to disappear.

Please hold Wilbur's face, bring him to sit sideways in your lap as you cradle him. Let him cry and scream. He won't hug back, but trust me--- your actions will be appreciated later on. On the downside, he's never letting go. not for a couple years.

It's only towards the middle of his time in limbo, when he begins to give up, he's a little more attentive: closing his eyes in bliss when you stroke his hair, brushing his thumb across your knuckles, looping an arm around your waist. It's then that he starts holding conversations with you. It's then when he finally asks how you died.

Wilbur doesn't smile-- not even a fake one. He's withdrawn, distant. You both failed to get out, even with your combined efforts. Wilbur will never, ever believe it to be your fault.... but he can't help feeling bitter.

----------

If you visit him around the time Tommy did, he's calmed down. Cheerfully, he welcomes you, bringing you over to a deck of cards and encourages you to play with him. Wilbur notices you staring at the old, bloody scratch marks on the wall, laughs and waves it off. "Pay no mind to that. The me from 6-7 years ago was a mess." (i think he canonically said something similar to tommy).

Wilbur still hates Limbo, but still believes he deserves to be there. He talks about his death with morbid ease, regardless of how uncomfortable about the topic you seem.

Actually, if you are particularly panicked about your new situation, he'll just keep talking about whatever's on his mind, not wanting to face your mental state-- it reminds him too much of his experience 6-7 years ago. rants about philosophy, politics, and random ideas. you don't want to talk? That's alright! You can just listen. It's been years since he's had anyone, he'll take what he can get

Act more composed though, and you might make a more meaningful connection. Talk about your previous lives with solemnity, and he will join you in your speculation, nodding along and occasionally giving his quiet input.

Ask him if he's alright, he will blink in surprise and confusion. "...I'm good." he says, but only because he didn't know what else to say. Did you really just ask him that? Have you seen where the two of you are trapped?

Ask him if he needs a hug, he will fall silent. ".. It's--- it's fine." He says, blinking as if he's having trouble remembering what one is.

Ask him if he wants a hug, and he will have nearly the same reaction. But instead of brushing you off, he will nod and say, "Sure", in a choked voice.

holds you so tight you fear your ribs will crack

pet his hair or scratch his scalp and he might actually whine.

He won't cry though. He wants to, but the pressure just builds up in his throat at chest cavity instead of leaking out of his eyes, which stay stubbornly dry. It's incredibly frustrating.

Give 👏 wilbur👏  back👏  massages

any kind of massage. rub his shoulders, jaw, back, scalp. anything to calm the tension and frustration of being unable to get his emotions out.

You offer him to sit in your lap one day, and although he's confused, he complies. as soon as you start rubbing circles into his shoulderblades, he melts like butter.

completely limp. he almost knocks you down by just falling back against you

it's not a perfect remedy, but it's the best you can do.

you better not let him go >:(

Will give faint, tired smiles if you give him physical or verbal affection.

Whenever you are holding him from behind, he will always turn his head to the side as if trying to get a look at you-- wanting to be as close as possible.

trembles when you hold him. he can't control it

------

visiting at the very end of his limbo

By the 13th year though, Wilbur is catatonic. He doesn't care about whether he deserves to be there or not--- what determines who deserves punishment, anyway? What moral code exists for a dead man?

He wants out. Tommy has already visited and left him (he screamed when tommy disappeared, for the first time in years)

As soon as Wilbur sees you roll in, he's rushing over, tugging you onto the platform

He's almost the same as if you had visited him towards the middle of his limbo, but with key differences

1. He is a lot quieter, ranting much less

2. He doesn't let you out of his sight. This is post Tommy's revival, so he's tense and half-expecting you to disappear, leaving him alone again.

3. Because he no longer believes (or cares) that he deserves to be in Limbo, he avoids the topic of his death. it's not as easy to talk about anymore.

If you hug him, he'll just hold you tight, silently.

You can't hug him from behind though. You have to be facing him, so he's able to wrap his arms around you and ensure that no one will take you away.

hope these were satisfactory :)

[deconstructivesurgery]

maybe it's just the incorrigible writer's sadism within me but as much as I love what we did get from the Orin kidnapping in Act 3, god I wanted more. the scenes you get when the characters have initially vanished from camp, where Orin reveals just how terrifyingly understanding she is of our companions' personalities and lives in order to bring out the worst behaviour possible while still initially SEEMING like them? amazing, showstopping, actually thought halsin was genuinely losing his shit the first time this happened. the scenes you get when you first enter the sewer (but only from a very specific point) are more tenuous to me- I love the content but wish you could still get these scenes if you entered the sewers another way, because in like 2/3 of my playthroughs I didn't go that way and missed good dialogue as a result. it's a bit hard to find if you don't follow a very specific route. the dialogue though? nice. orin's tall tales about how she's tormenting each specific kidnappable are great and sickly fitting (asides from gale's imo which was admittedly funny as fuck but like. man i can't ruminate on the bleakness of it all when I'm just laughing over the fucking castration allegations, okay?

(side note? you wanna know what I think would've been the most fucked up thing to threaten to do to gale instead? a few things. have Orin claim to have cut out his tongue/severed his vocal cords somehow instead, have her lie about breaking hands/fingers for the same reasons (hand gestures and verbal components being integral to a majority of magic). if you wanted to be particularly evil you could have her claim that she did the player/gale a favour by getting rid of that awful mark on his skin, implying she just straight up flayed the skin off his chest with the magical marks on it (hey, the orb is stabilised here, so this could happen without immediate nuclear death). I HAVE IDEAS FOR TORMENT, OKAY. )

[tearlessrain]

what about the companion questions from the tav ask game, for mallory!!

eey thanks! (ask meme here for everyone else lost in the bg3 sauce)

for reference here's Mallory, looking very offended that the obviously hazardous rune had the audacity to zap him when he poked it

he's a half-drow gold draconic sorcerer and as extra as that lineage would suggest. he's also got the urchin background, but he doesn't tell people that.

I also feel it's important to mention that he was the first character I created for my initial blind playthrough and by the time I realized that his backstory and personality had a similar vibe to Astarion it was too late. as a pc it works because he romanced Astarion and the two of them have a wonderful time being insufferable and flamboyant together and bonding over their similar trauma, but as a companion he'd feel a bit "why do we have this guy, there's already one of these but better". but for the moment we'll ignore that lol.

1. What would your Tav’s greetings be (at different levels of approval)

Negative:

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" (intensely sarcastic)

"Oh. It's you."

"I was just wishing someone would come over and bother me." (also sarcastic)

Neutral+:

"Can I help you?"

"A pleasure."

"Hello, darling."

High+:

"Everything all right?"

"You know, I actually enjoy these talks."

"I hope you're well, aside from... you know."

Flirting:

"Well, hello."

"My dear, you have my full attention."

"Oh, just here to talk? Pity."

Partnered:

"I'm here."

"Gods, what would I do without you?"

"Do you need something, love?"

Broken up:

"Darling! Whatever can I do for you?" (intensely sarcastic)

"Keep wandering over here and people will talk, you know."

"Straight to business, I suppose?"

"Hm, I liked you better when you were fawning over me."

2. Describe their tent setup! What’s on the outside? The inside? The inside would be cluttered but in a deliberate organized chaos kind of way, Mallory decidedly lives up to his dragon blood in that he collects shiny things and trinkets and has maximalist decorating tastes when he's able to. the outside would be comfortable but fairly unassuming and barren. The reason for this is not personal taste, it's so that anyone who might come along to burgle the camp will go for the externally fancy-looking tents first and leave his alone.

3. What would their character quest be titled? Why? oh god I'm so bad at titles, probably something gold-related or dragon-related. idk the writers are talented they'd come up with something snappy.

4. What would your Tav’s romance scenes look like? How many would they have? He would definitely be on the "bone first ask questions later" end of the companion spectrum and would probably come onto the player fairly early on. Mallory flirts with Everyone whether he's invested in following through or not and prior to The Tadpolening he'd been clawing his way up the ranks of the upper class mages in his home city via a carefully balanced combination of fucking and blackmail and it was a marked improvement on the situation he was in before that, so his perspective on both sex and relationships is not what you'd call rose-tinted. He'd be doing the same thing here, looking for leverage and a way to establish himself with the person who's taking charge of things. It would definitely be a fun romance in act one, very weighted toward the sex scenes and light banter, but he'd be deflecting any attempts to take things further emotionally or get him to open up (and might show a bit of a vicious streak if he's pushed too hard) until the latter two acts of the game, when you'd probably see more in the way of heart to heart conversations with him as he starts trusting the player. And that trust would mean a lot to him, considering all his prior "relationships" have been transactional at best and abusive at worst.

He'd also be among the companions who's fully down with you hooking up with Halsin, and would only complain if he never gets invited. He's not well suited to monogamy.

5. Describe their idle animations! Doing little tricks with conjured fire to entertain himself, straightening his clothes/hair a bit surreptitiously and/or being preoccupied with some dirt that's not coming out, maybe doing some stretches. Pacing because he's not very good at waiting around. admiring some bauble he found while out adventuring with you and trying to figure out where to put it. if companions autonomously interacted with each other he and Gale would be arguing about magic frequently.

6. How would the player go about meeting them in Act 1? What is their introduction? I feel like the player would probably find him standing in a ring of char not far from the crash, surrounded by several smoldering intellect devourers and looking like he was not at all planning to do any adventuring the day he got abducted. He'd be wary initially but would warm up very quickly once he realizes you're not also here to attack him and suggest sticking together until the whole situation gets resolved.

The first impression he tends to give off is "mildly snobby ivory tower mage who's never had to boil water before" but it's a very curated image that he designed to navigate a very specific environment and it starts to break down once you realize he can pick locks and has a lot of random mundane survival skills and will immediately adopt any orphan that stands still long enough if he's allowed to. he is very good at being a mage though, that part is accurate.

7. Describe their arc. How would a player help resolve it? What choices can be made? Can your Tav be turned down a dark path, or pulled to a lighter one? Mallory definitely has the potential to go to the dark side, one of the ways he's most similar to Astarion is that he fears/resents others having power over him and is willing to take dubious measures to make himself as untouchable as possible. He's also manipulative at times and the kind of person who fully believes he could outwit the devil (not without reason, but he's much less impervious to consequences than he thinks he is), and he's got a lot of pent up resentment and grief and anger he's never really dealt with, so it's entirely possible that he could end up in a very bad place (both for him and for everyone around him). I've thought about one unfortunate timeline that eventually ends with him becoming a devil himself, which ultimately just traps him in a worse version of everything he was trying to escape from as a mortal but gives him the illusion of power and control (so at least he can tell himself it was worth it, even knowing it wasn't).

If influenced away from that though, he's just as capable of turning all that toward improving things instead of tearing them down, and he does have a good heart when it comes down to it.

He's got a huge soft spot for kids and a strong drive to make sure as few as possible ever have the kind of childhood he did, so I could see his arc tying in with the tiefling babies and/or Yenna in some way.

It would also likely involve Darius, his abusive ex who "took him in" in his late teens when he was in a particularly bad spot, and who he didn't get away from until he was essentially bought by someone else (which is how he ended up in the social groups he did) for more gold than Darius felt keeping him was worth. There was never any real closure there prior to the events of the game but that guy honestly needs to die. whether things end well depends on what's motivating him by the end and how he gets there; this will either be a turning point where he'll realize he's better off helping people who need it than hurting people who deserve it, or he'll go full tumblr revolutionary and decide that killing Darius wasn't enough and the only way to fix anything is to burn it all down and start from the ground up so he can do things properly, collateral damage be damned.

8. After Act 3, what does their life look like? What are they talking about at the reunion party? Regardless of his ending he will have been continuing to develop his magic, guy was like two levels away from sprouting wings by max level and he's not gonna pass that up, plus he just enjoys it.

If he had a good ending he will 100% have adopted Yenna and/or a tiefling orphan or two, and has definitely been making a huge nuisance of himself to the city's patriars in an effort to help improve things in the lower city, to great success all things considered. Mallory is extremely good at making a nuisance of himself effectively. It will be pretty clear that he's doing a lot better mental health wise and takes a lot of pride in what he's doing.

If he had a bad ending... he will insist that all his power plays and growing spiderweb of faustian bargains and revenge plots are going fantastically, and he's doing great.

He is definitely not doing great.

[z-cerulean]

Soirée, the Paldean Hatterene That Did.

Gonna do a write up about something I've been doing for the past few weeks.

So this story begins with VGC. Watching enough Wolfey videos got me interested in giving it a shot again for the first time since Ultra Moon.

Following some testing, I arrived at a start point: Hatterene. She was more than slow enough to dominate in Trick Room, packs a lot of power, and had reasonable bulk on top. A great pick both as a relative novice and for what appealed to me.

After going through a few iterations of a team, I eventually arrive at this:

This was based on a team by Gerty2Dirty on Twitter. The primary two cores are the same, those being Hatterene and Indeedee for Psyspam, with Torkoal and Hisuian Lilligant as a secondary trick room sweeper and fast option respectively. I made a few moveset adjustments to my liking, as well as altering the last two Pokemon of the lineup (Porygon2 is both a favourite Pokemon of mine and a very solid Trick Room pick, and Kingambit felt like a good fill for the defensive gaps in the rest of the team). While I'm sure there's better iterations of hard Trick Room teams out there, these 6 managed to push through into Master Ball tier, and all managed a Master Rank Ribbon for their troubles, reaching the top 6000 for the October 2024 VGC ladder season.

The entire team might have their own stories one day, but for now, we're going to focus on Hatterene. More specifically, my now Master Rank Hatterene, Soirée.

I had caught many wild Hatenna, Hattrem and Hatterene in a hunt for one with a 0 Speed IV, even finding three with a perfect Speed IV before eventually coming across her. Despite as many good changes for modifying stats as the newer Pokemon games have made, getting low stats is still pretty obnoxious and has to be done the hard way. As some sort of final joke, she also came in with a Jolly nature at base as well (+Spd -Sp.Atk), perhaps the worst possible nature for any Hatterene. Ultimately not a problem due to mints, but something about it stung after how long I'd been looking.

Besides being as slow as genetically possible and possessing a Master Rank level capability to click Expanding Force, however, there's... not much ostensibly special about her. Having to catch so many Hatenna meant I'd stuck to using fairly standard catching methods, landing her in the pretty ubiquitous Ultra Ball. She's not shiny, much like every other Hatenna I saw, and she has no personality marks despite the significant odds increases stacked with the Mark Charm and title power. Her modestly "slightly smaller than average" stature further barely distinguishes her, leaving her ineligible for both the Mini and Jumbo Marks.

It's at this point Ribbon Mastering comes into my attention again. I've been carrying Pokemon through games for many years now, I still have my story playthrough team that beat the White Treehollow in White 2 from 11 years ago. But despite this, I never paid much conscious attention to Ribbons. Most of my Pokemon had at least one, usually a given region's Champion ribbon, but collecting them on a Pokemon was something I'd never particularly gone out of my way for. And, now, with both adult responsibilities and many other games coming out I wanted to play, it felt difficult to justify committing to something like a Ribbon Master project, despite admiration towards those that did it.

Since one successful run, I'd wanted to handle the November ladder with a new team. This proved less than fruitful. Most things I tried didn't feel like they fully clicked, despite my best efforts, and I ended up burning out of teambuilding.

Not quite feeling a break from Pokemon entirely though, a thought occurred to me. As far as ribbons go, Soirée had already done the most difficult one in achieving the Master Rank Ribbon. The Effort Ribbon was a given, and another run of the Academy Ace Tournament for the Paldea Champion Ribbon wasn't a problem either with a reasonably levelled story team, let alone one that was Master Rank capable. The Best Friends Ribbon simply asked for some picnic activities including and besides making sandwiches, and the three achievable Marks in S/V weren't hard more so than tedious (particularly the Partner Mark, why is it like this). Besides all those, the only two remaining ribbons available to her would be in Sword and Shield, plus it would be a reason to push through the Battle Tower finally, having mostly left Sword after the end of my original run.

Though despite all that, some reservations lingered. As mentioned, Soirée is pretty non-descript as far as not just most Hatterenes, but most Pokemon go. On top of that, she could knock out all her Ribbons in just two regions. Would that really make much of a compelling story? Most well-known Ribbon Masters had come from places like a Japanese GameCube eReader. Would there be all that much to tell at the end of it all?

But... then I recalled NeverHappy. A Budew abandoned in a second-hand copy of Platinum, only to be one day found, have value placed within it, and go the full distance with only sheer love and pettiness for fuel. Soirée had already captivated me simply by doing this:

All that mattered was what Soirée meant to me, not how notable she was for anything she wasn't. She could - and would - go as far as she could.

The Paldean portion made sense to finish up first. Ultimately, this was mostly just the three obtainable Marks, two of which (Itemfinder and Gourmet) weren't a huge deal. The Partner Mark was by far the most obnoxious, forcing me to opt for using a hair tie to pull my controller's sticks together after half the rest of my active party got it by coincidence. Fortunately, though, this took not too much longer after driving Miraidon in circles for a while, noticing she had the Mark after accidentally knocking the controller.

A visit to Galar's Battle Tower in my copy of Sword was next up, and was by far the most individually time consuming aspect of the journey. I picked up Sword quite late after passing it up at launch and only going back after playing Violet. The game had been left off after the final Leon fight, with only a brief return later to catch Zacian and do the final Hop battle, so the entire run to Master Ball was ahead of me.

Courtesy of a friend with the DLC I didn't have (will get it eventually but... not right now), Soirée was able to get a serving of Max Soup, and took full advantage of one of the likely few windows she'll get to assume a G-Max form, and presented a more than suitable compensation for her temporary loss of Expanding Force.

I opted for Doubles, both because of VGC and out of personal preference. Additionally, this time Soirée would get a different cohort. Since the Galar Battle Tower doesn't prohibit any Pokemon as long as their learnsets match Gen 8 legality, a not insubstantial part of the run was handled by a few Pokemon I had used a bit less than I'd have liked.

Specifically, her three accompanying teammates were Morning Star, (a Necrozma assuming Dawn Wings form from my years old Ultra Moon run, in consideration for a team on the return of Reg G), Arboria (a Suicune from the Ultra Space Wilds I had reset on to have a decent nature and stats) and my unfortunately unable to be renamed Genesect, which I'd had in the background since an event distribution in 2016. Genesect did, unfortunately, suffer from a limited moveset on account of TR availability, so I wound up opting for a funnier strategy than simply using Iron Head instead.

Ultimately, the Battle Tower posed little issue, taking only one loss to Leon from a poor string of luck. All four pulled their weight, and I'm overall very pleased with the Pipe Bomb Genesect strategy's performance considering the circumstances of its implementation.

Being pretty short, the Galar Champion Ribbon following it was anticlimactic for the final one. The run's last opponent was Piers, so it was more or less a clean sweep.

And that was the end of the journey. A short one, considering most Ribbon Master journeys, but at the end of the day, expressing admiration for the best Expanding Force clicker I'll probably ever have is more than enough.

If you've made it this far, then thank you for following Soirée's short but, I hope, meaningful journey. I'd certainly like to do more Ribbon Master runs after this, and perhaps you'd like to bring your favourite as far as they can go as well.

[cadybear420]

Best and Worst LI from each series

Inspired by this post by @choices-binglebonkus from a couple of years back. I came across it recently and I felt compelled to do my own.

Keep in mind that I haven't played some of these stories in a while, and there are a handful where I haven't even started or completed them. So a lot of stuff here is subject to change.

TCATF

Best: For Kenna: I'm not sure. For Dom: probably Sei because I loved their relationship in Book 2. But it's been a while.

Worst: For Kenna: I'm still not sure. For Dom: either Rose because of how she's written out of Book 2 with the inability to transfer data, or Will Jackson with how he was so obviously a last minute addition.

[MW: Haven't played yet, and IIRC this one didn't really have any LIs or romance.]

[TFS: Haven't played yet.]

ROE

Best: As pleasant as the 3 main LIs were, all their romances with MC felt very empty and rushed, which to be fair is expected when Nana's forcing you to marry by the end of the summer. As for the other characters, it's still hard to pick one that's the best cause I didn't find any of the romances particularly remarkable. I'd have to go either with Party Twin's LIs or cousin's romance with Chaz because they were the only ones that didn't feel like clusterfucks.

Worst: Like I said, all of MC's romances were empty. But since I'm including the other characters' romances too, easily Audrey and Elena. Audrey was a very unpleasant character towards Bookish Twin in Books 1 and 2. And same for Elena in part of Book 2 and all of Newlyweds; she had every right to be upset at Brother for hiding his past ex wife, but she acted incredibly petty and immature over it.

ES

Best: I didn't really get to romance anyone in my playthrough but either Jake or Estela. Jake has some really funny one-liners and nicknames. Estela I saw has the "Dont. Touch. My. Husband/Wife!!!" line that makes me really want to do a romance with her as a m!MC. I love protective gfs, I aspire to be a protective gf.

Worst: None of them because all of them are great characters. But if I had to choose... maybe Quinn? She didn't feel as fleshed out to me as the other 3. But it's been 2 and a half years since I last played so yeah.

LH

Best: None of them really grabbed me, but I'd have to go with either Leah or Ben. Ben is just a sweetheart, but I also liked the interactions between Leah and MC in Book 2.

Worst: Mark wasn't bad, but I couldn't buy into the relationship with him as well as I could the other two.

THOBM

Best: Eleanor for sure. She is partly responsible for my realizing that I'm not straight. She's supposed to be this stoic ghost woman, but gets super flustered and blushy when you flirt with her??? Bye bye heterosexuality.

Worst: Victor wasn't bad but he was just... a total non-character. Yeah, a rare story where a female LI takes the spotlight and a male LI is sidelined.

TRR: I haven't really played past Book 1, but I've already deemed Liam as my favorite LI. Though I am biased because this is the first book I started when I first got into Choices back in February 2021 (I'm a fandom baby I know), but he won my heart instantly in that premium scene where MC can take him on a boat to see the statue of liberty. And throughout the rest of the book he's just a very sweet and pleasant character. So I'm just gonna leave it at that and not deem a worst LI just yet.

Hero

Best: It's been a long time but I strongly remember quite liking Grayson. He was sweet and cute. Kenji was also pretty decent but I don't think I liked him quite as much as I did Grayson.

Worst: Eva isn't a bad character, but she was introduced way too late into the story for me to truly care about her.

OG HSS

Best: AIDEN ZHOU AIDEN ZHOU AIDEN ZHOU AIDEN ZHOU AIDEN ZHOU AIDEN ZHOU AIDEN ZHOU AIDEN ZHOU AIDEN ZHOU AIDEN ZHOU AIDEN ZHOU AIDEN ZHOU AIDEN-MOTHER-FUCKING-ZHOU!!!!!! Sweet mother of all things holy how am I supposed to talk about this in only one paragraph???

As if it wasn't obvious, I love everything about him and he's easily my favorite Choices character of all time. For one, I love male characters who are more on the soft and gentle side. Aiden is definitely that, and his tendency to get flustered and blushy is adorable. For two, he's passionate, dedicated, just very earnest and down-to-earth. And especially in Book 1, we see how he struggles with self-esteem. He's passionate, but he doesn't consider himself as such. He considers himself a failure for the screwed up halftime performance. He doesn't feel he knows how to communicate to MC right and thinks lower of himself for preferring to communicate through music.

I found a lot of these aspects very relatable myself, outside of music though, because I can't play an instrument to save my life. But I do have a passion for stuff like drawing, writing, and editing. And I think relating to Aiden so much sort of added to how authentic the romance route with him and MC felt for me. There were a couple of moments where I could have my MC sort of connect with him– the rooftop scene where MC can say that seeing how passionate he is inspires them to do better, their scene at homecoming in the band room where MC can say that social interactions don't come easy to them either despite how confident they can be.

And just... the whole romance route feels so earned and well-paced? I mean I'm sure all of the routes in HSS are like that but I especially love it here. How you can give him time of day to listen to him play piano, slowly help him step out of his comfort zone, I love how protective you can be of him in Book 2 and how you can be there for him when Isa and his parents are punishing him, and how he's then being there for you during the Book 3 drama when you're accused of sabotage. And all the moments such as becoming official with him, him confessing his love to MC and how you can confess back... it just all feels so organic.

Also the romance route with him hits so much different if you romance him as a band kid. You get extra moments with him, not to mention when you're about to play his song at the spring concert and they say how "there's a glint in his eyes you haven't seen before" and after you play it they say "his eyes gleam with pride" like HELLO??? That extra bit of connection they have when they're *both* musicians???? Shit like this is why I sing my praises to this trilogy so much.

Worst: None of them! Okay but if I had to choose... well, this is gonna pain me to say this, but Michael.

I adore his character arc and he's my second most favorite HSS character and Choices LI, but when I tried romancing him (and I did so twice), I noticed he actually felt a lot more underdeveloped in comparison to the other LIs. Specifically in Book 2, as he's the only character who isn't really struggling with anything. He felt very lacking in presence for the first half of that book– even moreso than Emma, whose subplot didn't even have anything to do with the main Isa plot. And so Book 2 kinda felt like this big gap in the relationship journey that he and MC can have.

Then again, maybe he and Evie Ayana (my MC) just don't have all that much chemistry and I should try romancing him as a brand new version of the MC.

ILITW

Best: My personal favorite is Lucas, but honestly? It's a tough tie between him, Andy, and Ava. Andy I'd say had the stronger character arc, but I personally related more to Lucas. Ava however is certainly the most memorable and witty of them.

Worst: Connor. He's not bad and I quite liked some of the banter between him and MC, but he is lacking in ways that make him stick out like a sore thumb. All these other LIs are characters attending school with MC, that MC has been friends with since childhood, who have all experienced Jane's death up-front as kids. Connor lacks all of that, being Stacy's older brother of 2 years and not really part of the friend group. And he doesn't really have much of a character arc like the others do to make up for that. I don't mind MC romancing outside of their close childhood friends, but it just felt a bit harder to connect with him on the same level as the others.

HFTH:

Best: Wyatt was probably the most memorable of the bunch.

Worst: Nick was annoying, but he did get better in the second half of the story. Holly was alright but very bland.

[RCD: Haven't played yet.]

PM

Best: Hayden without a doubt, though I'm certainly very fond of Sloane too. Hayden is a literal robot, yet they still feel more like an actual human being than like 90% of the customizable LIs we've been getting. The whole arc with them basically having an existential crisis upon realizing they're an android, then eventually going on to start a new identity for themselves... I loved it. And as a bonus, the customizable aspect is kind of integrated in the story itself rather than being a meta choice.

Worst: None of them. Maybe Alana and Khaan, cause they seemed to be somewhat pushing some romance with them in Book 2, but it felt very muddled and unclear.

BB

Best: All of them. But I'm probably most fond of Kamilah "I'm *her* queen. And she's mine." Sayeed. Jax and Lily are close seconds though as they're incredibly memorable (also the mass fandom hatred for Lily that was apparently a thing... yeah very sus to me. why did y'all hate her.)

Worst: None of them. I'd say maybe Adrian didn't stand out quite as much as the others?

[VOS: Haven't played yet.]

AME

Best: None of the LIs really stood out to me but my favorite would probably have to be Jen, she was sweet and always tried to help MC.

Worst: Derek had to be the most lackluster of them all IMO.

[D&D: Haven't played yet.]

ATV

Best: For MC: I was most fond of Kepler the buff queen and Meridian the sweet medic. For Eos: Gee Zekei, how come PB lets you be a romance option for two playable characters? For Pax: Holmes is precious.

Worst: IDK honestly. I wasn't a fan of Zaniah's betrayal or whatever it was. But IDK.

[BSC: Haven't played yet.]

HSS:CA

Best: Objectively speaking, Skye. She's the one thing that HSS:CA enjoyers and HSS:CA critics and haters can agree that is good about the series, and honestly that's deserved. Everything about her character storyline is pretty damn immaculate. That being said, I romanced Ajay and I'm personally very fond of him. Although I didn't care much for him in Book 1, Books 2 and onwards make him a much more sympathetic and compelling character. And personally, I tend to chalk up the whole siding against MC thing to be lazy OOC writing considering A) he'd warned MC about Danielle in the earlier chapters and B) directors generally have a responsibility to stay unbiased in these kinds of situations, and given how seriously Ajay takes being a director, realistically I think he would have tried to stay unbiased and tell the other accusers to fuck off. PB, you did my boy dirty.

Worst: Rory. I didn't hate them and they're a pretty decent character on their own, but they're easily the weakest LI of CA and of HSS as a whole. They have zero character development over the trilogy. Book 1 forcing our MC to crush on them and agonize so much over wanting their first kiss with Rory on stage was obnoxious and unnecessary, and it didn't help that their entire personality in said book didn't really go much beyond "popular theatre heartthrob". They try so hard to force us to like them by flaunting how popular they are and having Cunt and Nasty– sorry I mean Clint and Natalie– constantly fawn over them. Rory was thankfully no longer forced in Book 2 and had somewhat more character (also the way they called out Morgan's hypocrisy and single handedly destroyed her campaign is peak Rory), but the whole election plotline did nothing for their character. Book 3 gives them some sort of conflict with their parents, but it's just the group thinking Rory's dad is cheating only for it to be the good ole misunderstanding cliche.

ILB

Best: Tom. Parker was pretty adorable too, but nothing beats the part in the premium lake day scene where Tom wishes he'd won a giant teddy so he could put it in the passenger seat and be able to go into the fast lane and then MC can give him the teddy they won (if they did win).

Worst: Danni for how she can be needlessly callous towards Parker's memory if he ends up leaving the group. Even if he's dead. It comes off as extra hypocritical if Danni ended up caving to Astrid's temptations as well.

[TE: Haven't played yet.]

ACOR

Best: Either Syphax or Cassius for their loyalty to MC.

Worst: IDK.

TH:M

Best: Eris Huang is an icon. "Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals".

Worst: I didn't care for Sonia. I mean she was alright and I liked her redemption arc, but she just didn't vibe with me as a LI.

ROD

Best: Colt is the only LI I felt had any real character depth, any real significance, any real reason for me to give a shit about him.

Worst: The pushing of Logan as the main LI felt very forced, unnecessary, and undeserved. Like... there wasn't anything all that special about him.

OPH: I haven't really played past Book 1, but I'm quite fond of Bryce.

[PTR: Haven't played yet.]

[WT: Haven't played yet.]

NB

Best: Katherine the "I don't like being saved" was fun to romance as a male MC. But either Vera or Cal would have to be the strongest character-wise.

Worst: None of them really. None of them are super amazing to me, but I didn't have any problems with any of them.

[PT: Haven't played yet.]

[SK: Haven't played yet. Tried to once but I got bored and quit 5 chapters in]

BP

Best: Aisha for sure. She's just a very vibrant and fun character.

Worst: Reed and Ash were nice and cute, but other than that... not much. They were pretty useless to the plot too.

MOTY

Best: All of them. IDC. They're all super compelling.

Worst: None.

[StD: Haven't played yet.]

[TRM: Haven't played yet.]

BaBu

Best: Mayor Dixon was really fun to romance. The female version especially contributed to my possible bi awakening.

Worst: I liked Clint as a character but the first chapter tries wayyyyyy too hard to get the player to be turned on by the thought of having his babies. The Clint fangirls in that scene were so clearly written by someone who's never met a single woman in his life outside of some stereotypical textbook-definition Facebook Karen moms I'm sorry

[HC: Haven't played yet.]

WEH

Best: Well well well, this seems to be the first ever single-LI story on the app. And personally I think Dakota was a pretty decent and compelling character.

Worst: None

BOLAS: I haven't started Book 2 yet but I already know my favorite is Imtura. I especially love how shamelessly RoleReversal her romance is with a male MC. Praying it carries over to Book 2.

AVSP

Best: None

Worst: This book was boring and Simon/Ava's motives for making a fake marriage with the MC felt very contrived.

Witness

Best: Cassian. This book sucks but Cassian was at least a pleasant character.

Worst: None.

DS

Best: None.

Worst: None. Honestly I don't have many feelings for the characters in this one.

TNA

Best: Sam Dalton. I mean he's not brilliant or anything but I do have a bit of a soft spot for them because TNA 1 was the first Choices story I ever completed. Also the first time a f!MC was allowed to get up in her m!LI's bootyhole.

Worst: Also Sam Dalton because of all the "+Desire +Desire +Desire +Desire +Desire +Desire" and shit

QB: I've twice attempted playthroughs of this and ended up neglecting both of them halfway through Book 1. But I did quite like Ian/Ina.

TUH: I started a playthrough back when it was releasing to all and then ended up neglecting it by like Ch10. I'll need to start playing again, but I remember being quite fond of Mr. John Somerset.

MTFL

Best: All the LIs were pretty compelling characters, they just had shit stories with a shit MC. But of the three of them, Ava was probably the most compelling to me.

Worst: None.

MM

Best: IDK. I'm tempted to say Jack/Jacqueline because I did like their banter with the MC, but other than that they were rather bland.

Worst: Like I said, Jack/Jacqueline felt very bland outside of the banter they could have with MC.

[RT: Haven't played yet]

WB

Best: Morgan was easily the most fleshed out and compelling of the two LIs.

Worst: Bastien is derivative as all hell. Seriously, pick up any werewolf-themed YA erotic story and the male werewolf LI in it will almost certainly be identical to Bastien.

[FA: Haven't played yet]

SB

Best: This is a tough one. Chef Flint's character was a lot more derivative and I personally preferred being around Julia(n). But Julia(n) was also an incredibly useless character, you could remove them from the story and nothing important would change.

Worst: See above.

LOA

Best: As much as I didn't care for the series, I did find both LIs pretty decent. But of the two of them, Aislinn is much more fleshed out.

Worst: Gabe, who wasn't bad but wasn't nearly as fleshed out as Aislinn.

SW

Best: Manu was a pretty interesting character. The relationship with them is pretty straightforward, but it was interesting and even a bit sweet later on. And apparently your bond score can determine whether or not you survive in the last chapter? Also this is the only single LI story I know of where you can choose a more platonic route with the LI.

Worst: None.

WTD

Best: I think I liked Angel the most. She was fun.

Worst: I'm not sure really.

Surrender

Best: None. None. None. Noooooooooooone.

Worst: Fuck Reagan Thorne. Worst LI on the app ever. I'll admit Book 2 does go a little more in-depth with their background, but as someone who has been in a similar situation, God they botch it horribly because 90% of this book is spent doubling down on Reagan's toxicity. And just when MC finally gets the self-respect to leave them after that awful "When a woman agrees to be my sub she agrees to obey" line, they then throw it right in the trash with how easily she ends up getting back with them. Bruh throw the whole LI in the trash.

COP

Best: Trystan is a fun character and their relationship with the MC is very refreshing. They're both equals for once in a single LI story, and it'll be interesting no matter which gender you choose for each character (whereas in most single LI stories they're really only interesting if you play as anything other than wlm).

Worst: None.

UT

Best: None.

Worst: Kit is the textbook definition of a soulless personality-less customizable LI. They try to push them as this "player" except it's moreso just people flocking to Kit rather than Kit flirting with others.

TPS

Best: Clarke was a fun character and the female white sprite also contributes to me knowing I'm not straight.

Worst: Devon was nice but they were kind of bland and useless.

TCH: I've only played Book 1 so far and haven't yet started Book 2, but I found Kieran pretty decent and I enjoyed their development.

ID: Gabe was sweeter and I kind of liked their interactions with the MC, but Cas was more interesting, so I'm not sure. But there's a Book 2 on the way so I can't properly judge anyways.

MAH

Best: Tyler! He's arguably the least developed of the LIs but he was my favorite because he's just so babygirl. I miss when we had true softie male LIs. Also, bonus points for the dialogue changes about him realizing he's not straight if you romance him as a male or enby MC.

Worst: Not sure. Maybe Donovan because he could be a bit callous to the MC in the earlier chapters. I get why he was acting like that, but some of it did seem a bit excessive. But even then, he's still a very fleshed out character and his callousness doesn't go on for too long, so it's hard to, in good faith, deem him as the "worst". But I will also say that Stevie being MC's childhood best friend felt very poorly set up.

TPA

Best: None of them. Rowan was underdeveloped and Agent Grey was mostly very one note. They have some alright interactions, but I personally found the two hookup options Lou and Alexis far more interesting.

Worst: Like I said, Agent Grey was very one note. They seemed to be trying to go for the whole James Bond trope with having a companion that he has a bit of bantery romance with, except there wasn't much flavor to the relationship between MC and Agent Grey. Grey's character is pretty much entirely just being a tsundere.

[GNV: Haven't played yet]

[KOD: Haven't played yet]

[GG: Haven't played yet]

RWB

Best: None.

Worst: Drew had some alright character development, but I found them mostly unremarkable. "Baby Bird" was also very infantilizing.

FCL

Best: None.

Worst: How is it that every single character on-screen, even Sky who's a complete stranger, could figure out MC was scheming against Rebecca, but Rebecca's partner themselves apparently could not? Blake is either spineless as all fuck, or was just doing shrooms during the entire trip. Or both.

[TDA: Haven't played yet]

[KND: Haven't played yet]

TBB

Best: None

Worst: Cole/Callie is bland as all hell and very unreliable. Tries to use a baby to save their and Daphne's relationship and then proceeds to cheat on Daphne. Only in like the last chapter do they talk things out like actual grown ass adults, but it's too little too late.

DLS: I'm still catching up but I'm enjoying Charlie King.

[APH: Haven't started yet]

[SOD: Haven't started yet]

[Unbridled: Haven't started yet]

[lemonthepotato]

I Understand Goodbye Volcano High Now: A Short, Positive Review (Rambling)

When I first learned about this game, it was while watching a Dumbsville video on Life Is Strange 3, another game I enjoy. I have a peculiar interest in watching critiques of things I like. After watching his review, I found the concept and ending of this game to be humorously flawed. Intrigued, I decided to experience it firsthand. However, after only ten minutes, I found myself losing interest. I shared my thoughts on Discord, stating, and I quote:

“So I heard about this game called Goodbye Volcano High, and I opened a playthrough on YouTube to watch, got 10 minutes in and got bored. Read a review of it, and apparently it’s a story about a group of friends, emotional drama, blah blah blah, high school shit. And the ending, no matter your choices? THEY GET WIPED OUT BY AN ASTEROID. DID I MENTION ALL THE CHARACTERS ARE DINOSAURS. Oh that’s hilarious. I could get some ironic enjoyment if the dialogue didn’t feel so… stiff to listen to. I love it. Edit: Ok basically I’m 50/50 on this being either the best game or worst game ever. Imagine sitting through hours of choices about relationships and dynamics and then they get hit by a fucking asteroid. Edit: never mind this game is peak.”

So how did I change my mind only 40 minutes in? Let’s go on the journey. Who knows? Maybe YOU will change your mind.

Please note: I haven't personally played the game yet. I typically prefer to watch a playthrough before diving in, particularly for narrative-driven games like Life Is Strange or The Quarry. While it may seem unconventional, this approach allows me to provide insights on the story rather than technical aspects.

In fact, I will share the notes I took while watching.

At the 40-minute mark, I found the game to be peak during the tarot reading. The presence of foreshadowing indicated that the game had a deeper message to convey. I will admit though, the designs took some getting used to, the forward-facing Fang was a bit overwhelming. Perhaps the art team could have toned down the dinosaur features while maintaining their overall essence. It felt somewhat uncanny, (although I must admit it grew on me by the end.)

I appreciate the little moments in this game, like how Fang's small mishap with the MIDI controller caused a strong reaction. Pal, there’s a thing called “handle the situation with a thorough and careful cleaning rather than a light rub.” I love them, my little over dramatic iconic blorbo.

Massive kudos and praise to the talented artist responsible for the captivating visuals in this game. You’re a champ. Now, for the animation itself. Personally, I believe that animation is an incredibly challenging field, so I refrain from criticizing animators. The exceptional artwork compensates for any perceived shortcomings in animation, in my opinion. While the dinosaur aesthetic may not be my personal preference, I admire the creativity behind it. And you know, a criticism…

I often come across, is the criticism that Naomi's crush on Fang wasn't evident. However, personally, I believe there are several instances of foreshadowing that hint at their connection. Even if I were unaware of the plot twist, I might have still guessed it. It is amusing, though, that Fang is comfortable conversing with an unknown number.

Anyway, why do I cough and get wheezy when I eat?

Why are all the songs in this game so goood? They cut off suddenly sometimes, but still. Are they on Spotify? I’d love to listen to these. Honestly, I feel this games predictions isn’t too far off. If a meteor were to attack us, we would act non-chalant. Make memes. Older people wouldn’t care or comfort their younger kids. Everyone would pretend it’s okay.

While it may be, and probably just is coincidental, the presence of an intersex flag pattern on Trish's shirt in the F&F game has led me to a new headcanon about Trish. <3 Look, I just think it’s worth noting that intersex individuals often lack representation beyond being included as an "I" in acronyms. So even if it’s probably coincidence, I like it.

So it looks like this is the big reveal, with Naomi making the same dress the mysterious number showed Fang. And it seems like Reed is really down about the comet situation, and now it's all coming to a head. But the thing is, what can they even do? It's like no one wants to take action or even acknowledge it. I'm not an optimist, but there has to be something we as a species could do if an asteroid was heading towards Earth.

The tarot earlier was forgotten about, which is a shame, because I thought it was going to be explained. I forgot what it was so I can’t even google it. But yeah “death” isn’t good.

Perhaps I'm biased towards Fang, but saying "fuck off" doesn’t really sound that severe when Naomi was kinda being a bit of a dick. While Naomi had a valid point, she also seemed dismissive of others' aspirations. Personally, I might have responded more harshly in that situation, which is why I struggle with friendships haha… Additionally, I didn't fully agree with Trisha placing all the blame on Fang for not understanding her feelings. Fang can't read minds, but it's a complicated situation given their denial. But still- unlike Trisha, Naomi’s outburst seems… sudden? Less justifiable? Maybe I wasn’t reading in between the lines enough. At least everyone made up in the end. Coolio.

Wow, that ending. My interpretation is as follows. It’s better to be together than alone in times of hardship. Life is fleeting, and we could lose it any-day. We need to live for the moment, not for the future. We need to live our dreams, not just wait for them to happen. When destiny fucks you, you fuck it harder, essential.

Overall, a sincere 5/5 game. The problems are so little for me, and I say that as someone who criticises EVERYTHING. My only complaints is that MY ship wasn’t validated /j. Nah, I have very few.

Pry my ship from my cold dead hands, essentially.

Ranking:

Story: 4/5

Art: 5/5

Game Mechanics: Again, I only watched a walkthrough, so I can’t comment on that.

Pacing: 3/5.

Overall: 5/5.

I don’t normally do reviews. But well, this was an exception. I did use an AI to make my points more professional sounding, but most of what I wrote was from the heart, raw.

Why do people hate this game? It’s what I call the High Guardian Spice Effect. People get a bad first impression, so judge the final product too harshly. Granted, I think HGS isn’t as good as GVH, tbh. I thought HGS was okay. Good, even. Not great, flawed in many ways. But it was pretty average. But GVH? I think it’s a worse case. While HGS had a questionable trailer, GVH didn’t really have many red flags. People just didn’t like that it had anthropomorphic gay people in it, so judged it because of that.

I went in thinking I would hate this, but I loved it. I can’t wait to see what KO-OP has in store for the future.

Because I only watched a playthrough and haven’t played it for myself, I don’t know how much different dialogue options affect the story. I guess I’ll have to see for myself, one day. For now? I’m going to give my recommend/don’t recommend status. If you like story driven games, small interactions, slow-pacing (too slow for some, which I understand) and want a surprisingly wholesome apocalypse story? Check it out. If not? Understandable. Not every game is for everyone, and no game is without flaw. Even though I enjoyed GVH, I don’t regret watching that review I did. Didn’t I tell you? I love watching media I like getting criticised. It gives me a lot to think about. But I just think the story works for me. And while the story may have a “sad ending,” it’s the journey that matters. Can’t that be said for life itself? The meteor may have hit, but it’s everything in between that matters.

Although, yes, portraying it like your choices impact the ending may have not been the best decision. Then again, “nothing you do matters” is probably a bit hard to sell. Anyway, that’s all I have to say. I’m gonna go do my Duolingo lesson (2099 streak baby) Feel free to tell me I’m wrong though. Or right. I guess.

[essentialthyme]

By the laws of mutualisim, I must now know ur every thought and opinion on ur DA ocs and playthroughs! the audience craves knowledge and information 😌🫶

Valley, I take so much liberties with my Dragon Age stuff 😩

I have a tendency to keep things boring and make human characters, so heads up.

In Origins, I played through all the intros and ended up going with Cousland. She grew up sheltered and kinda of introverted, but polite and respectful, and her brother taught her how to fight and they figured out she was fast and sly, so she is a rogue, basically. Never gave anyone any troubles until she turned like 17 and started hooking up with every woman she possibly could. Then, tragedy strikes and she kinda shuts down, and becomes very serious and just... angry. She abandons her (already flimsy) beliefs. She is still respectful to those she feels deserves it, but diplomacy is far from being her go to. Still wants to do the right things, but achieving it through violence. It is her companions (especially Leliana) that bring back her spark, her will to live, and she never goes back to who she was, but she goes back to interacting, smiling, talking, opening up.

Here the timeline splits into "canon" and "non-canon'', but the truth is both of then are non-canon, haha:

Canon: She romances Leliana.

Non-canon: She romances Morrigan.

In both cases, she performs the ritual with Morrigan (because the restriction is stupid lmao). She... really wants a family, so she is unable to pass up the opportunity given to her, but there's a bit of a fight between her and Morrigan, because Cousland negotiates her way into being a part of Morrigan and her child's life. Well, children, as Morrigan gives birth to twins: Kieran, with the old god's soul and Nora, without.

Hawke is simpler. A blue rogue who is super extroverted, charming, polite, diplomatic and funny but like, in an appropriate way. Very eager to please, very loyal to those she cares about. The problem is she cares about a lot of people. She takes on the role of caretaker, and it takes a toll on her, but she never quits. None of the trauma she goes through break her like they did Cousland.

Hawke falls first. She is head over heals for Isabela from the very beginning. Hawke never resents Isabela for the end of act II, one of the things she is adamant about is that she would NEVER tie Isabela down. Lucky for her, Isabela fell harder.

Fun facts: My ONLY character to ever have blue eyes, they remind Isabela of the sea. The iconic mark over the nose is actually a scar.

Inquisition is tough, I have not played it, but I know a lot about it. I have barely any interest in any of the companions. So I made two characters: Trevelyan and Lavellan. Lavellan is super shy and timid mage, but very fierce and grounded, down to earth, but a complete powerhouse. Trevelyan is a mad woman. She is purple Hawke turned up to 11. She flirts with everyone, cracks bad jokes at bad times, resolves personal issues in the worst way imaginable. Drinks more than she should, and gets into fistfights at taverns. Bit of a fuckboy. But she is a formidable warrior, and an excellent strategist, so everyone kinda puts up with her because well, she is a genius when it comes to battles. She is also a mage supporter, hates the Chantry, and clocks prejudiced people in the face without a second thought. Lavellan and Trevelyan were together during the events of the intro, both survive, so who is the Herald depends on my mood.

For the "canon": Lavellan is the Herald, and she takes one sniff of Cullens's racist ass, sends him to rehab and puts Trevelyan in his place. Trev isn't as bad with Lavellan, they go through most of the stuff at the beginning together, and they rely on each other, so Trevelyan has a soft spot for Lavellan, and shows a gentle side no one else gets to see. You see where I'm going with this? Yup, my oc's romance each other. Lavellan has a crush on Cassandra at the beginning, but that goes away eventually, and bam.

For "non-canon": Trevelyan is the Herald, and Lavellan is a companion. But Lavellan ends up falling for Josephine after the Cassandra fiasco, and so Trevelyan, being the chaotic entity that she is, falls for none other than Leliana. I just couldn't pass up the idea of romancing her yet again. Trevelyan has to take on a more serious role here, and Leliana is the one who sets her straight, basically.

I promise I tried to be brief 😭

[tiredassmage]

oc questionnaire

I'm delightfully spoiled because I actually have two of these to fill out now, but finally getting the time to catch up on some tags now that I'm moved in for the new fall semester! Gonna tackle my tags for this individually, starting with @kemendin's set! Tysm!

I said I missed my bg3 blorbos, so I decided to do this for Ambrose! (And got to crying over his playthrough clips again, what of it? x3)

What is your OC's preferred/favorite environment? Bustling or serene, filled with people or totally alone? Do they like being out in nature or surrounded by technology etc? Do they have a favorite climate/weather type?

Either extreme in excess have posed challenges for Ambrose before. The hustle and overflow of Baldur’s Gate, for example, poses as much opportunity to disappear among the crowds as it did numerous opportunities to be trampled underfoot, or find herself in yet another arrangement using her for her abilities - or, perhaps worst of all, enough unfamiliar faces he was uncertain there was anyone to be trusted to keep him out of her former master’s hands.

So, that said, he prefers something more quiet, though he’d like to still share it with some small company. Not all of their travels were to locales she’d be keen to revisit, but when the dust settles, Ambrose still enjoys traveling at Shadowheart’s side and takes great comfort from living amongst the recovering trees with Halsin. In her youth, when he would not be busy with magical drills and training under the hawk-like gaze of her master and overseers, Ambrose would enjoy some of the quiet to be found on a rocky section of beach on their island home. She would often sit out there with Ysabel, her closest friend from those days. The crash of the waves would often do much to soothe his frayed nerves. These days, the brush of grass and leaves underfoot is similarly soothing. She’s fond of spring, when flowers begin to bloom and the earth begins to come alive anew - a little taste of liberty, love, and hope that does much for one that was often plagued by doubts.

What’s something your OC is often conflicted about? A choice they made, their place or purpose in the world, a relationship they have with someone, etc? How does this conflict manifest, and how do they deal with it, if at all?

What isn’t she conflicted about, she may have bitterly wondered not all that long ago. Again, the trials she came to share with her companions did… a lot, really, as much as they also challenged and strained her even further. Ambrose would love to say he never set out to save the world, or ruin it, but it felt as though he was doomed to one or the other from birth. Her parents were foretold her magic would be quite strong - something that posed wonder and excitement for those of her homeland before it grew quickly apparent that she… had some oddities. Wild Magic. Uncontrollable magic. Something to be reprimanded, then feared, then… reprimanded some more.

Her parents let the master take her away - for training, he said. So she wouldn’t pose such a risk to herself or others. He would give her purpose, he said to her. He promised her. As long as she followed the rules, his orders… everything would be fine… He’d said…

But Ambrose could never quite get the kind of control of his magic that her new ‘caretakers’ desired. She could decimate armies, they believed - so long as the ice storms and lightning didn’t also backfire - with… some actual fire. Several times. He prefers to wear longer gloves with his robes to mask some of the more… scarring, explosive incidents that left their marks up her arm. She’d ran from all of that before the world decided to go to the Hells with mindflayers and cultists, as if he didn’t have enough to worry about.

And the result was that Ambrose was… skittish, at times. Reserved. Head down, tried not to draw attention to herself. Not that the whole… tadpoles and invasion and all that left much choice there - and… somewhere along the way, that… clicked, finally. Choice. Something long taken out of her hands. Something he had left up to others to define him. That he was too dangerous, she was uncooperative, some… hapless lamb in need of guidance. True, it takes a great deal of travels and trials with her new companions for Ambrose to finally realize… enough. Enough with being beholden, to letting fear and someone else’s greed define her.

Raphael may nearly have caught her in yet another web, but… perhaps he can thank the devil for that much. Dragons, demons, mindflayers… Finally, it was all enough to make Ambrose realize she had her own damn spine. And she was going to use it. With, of course, no small amount of thanks also to the support of lovers like Shadowheart and Halsin, and stalwart hearts like Karlach and Wyll. She owes much to their guidance and support. None of it would have been possible without them. She won’t soon forget what they taught her. That’s a promise.

Does your OC have an object that’s particularly important to them? Why is it special? Do they carry it with them, or if not, where do they keep it? How would they react if it were lost/stolen/destroyed?

That little wooden duck Halsin carves for him as they settle down means the world to him. It fits comfortably in her palm, and she enjoys tracing the grooves in the wood that define the wings, the feathers. That Halsin gifted it to her alone would be enough, but that it is crafted with such care to fit so carefully within her hands… And in a pocket, for when he leaves to travel with Shadowheart. It is to take a piece of home with them, and reminds her that she has a home now - somewhere he is safe and loved. He always keeps it close. If it is not traveling with him, it is on a nightstand, or carefully set beside the bedroll - so it’s like Halsin is with them. When they return from their travels, he likes to briefly return it to Halsin’s hands to share their latest journey’s stories. The children seem quite fond of this, too.

It… could, as a physical object, be replaced, true. But it would devastated her to misplace, and she’d frankly probably be willing to risk a fireball or large icey swath of doom if someone tried to steal it from her or damage it intentionally. In it, Ambrose has bequeathed his found sense of identity and family, his hopes and dreams that finally felt safe enough to have. It is symbolic of no longer having to be afraid of herself. It would be heartbreaking to lose and… again, he… has learned he’s quite powerful on an explosive sense of self and temperament. She’d hold it on good authority that the Hells hold no fury quite like a wild magic sorcerer scorned.

Tags! Hmm.. I think a lot of my usual suspects have beat me to this one, butttt... I'm gonna second a tag for @ho1ythunder :3 @viennen annndd... @kartaylirsden if y'all would like to answer some blorbo questions? :3

Here are my questions for your blorbos <3

What is your OC's preferred method of travel/transportation? What do they enjoy about it? What do they dislike about it? Is there another means they would prefer to use, if they had the option? (IE, if their preferred method is on-foot, would they like some sort of vehicle or animal to rely on?)

Is there someone in your OC's life that motivates them towards a goal? A friend, a family member, a colleague, a romantic partner? Is that motivation inspiring, something they look up to? Or is it more of a pressure in their life, something that feels perhaps like a burden?

How does your OC handle failure? Of a task, of an obligation to someone? What lengths might they go to in efforts to avoid failure, or the feeling of it?