#maybe the second playthrough week be different

[v1nsmoke]

𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇 𝐌𝐘 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊 // 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐎𝐂𝐊 𝐗 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑

oneshot - fallout's john hancock x reader

tw: mentions of drugs (usual hancock activity)

summary: after days of exiting goodneighbor, you and hancock finally get to talk

fandom: fallout

a/n: there is not enough talk about this fella omg… now that liking the ghoul from the fallout show is accepted, i can come forward (i chose the “romance hancock” option every playthrough). no pronouns used, so gender neutral ig? also the inspiration for the title is that one song thats viral on tiktok rn, also galvanized square steel mentioned

tags: -

wc: 0.6k

“Day twenty-five since leaving Vault 111, today is Monday and my location is Diamond City, it’s currently 2:41 PM. Me and my companion are at the noodle shop,” you say, speaking into your Pip-boy. 

Recently, you’ve been documenting every day, usually just a brief summary on that day’s experiences. These experiences consisted of hourly radroach attacks, accidental overdose on jet, or encounters with hostile Mr. Handy’s. Or accidental near-death situations with a deathclaw. That only happened once. 

You weren’t sure anybody would ever hear these, even better, be interested in these daily logs. Your companion seemingly couldn’t care less about these logs, as he ate his portion of ramen next to you. 

“The Institute remains undefeated, and I doubt it will change today, I’m not in the mood for it,” you continue.

“If it depended on your mood, it would be there forever,” Hancock cuts in with his sarcastic remark.

A sigh escapes your lips at his words.

“Maybe I should switch back to Dogmeat and send you back to Goodneighbor,” you reply.

“Now, what good would that do for you?”

“It would spare me from more of these remarks.”

“But can Dogmeat give you this?” He asks as he slides you a jet.

Hesitantly, but you accept it with a smile. 

“John Hancock, the ghoul you are,” you sigh.

A smile creeps onto his features. 

“See? You like me enough.”

“Whatever helps you sleep…”

You’ve been traveling with Hancock for the past week or so, after you accepted the offer of Bobby, who just so happened to lie to you. One thing led from another, and after finishing off Hancock’s bodyguard, you managed to solve the bad blood between the two of you by killing Bobby herself. 

Hancock was useful and good company, helping out where he could and making small talk with you. Not to mention that he was supplying you with a different kind of drug every day. They don’t have that stuff in Vaults…

Last night, the both of you got high as hell in the home you bought with hard-earned caps here, in Diamond City. It was mostly a box, so you decided to illegally expand it with galvanized square steel and eco-friendly wood veneers. So, after the finished construction - that lasted four days with the cheap and friendly workforce including Little John (Hancock) and yourself -, the two of you decided to celebrate.

He plopped down onto the mattress - the construction fee was too much for you to spend even more caps on a normal bed -, resting his back against the wall. You popped open a bottle of Nuka-Cola, taking your place on the mattress next to him.

“So, how do ya like it?” He asks, taking a Jet out of his pocket.

“So far so good,” you reply with a sigh.

“That’s all? Not ‘I love this place more than the Vault’?”

“I do like it more than the Vault, cause you’re here.”

He stays quiet for a few seconds before speaking up.

“That’s good.”

“That’s all? Not ‘Wow I, too, am really glad that I’ve got you and get to share Jet with you and that you defended me from that Deathclaw’?”

He lets out a slight chuckle, hanging his head low. 

“Thank you, then. For these past few days I’ve spent with you. Never thought I would find anybody who would accept me as their companion.”

© v1nsmokes 2024. Do not modify, translate or rewrite.

[darkfeanix]

I have now completed all four Vampire: The Masquerade interactive fiction games from Choice of Games. They were all interesting in their own ways, and had their own flaws, but this is how I would personally rank them. Keep in mind that these are my opinions based on my experiences with the games. Nothing I say here is meant to be taken as fact.

#4: Out for Blood

I found the set up interesting, but honestly the chance to play as a human who is just learning about everything hidden behind the Masquerade isn't really why I bought these Vampire: The Masquerade games. And maybe it was just because I picked the wrong path or made the wrong choices, but it felt like they dropped the ball a bit with rebuilding my grandpapa's business. There was some interesting stuff early on and then it just sort of fizzled out. Which is how it felt with a lot of what happened in this one.

Also, they gave me a pet cat and then they killed her. So fuck them.

#3: Sins of the Sires

Despite starting it, like, a week or so ago, I barely played any of it until last night and today. Might have just been me, but it felt like it didn't immediately grip me like the previous three did. It took a bit for me to really get engaged with it.

I was a bit disappointed with (SPOILER!) the choice to do another sire twist, even if it was different from the one in Parliament of Knives. It felt... repetitive? And it somehow felt... smaller... than the others? Also, the lack of a level up system kind of... dulled the edges of the game. Again, though, maybe that was based on the choices I made.

If I were rating these games, I would probably give it something very middle-of-the-road.

#2: Parliament of Knives

Now this one, I really felt pulled into. The characters were all engaging, and I actually felt like the paths I was missing would warrant a second playthrough, which neither of the two previous ones really inspired in me. In this case I actually did like the sire twist (maybe because it came first), and I finished the game satisfied that my poor PC had been thoroughly duped but was also in a more powerful position than ever.

#1: Night Road

Based on the opinions I've seen online, anybody who has played all four games would probably expect this. Night Road is in my opinion the best of the four games. I've played it multiple times and hope to play it even more. I'm sure part of it is because it's the first one that I played, and it's not perfect, but I'd say it's the one I had the most fun playing.

[rainworld-fandom-positive]

Rain World: The Watcher Final Thoughts

STOP: This post contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the entirety of The Watcher DLC, play the game before continuing or continue if you don't really care about that

The Watcher. Probably one of the games/dlc I have been most anxious to get my hands on and play, and one I have played pretty much nonstop for a whole week.

So what did I think?

Hmm, well, I don't really know? It's a bit of a mixed bag of really really positive things and really really negative things, as well as some nitpicky bitchy whining (let me complain now, I'll be an adult about things later)

That is not to say I did not enjoy the dlc or that I think that the dlc is bad, I just feel like its missing something and I can't quite put my finger on it. Now I know this isn't all we're getting; there will be more at some point and maybe my opinions will change on a second playthrough/when I play the game when it comes to console but for now it feels... I'm not sure.

In terms of scale, the dlc is massive, with several expansive regions and some incredible environments, for sure, but there's also something so empty about those as well. Aether Ridge, Coral Caves both feel fine on their own as mods in my opinion, but seeing them chopped up into several pieces (I didn't mind so much with Stormy Coast, Shrouded Coast and the other pieces of that region because I feel like that did work due to the different instances of that region) it felt kind of tiring. I can't count how many times I ended up in some subregion of Aether Ridge and just sighed out loud.

Honestly I have no problem with AE itself but I do agree it is a lot and it felt almost like cheating to have several of the many regions be the same one cut into bits. It feels incredibly hard to miss things there due to how punishing the environment is, and believe me it IS punishing, especially if you infect it with rot.

And there's my main problem with the dlc as a whole; the rot. I flip back and forth over if I liked that storyline or not, and right now it is still very ehhhh for me. I feel like the focus was very divided between the rot/The Prince and the echo/Spinning Top, and honestly with how long it took me to explore I'd already forgotten what had been said or what I was even doing. I just feel like both stories don't really fit together for me, like two random pieces thrown together. I did love everything with Spinning Top that, that is my child your honor.

I kind of wish they'd made it that you could only progress from a region once you'd found and spoken to the echo, but I also see how frustraiting that would have been in places like Aether Ridge and Badlands.

I've seen people complain about the lack of handholding here and say that Downpour held your hand so much more than this or base game and I don't think that's very true. Base game/vanilla held your hand a little, you'd have some pop up tutorials such as with the scavenger toll in Garbage Wastes or the jetfish in Shoreline. But it did super well with showing you how things worked through the surroundings.

This is something I feel that the Watcher fumbled a little bit. Yes, you would know to search for the echos upon starting the campaign due to the echo ping you get in that first room, however if you haven't played Saint you wouldn't know what that means at all but on the other hand the game is clearly guiding you in specific directions in the beginning as many familiar regions are completely blocked off. But other than that? You're free to go and do whatever. Nothing explained.

This is both bad AND good. It gives you the freedom to fuck around and find out, but it also punishes you by not knowing. How many of us died to the barnacles/zappy fellas because they trapped up and we couldn't get past? How many of you jumped on top of the sky whale instead of clinging to it's whiskers? How many of you tried running through the locust swarms? I feel like there was a lack of interaction with the new creatures and the environment/other creatures, and it felt like the new things were only there for our benefit/detriment.

I'd see scavengers just casually walking through the locust swarms, no problem and nothing else seemed to be affected by the stinky/drug lizards in Fetid Glen. I've not even seen anything else be attacked by a frog or attempt to ride a sky whale (there were plenty of scavengers in signal towers, and they can climb poles, so it stands to reason they'd be able to grab on too). The only things I've seen are the big moths hunting a vulture and the small moths eating rats, that's it. Oh and that one lizard in the mud pit.

It all feels kind of empty.

I wish we had some collectables (maybe in the future we'll get lore pearls we can take to The Prince? I was super excited for more lore) or even something like Spearmaster's broadcasts, or I don't know, just something to discover. I felt like I was running around in circles, seeing nothing, just trying to finish the game and that wasn't fun!

So, overall, did I enjoy the Watcher? Yes and no. Is is good? Yes, but it could have been better and I hope whatever else is coming next does improve this experience for us! I will be doing multiple playthroughs but... yeah.

Yeah.

I'll probably do a post about the different regions/subregions eventually but I just feel kinda... I don't know. Almost disapointed but not quite.

[its-sheepe]

Art Week: Bugsnax

Day 1: Main Character

It’s the Journalists! I love it when people make each different color of the Journalist a different character so here’s my take on it!

All the journalist siblings together taking a nice family photo :)

Starting from bottom middle and going counterclockwise, we have

Red: The middle child and most “generic” of the group (as it’s the default journalist color). Represents normal playthrough.

Black: The youngest sibling, very goofy. Represents messing around during normal playthrough.

Purple: Second youngest, most responsible. Represents 100% completion playthrough.

Green: Same age as Red and adopted! Nobody ever remembers seeing him with his shades off (maybe he’s an alien). Represents debug playthrough.

Yellow: The oldest of the group, indirectly inspired the rest of his siblings to be journalists (he doesn’t mind). Represents good ending playthrough.

Blue: Second oldest, and also very aloof. They love their siblings though! Represents bad ending playthrough.

[splatsvilles-fashionista]

played any fashionable games lately? besides splatoon i mean.

I've primarily been rotating between Splatoon, Deep Rock Galactic, and Elden Ring in the last couple of weeks, though in the case of the latter I did recently wrap up my second playthrough of the DLC and is taking a bit of a break from it because the final boss is exhausting, and not in a fun way. It inspired me to replay Sekiro for the first time since 2020.

But to actually answer the question I think the most fashionable game I've been playing is a tabletop-inspired roleplaying game called Citizen Sleeper. You play as an android with an emulated human mind who has just escaped their corporate "owners" and set about trying to build a life on a large circular space station known as the Eye. It's a pretty dystopian, but ultimately hopeful narrative, less interested in the suffering caused by the cruel capitalist systems it depicts than the strength and solidarity of the common folk living within them.

And it has some really good sci-fi fashion, too. It leans really hard into the synthetic materials and heavy work uniforms necessary for people doing manual labour in maybe the harshest environment imaginable (space). The outfits are well-worn, patched, and personalized, except when they're not, immediately marking the people wearing them as someone on a different rung of the economic ladder. It's all around just very very good at using its fashion to tell you things about the people wearing it, and I think that is always just wonderful.

I could go through literally every single outfit in the game and talk about the things I like about them individually, but instead I'll just show a couple of my favourites here. Definitively check out Citizen Sleeper if it sounds interesting, it's really excellent and the soundtrack is just lovely.

[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

[doks-aux]

I started reading Five Nights at Freddy's: The Week Before, and as you can see, I'm being very normal about it.

I've avoided as many spoilers as possible so I can experience the lore hunting on my own for once. Never been as deep into the fandom during a book release before. The pages on the right are my notes while reading, whatever I think might be important to the worldbuilding or mysteries or just interesting minutia like how the restaurant is run. These were the notes after getting through Night 2. I've finished Night 3 by now (so please no spoilers beyond that), so there's a bit more.

The page on the left is where I'm recording my "official" playthrough. It's an "interactive novel" (because Choose Your Own Adventure is off-limits), and the way I'm reading it is by committing to one route each night and playing it to the end or until I die and have to get back to the last branching decision. And then when the night is over, I go back and read the branches I didn't take. (Except for the Bonus Item route. I've heard it's best to leave that until the very end.) The inventory is only items I pick up in the official playthrough (I probably didn't have to cross out screwdriver and paperclip after I used them, whoops), and I'm only recording Game Overs I reach organically (there are more of those now, too).

It's a lot of fun. This was a smart way to present new information and provide some different gameplay experience. I've never been able to play the video games when they actually come out, so it's nice to have a way to discover things firsthand and not have to rely on watching other people's videos. And since there are so many diverging points, there's still the question of which version of the story actually happened (if this is indeed canon to the games' timeline instead of it's own slightly-to-the-left continuity) and what information we can actually trust. Maybe it's Stockholm Syndrome talking at this point, but a straight answer wouldn't be quite as much fun.

There are some WILD implications if it's even adjacent to the games' timeline though. Like, at this point it really seems like a night guard's actual purpose is to keep the animatronics in the building than to keep anyone out. The idea that they would just up and fucking leave if they had a means to honestly never occurred to me (or at least it would have died off quickly after the earliest games), but apparently they will do exactly that. And it's largely been accepted that at least the original Fazbear four weren't malicious toward children (The Silver Eyes said as much and I think one of the games did, too), but in this story they're straight-up obliterating kids if given the chance.

Good shit. Excited to read the second half.

[ask-danganronpa-after-death]

Hello there!

I bet you didn't expect to see something from this very dead blog today, huh? Anyways, It's been... a really long time... like over a year and half worth of time. So we're well overdue for an update!

(tl;dr at the end)

I'll just start with some honesty on my part, when Mod Prom asked me to help them revive this blog the first time, I had just played V3. A lot of the plot points and minor details were still pretty fresh in my mind, and writing what amounted to a full retelling from a different perspective, felt more doable. Now it's been a few years, a lot of life, and I'd be hard pressed to remember V3 clearly. I've tried to start a second playthrough, and I've tried to watch let's plays for chapter 2 to write more for the blog, but none of it has been successful.

and BELIEVE ME I've been wanting to start this blog up again for MONTHS. In fact, I've had 4 posts READY to release since March of this year, and at least 8 posts drafted and thumbnailed. I just... didn't want to bring this project back until I knew I could actually commit to it. I thought maybe if I had enough of a backlog I could simply start posting once a week and try to keep pace, but that was a lot harder than it sounded.

I don't want to abandon this blog, this story and these characters, and I don't think I can properly put into words how strongly I feel about that.

This is update could have happened at any time, but is coming out now because well... me and Prom are working on some bigger original projects. Ones that we're SO excited to share. This blog in it's limited run has taught me a lot and I want to learn more. I want to be able to bring this project to a more natural conclusion, put it to rest with pride, and to be able to enter a bit of a new creative era.

I've been talking with Mod Prom and we think it's best to take a step back from this actually being an ask blog. Handling the inbox was a bit of a nightmare, and I've got a LOT more respect for the ask blogs of yore that managed to keep up. We still want to keep engagement, but we're going to change just how that works. We're just not sure how yet.

The first step to getting started again is posting the drafts I already have completed as a way to enter the second chapter, and from there things are going to play out a bit more loosely. Posts are gonna focus more on key story beats and occasional goofy tangents as opposed to moment to moment storytelling.

TL;DR - This blog is getting revived, but things are going to be a bit different. We want to give a proper telling and conclusion to the story we started, but keeping up the format isn't something Mod Prom or I can really tackle, we'll still try to accept and post asks when we can.

Thank you to everyone that has been patient with us, and to everyone who might join us in the future

~ Mod Noodle 🌱

[faerun]

things I liked about datv

- the graphics. obviously. even tho I had to play on the lowest settings or else my PC would have exploded

- the base. I liked the lighthouse. I didn't like that we were in the Fade and it just wasn't that a big a deal but. whatevz. I liked decorating my rooks room and seeing everyone else's rooms change over time

- davrin, emmerich, and neve. the others were... well they ranged from just okay to 'i forget you exist sometimes'. I don't hate any of them but I wish they were all more fleshed out (some needing it more than others). as an aside calpernia should have been a companion and I'll never ever stop being sad that she was cut from the game

- um. I'll be honest I was gonna say I liked exploring the maps but I've honestly forgotten almost all of them by now. I liked arlathan and the necropolis (wish it was less generically Spooky and also that we got to see more of regular nevarra.) I also liked treviso but my PC hated it so I didn't actually get to see much of it (assets popping in and out of existence, falling through the map, etc.). minrathous was. okay. i still can't believe we went to the most opulent city on the continent and all we ever got to see of it (outside of the final mission) was Lowtown 2.0

- as an aside I can't believe they called the lower class district of minrathous 'dock town'. Just straight ripping off kirkwall's dark town, low town, high town. I mean those names aren't particularly unique either but it made sense for kirkwall, minrathous is in an entirely different country where every little thing has some ancient storied name and the best they could come up with for the slums by the docks was dock town. I'm sick

- OK back to positives. um. I'm glad we got to see more regular qunari people with taash and their mom and that spirit/seer person (I forget exactly what their deal was) and the quiet guy you rescue at some point late in the story. even if it was crumbs and they're not part of the qun, it was nice to see more of qunari culture (still waiting to see the day to day lives of average citizens under the qun, which I was hoping would be a Thing in this game considering we're finally in the part of the world where these people live but. eh)

- I liked the origins. loved being a little crypt baby. and (at least for the ingellvar origin bc that's the only one I played) I felt there was a good amount of callbacks to my origin sprinkled throughout the game. wish we got to SEE more of it, maybe played an Origin Mission or two before the games main story started but. eh

- I liked seeing Solas wolf out. the whole final mission and the last few hours of the game with the regret prison and everything were 👍 fantastic.

- I also liked that no matter what, you can't make it out of the game without losing somebody. I maxed out all the faction scores and did all the side quests in the game and when I heard some companions could permanently die, I thought I was in the clear bc I did everything I could do to prepare and I thought I'd get the 'everyone lives, good job gamer!' ending, but I still lost somebody at the end. the cost of war, the ultimate sacrifice, etc. etc., it was actually great. rip davrin though, if I'd known I was sending you to your death I would have picked the other one pookie. (no hate to harding. she's just one of the companions I found kind of boring).

- OK I'm sure there's more but I can't think of anything right now. eventually I'll get around to that second playthrough (maybe I'll actually include it in my next full series playthrough) but. idk. maybe going in with lower expectations will make it a more enjoyable experience this time around. not that I didn't have fun playing the first time but... my enjoyment of the game lessened the further in I got as things started to make less sense (or became frustratingly predictable) but I also was playing it non-stop for like two weeks straight trying to finish it so I could stop avoiding spoilers so. maybe I just got burnt out. idk. I'll have to see how I feel after I finish the other 3

um yeah. overall I still maintain it's a 6.5/10 so not terrible but it did kill all my hype for the future of the series, BUT it also made me appreciate the other games more (that's where the .5 comes from). so. not great. but not terrible. and that's somehow worse than if it were just good or just bad. oh well. anyways that's my Thoughts and Opinions on datv that no one asked for and is also six months late

[nerdygoth77]

Did Lily ever hookup with any of the other companions and what factions did she work with before arriving to Nuka World?

Was she the typical civilian (minuteman type) and got corrupted by the wasteland/enticed by the raiders of Nuka World or was she always a little Neutral Evil?

Sorry if this is a bit of a long ask I'm just curious 😂

Never apologize for a long ask!! I love in depth questions like this!! I really loved this ask and was so excited I had to answer this the moment I saw it!! This answer is super long btw! I couldn't JUST answer these questions, I had to give you a full history of my OC.

So I have been thinking of Lilly's story for a long time, along with her character development. She is originally based on my evil Overboss playthrough of Fallout 4 where I completely ignore the main story LOL. I get to Nuka World as soon as possible by leveling up, mostly by doing Good Neighbor and Cabot family/Edward Deegan missions.

So Lilly's story isn't quite set in stone! But my main idea so far is that she is pre-war. Lilly does come from Vault 111 but she isn't the mother of Shaun and isn't the Sole Survivor. That's her brothers problem, who gets out of the vault a few days before she does. He goes one way, using his military training and desire for revenge to survive, becoming the leader of the minutemen(or he joins the Brotherhood. Maybe both?? idk yet) Meanwhile Lilly escapes Vault 111 and goes a completely different direction.

The vault is picked clean, and the body's of her brother and nephew are missing, while her sister in laws corpse has a bullet in her skull. Lilly finds no sign of her brother, and doesn't search too hard either. She leaves the vault, avoiding the neighborhood of Sanctuary and the possible people that lived there, their campfires burning brightly in the night only deterring her away.

Lilly's pre-war life wasn't military like her brothers. She was a "no good hippie" who was between jobs and staying with her brother and his wife until she "got back on her feet," Her brother took her in. In return she would help her PTSD stricken brother and his depressed wife take care of their brand new infant son.

Lilly was seen as no good to most in the pre irradiated world. She had been a part of the large underground punk scene in Boston, becoming a disgrace to her family and a nuisance towards the police. Her life had always been chaos, never knowing quite what she wanted to do as she jumped from job to job trying to keep money in her pocket that was instantly spent on drugs and lipstick.

Lilly doesn't even spare a second glance at the vault or neighborhood as she heads into the wasteland. She is more than prepared to leave her old life behind in the ashes of the old world, so she immediately finds a change of clothes, some chems, and heads towards Boston. She doesn't know why Boston, maybe just morbid curiosity of what the city had turned into. Maybe in search for drugs and answers to why she was still living. Her mindset is that of a depressed addict. Nothing on her mind but that next hit that would bring her that sweet rush of endorphins.

She enters the world with little to no knowledge. She can fight decently with her fists and switchblade, pick locks, run her mouth and hardly shoot a gun. She has a rough time getting to Boston, the weirdly smart German Shepherd she finds at a gas station, and lovingly names Dogmeat, helps her survive her first few weeks in the wasteland.

Soon she finds herself in Boston, and like all drifters, she quickly finds herself in Goodneighbor. She immediately sees the potential in the city and in its mob boss ghoul mayor. Lilly and Hancock quickly become romantically involved. (She is def fucking Maccready in secret too. But RJ is nothing more than some fun to her. She also has a fling with Edward Deegan who she also meets in Goodneighbor when he comes offering a job.)

In my au Hancock is a bit darker and mob boss like, Lilly corrupting him slightly. She helps clean up the city, both metaphorically and physically. She wipes the triggermen out, and takes down Marowski. Long story short they take over his chem empire and become the main chem bosses and suppliers of the commonwealth. They build Goodneigbor into an empire. Her charisma and luck are incredibly high, making it all the easier for her.

John teaches Lilly about the Commonwealth, about proper fighting and weapons. She gains as much knowledge as she can about the new world, settling into the line of leadership and manipulation well. But John wants something real and long term. He loves her, but Lilly doesn't love him in return. He has big ideas for the future, from helping synths to building supply lines to marrying her. Lilly doesn't share the same feelings or ambitions, so she leaves.

She takes her knowledge and weapons of the new world and leaves Goodneighbor without warning and without a trace. She disappears yet again into the wasteland until the best thing to ever happen to her since finding Dogmeat happens. She finds Nuka World and meets Porter Gage. Or maybe he finds her instead?? I don't quite have how they meet picked out yet but I have some ideas!

So yes, Lilly has always been a bit evil! She had a few loose screws in the beginning and the Cryo pod only made it worse. She is corrupted before the bombs, but the wasteland corrupts her further and further. By the time she reaches Nuka World she is already a pretty bad person who is scarred inside and out. Meeting and joining the raiders only corrupt her further. Gage actually helps her get clean and off of chems, but she does get a little crazier. But she couldn't be happier. Porter Gage and Nuka World become her lifeline.

Gage does change her for the better. Lilly finally able to commit to things in her life for once, like her romantic relationship with Gage and job as Overboss.

Fun fact: I actually named Lilly after my evil five pound toy poodle. Lilly is a grumpy old bitch of a dog. She is my whole entire world but she has some screws loose for sure.

So the short answer: Yes! She does hook up with other companions, but only John Hancock and RJ maccready. She also sleeps with Edward Deegan, having a short fling with him. All of these relationships are nothing compared to what she has with Porter Gage, their bond being actual love. Lilly is factionless, choosing to go her own way entirely. She becomes a mob boss before completely ditching that life and disappearing on the irradiated wind before finding Nuka World. Starting over with yet another new life. Lilly is a bit evil from the beginning, but the wasteland does corrupt her further.

[morallygreychaoticneutral]

I think the writers could've chosen something different rather than "I could be persuaded" since my guess is that's the main thing that is making some people have second thoughts. It's not that I personally mind the phrase because I don't think they intended Astarion to be pressured at all but hey, some players may have needed that reassurance. Either way, if they don't like it they can very well choose not to have sex with him in the graveyard, that's a valid option the game offers as well. Maybe some Tavs don't feel comfortable having sex in a public place. But there's no need to claim he doesn't want it. He is the one to initiate it in the first place! Like you said though, their hearts do come from a good place and I understand that, same for how our personal experiences color the way we see all of this differently.

Oh, there's no judgement over whether or not it's okay to go back to the brothel. It's a game, people should feel free to do anything they want. If we were to judge people over how they play it then most would be murderers and criminals IRL. Imo, this matter is more grey rather than black or white. From a role-playing perspective, Tav has no idea he will dissociate. It's just that some people have been arguing you should go back there with him because it's important to his healing journey to figure out what he likes, that it's infantilizing not to do it (to me it's the opposite of "you are a bad person if you do it"...it's more complicated than that). Which sure, it's important to do that but shouldn't he be the one to propose it? This is my personal opinion, but I also don't think having meaningless sex and orgies is really necessary for him right now, especially in such a new relationship. Like, his first "I love you" was days ago. He's had plenty of meaningless sex already, at this point in the game I think he values more the emotional connection. Still, there's every chance he could genuinely want to try something like this on his own initiative in the future (I feel similarly about the poly thing, it's also not something he proposes to Tav but rather reacts to). Meanwhile even his demeanor in the brothel sounds very performative like he did in act 1, even when he agrees to initially, if you compare his voice to his act 2 confession and the graveyard scene.

"And the lack of actual time pacing does make the game hard to track as far as where everything is in chronological time." There's an aswer to this! The game takes place over the course of about 4 months according to Withers in the Astarion Origin playthrough if you romance Karlach: "In but a dozen tendays an entire life was lived." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8f8hEmoX1k at 3:25. I don't think anyone did a breakdown of the entire timeline but I doubt the third act takes place over the course of more than one month, perhaps one month and a half at most. Which makes the entire brothel thing take place over the course of a few weeks at most: going there for the first time and then for a second time after Cazador is defeated.

I'm sorry if you felt like you had to share your story, I didn't mean to pry. I'm happy it worked out fine for you and you had someone caught what was going on in time and removed you from the situation!!

I like how you broke out the statement you are responding to. I will be implementing that in the future.

"If we were to judge people over how they play it then most would be murderers and criminals IRL."

Right?! LOL. I feel like I'm a peaceful person, but there are moments when I have an eye twitching desire to redrum some peeps.

I see what you are saying. If this was the real world, ethics would say doing that with in weeks of that revelation would be inappropriate. And letting them suggest it would be better as it gives them more control over the situation.

Only four months? Wow. That is short. It took me longer than that in real months to complete the game. LOL. But in my defense, I have to do ALL the things!

Don't feel sorry about story. You didn't pry, I offered it up. :)

I think the hardest thing about posting on these platforms, for me, is knowing if I am coming across correctly.

Anyway, thank you for the clarification and discussion!

[mbrine]

Oh cool they want another gameplay video but the time limit is 2 minutes?

Proudly presenting...

mbrine TAS's his group's game project Part 2 (and a half)

(It's still over 2 minutes because the game just takes that long lol)

Our final presentation's on Monday and I have once again been granted the honor of recording our gameplay videos!!!

We didn't use this video btw, I went and cut some footage of a human playthrough for our actual submission 😅

Since the last TAS I recorded, we now have a new level, new weapon balancing, new character sprite, new hazards, new nearly everything aaaaaaaaaaaa

It's getting genuinely hard for me to play the game quickly, and I need to demo it in front of the class... without slow motion... and while trying to show it in a good light

The team's telling me to just finish as fast as possible (while getting the hidden weapon), but I can't consistently get under 5 minutes because everything takes so much longer 😭

At least this time we weren't forced to cram all the gameplay into a 10-second clip LOL

Side note: It's probably not a good look to be doing exploits during our game presentation, so about half the things I do in the TAS can't even be used on Monday

Aka:

No rapid weapon switching to bypass the fire rate (That's cheating)

No grabbing stuff through walls (of course)

Don't combo the boss into oblivion, so people at least get to see its attack (our teammate spent 3 weeks programming it)

Maybe don't run past all the enemies before they can react 🤣

Avoid throwing weapons at boxes to nudge them

Show off the game mechanics instead of abusing them

Kind of a sequel to this post, you can really see the difference in level design and game feel after 3 weeks

Bonus reaction images:

[maridiayachtclub]

so all of my Dark Souls characters so far have had names themed after baked goods

DS1:

Biscuit Smashola: my first character i played with. kinda strength-based knight lady, didn't have a very cohesive build

Meringue: second playthrough. dex/int build

Miss Muffintop: str/faith build i rolled for Return to Lordran 2025. (i posted about her, and the event, and that post got a lot of reblogs from people i don't know and that was cool but also i kinda didn't get far with her. oops lmao. sorry to once more talk big about my plans and then not follow through. it will happen again)

DS2:

Cookie Crumbles: caster i didn't play very long

Donut Crusher: str-based smasher that i got to the DLC with but didn't finish with

Maple Manju: caster, also has stalled out in the DLC, but i haven't counted her out yet

the past two weeks have been Return to Drangleic, the community event for DS2, and i thought about playing but, eh. i kinda missed it. it felt weird to try and start a new character when i have one already in the endgame that i haven't written off fully. that and i haven't been able to think of a good name, because "every dark souls character is named after baked goods" is a fun joke but in practice it's a little restrictive

but i do want to make a more PVP-minded character and actually try to do some invading, so i thought- maybe the PVE characters can have bakery names, and the PVP characters can have a different naming scheme? hmmm

or maybe they can just be baking-adjacent. i do think i wanna make a new DS2 character anyway, go for a dagger-based dex build, and one of the names I'm considering is Butter Knife Betty. that's kind of baking-themed

but i also learned you can get really long names if you enter them with the keyboard in a certain way, so i kinda want to find some elaborate themely name. enough to make newer players see the invasion notice and think "hmm, is that a player or an NPC?" DS2 has some really cool NPC invaders/summons (Bashful Ray, Sellsword Luet, Armorer Dennis, Peculiar Kindalur, Maldron the Assassin, Castaway Witch Donna, Woodland Child Gully) and i'd love to play something with a similar energy. but... the bit. i gotta commit to the bit. unless...?

[moe-broey]

Yesterday I remembered Soul Silver existed

I love how my team is like... a mix of basic and huh. Where'd you get That..... that's kinda the gimmick behind it though! Plus, making choices I typically wouldn't make. Like, usually I'd pick Umbreon over Espeon, I've never actually used the red Gyarados in a playthrough before. There are some Pokemon in Johto that are near impossible for me to say no to though (Chikorita line they could NEVER make me hate you.... Togepi line is Always a given for me. But even then, I'm p sure you're not supposed to have the stone to fully evolve it at this point -- I traded one in!)

Most notable team members...

This was a lucky find! I wasn't even using the Radar. Impulsively I REALLY wanted to shiny hunt one, so I set up the garden to get Porygon encounters (that Pearl is semi-fresh as well), and... literally. Just a few random encounters. I fucking ran into this guy. Insane. I've kinda opted not to fully evolve it! I think it's soooo cutes... I love Porygon-Z too, but I also had one on my team in that Pearl file I mentioned LMFAO. So it was neat actually! Getting a feel for how Porygon-2 is different than Porygon-Z! I also just love.... the rubber duckie of it all... the. It's literally called a drinking bird? The desk toy. Okay. Well I love that too! It's very cute!!!

This one.... you know it. We all know it. The HG/SS starter hunt. REALLY fun hunt! But man. To be so real Iggy is bittersweet, to me. I went through a really rough patch where I couldn't get myself to enjoy Pokemon anymore when I first came out as trans. I tried really hard to make what was given to me... work. So a lot of my old Pokemon/save files had my deadname as the OT (and even if they didn't, they'd always be the girl trainer). It's kinda sweet, though. I've long since nuked that save. Iggy is the soul (hah) survivor of it. A second chance at life, perhaps? It was really nice to actually use him on a team, after being dormant all these years. And... yeah okay fine Typhlosion is fucking good. Okay. I'll admit it. Still I will live and die by my pokey ass flower dinosaur it's CUTE. OKAY. WHATEVER... (which is to say! Newfound appreciation for the Cyndaquil line! It's a Pokemon I never felt especially strongly about prior!)

And! The rest!

Again just most basic run of the mill Johto team ever. Special shoutouts to Shrimp for carrying my ass against Lance (everybody say thank you Ice Fang). Poly2 ALSO carried during that fight though (everybody say thank you Discharge -- also Poly2 is surprisingly defensive? Huh!). Everyone did their part though! (... Chikpea's part is to look cute). Also having an Espeon on my team (miss Lulu...) DOES fill me w an INCREDIBLE YEARNING for the radioactive toxic slutch bitch.................... I really didn't want to stop everything and hunt for it for god knows how long though. Not here. Not now. Another place... maybe.

The BIGGEST reason I wanted to just buckle down and tear the bandaid off though (save was abandoned like right at Victory Road lmfao), is. I really want to See. If I can get the endlessly time consuming and convoluted Safari Zone set up before/just in time for June. I think I started a little late if I want it fully decked out, but. Really the biggest struggle I run into lately w Pokemon is just feeling... aimless. I Can have fun if I have a set goal in mind. But I think the sadness of having to uproot everything and start over and over and over again just never left.

I need NEW sadness. EXCITING sadness. EXHILARATING SADNESS. I have to do Safari Week. I Have To. I HAVE TO‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️IT WILL FIX ME BY BREAKING ME I HAVE TO DO SAFARI WEEK AND I HAVE TO DO IT ALL THE FUCKING WAY OR SO HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

I actually did a hint of Safari Week last year in Leaf Green, no goal in mind, very noncommittal (also didn't find anything, for better or worse lmfao). I only have one cart as well. Nothing fancy. I think it could be more rewarding (and less painful. Maybe.) if I could do hunts across dif games! I'm compelled by the Hoenn Safari too, but... feels like.... too much set up.... <- guy who's picking the infinitely more set up heavy option LMFAOOO

BUT I THINK. SS HAS POTENTIAL. ESP in the variety of Pokemon you can encounter if you put the work/research in. Plus is just an objectively cool game to have shinies in! I also just kinda like the idea that it gives me something to work towards, maybe. If I lose a shiny, I'll want to reclaim it. Reclaiming run away shinies can sometimes be a yearly process, when you partake in Safari Week! There's also just very specific things I like about Safari hunting actually... like the understanding that just SEEING specific Pokemon as shinies is an incredible rarity, nevermind actually catching them. Think Chansey, but also the white whale of the FR/LG Safari, the 1% Dragonair fishing encounter (not a single person has caught that specific encounter yet!!!!!! And I am not going for it. I'm leaving that to god's strongest warriors.)

Idk idk, I just think it's neat. And maybe I like the idea of taking immense emotional damage. It's enrichment... for me...... but I also really like the idea of participating in a community driven event, too! I don't know how strong of a presence it has outside of youtube, but! Shiny hunting while watching someone else shiny hunt will never get old. To me.

[acradaunt]

Acra's EO Guild Card Megapost

Guild Cards are a neat thing in the most of the Etrian Odyssey games. Sometimes, they're pretty pointless, but in some, they actually do some neat stuff. I… have a tendency to do multiple playthroughs, to try different team compositions (as seeing how different a game can feel based on your builds is one of my favourite things ever, and I also like abandon them before the big fights, on the hypothetical urge I want to re-fight a boss at an appropriate level an infinite number of times), so I've amassed a fair few of my own.

Why am I uploading these now? Apparently the Nexus database got borked a couple days ago, so this is the perfect time for me to get a few feet in the door. I also swear this is the last time I'll ever post about these, seriously.

EO Nexus -A total of 100 Guild Cards are needed to unlock the Vampire pseudo-class. Obviously, 100 is a lot, so they obviously expected the community, paltry it may be, to come together to make a database. And they did. And then they locked it the second they got 108. And then it died. So now I finally get a second chance to contribute.

Galeforce

-My first (main) playthrough. I actually uploaded a card weekly to help out, but I think only the first one made it on in time. It's not Heroic because it's like a NG+++++ file. This is the final card, but for the weekly set of them, um, here:

Week 0 || Week 1 || Week 2 || Week 3 || Week 4 || Week 5 || Week 6 || Week 7

Stardust

-Filled with all my C-listers that couldn't fit into Galeforce. I ran them as two separate teams; the Boss Killers (shown here), who fought the FOEs/Bosses, and Team Midriff, who did all the exploration.

Sunstorm

-A Guild consisting of classes I mostly avoid using, and portraits I hadn't (as of its conception) used before. As always, there's like another three members that get used that aren't here, including a Survivalist, Nightseeker, and an Arcanist.

Maelstrom

-An attempt at a Nuzlocke-esque run, and also an 'evil' party. Characters stopped being used if they died, but only until the end of the stratum, to not make it overbearing. Being an evil party lacking in support and healing, this was an absolute slog that I considered a total failure by the Jungle.

Brilliant

-An idea for a mage-guild that kinda went askew. Starting as a Sovereign, three Zodiacs, and a Farmer, I ultimately turned this into three single-element teams; Each consisting of a unique Sovereign, a unique Zodiac, two other characters that get earlygame elemental skills (Survivalist's Flame Arrow, Landsknecht, etc.), but the same Farmer (Hazel) across all three. Didn't take it all that far, but worked kinda well!

Wildheart

When I found the Alchemist/Buccaneer mod, I had to do something with that. And then I figured out portrait modding, so I double had to do something. AND THEN I figured out voice--well, stealing from EOV, so I triple had to do something to test THAT out, too. So here's a Bash-and-Chase heavy team with a Pugilist and Palm Alchemist for maximum frontline fistcuffs. And a Shield Hero to actually protect them, something I'll fail to do with a EO2U Guild below. Definitely have further plans to continue playing as them. Truth be told, both new classes are pretty handy to Brilliant's elemental-focus plan, so I gotta make edits to their gimmick, too.

EOV -Definitely where Guild Cards are seen the most. About 2-4 times every floor, there'll be an event that'll use you GC database to have another guild interact with you in the labyrinth. If you have none, you'll be introduced to memelord Conrad of the Freeblade Guild about 110 times in your course of a playthrough. In stark contrast, Nexus only has GC events maybe a dozen times across the whole game.

Starlight

-Main guild. Not a lot to say. It's a Chain-oriented party, because I love Fencers/Landsknechts.

Bundt

-Cake pun. See, bundt is a type of cake, and the guild is filled with Brouni. As in Brownies, the fairy/pixie/sprite, but I'm punning off the--- ANYWAY. Horrific offense, but don't die easily. Kinda miserable against a few specific enemies like the coffin jerks on 15F, but otherwise worked astonishingly better than you'd expect. Which is; not GOOD, but totally serviceable.

Necrocosm

-My original 'evil' guild, featuring two Necromancers, and edge as far as the eye can see. Two Necros work pretty well together; typically Velvet summoned them and Rue made them explode. The fact Necros heal and have evil vibes let them succeed where Maelstrom would totally fail. I also didn't bench anyone for dying, so that probably helped too.

Firebird

-This playthrough is only saved at Amalgolem and took like a single weekend to get there, so I didn't remember squat about it. Amalgolem is like my single fave boss in the whole series, so I just had to leave a file there. It's heavily skewed towards non-humans, and the bottom deck of the guild is just full of nigh-on unusable cross-classed horrors, like a Celestrian Pugilist and Therian Warlock.

EO2U -Probably where Guild Cards are the most functionally useful. Lets you get the Grimoire Stones the attached character has on hand as many times as you can afford. Pretty nifty, as Grimoires are semi-random in spawning.

Skyquake

-So I didn't actually buy EO2U when it came out for a variety of factors, not least being unaware how different it was from the original EOII, my first EO game. Ultimately; great game, bosses are a bit much, time has worn me down completely on the desire to go through another brutal postgame. But not to try different builds, evidently.

Ironroot

-Holy Gift gives you extra experience, but each level costs twice as much to trade as the previous. That is, you need three level 3 Grimoires to get a level 4. Or 192 level 3s for a single level 10. So having a Guild Card with mid-lowish level Holy Gift is actually pretty dang useful to have.

Untold

-Story Guild. Haven't… uh, haven't exactly been Motivated to do Story mode in Untold 2. On paper, I really dislike the team composition. In practice, hasn't been so bad, but still not enough to make me play them more than necessary.

Fellbloom

-Now legally required Evil Guild. Probably won't ever get past Chimaera.

Testament

When I figured out how to modify portraits, I had to do at least some of a run with this knowledge. I always adored the concept of Palm Alchemists, so attempted to make that the centrepiece, alongside a dodgy Survivalist and Ailments/Binds to hopefully negate attacks. When it works, it really works; when it doesn't, the whole frontline collapses in two seconds flat. Also, when I started this run, I found kya's "Hard Mode" mod, and having tried that... I think it helps a lot with EO2U's big flaw of easy encounters and ridiculous bosses! It, uh, does nothing to bosses/FOEs, but the increased difficulty of normal encounters makes the disparity less jarring. Might even give you a hair more experience and item drops, too...

EOU -Unlike the sequel, Guild Cards don't let you choose what to get from the friend's Guild Card. You just get given a random Grimoire Stone once per playthrough per Guild Card. Kinda lame.

Untold -Unlike later games, only one save file here, and the game nigh-on requires you to play through the Story Mode before doing Classic in NG+, so, that's where we sit. EDIT: Actually finished this a long while ago, keep forgetting to update card, but it doesn't really do much, and this looks prettier than Claret Hollows anyway so.... I'll just stay with this one forever?

EOIV -First game to use QR codes. III had Guild Cards, but I don't know how you'd trade them. They do serve a purpose here; each Card gets given a random treasure, and having a Card lets you find that treasure in the overworld. Most are crap, but some are circumstantially useful, and some are permanent stat-boosts, IIRC. I don't think mine was very good…?

Zephyr

-Uh, EOIV had a glitch where your Ventured Days would go up dramatically every time you paused. I think it comes into affect if you ever do NG+. So I haven't actually played for 48 in-game years. Truth be told, now knowing of a way to back up save files, I am admittedly tempted to make a new EOIV playthrough, since it's been like a decade, but for my own sanity, I really probably shouldn't.

Monsoon

EDIT: …I did it. I said I wouldn't and I did anyway. Figuring out how to make safe backups was a pretty important step. Going back and playing EOIV was great, actually! I know a lot of people harp on it for being easy and slow, but I wasn't bothered at all by the movement speed, nor getting my ass kicked less than usual. Having a pretty fragile party with no direct healer nor anything tanky does complicate matters. I had only intended to go to the 2nd stratum or so, but. When I first got my puppy was around the same time as EOIV, so I played more than a bit of it watching after her. After she passed of cancer at 11, after significant moping, it felt appropriate to push a little bit further, going full circle. I'll probably always associate EOIV with her, so it probably means the most of any EO game to me.

[draiad]

Veilguard Thoughts

I finished playing Veilguard last week and went immediately back into playing it. And now that I've had the time to sit and think about the game I still love it just as much as I did when I finished.

Spoilery thoughts under the break.

Gonna break this down into parts. Story, Art, Characters, Romance. I want to preface this that, I don't often have a lot of criticisms for stories I love what I love and there's very little that can ruin it for me. So there's not going to be a lot of negative thoughts here.

First up, I want to talk about Rook. I adore Rook, but I will say of all the things that bothered me about the choices we could make for Rook in this game, there wasn't really enough of a difference between the three major options in dialogue choices. Like, even the tough love sterner type reactions to things seemed really soft. I don't play mean characters, I just don't enjoy it, so not having an option to be evil doesn't really bother me especially in the way the story for this game goes.

I really love how well integrated Rook felt in the story, how there were people out there who knew Rook before. It made you feel more like a part of the story. However I would have liked more options in game to use the faction to direct your answers. You'd see it here or there with some of them but most of the time it didn't really have a huge impact and there were a few times where Rook would say something and I'd be left like ??? how do you not know this. We seemed to get more choices as an Elf than as a member of our faction.

Story wise, I'm really pleased with how it turned out. The ending destroyed me and I got the "Good" ending with only one loss to the team. Both of the villains actually felt like a threat and were a LOT more compelling to me than Corypheus was. I loved seeing Bellara's struggle with coming to terms about what the elves have done in the past. Would have been interesting to see more of an uproar from the elves about it all but honestly not that bothered by it.

I do kind of wish there were a couple more maybe not hard choices (Like Which city to save) but maybe more moments of struggle for the team. Their quarrels among one another felt very quickly overcome. And I know a lot of this is time constraint both in creation and how much you can put into a game. As they said this game is about found family as well as everything else and having them be at odds with one another would have been an interesting way to play off the more bleak ending of the game.

Like aside from saving Minrathous having dire consequences for Lucanis' story none of the other choices you make really have a huge impact until the end.

I also agree that the first little bit of the game is very railroady. But once you get past that I found everything very enjoyable. Lucanis' romance and Taash's romance I think so far are the more disappointing ones? I adore the few scenes we did get for Lucanis and really liked the first start to Taash's but they kinda feel like they didnt get the same attention as some of the others.

My second playthrough I've enjoyed paying more attention to certain things, specifically Varric. Because the first playthrough I had some moments where I was thinking "That's a weird choice." Now its a "Ahh, I get it now." I suspected in the first playthrough after we fought the two blighted dragons but brushed it off.

I feel like the characters are the best part of this game, the companions are just ugh I adore them. I also really love the visual style of the game and I know a lot of people don't but once I got Rook looking how I wanted him to it was perfect to me.

The music though... kind of a letdown. There's a couple songs I really like and then the best songs in the game IMO were the call backs to Inquisition. Especially the lost elf theme at the end if you redeem Solas.

I have over 100 hours into the game already and I can forsee many more. I have a lot of fun in the CC as well and intend on making many many many sliders for people to use.