#not 100% sure i'll keep them as characters in the game but. the crew really needs expanding beyond: charr captain norn cannoneer and meena

[echowilds]

'i can't make the whole crew asura!' i tell myself as i make yet another asura for the fat whale crew

[ilovedthestars]

Anon asked: character ask game: pin-lee? art? ratthi?

Next up: ART!

(Send me a character ask game)

First impression

I was thoroughly spoiled about ART (my own fault for reading so much tumblr meta before i read the books XD ), so I spent most of AC and NE reacting with "oh, this is THAT scene that people talk about!!" A lot of them hit even harder than I'd expected them to, in context.

Impression now

You know, I know the university raised ART with a family to keep it from turning into an AI supervillain (per word-of-god), but I'm not sure they 100% succeeded XD Sure, ART has moral guidelines set by the university and it respects those, but they will always come second to "no one hurts My Crew." SC has me thinking about all the fascinating nuances of ART's morality!

Also, like, cool snarky spaceship best friend, that's just what's at the top of my mind after SC.

Favorite moment

I feel like it's gotta be Drop the weapon, right? That twist in Network Effect is the number one thing I wish I hadn't gotten spoiled on, because I wish I'd gotten to experience that realization that ART was alive as a surprise. It made such an ENTRANCE. Also, that moment when Murderbot is briefly afraid that ART will hurt its humans. In that moment ART is utterly terrifying, and it's so gutwrenching that even Murderbot didn't know for certain that it could be trusted.

Idea for a story

I love using ART as the resolution to Murderbot hurt/comfort stories. It makes a great deus ex machina for removing mind control malware or rescuing Murderbot from corporates (maybe with Three helping out).

Unpopular opinion

Don't have one off the top of my head...not really an opinion and not necessarily unpopular, but I guess I'll say that there is a subset of the fandom who are ART Enjoyers, and I am not one of them XD I like it, but it's not the most compelling to me. All power to the ART Enjoyers, though, I like reading your fanfic!!

Favorite relationship

ART & Murderbot is the obvious one, but I want more ART & its family!! What was it like to for it grow up with Iris? What's its relationship like with Seth and Martyn? (How do you parent a spaceship....)

Favorite headcanon

Hmm...I'm fond of the popular fanon idea that ART was raised with a specific batch of baby AIs, and maybe even has a twin (and I love how many fans immediately ran with the name Aphelion lol!)

[twilightknight17]

Last night on P5T, we wear some excellent costumes, throw some people off buildings, have some alcohol, and actually take baby steps towards acknowledging that this is, in fact, a sequel!

To help out Yuki while we’re trapped in this world, we’re going to storm a garrison to hack into one of the banks of security cameras that keep an eye on everything in the city. They’re also going to free all the people trapped in that dungeon. But, because of all the cameras, they can’t just go out and walk through the city, so it’s time for disguises! And everyone looks great in their kimonos and guard uniforms! They even let Ann wear the guard uniform because she thinks that would be cool.

Toshiro is also being forced to acknowledge that what the Phantom Thieves were doing back in their world parallels how they just overthrew Marie in the previous Kingdom. So he really can’t condemn the kids for their actions.

One of the sidequests that we get at this point is from Yusuke. We did a tutorial for followup attacks, where you kick people off the roof and a teammate waiting below can shoot at them. And now Yusuke is very eager to get a better look at people mid-fall. So… Off we go, apparently.

I love Yusuke so much.

So off to the garrison in disguise it is. The Thieves take a bunch of sake and get the guards to throw a banquet and get drunk while Toshiro, Futaba, Morgana, and Yuki break in and hack the cameras. It’s going great until the guards start being rude to Makoto and some of the little hat guys. She is two seconds from breaking character as a geisha and beating the shit out of them, but Akira, knowing that some of the sake bottles they brought had water in them, has a fantastic idea:

I’ve never been so happy to see a dialogue option. XDDDD We still have to fight eventually, but not before Makoto drinks a guard under the table. And Yusuke looks so cool in his outfit.

Futaba and crew free the prisoners, she broadcasts the conditions in the labor camps to the oblivious citizens, and we get the hell out of dodge. When we get back outside, we run into Lord Yoshiki, who is giving off some major Yaldabaoth vibes.

And he comes with a dramatic revelation!

I don’t know why I’m surprised. Like, of course the other shadowy figure from the beginning is his father. Of course. And this man, just like Marie, is an absolutely horrible person. Like, I have a personal reason to hate him…

...but he’s also a shit parent. He’s low-key enough that no one apparently pays attention to what he’s up to, but he’s been setting up Toshiro to be Prime Minister since he was a child. And the abuse is not just emotional this time. His father hit him if he questioned him or didn’t obey.

The game actually bothers to explicitly mention Shido and the things that happened last year! Atlus! Look at you! I’m so proud! Maintaining narrative continuity! I’m gonna be really impressed if the Thieves ever mention Maruki. Because this is definitely post-Royal for sure 100% because they showed Joker with his grappling hook.

Toshiro also remembers why Leblanc seems familiar. He apparently stumbled in one day and it was such a great reprieve from the pressures of being the primary candidate for Prime Minister that he kept going back. He admits that he might have even seen the kids at some point in the past year.

...okay, Goro. Why does Atlus keep including characters in the side games who would bounce off of Goro so well and he’s not even there for it?

He’s got evidence of his father’s misdeeds, though, and he wants to make a deal with the Phantom Thieves. They help him get home, and he’ll make sure his father goes down for his crimes. He does think they need a real reward, and has a crisis trying to come up with something for them...

...before they tell him that the bad guy going down is reward enough. I'll take some jewels, though.

So I can’t wait to beat the shit out of Yoshiki. I dunno where we’re gonna go after that, but this is great so far. P5 always does a great job of making the villains so punchable. It does raise some interesting implications of the future Prime Minister knowing the identities of 8/10 Phantom Thieves. At the very least, he can make sure that something like Scramble doesn’t happen. They won’t get accused of bullshit they didn’t do.

I am a little more annoyed now that Sumi, at least, hasn’t been mentioned. Goro at this point in the story, they think he’s gone. Of course they wouldn’t mention him. But Sumi is still around? If Atlus didn’t want her in the Kingdom for whatever reason, the game literally started with one of the Thieves arriving to Leblanc in the rain. Just throw in a line about how she’s running late, and she doesn’t get there before shit gets weird. It’s not that hard!

But we’ll see how it goes, I guess!

[bunny-with-a-chainsaw]

FIve Nights at Freddy's AU

For one-shots or headcannons involving fnaf, I'll be using my own interpretations of the characters and story unless you guys say otherwise, and for the sake of people requesting certain characters I will be changing some things while still trying to keep to the canon (may have gone a little overboard for fnaf 4 though, you have been warned). Everything's in order so if you're only interested in a specific character/s just skip to over to whichever game they came from. I will also do any of the human characters as well and keep in mind some fnaf characters are more fleshed out then others so if some of them seem extremely 2 dimensional or don't have that much personality to them like others that's why so sorry about that.

Fnaf 1: The original crew will either be possessed by adults who used to work at the pizzeria or are just sentiant A.I with the souls of the kids hanging around and occassionally taking control. I might post some info about them but the basics are Freddy (42) was a dayguard and acts like the father figure of the group, Bonnie (31) was a technician, Chica was a janitor (25) and Foxy was a waitor (28). They remember who killed them and are still waiting till they can finally take their revenge. Phone Guy's possessing Golden Freddy, and he kinda just chills in the kitchen storage room while getting occasisionally visits from the others while Evan is also possessing the suit as well but isn't really active.

Fnaf 2: The toy animatronics are all sentient A.I including Marionette who has Charlie's soul attatched to them. Same stuff from the fnaf 1 section applies to the Withered animatronics, and the Withers and Toy animatronics get along fairly well. As for Shadow Freddy and Shadow Bonnie, not 100% sure what to do for them but for the sake of this I'm making them beings made from corrupted remnant and gained sentience. This doesn't mean they're evil, they're just a little funkier then your usual spirit. Shadow Freddy tends to be calm and tries his best to keep Shadow Bonnie's chaos under control.

Fnaf 3: Springtrap is obviously going to be possessed by William while the phantoms will be spirits that take form of the animatronics. They all can barely remember their pasts and most aren't aware of who Springtrap is other then Marionette. Springtrap is either a tired man who's realised after being trapped for 30 years that maybe immortality and toddler slaughtering aren't actually that great, or a cocky bastard who thinks that being an undead furry is the best thing ever and has no regrets. Take your pick lol.

Fnaf 4: The Nightmares are all beings created by Evan's (C.C) own fear and used to be mindless murder machines. Though thanks to Cassidy's help his perception of them finally changed and in return, the nightmares changed as well. They're all now their own person and live in the Nightmare Realm, one of the many pocket dimensions only capable of being accessed through dreams or death. They can come into reality but it takes a lot of energy and being in sunlight hurts. Also Plushtrap is not a child in this au, he's actually the oldest out of the nightmares as well as the grumpiest. It's not his fault he's so short so leave him be.

Sister Location: All of the funtimes except for Circus Baby are sentient A.I. This means Mrs Afton doesn't posses Ballora, as I personally don't believe it's canon since it's only been mentioned that she was made to be modelled after her and not that she's actually inside her. Ennard will have everyone but CB inside of them so I will accept any romantic scenarios for them, though expect them to be indecisive and argue with themselves. Like a lot.

Pizzeria Simulator: Rockstar animatronics are sentient A.I, the scrap animatronics have the same rules from their og counterparts. Helpy's not considered a child (he helps you with taxes and lawsuits, so he's in a similar boat with Plushtrap) and is Michael's best friend. Ultimate Custom Night: William's stuck in his own personal hell cause surprisingly enough, Cassidy didn't enjoy getting killed and being stuck in aFredbear suit for over 40 years. Animatronics there are sentient and are partially controlled by Cassidy, and they're not the original ones, just created by her memory of them or what she knows about others.

Fnaf AR: So basically the way I go about this one is that the animatronics are there in real life, you just can't see them without them uncloaking themselves. They're unable to interact with reality unless they uncloak due to how augmented reality works but this also means you can't hit them until then either. They're all just sentient A.I so they're not the real animatronics, and while some have accepted this others will try to tell you otherwise (-cough cough- Springtrap -cough-), and when you defeat them they just get added to your ever growing animatronic army. They no longer have the ability to physically harm you and you can communicate with them even if they're not there through a texting feature on the app.

Help Wanted: Glitchtrap is going to be William's soul stuck in the video game and not even he's sure how he got there either, some cases will be a parasite in your mind that only you can see for obvious reasons.

Security Breach/Ruin: All the animatronics here are just sentient A.I and not possessed by any souls, so apologies to the Glamrock Freddy = Michael Afton theorists, though I will write for that au if specified as well as the other with Henry possessing him. As for Peepaw… I will write for him in an x reader scenario but unless specified that it's crack I will be silently judging you. I mean he's a grumpy, 80 year-old man that needs a walking stick and in some cases a wheelchair to get around so if you really want to simp for him that badly be my guest, and ship requests for him are allowed purely for the funny hahas (except with Vanessa). Also I'm happy to write him as either William or Mimic.

Fnaf Books: Mainly talking about the Silver Eye trilogy but I'm willing to accept other characters in Fazbear Frights and all the other books, though my knowledge on them is wayyy more limited and will be coming from things I looked up online so sorry if I get things wrong there. No lore changes that I can think of other then small headcannons.

Fnaf Movie: Everything here is the same, with the added headcannons that Mike's father was basically this universe's Henry Emily (why else would he drive several hours for this one specific kid. Old man's quirky but not that quirky. Also Steve is going to be a goofy, nerdy guy even if his partner is aware of him being a child murderer because he's a little silly, and expect rabbits galore in anything set at his place. Meanwhile Vanessa is severely traumatised and has a lot of issues, and Mike's just depressed and insecure af.

[lokiina]

I FINISHED THE GAME (BG3)

I'M GONNA- THERE'S BIG SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT. So if you don't wanna hear about end game stuff don't click it cuz I'll be 100% explaining my ending and adding some screenshots in there too. You have been warned.

Proceed with caution. Like Gale hiding behind Cas.

Kay omg. SO, I'm really curious now how other choices end up playing out cuz for the most part this was a fairly happy end. Not 100% happy, as some people didn't get important things but all things considered things went well.

BUT.

I chose to side with the Emperor for this play. I know it was kinda sus on whether or not he was lying and using you as a means to an end for his own selfish needs, but I decided to take the chance and just follow through with the things he wanted. (Except taking the fancy worm to evolve, I was too scared to do that.) I only used a small handful of the worms through my play, and it ended up not being a problem at the end. My boy was completely fine and cured of his brain worm problem.

also this happened while trying to confront the brain the first time. LMAO

Siding with the Emperor and putting complete trust in him involved giving him the nether stones and it did end with the Githyanki prince guy dying. Cuz in order to leave the prisim properly to help me with the fight he had to absorb his abilities.... which meant eating his brain....

RIP Prince guy. Sorry for that....

But after that unfortunate event he was able to adventure with me outside the prism and I could control him in all the fighting as an allied companion. So I had a crew of 5 running around instead of just 4.

BUT I ALSO LEARNED MY BABY OWLBEAR WAS OKAY. He had previously like.... vanished from my camp and I was pretty sure it was a bug. But the lil babu was all grown up! AND IN ARMOUR!

The allies became quite useful, you could call on a handful of people to come as allied game controlled characters in some of the fights cuz damn them end game fights didn't fuck around. They just swarmed you with enemies.

In the end moments I genuinely thought there was gonna be a moment when the Emperor was gonna pull some shit to like take control of everything himself but he never did. He genuinely just wanted the brain gone. So we were 100% on the same side and so giving him the stones and everything was not an error it worked out.

Now in the cut scenes following the destruction of the brain my game kinda shit itself and stopped loading textures so things started to look absolutely bonkers for me and was a lil hard to follow. I think it's cuz I had been playing for so long my poor lil baby system was struggling to keep up with all the stuff it was throwing at me so I had to save, close the game and relaunch in the middle of the end stuff. Lae'zel peaced out, she was obviously not vibing with the fate of the prince guy. Understandably so. She did thank me for everything else that was done tho. Astarion was really upsetting cuz he was all ready to party, and then the poor guy started to burn in the sun and had to book it. kfdjghdkfjgh and then Karlach. Oh GOD. My poor heart.

I almost fuckin cried fam. She was about to die, and Wyll bust in going NOT ON MY WATCH and the pair of them peaced out to Avernus to save her and kick ass together. I would have offered to go with them but I had a funky lil wizard to worry about too. But I knew with the two of them they'd be okay.

The Emperor was just content everyone was free he said he'd miss my boy and thanked me for trusting him when most people wouldn't have. dkjfghdkfg He's a pretty cool dude.

And then there's this guy. This loveable lil nerd.

SO LIKE CAS IS GOING TO WATERDEEP TO MARRY HIS WIZARD.

It's actually fucking cute as hell and very fitting. I hadn't given Casvius a surname at all cuz they;re hit and miss with Tieflings. Some have some some don't, it's often a reflection of whether or not they keep family ties or if they've grown up outside of human culture influence and the like. I had it head canoned that he basically grew up in the Baldur Gates streets without a family but like managed and turned out okay. But he didn't have a surname at all cuz he didn't know what family he came from and didn't really care to find out. He figures his parents fucked up and he was the first tiefling in their bloodline and they panicked abandoning him. It wasn't an uncommon thing to have happen so it's what he kinda adopted as his own scenario too.

BUT NOW, HE CAN HAVE ONE. He can go marry Gale and be Casvius Dekarios. A name he's happy with and more than glad to adopt as his own.

ANYWAY This fuckin game is brilliant, and I hope it wins game of the year. Fuck. It deserves it. The scope of this game is unreal and you can tell a lot of love was poured into making it.

I'm probs gonna remake this boy and play again later so I can go back through parts that had been previously bugged and patched after I had passed them.

[freshlybakedspiderbread]

i usually keep to myself about hobby stuff but i feel like talking about curent-ish writing-related things with me. I had hoped that finishing those prompt-based stories earlier in the month would give me new momentum towards doing more, and it only sorta did for like, a few days :P But anyway, wip thoughts:

1 . for a long time since a little bit after th17 released, ive wanted to do a single story with the point being to just quickly play with and dig into the dynamics of the wbawc realm crew. Though that 'point' probably made more sense when th17 was still the newest game.. and also a lot of little things in th19 i feel like makes the ideas i've had look distinctly 'outdated' if that makes any sense?! ...well i try not to let that stuff give me trouble, but since that 'point' has become kinda moot in my own perspective, i think i'll probably end up just posting smaller standalone bits featuring the relevant characters? That's not really how i've ever published fics before aside from a few occasions, but it might be nice to start.

2 . since like, way early in the year, i had so many of these stray drafts regarding a story starring akyuu that's set in the human village. constant second guessing and flipflopping means i've thrown away a disgusting amount of typed words but. it's all progress! at least that's what im telling myself 🙃 One day... ideally before zun kills akyuu for real (or make her immortal, who knows)

3 to a 100 or so . so many other notepad summaries on my desktop that i think are fully formed ideas but i'm sure the second i ever start on any of them, i'm gonna rework all of them from the ground up :P include Another story about the eientei crew centering on reisen's apprenticeship under eirin, A longer story about the megumu's polycule having an adventure of sorts on youkai mountain, and a goofy idea i've had since like 2020 and abandoned half a dozen times which is about merry and renko meeting ran and then merry getting jealous?? It sounds even goofier when i say it aloud but maybe one day 😅

[pinkyjulien]

I've finished Dragon Age Veilguard and I have thoughts 🙋‍♂️ (Expect some spoilers)

First thing first; I'm one of those Dragon Age Origins enjoyer, I still think DA:O was THE peak- it might be the nostalgia, it might be because it was my first step in Thedas, but Veilguard did not top it for me. WITH THAT SAID THO -

I had an amazing time with it! I did not 100% complete it, and it took me 87hours to finish

Veilguard felt, to me, like a direct successor of DA2 in both gameplay and "spirit"

The gameplay took me some time to get used to, but it was really fun; it has some flaws, the combat is really dynamic but then you'd get hit and need to press dodge to get back on your feet and it kills the rythm a bit (might be a me/skill issue deadass)

The visuals grew on me, I was a bit taken aback from the cartoonish style at first but I ended up loving it a LOT actually, its really charming. The characters are gorgeous, the environements breathtakin- Especially the lights, made me pause in awe a lot of time. AND THE HAIRS! I'm really curious to see how they're done ngl, I kinda wanna get my hands in the game's belly cause I'm curious 👀

The music was also amazing, I'm kind of mad at myself for not turning down the sound effects volume earlier cause I missed a tons of amazing tracks during combats and explorations, everything else was louder and I couldn't appreciate it correctly

As I mentioned in a previous post, this is the first Dragon Age game where I genuinely enjoy ALL of the companions; I have preferences of course, but every single one of them was interesting. I got invested in each storylines, shed tears alongside them, got surprised by some twist. The Veilguard is an amazing crew and def some of Bioware's best imo!

Now, I think my biggest issue with the game is the general Tone Everything is repeated and over-explained, to make sure the player knows what happens and what to do, not much is left for interpretation

It def feels like it's aimed at a younger audience, at a new generation of gamers; this is the same vibe I got from some trailers. It felt a bit Disney-ish? Less "mature", more goofy. Some moments and gags were straight out of a Looney tunes episode (like during one of Emmrich quest for example)

But I think it matches with Rook's personality well; I did not expect Rook to be this "chaotic gremlin" (affectionate) and I got really attached to mine! I'm glad I went with a Lord of Fortune Mage Elf combo, I think it fits the role perfectly (and I personally can't imagine playing anything else from now on).

I was reaaaally pleasantly surprised with the inclusivity! Did not expected to have this deep control over Rook's gender and how much it would be bought up in conversations. A lot of moments hit close to home and got me in my feelings, really appreciate what Bioware did with it - and I think they did a great job with Taash character and story on that front too.

When it comes to the main story: (heavy spoiler warning)

I'll always be bitter that Solas was gender-locked in Inquisition 😔 and for such a dumb reason too. It's obvious that Bioware has a clear canon state when it comes to Solas and his story with the Inquisitor, and I wish I could've experienced it "fully", if that makes sense- I still love the character; my Inquisitor felt betrayed at the end of Trespasser and choose to Stop Solas whatever it takes, I still really like their past friendship and connection, but I wish it could've been more than that - and I would've 100% romanced Solas if given the opportunity in Inquisition.

Everything in DA:V happens reaaaally fast, you dont have time to digest what you just learn that you already have some new info to swallow; you get 50 whiplash in a row and it can be confusing to keep track of everything (again, might be a skill issue on my part lmao)

With the amount of informations we got and with how good the characters were, I actually wish the rythm was a bit similar to Inquisition? Slow passed, with "down time" to digest

I'm also disapointed in the lack of consequences from past games, and there's a lot of missed opportunities. I know they couldn't possibly fit every single choices, but only 3 felt a bit ridiculous

What about Sandal? With everything we learned with Harding and the Titans. Where was Zevran? Nowhere to be seen in Antiva, his home- No words at all from the Divine, or from Ferelden's royalty, whoever it might be? (Again, I did not 100% the game so I mightve missed codex entries)

I'd even go as far as to say that, I think Veilguard plays better for someone who's entierly new to the DA universe. There isn't any expectation and disapointement that takes away from the excitement of experiencing a new game

One such moment that did not hit me because of expectation was the Antaam plot in Trevisio, when the "secret rendez-vous" person turns out to be the Butcher - With how secretive everything was, I was expecting Zevran to make an apparition.

I can't help but also think about the players who romanced Morrigan with their grey warden, or who romanced Isabella during DA2; both characters seems to have completly moved on (which is totally ok and realistic even, it can happen. But this wasn't a narrative choice)

I'd have some nitpicking to do about things I've noticed while playing; some of the animations are wonky, Rook doesn't have any "falling" loop and they just slide using their idle. The walking cycle can look extremly goofy on some NPCs, it looks ok on dwarves cause they're small and walk faster, but some humans I've seen looked really off and laughable

The re-use of a lot of assets from Inquisition can be comforting and it did put a smile on my face to hear familiar bard balads in taverns, to see the same statues assets in some cities, the same art being framed and hanged on the walls; but it also reminds me that the game got scrapped again and again

You can also tell the game was supposed to be multiplayer; the chest looting system, the finish moves and general gameplay really feels "shoot and loot" a bit similar to Borderlands? I never played Anthem but I'm guessing they took some inspiration from it as well

Overall I had a really great experience, and every bit of critism doesn't take away the fact that I love that game a lot 🤏

If I had to rank it on a podium... It'd be second for me, with DA:O on top and DA:I behind it, keeping DA2 last

I'll def replay it in the future, and I'm excited to see what (IF) Bioware does in the future with this Universe 😭 and if this was the last Dragon Age game, this was a really nice finale 🙏