#now that I'm living and not surviving its less of a survival mechanism and more of an. annoying friends and flatmates mechanism

[crabussy]

being a system can be really fucking hard and it comes with a lot of challenges and struggles but man?? I fucking love my headmates. I don't know what I'd do without them and my life is better because they are in it.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hello! It's me again. I'm probably pestering you, lol. I think a lotta people give flack for the Octavinelle trio being ruthless and "behaving like a Mafia." But I think considering where they live it makes sense? They live in the ocean. And the ocean is a kill or be killed environment, where you have to the strongest and toughest. If not? You at least have to be quick witted and unable to be seen, otherwise you'll be dead. If the trio become too soft they'll be fish meat.

I think the fandom is pretty divided when it comes to perceptions of what the Coral Sea is like. On one hand, you have the people who think of it as like living in Atlantica, which is basically just like living in a peaceful and pretty city (but underwater). Then you have the people who think the environment would be so different it would shape its inhabitants to behave differently as well. The second one tends to be a darker or grittier interpretation which aknowledges dangers such as other undersea creatures and treacherous living conditions.

Personally, I lean on and enjoy the latter, since TWST rarely ever designs purely for the aesthetic of it; one example of this is how the twins are confirmed to be bioluminescent in the Magical Archives. This is a decision that was not made “because it would look cool”, but because many deep sea creatures rely on this trait to intimidate potential predators. It would make more sense for the cold waters of the Coral Sea to change its people rather than merfolks’ cities simply being civilizations moved several leagues under, especially seeing TWST time and time again really consider the geography and history of each new location and how those inform the cultures that form there.

However, I want to state that the Coral Sea would be very different depending on which area you’re in, just like how there are nice parts and bad parts of a city. It’s not ALL nice or ALL bad. For example, the Atlantica Museum in book 3 appears to be in a more photic zone, so there’s more sunlight and it appears pleasant to be in. Even the merpeople there seem to be different than the Octatrio; they less so resemble specific sea creatures and are much more akin to being human-like. We have yet to really see how the benthic zones are—but we do know they must be harsher, since Floyd has mentioned exploring shipwrecks and various dangers there (like sharks).

I also want to point out that there are subtle signs in dialogue which could imply merpeople prefer traits that promote survivability and adaptability in the ocean. Azul’s bullies are noted to taunt him for his weight, but also for his bulky tentacles and inky tears. Now why those traits specifically??? Because these impede his ability to swim swiftly (making it harder to escape danger) and easily give away his location (if he’s in hiding or camoflauging).

I’ve seen others suggest that maybe these comments are because of racism against octopus merpeople, who are a rare kind of merfolk. This is entirely possible, yes! But thinking about it like that… Isn’t it also possible that there aren’t a lot of octopus merpeople at the moment because it’s more difficult for them to escape or to hide from predators? Which then informs and perpetuates preexisting prejudices. In this context (plus the bullying), it makes sense why Azul may have “hardened” as a defense and survival mechanism. The same goes for the twins, who were explicitly taught how to defend themselves (although this also goes into the Leech mob family theory, which is a whole separate matter) and have often made references to fighting others in the Coral Sea. Their upbringings also play a part in their personalities, but so does the environment they grew up in. Like Azul and the twins, you’d have to harden mentally or physically to some degree to ensure your survival through tough circumstances.

It’s hard to say for sure though! A lot of this is speculation based on current but infrequent lore, and the Octatrio themselves are a very small portion of all merfolk. They may not be representative of the behaviors of all other merpeople, and we should keep this in mind when referring to them as our exemplars. That’s why I’ve been hoping for a Coral Sea hometown event so we have a more concrete idea of what life under the sea is like 😭

[nocturnesmoon]

I have thoughts spurring around in my head like feral cats chasing a bouncy ball, and I'm making it everyone's problem.

What if we take the world of star wars, and smash you and the 141 into it.

There are so many different combinations and turns this could take, but what I'm thinking about is the 141, ex-military turned smugglers, and you a Jedi in hiding after order 66.

The clone wars have finally come to its brutal end, and the empire has taken over the known galaxy. The Jedi have been portrayed as traitors and have been promptly executed, and the rest forced into hiding.

It looks bleak for anyone still holding onto the hope of the republic, anyone not willing to adapt to the new world gets destroyed right along with the old.

The 141 being forcefully retired, not that they minded at this point they knew it was a losing fight. With their options limited, and not keen to do the empire's bidding, or anyone's bidding ever again, they chose the obvious choice, to run.

It wasn't the ideal outcome, but with a timer on their lives, and conflicted opinions, Price took charge of the group. He knew that right now survival was the only thing that mattered, that his men would still live to see another day.

The year of acclimating to their new life was rough, they were used to sticking together but they also normally had more direction than this. Being wanted in any area governed by the empire limited a lot of work options for them.

It quite honestly didn't take long before Price resorted to less moral means, it was how their career as smugglers started.

With Gaz's excellent piloting skills, Soap's weaponry and science knowledge, Ghost's brute strength and intimating demeanor, and Price's own smooth tongue and connections, it was the most optimal choice.

And much to the their own surprise, they're pretty damn good at it.

They make good money smuggling a lot of different things across the galaxy, food, weapons, illegal goods. They take almost any job they can get in the start; they don't have time to be picky just yet, they need the credits more than good morals.

Their wanted status is likely to never get alleviated, but they combat it by never settling in one place too long. They prioritize the credits they have and get a ship big enough for both their job and to house the four of them. They're already used to being close, while this is a step further it's nothing any one of them has anything against.

They all agreed that they would stay together, they started this together and they'll end it together.

A few years in they have gotten quite the reputation for themselves, at least among other known smugglers and wanted criminals. They get bigger job opportunities, higher pay, more risk.

The bond they forge between each other is something none of them could explain, but they embrace its qualities, it's comfort and pleasure.

Some things are better to just leave unexplained and enjoy while they last. The only thing they have is each other, and they've grown quite content with that.

That was until something unexpected crash landed into their lives.

Docked at some lesser-known planet in system of farmers, they had originally planned to stop there for a few days to stock up on supplies and look for less likely work opportunities. Farmers sometimes had some strange inquiries they were quite content spending massive amounts of the little credits they have.

It was a peaceful little community, none the wiser to the person hiding amongst them. You, a Jedi who somehow survived the purge of order 66, posing as mechanic. Outside of your Jedi teachings, you had clear proficiency in anything creating and fixing.

It had been the perfect cover during the last year, who would suspect that the innocent mechanic trying to get by would harbor such a grave secret. That the kind person living in the rundown house, would be so full of survivors’ guilt that it was nothing short of a miracle they were still going.

It had roughly been 2 years since order 66, 2 years since you had survived and fled, 2 years on the run from the empire and the usual calm feeling of the force now gone.

Images still fresh on your brain despite the time, of your master, of your friends, those you'd considered your family dying from blasters that once aided them.

Every time you reached out through the force it was now hollow, the echo going into your brain and body, reminding you of the terrifying fact that you were truly alone.

You had no idea why you survived out of everyone, not even a fully trained Jedi, a mere Padawan with few accomplishments to their name. You shouldn't have survived that, someone better should be here in your place, yet no matter how much you think those thoughts, you can't change the reality.

The small farmer planet had been a good hiding spot for quite a while, you even dared to make a few friends during your stay. Despite it being less of a good idea you still kept your blade, the kyber crystal within being the only thing giving you comfort in your grief. Though you hadn't expected to ever need it again, especially not this soon.

Never had you expected that the empire would set their sights here, nor had you expected your methods of hiding had actually been that horrible. It didn't take them longer than a few days ‘til the people you thought friends practically turned you in.

You couldn't find it in your heart to blame them, the empire had very convincing methods, yet it still meant you were forced into a run for your life.

When the 141 had set their sights on this planet they hadn't expected the empire to already be here when they arrived. Price had insisted that the planet was still free, and he was right, a week ago.

They remained inconspicuous, did their shopping, and didn't snoop around too long. There was no need to get the empire hot on their tails once again.

When Ghost and Gaz went into the market, they intended on staying out of trouble, and technically they weren't the ones roped into it.

When they first spotted you, running from a few storm troopers, lightsaber blade raised, they nearly didn't believe their own eyes. All the Jedi were supposed to be dead, yet here you were, a sight to behold.

Nothing about their next actions were ruled by logic, if you ask them later about what they were thinking they couldn't tell you, because the only thing that was a priority now was to help you.

Perhaps it was some sort of obligation, maybe a sliver of hope for something better, or maybe it was just something about you that tugged at them, making them want to protect and help you.

Backed into a cornered alley, almost having lost your pursuers you felt the new threat loom behind you. A technique that was familiar in ways you couldn't explain, and too fast for you to register and counter. You were knocked out cold, and the next time you woke you were on a spaceship in space.

To say that Price was furious with the two was an understatement, they had more or less kidnapped someone unprompted. While Soap found the situation hilarious, he also had a feeling there was way more to this, and a possible danger they could've avoided.

When you wake it's Price that greets you, making sure to establish himself to not be a threat to you, so you didn't do anything drastic. You were on edge, understandably so, but he managed to explain the situation while also avoiding the main topic at hand.

You knew it would come up, he was toying with your lightsaber in his hands while you talked, and no matter how much you stared it down you didn't dare lunge for it yet. The dreaded question, and the answer that people had such varying reactions to.

"You're Jedi?"

You had expected something else when you confirmed to him what you were, what you've been since you could remember. A part of you had expected them to be bounty hunters, ready to turn you over to the empire at a moment’s notice. The reward on your head would be great, you imagine, yet that's not what he does.

He reminisces instead, telling you of a Jedi he once knew, of how he and his men had fought alongside a few of them on special occasions. Never had you imagine that this is where you would end up, in the metaphorical arms of people who could care maybe just a little.

He gave you an offer, they could drop you off at whatever location you requested, or they could work a sort of partnership.

You don't know what to make of it at first. They seem genuine, but people have ratted you out for less. You don't have a lot of options, going somewhere else and trying to find another inconspicuous farming planet wasn't the most viable choice, but neither was bunking with them. Who knew what kind of people they were.

Your chances were not the best, and unfortunately you had a sneaking suspicion they knew that. Whether their intentions were noble or just pity, you decided to take the risk and stay. If it all came crashing down, you'd still have your training, it had gotten you this far, it could get you further.

The first few days you stayed with them was tense, they were all in agreement on keeping you, there was nothing hostile about it, but it was still tense. It was partially your own doing, you walked on eggshells around them, never letting any of them behind you, etc. etc.

They understood to an extent, the way they met you wasn't exactly on the best of terms, it was natural for you to be cautious. So, they let you have your space, they don't pressure you into anything but do try to coax you into a more comfortable environment with them.

The crack starts to form when you see them all gathered in the main area of the ship, laughing, talking, playing a game you're unfamiliar with. Soap is the first to notice you staring, with a big grin on his face he invites you to join them. Hesitant but interested you approach.

Price explains the rules to you, and you get to watch for a round or two before you join in on your own. They go easy on you but you're a quick learner, and it doesn't take long before you become quite vicious in your play.

It becomes a common thing, almost nightly that they all gather to spend time together. The bond between each other grows fast, and it's not long before you start feeling like this is exactly where you're meant to be.

Settling in with them becomes easier and easier, as if they had always waited for another person to welcome in with them. To fill a missing part, they didn't know they needed.

While keeping the secret of what you are is the topmost priority, you end up helping them out on jobs. Due to your training you're very adaptable, able to fill any position where something was missing.

You were an excellent mechanic when the ship was down, and with Gaz's magic touch it halved the time it usually took to repair.

Soap had a really fun time explaining a bunch of different things about weaponry and the science behind it. There had been a lot of different questions you had in the clone wars that was left unanswered, you could finally have someone enthusiastic that could explain them to you.

A lot of long rides were spent like that, of you asking him questions and then more questions because the math he talked about in the first question was confusing.

Even though you were just a Padawan back then, you still had made your fair share of connections during the clone wars. People that you and your old master had come across, and old friends outside of the Jedi order.

Price found it very useful, and though most of the connections you had were friendship and not business, it could still be used as such. A few of them he even helped rekindle, you've been grateful for that ever since.

Though the Jedi order is no more you still try to keep up with your training. You have no guidance any longer, nothing new to look at, but you can maintain what you know.

The others are happy to help you with it as well, they know it's important to you and a part of them have always found it fascinating how you train.

Occasionally you'd have them all surround you in a circle, setting their blasters to stun and randomly shooting at you. It helped sharpening your senses, helped you rely on the force to guide your hand, and to deflect more accurately.

You'd do a lot of training with Ghost that wasn't necessarily Jedi training. While you did a lot of mental training on your own, the physical part was something Ghost had a lot of enjoyment in helping you with.

Sparring, running, lifting, anything he could think of that would help you, he did, and it quickly became thing for you two to train together.

It wasn't anything you had expected with them, not in a million years would you have imagined ending up here. It was a thing you couldn't predict, but neither was order 66.

Nobody you knew had been able to foresee the collapse of the Jedi order. Some things were just left up to chance, and currently here with the 141, you liked your odds.

I just finished reading the book project hail mary, and not too long ago i reread the Ahsoka book. So safe to say i've been in a bit of a space mood, still am.

And what better way to utilize that, than combine my hyperfixation on the 141 and my special interest star wars hehe.

[terramythos]

Anyway here's my breakdown of the ffxiv jobs, my opinions on playing each, and the tier rank of how good their story was

TANKS

WARRIOR - warrior is so fucking funny why did they make it able to solo heal itself and the entire party in 90% of the content in the game. Raw Intuition/Bloodwhetting is so broken in dungeons its hilarious. And then they have like 3 additional healing skills on top of that. And they kept buffing it throughout Endwalker. So it is currently the easiest to play, does the most damage (i think...?), and has the best healing of any of the Tank jobs. 2nd fave probably.

Story Tier: C, it's ok, Curious Gorge is a good name. i have like nothing to say about it it's a generic AF story

PALADIN - I used to hate PLD but I think the partial rework they got halfway through Endwalker helped it a lot. It's much less clunky now. Probably still my least favorite Tank though Hallowed Ground is fun and it's pretty close to Gunbreaker for me.

Story Tier: F, this is the worst class storyline in the entire game. It's so stupid. The writing is so bad the writers acknowledge it makes no sense at all and I'm like. Yeah, thanks, I am experiencing this shit. Perhaps write a story that makes sense next time instead of pointing that out.

DARK KNIGHT - Unfortunately this is my favorite Tank 🫡 which is rough since it has the worst survivability out of any of them. But I love how you use MP and the silly number of OGCDs. The Blackest Night is such a fun ability and it's a crime that it's not a baseline skill you get from the start. Why do they have so many DRs that only cover magic damage. I must ask.

Story Tier: S, there's a reason it's the most popular and well regarded class storyline. It's really good, also the only questline I know of that uses the quest log text as part of the narrative. Outside maybe a few of the very late Endwalker quests. And, well... same writer lmao

GUNBREAKER: I think GNB looks cool as fuck and I like that it has 2 DPS rotations. The Gnashing Fang combo is so fun. Superbolide memes are always fun. My main issue with it is a skill issue because I am just constantly misaligning its burst windows.

Story Tier: C. It has some interesting lore but I found it pretty forgettable as a story.

HEALERS

WHITE MAGE: I hated White Mage for a while but something clicked and now I totally get it. I find it fun in dungeons cause you get to Holy spam and stun lock everything. As uh. The healer. That's fun. Once you get Afflatus heals (and then Afflatus Misery) it clicks. It's fun maximizing damage and playing chicken with the tank's HP.

Story Tier: B, you get a lot of lore around the Padjal, and I think the Stormblood story where you find a padjal living in hiding with her mother is pretty good! Also it's not technically the job storyline but there's a WHM side quest to get a unicorn mount? i guess it's technically a CNJ quest but same diff. no one else gets that shit. so that's cool

SCHOLAR: probably my least favorite of the healers... it just feels super clunky. You can tell a bunch of different design philosophies went into it over the years and none of them mesh very well. They've made it so the Fairy Gauge controls literally one spell. Why have the gauge at all? It's also a huge missed opportunity that there's no tie in or interaction with the fae in Shadowbringers. I love the idea of a battle tactician healer but I think it needs a rework.

Story Tier: B+, I liked the characters and its the main way to get backstory and lore on what happened with Nym.

ASTROLOGIAN: While I think AST has a similar issue to SCH (lots of different design philosophies over the years) I find it way more fun to play. I like the card mechanic and how it interacts with the rest of the party. AST is basically the only job that has its own like. Minigame? As part of its rotation. And I know a lot of people don't like the RNG for it but personally I find it fun. I know AST is getting a redesign in Dawntrail so hope it's good.

Story Tier: C? I think? I'll be honest I don't remember it super well but I didn't find anything objectionable about it. And I like the tarot aesthetic and lore and how it's healing based on manipulating luck.

SAGE: I think SGE is tons of fun, I'm not sure if I like it or WHM more. I love all the skills SGE has for preventing damage and the gimmick where your DPS heals someone in the party. Visually the hi-tech laser shooting healer is a lot of fun. IT HAS A GAP CLOSER. The only thing i wish was it wasn't so MP negative and that it did more damage. It's a little sad its DPS output is so low compared to the other healers (even AST when you factor in how it buffs the party). Since SGE is supposed to be a healer that heals through damage it's silly its damage kinda sucks.

Story Tier: A, I loved this storyline. Both the Endwalker job stories are very self contained and interesting. While the twist is pretty obvious it's still an interesting exploration of uh. Scientific ethics. Yeah

PHYSICAL MELEE DPS

MONK: I've probably played MNK the least of the phys melee but I like the whole adaptable combo thing. Not much else to say since I have played it so little. Might bring it back out and try again. It DID have the funniest guide in the Balance discord for a while.

Story Tier: D. I think? I remember thinking it was dumb, lmao. Sorry.

DRAGOON: MAN I wished I liked DRG more. It looks so fucking cool and I like how it interacts with the dragon lore. But I find it very punishing to play. To do good damage you have to align so many different cooldowns... and snapshot your DOT correctly... and screwing one thing up just fucks your DPS output forever. Like AST I believe this is being reworked in Dawntrail so I hope it feels better to play.

Story Tier: C+. I think it starts strong since you get to meet Estinien pre-Heavensward and it melds nicely with that story. But I found it pretty directionless post-HW which is a shame.

NINJA: I remember finding this one fun. I like that there are different combos you do that have varied finishers depending on the situation. I am just... bad at remembering which combo to use to get which finisher, lol. So I haven't played it as much. NIN gets a lot of flavor other jobs don't get with their unique run and jump animations. And you get a Bunny of Shame on your head if you fuck up a combo, which is incredible.

Story Tier: A. The Rogue story is probably the most memorable of the basic class quests. Ninja just has great characters and a fun story. What is with that one guy. Karasu? If you know you know. I also like how the Rogue characters show up later in the Ninja story. That's fun.

SAMURAI: I had a similar experience to WHM here because I initially hated it then really came around once it clicked. SAM seems very complex, it has a ton of buttons and different combos. But it is actually quite intuitive once you figure out the general pattern. And it does INSANE damage. I think it's the highest DPS output in the game? I love building the combos and then doing a huge finisher for a bajillion damage. The guaranteed crits and constant OGCD weaves make me feel unstoppable. I think this is tied with RPR for me.

Story Tier: B+. I found the exiled samurai character and his journey toward redemption very compelling. I won't spoil beyond that. However it does fall apart a little in the second half. Still fun but not as good.

REAPER: I love RPR, the teleportation is a lot of fun, and I love finally unleashing the demon form and going ham on the enemy. The weapons are the coolest looking in the game. Every scythe design hits. I probably played this the most in Endwalker. My main critique is the Death's Design mechanic. I hate having to keep a stupid debuff on the target to do damage. It's like a dot but without the optimized snapshotting. If they want to keep this idea i think it would feel better to change it into something like SGE's Kardia where you apply it to one enemy to do increased damage to it without having to worry about reapplying it. not sure how they would balance this for aoe but that's not my job. But even with that caveat I still really enjoy the job.

Story Tier: A+. While it doesn't reach the highs of DRK's story it comes close. I love the badass old lady main character. Her hunting a voidsent that possessed her grandfather would be cool enough but making her a Garlean exile in hiding who grudgingly agrees to train you just adds an extra cool factor. I really enjoyed this story. As a bonus theres a lot of incidental dialogue in the post-6.0 Endwalker story if you completed the RPR story because it ties in a lot.

PHYSICAL RANGED DPS

BARD: It's a bit clunky, its got some outdated design elements, it has one of the lowest damage outputs in the game... and i LOVE IT. this was technically the first job I ever played? totally different character like 8 years ago. and i was so so bad. I think i am actually pretty good at current BRD. the animations look cool. i like that it's a class you really need to work for and optimize to eke out that last bit of damage. and boosting everyone else's damage by existing is kinda neat.

Story Tier: B. I'll be real I barely remember this but I do remember it was gay as fuck so immediately gets an extra tier for that.

MACHINIST: MCH is really funny right now because like. It's phys ranged, right. The design behind phys ranged is you have 100% uptime cause you can freely move around and not have to worry about cast timers or melee range or anything. So the trade off is that they do less damage than other classes. Endwalker MCH did not get the memo and does insane damage anyway. My controversial opinion is that it has similar burst DPS to RPR. No i will not elaborate. I'm also bad at doing good damage on MCH which is impressive since it is easy.

Story Tier: B+. Some Ishgard noble's gay son wants to build machines instead of killing dragons the good old fashioned way and has to prove himself to get taken seriously. A tale as old as time. See I haven't done this quest in like years but I still remember it. He is a memorable character. It's just not like. knockout wowza compared to the A tier stories.

DANCER: Dancer is the second easiest DPS job in the game behind SMN. So if i am sleepy it's the one I like playing. You play simon says. you do a lot of damage when you play simon says then do almost no fucking damage otherwise. I think it's the lowest direct damage in the game? for a dps i mean. You have high stakes sexual tension with a DPS of your choice via Dance Partner. I wish other DNC players knew how Dance Partner works. YOU CAN DANCE PARTNER ANOTHER DANCER. THE BUFF STACKS. BUT YOU CANNOT DANCE PARTNER THE SAME PLAYER AS ANOTHER DANCER. THOSE BUFFS DO NOT STACK. ok i'm good. anyway

Story Tier: C. there's some shit about negative emotions and purging them? in theory i think this has some interesting implications with Endwalker lore considering Dynamis and its role in the story. Very similar mechanically to what's going on with the DNC story. but i really don't think the writers made the connection so it's like pure speculation and not the actual story. It's meh. fine i guess. i did like all the flashy dancing sequences.

MAGICAL RANGED DPS

BLACK MAGE: I am so so so so so so so bad at BLM. i pull up the guide. i read the guide. it all makes perfect sense. i go into a dungeon or trial or something. somehow i always get like Zeromus or some shit. and i drop Enochian or something and everything goes to shit and i'm yelling and i'm not even like slide casting or teleporting or anything i just run around crying. then i remember i have like 10 more buttons i haven't been pressing and oh god the dot fell off. people play this? for fun? i admire it. apparently they do a ton of damage if you can play it. could not be me.

Story Tier: B? There's some voidsent and Thirteenth lore. all the black mage characters are Lalafell because it's funny i guess. OH YEAH it has like the one named male Keeper of the Moon Miqo'te NPC in the entire game and he's fun. look at this twink:

sorry i don't have anything to say about BLM i am bad at it

SUMMONER: easiest DPS job in the entire game. they redesigned it for Endwalker so it is practically a new job. i have no idea how it played before. but it is super streamlined. maybe too streamlined? it's another one to play if you want to turn your brain off. i like that at 90 you summon The Actual Primals instead of little representations of them. and i like the way your burst phase switches between Bahamut and Phoenix. it all looks very cool. they should add Leviathan as a summon in Dawntrail.

Story Tier: C.. i don't remember a single thing about this questline except you interact with Y'shtola's half sister. i think you go to Cartenau at some point. idk

RED MAGE: RDM is one of those jobs that looks really complicated when you start then you actually play it and it is just super super easy. that being said i think it's really fun. I like balancing the white and black magic gauges. Dualcast is a great gimmick and it feels cool to lob two big spells in a row at something. Dualcast Verraising a chain of dead players is so fucking funny. it's a shame that the existence of Verraise means RDM does shit damage to compensate for its utility. It and DNC just sit at the bottom with BRD barely scratching ahead of them. i think? i don't remember LOL

Story Tier: A, I really like the story and characters. I like that you have a middle-age world weary catboy (catman) as your mentor. and i like that he canonically trained Alisaie too and you chat a little about that. it's a fun story!

BLUE MAGE: what the fuck is a blue mage

Story Tier: ???

[thanatika]

pathologic 3 thoughts... i almost made a post awhile ago about hoping that they incorporate frostpunk-like gameplay mechanics into the bachelor remake, if they really are going all in on getting rid of the fps survival elements and adding more town management and resource sim elements. and now i'm mad that i never actually wrote it, because it seems like pathologic 3 is going to be incorporating frostpunk-like mechanics into its town management. "shape their lives with your decrees" and all that.

though one resource that frostpunk never really deals in is currency, and i hope they lean on that for dankovsky's town management mechanics. in that long dev post back in 2022 or something, i remember an offhand mention about getting rid of the survival elements because dankovsky's position means he shouldn't have to struggle for food, healing items, or money... and for one thing, pathologic classic has him struggle easily without it feeling unrealistic, so i think they might as well have just said "we wanted to do something original instead of a reskin of the previous game" and left it at that. but with money specifically... even if dankovsky is put in control of funds due to his position (which he canonically is, there was just no fleshed out mechanic for it in the first game) the bigger question would be how to effectively use them? based on the original game, the amount of medicine and food and money was never quite enough, even when the town's nobility would finally hand it over after trying to ignore the problem. so you have access to resources, the real painful challenge comes from having to allocate them, whether it's an equal distribution that isn't enough to help anyone at all, or an unequal distribution where some are left out.

i'm imagining something like The Fund in pathologic 2, which was a very barebones mechanic of just "heal more people = get more money". the bachelor route is possibly going to be more hands on in its management, and more incriminatory towards you if resources run scarce due to mistakes or mismanagement.

and as for dankovsky's own survival, well, i guess he could be sitting pretty if he has access to all of the resources, and can just take however much he needs off the top. that's certainly what npcs are accusing him of doing throughout both games and the dlc. but is that really in character for him? you certainly have the option to do that, most explicitly with taking lara's money and running on day 2. but personally i think that characterization makes less sense than him trying to distribute as much as possible. not because i think he's such a great guy, but because:

a) why does the first game have so many side quests that hinge on him agreeing to go put his own life at risk and his own mission on hold just to save someone else for 0 reward, if it's out of character for him to do it? like taking over from all the ladies who agreed to test medicines, or going and getting shot at by soldiers to save the father of two random kids. what a waste of writing and scripting, if he really isn't "supposed" to do those things.

b) even if he doesn't give a shit about the town or its people (which his dialogue and quest logs imply he does care, up to a point), his whole purpose in trying to stop the plague is that it's his mandate from the powers that be, with the promise that they'll restore his lab to him if he succeeds. his lab that he canonically values so much that he equates losing it to his own death or suicide, all the way back from day 1. yeah, i think he'd deprive himself if he thought the resources might make the difference between saving it or not.

so i think that's also important to keep in mind for his motivations, because especially if they do end up removing the pressures of surviving against hunger and combat, the tension is kinda lost if we're supposed to think that he actually doesn't care about what he's trying to save, at least in the beginning.

[brujahinaskirt]

30 kcd2 trailer reveal little things / reactions:

Loving the increased Istvan / Henry parallelism

Loving the return of the red PTSD nightmares and so pleased WH isn't watering the game down, keeping up the trauma narrative realism, etc. I expected no less but still delighted by it. I love games that allow characters (esp male characters) to feel things, genuinely, and writing that treats the emotional invitation of its own storytelling with respect.

Good lord, the symbolism returns--as it must in a proper medieval game--but I shan't look too deep yet.

SKALITZ FLASHBACKS. HENRY'S PARENTS' WEDDING PREQUEL CONTENT? W H A T. I never thought we would get to go back; I am so thrilled to learn more about that time. I would have gladly gobbled up a Martin prequel. TELL ME HER FUCKING NAME, WARHORSE, YOU BASTARDS.

where is radzig

Mystery possible new love interest option? Or did Lady Stephanie visit the face sculptor?

And Theresa... where?

Mother of god, the forests and animals look incredible. I'm going insane. Let me pet things please.

How many times can Hans eat royal shit and live in one livestream? Let's find out. One, two, three...

The crime and punishment mechanics are definitely more complex at a glance. This is a good thing but I wonder how much was cutscene flavor and how much will really have an affect on the gameplay/reputation/etc.

I'm extremely afraid for Hans's survival. Not because of his constant trailer beefing (and he really took every opportunity to wipe out) but because of that shot with him doing the big dramatic eagle wing spread on horseback. You can't just do that and not expect to be punished by the narrative, bro.

MUTT IS BACK MUTT IS BACK MUTT IS BACK

is that pebbles? MUTT IS BACK please be pebbles

Henry's new hair is awful and I will be changing it two seconds in.

In general, Henry looks way more mature/stressed. Hard to say if there was a timeskip and Henry is now actually more mature or if the increased graphics allow him to look more like his voice actor, who is older than Henry. Either way I will be content. Will not catch me changing my son's precious face!!!

CROSSBOWS, HAND CANNONS

Istvan is pure fire, holy shit, cannot wait for this performance. Erik looks like a soggy newspaper. What happened king?

radzig? hello? anyone hear from this guy? typical for him to ghost

FIVE HOURS OF CUTSCENES???? YOU KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE. IT IS ME. I LOVE TO WATCH THINGS

Theresa's gonna be in it though, right? They wouldn't do us like that right?

Really excited to see them taking a page from RDR2 and incorporating a temperament-based reply system for non-dialogue initiating NPCs. I really look forward to all the added sandbox immersion enhancements from the first game, and I hope women are incorporated in a broader work spectrum for better historical accuracy.

WAS THAT GODWIN?

Is Hans going to teach Henry how to swim for real, as in a gameplay-altering swim mechanic, or is the topless on the riverbank scene just throwing a meaty bone to the hansry shippers (i am gnawing, i am growling when you try to take it away before i choke myself with it)

I love hearing devs and actors talk intelligently about the writing and character development arcs. Obviously they thought about it deeply in KCD1, but it's nice to see devs of an "action" game treating its narrative seriously, as artwork. Regardless of how the fandom idiots interact with it.

Hans singing a facetious little ballad for Henry (presuming it makes it into the game and isn't just trailer fodder) regenerated my cells. He DID promise in KCD1 (if you lose the tourney after agreeing to be his champion) that one day people would sing ballads in Henry's honor. Probably he did not intend for them to include the word "fuck" at the time.

This is going to be the grown up bromance we deserved in kcd1. Honestly it's so validating to see the second game recentering on that relationship and deliberately using it as the primary storytelling vehicle. KCD1 was pretty imbalanced in favor of Hans content, but it would have been better served by the game storyline fully leaning into the importance of that relationship, rather than trying to juggle it as a side-arc with several other arcs (and thereby creating an imbalance). KCD2 looks like it's built around the backbone of Henry and Hans's friendship and how it has profoundly changed them both/propelled their arcs in somewhat different directions.

On that point, Henry seems to have completely adopted Rattay colors now, but it's possible that's due to him operating as Hans's page (squire?) where we left them in KCD1. WHERE IS RADZIG

Calling Henry an orphan is a LITTLE generous given he was a whole ass adult man when his parents were killed, don't you think.

Calling Henry a lover is VERY VERY GENEROUS

I'm hyped.

[powdermelonkeg]

You reblogged a post about the practical female armors mod for skyrim and now i am being sucked back into the pit of skyrim modding. any mod suggestions? its been a solid couple years since i played and there's a LOT to choose from

Oh man I haven't had a chance to play since my computer broke lemme see what my last modlist was.

(One moment while I force my broken computer to work)

So fair warning, I like survival aspects. I like it when games require me to eat/sleep/do things to live, because then the 15 cheese wheels in my inventory actually mean something besides instant health. I also really like companionship and roleplaying elements, so most of my playthroughs are built around that.

Dependencies not included:

Campfire: Camping mechanics. Supports a party of 4, if I remember correctly. Also lets you craft a few things, but I'm more interested in stargazing with my buddies.

Vitality Mode: Current iteration of "better than Survival Mode" mechanics. Eat/drink/sleep/etc. Does it very nicely with a corner icon that gets more red the worse off you are, rather than whatever SM had going on. Also lets you configure modded food items for it just by eating them!

Pronouns: Pick what pronouns you go by regardless of default body. Will attempt to exclude gendered language if possible (like, it's unavoidable with Brynjolf calling you lad/lass, but you can pick which one it falls back to) if you pick they/them. You can set percentages of different pronoun sets or even have it change randomly on a timer.

Quality World Map: PUTS. THE ROADS. ON. THE MAP. If you're doing no fast travel, this is VITAL. Base map is terrible, next question.

Delphine's Map Reveals Dragon Mounds: Because it should.

Delay the Foresworn Conspiracy Quest: Ever get sick of being roped into that quest immediately? (Makes it so that guy doesn't hand you the note unless you talk to him directly. Main Street Stabbing™ is still there)

Dragonborn Delayed: Ever get sick of being roped into THAT quest immediately? (Especially given the suggested level of Solstheim...you can pick when it happens: after returning the horn, Delphine, Alduin's Wall, meeting Paarthurnax, getting the Elder Scroll, kicking Alduin's tail at the top of the mountain, or killing Alduin)

Extended Encounters: More encounters in the wild! Mercs, adventurers, vampire attacks, etc.

Vittoria's Alternate Wedding: She can get married without you killing her! She's not in engagement hell!!! Only triggers if you destroy the Dark Brotherhood.

Immersive Realistic Party Clothing Overhaul: Wear any "rich" clothes to the party instead of what Delphine gives you. I usually use this with mods that add more fancy clothes.

More To Say: Everyone talks more about a wider variety of things. Lets you tell Meeko he's a good boy and give him a treat. Makes a few new lines with splicing, but I haven't noticed any hard cuts.

Wonders of Weather: Splashy rain and rainbows, occasional shooting stars, scheduled meteor showers

Darker Nights: What it says on the tin. I like using torches and fires, and regular nighttime is unrealistically bright for me.

Whiterun Watchtower Doesn't Start Broken: Because why should it?

Cooking Inns and Taverns: Because I need more cooking pots and ESPECIALLY Hearthfire ovens to find.

C.O.I.N.: Adds immersion by changing coins based on where you are. Ancient Nordic coins are going to be worth less than the standard Septim, while Thalmor gold is worth more. There are Dwemer coins.

More Thalmor Dossiers: Makes more lore books on characters to pick up when you're in the embassy. Also has patches for some followers. Very fun.

Bandolier: More carry weight and it looks cool.

Guard Dialogue Overhaul: Gives guards more to say, and changes their opinions of you as you complete quests.

Bandit Lines Expansion: Bandits talk more, 500+ new lines. Spliced, but it sounded smooth to me.

Alternate Start: If you're sick of the standard Helgen entry, THIS. Also the New Beginnings add-on gives even more options.

No Fast Travel: Honestly this is just a me thing, because I use Vitality Mode and want realism. Only go for this if you're like me and it won't frustrate you.

Followers (aka, my party pre-BG3)

Gore by @goredev: A young Imperial mercenary from Cyrodiil, was ambushed by Thalmor because of some traitorous members of his band. Absolute sweetheart, riveting story, fantastic found family vibes all around. 10/10 would kill for him. Updates often, so check the mod page every now and then after install.

Inigo: An indigo Khajiit who put himself in prison because he thinks he killed you. Amazing banter, very cheeky, comes with his own whistle-signal mechanics. You can buy him a horse if you have the right patch! (He interacts with Lucien right out the gate and has a banter patch with Auri)

Lucien Flavius: An Imperial scholar from Cyrodiil with a myriad of unique mechanics, letting you teach him your own skills in order to customize his battle style. He's in Skyrim looking for a (custom made, well-implemented) Dwemer dungeon. The lad has a MILLION compatibility patches that let him comment on all sorts of mods. (Interacts with Auri right out the gate)

Auri by @sotgofficial: A Bosmer from Valenwood who's having a lot of culture shock in Skyrim (where she's from, canonically, her people are cannibals and don't harm plants—she HATES Faendal with a seething passion). A fantastic character (and archer), a heartwrenching story, openly poly and likes to tease. Will be a little annoyed/depressed until you do her personal quest, so I recommend chipping away at that as you travel. I usually use her with the Refined Auri replacer.

Taliesin by @dynamite124, voiced by @nevermorepjm: My personal favorite, an Altmer and former Thalmor agent you help after he's been mortally wounded. Lots of sassy and witty dialogue, bursting with personality, changes his opinion of you over the course of the main quest. Please I'm begging you watch his trailer.

Khash by @rabbittwinrithings: Darling little Argonian teenager you can take along with you. Doesn't get sarcasm, speaks her mind often, can be coaxed into talking about her past—that's not a typical Argonian name, is it? Resident gremlin alongside Auri.

Back to normal stuff, visuals

Tempered Skins for Males/Females: Gives a decent look without airbrushing everyone because I am SO sick of airbrushing everyone... There are dicks in the setup screen (when you set whether you want them or not), beware.

Improved Eyes: Just a little tweak.

Brows: Another little tweak.

Subliminal Traps: Makes traps less obvious. It's masochistic, yes, but I like my immersion.

Awesome Potions Simplified: You look at these and tell me they aren't the coolest looking potion bottles you've ever seen.

[skratchytheclown]

So, i am very curious about how would a infection au work in your au Like, how would the outbreak start, who would survive (if anyone does) and the outcome of it. And if there is anyone with disadvantages or advantages?

-D (someone who is obviously TERRIFIED of infection aus)

Hmm, maybe a sort of infection could have originated from Somnom Woods (from the Pi'illo Island). Some people came back home after vacationing there feeling "strange". As it turns out, they have accidentally got some of the poisonous substance that's located in the woods into their system. Usually, it wouldn't do too much damage, but this particular substance has been tainted. Possibly due to various chemicals and litter running off into the woods from construction. Here is an example of what could have happened:

Someone with the disease would start off feeling tired, mostly. Eventually getting to the point where it feels like they haven't slept in days, getting delusional. The poisonous substance would start eating away at their bodies, starting from places with easy access, most notably the nose, mouth, and eyes.

Then the substance takes over. It twists its victims in surreal ways. The places that are affected are constantly changing, almost like some sort of illusion. It gets worse and worse until they are completely unrecognizable and die.

This infection works more like a poison/acid than a fungus, virus, bacteria, parasite, etc. It isn't living. It's just something that erodes the body.

Here are some other examples of what an infected person would look like:

Like other infection AUs, there would be multiple stages. First, someone would just be tired with the substance leaking out of their pores and face, then, the poison will start spreading somewhere on the head. This is when the exhaustion gets worse. Then, the victim starts getting violent out of desperation as the substance has almost taking up the majority of the head and has spread to other areas. After that, the whole body is affected, and they become less hostile, but more unpredictable. Finally, they reach the point where they completely change and die. Due to the unusual nature of this infection, people have started to call it the "dream disease".

Of course, with this thing becoming an epidemic, Princess Peach would meet up with the prince of Pi'llo Island, Dreambert. She tries to get more knowledge about what, exactly, was infecting her subjects, as well as settling some rumors that have come up after the spread of the infection.

Of course, Bowser would get involved too, as his subjects are also being affected. He'd probably think that his kingdom wouldn't need help at first, but he eventually just decides to go and talk to the others for advice. Dreambert would also provide some of the substance from Somnom Woods for Peach and Bowser to study and hopefully find a way to stop the spread.

Silvea, Dieter, and Ludwig would probably collaborate with a scientist from the Mushroom Kingdom to try to come up with a cure. Ludwig and Silvea specialize in magic and mechanics, while Dieter is a bit more knowledgeable about the anatomy. None of them get along at first, really, but eventually they all give the others a chance.

I haven't really figured out how it would end and what the outcome of it would be. Maybe everyone dies, the trio eventually finds a cure, Peach and Bowser creates a cure, everyone who isn't affected quarantines themselves until the spread stops, etc.

That's all I can come up with for now. I mostly wanted to come up with what the infection itself would be (what it looks like, what it is, where it came from, all that stuff). There might be a part 2 later, but I'm not going to promise anything just in case (we all know what happened with that role-swap AU).

AU-making takes quite a bit of time for me lol.

[icedragonlizard]

More information about my headcanon universe's home planet for Susie

In some of my earlier tumblr posts, particularly ones that largely involve Susie, you may have noticed how I keep talking about how I headcanon she has a home planet. That there's a place she lives at.

Well, I figure it'd be best that I make an entire tumblr post about my interpretation of her home, since there's a lot of details that I did not mention in those earlier posts. I've seen some people interpret her being a nomad post-PR where she just lives in a spaceship that goes around the cosmos, but I don't do that. In my universe, she has an actual planet that she calls home! And so I'll begin in explaining it.

This visual comes from a "It's Kirby Time!" book that just recently released in Japan if I'm not mistaken. It's more or less about Kirby going through many other planets.

This ended up being long, so have a 'Keep reading' tag.

I don't have an official name for this planet. I guess we can tentatively call it 'Haltmann Star' or something. Which is hilarious to think of this family being bold enough to name a planet after themselves, LOL.

It's quite a ways away from Popstar, but not too far away to stop Kirby and a few others from giving her a visit every now and then.

Susie's home is a very mechanical planet. It basically looks like a planet that has been mechanized by the Haltmann Works Company.

This planet acts as the HWC's headquarters. This is where the HWC's main base of operations resides in. It was also disconnected to Star Dream while the company was in its rogue phase of Max Haltmann being the president and mechanized planets across the cosmos.

And because the company's headquarters was disconnected to Star Dream, it was able to survive when the machine got destroyed at the end of KPR. All the planets that have been invaded and mechanized have been restored back to normal after Star Dream's destruction, but the HWC's main base of operations was able to avoid dissolvement.

Therefore, Susie wasn't without a home after Star Dream got destroyed, and had somewhere to resort to after Planet Robobot's events were over. The remaining Haltworkers that survived also resorted back to the HWC's headquarters alongside Susie after KPR.

However, while the headquarters managed to avoid dissolvement, it didn't come out unscathed. The enormous universal scale of Star Dream's debris harshly damaged it. Susie and the remaining Haltworkers had a lot of work to do in fixing up the headquarters back to its former glory. It also wasn't mentally easy to fix up the headquarters, to say the least... considering Susie was going through an horrible grief period of mourning her father's death, including that her self-esteem was damaged due to his death largely being her fault.

Star Dream was what made it possible to mechanize other planets in the first place, so that threat was just about eliminated entirely when Star Dream got destroyed. The only way the HWC could mechanize planets again is if they rebuild another machine similar to Star Dream, but Susie didn't want anything to do with another machine like that ever again considering what the last one did to her family. She would revive the HWC without Star Dream, although at first she didn't really know what direction she wanted to strive for...

... Until when she (painfully) remembered memories of her and her father before the Another Dimension accident. At that moment, she was able to recall when Haltmann originally talked about wanting to be innovative with technology and science to the fullest, and to use that to consensually improve planets and people. When she recalled this, that's the direction she decided to go for when reviving the HWC. While the company is unable to mechanize planets anymore, they can still industrialize to be able to achieve the new, more altruistic goal that it wants to do under Susie's rule. When she worked to revive the company, she rebuilt everything from the ground up.

Once Susie began recovering from her grief, fixed up the headquarters and revived the HWC, her home planet is perhaps now in a better place than it's ever been before. She's heavily changed it up to her liking. She's in charge of the entire planet, after all, so she just did whatever she wanted to make the planet look how she wanted to look, as the Haltworkers helped configure it all to her personal liking.

The appearance of her home planet isn't actually just dull grey of metal coloration-wise like what you may think. As the HWC was brought back with Susie being the new president, the company became more 'pink' and 'teehee cutesy' so to speak. A lot of the buildings in the headquarters are literally painted pink in coloration. Susie, being a pink fanatic, could not help herself but to paint some of the HWC's assets pink. She even went as far to as to make changes to the "H" logo of the company, as it's now shown in two different ways: its orange coloration is now replaced with pink, but there's also instances where the original orange coloration still exists but it's surrounded by a pink background. This woman literally went through with "I'm the CEO, so I can do whatever I want with this now!"

She sure went to have fun when entirely revamping the company!

Not joking about the "teehee cutesy" stuff either. Susie installed literal kaomojis on the Haltworkers now and sometimes giggles to herself about it. She's also given the headquarters some general sense of kawaii-ness. She even goes as far as to participate in the holiday cheer when the holidays show up and will decorate the headquarters accordingly (whether it's Halloween, Christmas, etc.). Although at the start she initially didn't do anything about holidays, because her time stranded in Another Dimension made her forget all about holidays. Others in the Kirby cast had to teach her about the holidays. But once she got the hang of it, she went nuts about it when decorating at the appropriate times. She smiles when looking at all the Haltworkers wearing santa hats when it comes to be Christmas.

The main building of interest in the headquarters is a miniature version of the Access Ark. It's the main office building, basically. It's where Susie resides, it's where she does her presidential work at, and this building also houses her bedroom that she goes to sleep in. And by the way, her bedroom is all pink and teehee cute with stuffed animals and shit. No joke! Some of her childhood stuff is still there that she patched up. Susie technically didn't get to mature the proper way due to her ruined past, so even though she likes to display a peppy/professional demeanor, deep down inside she's still kind of childish and cutesy, despite being a grown-ass adult woman in her 20s. It would not be wrong to say that she is kind of a womanchild.

Another notable building interest is an ice cream shop. Yeah... the headquarters has an ice cream shop. Susie just has to have nearby ice cream. One could say this maybe adds on to the cutesiness of Susie's version of the HWC, especially considering that the company goes as far as to make ice cream factories for some planets.

The cutesiness can also sometimes claw its way into consensual robotic upgrades for people. The HWC under Susie's rule has not stopped 'mechanizing' people albeit it's consensual and they always ask people first before actually doing it... although initially they were a bit too insistent about it and were like "you sure you don't want it?" that they've needed time to get past doing, but at least they haven't been forcing it against people's will anymore. Anyways, at the instances where someone actually does accept a mechanical upgrade, they then get asked if they'd like a kaomoji installed onto their upgrade or something. LOL. Funny enough, there's instances where that kind of thing doesn't get declined... people who are into cute have allowed it to happen to them. Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

Some hilariously unhinged combinations can be done with the cutesiness and the company's technology. So, one of the things that the HWC does is mass produce robot toys... let me mention it also mass produces weird super customizable furbies. I made an entire post about how I headcanon that Susie makes fucked up furbies and she kinda just projects it onto the universe by mass producing furbies, LOL. It's anyone's guess as to how people in various planets react to these furbies. Although I'll mention some people have gotten into furbies thanks to her! Might as well call Susie a 'furby queen', tbh.

Susie's home planet regularly gets visited on occasion by Kirby, Magolor, Taranza and the mage sisters. Those are her closest friends and the only ones she's been willing to disclose her home to. Visiting her home isn't the only time they see her, though, as she will occasionally vacation outside her home to see friends in other places.

But the other notable characters in the Kirby cast do not know that this is her home because she doesn't bother telling them. She generally doesn't talk about much of her personal life to a lot of people anyways, she's not comfortable enough to do so.

Well, actually, there is another notable person in the cast that knows where her home is: Ribbon. This is because of a particular circumstance. Susie and Ribbon aren't close enough to be legitimate friends, but their respective home planets are actually closer to each other in location than either of them is to Popstar. When they both found out about this, they had a conversation about it that had something to do with being cordial about any future big threats.

If a new big universal threat came around, they'd contact each other about it before getting to Kirby. And it helps that Susie has set up an entire militia of Haltworkers that can work as a defense against a future threat unless the danger becomes more than big enough to feel the need to inform Kirby and others in Planet Popstar.

But yeah, aside from that, her friends are the only ones who visit her in her home, and that's how she likes it. Kirby gets there through a warp star whenever he chooses to visit. Taranza and the mage sisters are able to float all the way there by themselves. Magolor, however, chooses to use the Lor Starcutter to get to Susie whenever he feels like visiting, and she was like "WTF" the first few times it's happened.

Anyways... I think that about wraps up everything I wanted to talk about about my headcanon universe's home for Susie? She has a home in my world! It's technically a mechanized planet with teehee cute pink stuff added to it, but no other planet has to worry about being mechanized again. Susie uses her business suit as her means of transportation, and she's upgraded it to be capable of moving around at stellar speeds to easily visit other planets for vacations. But wow... her friends care enough about her to visit her home sometimes! At least she's not alone. She has people in her life now.

Thank you if you've gotten to read all this. See you for the next one.

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Theitsa its so incredibly sad to me that many Greeks feel embarrassed of our more balkan or "eastern" music and folklore. That is literally some of the best we have, like the really good stuff! Just how distinct and varied the music is across the different regions. You can instantly tell if a song is from Epirus or Thrakia, from Macedonia, from the islands or from Crete, for example. I used to think my Vlach/Thessalian ancestry was boring and kind of "hillbilly", because it isn´t like a Mamma Mia film or recognizable as Greek to foreigners who mainly see adverts about Santorini and the like. But now I really appreciate the uniqueness and beauty of it, even if foreigners don´t "get" it. I wish we could get out of the mindset that our culture after antiquity is somehow tainted or less than. But I guess those who get it, get it 🫤

I fully agree! As I said in another post many Greeks learn from a young age to only recognise and appreciate the elements of our culture that are palatable to Westerners. It is part of the "job" we have to do to be consider "civilised Europeans" by the European powers. How we look is our "saving grace" and affects our tourist marketability, so we adopted this behaviour as a survival mechanism.

Some Greeks are just not exposed to music from other Greek regions and rush to call it "eastern", as you said. I'm not talking about actual Greek Eastern music (from Asia Minor), or am I denying any influences in our music from Eastern nations ofc. I'm talking about the Greek instruments and rhythm that have been here since antiquity. Archaeological studies show that this "eastern-sounding" music is actually also Greek. Farya Faraji has an excellent YouTube video on ancient Greek music! (And you can find it in my #farya faraji tag)

I'm happy that through artists like Marina Satti people from all around Greece and around the world discover more Greek traditional (and ancient) instruments and tunes.

Also, indeed, the Vlach Greek communities aren't known to foreigners at all. My Macedonian Vlach ancestry is the most influential part of my family hands down! 😂 Resilient, witty, and great relatives throughout! For this reason, I never gave a shit about how foreigners would perceive it, and I was happy to explain some history to them.

Now, about Thessalians (with Vlach ancestry or not), they're also pretty cool! First of all, you got Centaurs and freaking Achilles in your history! Pelion, Phthia, Spercheios = Achilles, and too much ancient folklore! Nowadays things are a bit grim with the economy and natural disasters. Still, the Thessalians worked the land to the best of their ability and - rightfully - earned respectable money from it in the past. I think Thessaly has all the tools to thrive, and the people will, once again, work things to their advantage! It's clear to me how much Thessalians love their topos (be it their town or their village) and there are Thessalians distinguished personalities who pour an insane amount of work into creating great things!

And since we're at it, I know why "Vlach" became a synonym with "hillbilly" but I've observed (in North and Central Greece) that the Vlach mindset for security and growth is very much on par with the urban/capitalist approach. Like, I know its drawbacks, but it keeps you sharp and ensures that you make the necessary sacrifices or take the required risks to survive in The Economy and even thrive. Every Greek "tribe" was in villages at some point, so basically most Greeks descend from "hillbillies", but imho the Vlachs are the most "urban" of all. 😉

(Because of where I lived, such that "hillbilly" or "villager" are not even insults. Hopefully howI used them here doesn't sound condescending on my side.)

[minecraft-cake]

When We Get Home: Main Navigation

A skulk-based minecraft apocalypse au, following the Outlaws Scar and Grian along with various members of the Hermitcraft and Life series servers!

Hello and welcome to my minecraft apocalypse concept! This has been in the works for well over a month or two so far in my personal documents, and I'm happy to finally introduce the first few details. Our first one is a spreadsheet revealing quite a few of the major characters, their infection status, and more! Underneath I'll be explaining the setting and how I've changed up the mechanics of the zombie apocalypse trope just a bit to fit it to minecraft mechanics and my personal taste :].

Status Board:

If there are many changes to this board, it will be updated here! This image may change over time as information is revealed and new chapters come out. For now,

What is the setting?

This is a modern setting, with a minecraft twist! Think of all our modern tech and cities, but with the edition of minecraft mobs and mechanics. Things like government sanctioned hostile mob grinders for citizens to safely gain exp, fully lighted road systems and cities to create safe zones for non pvp oriented citizens, etc. Pretty much everyday normal life but I still want minecraft mobs and items to exist.

What is the "Skulk Virus"?

After the entrance to an ancient ruin was discovered in the outskirts of the capital, a research team was launched to investigate what historians and archaeologists were simply nicknaming “The Deep Dark.”  Not long after the team's investigation and boarding off of the location, outbreaks of a deadly virus began to surface in less fortunate areas of the city, soon spreading terribly from hospitals, slaughterhouses, government sanctioned hostile mob farms, and more. The cause of the outbreak was presumed to be the hostile mob exposure that occurred overnight in the research area due to limited lighting budgets, as the black lichen seems to latch onto life force (mobs, nonhostile or otheriwse) to power a possible hivemind. Despite vaccination and quarantine efforts– the original discovery team going as far as to encase “ground zero”’s entrance in concrete –the spread of death did not cease. Once infected, the “skulk” pathogen quickly overwhelms the brain, using the remaining energy to roam and infect living hosts to spread itself.  The symptoms of contracting the skulk virus itself are most commonly visibly characterized by large, black abrasions and loss of vocal control, along with active decay of the body. It’s theorized that the skulk may distort and/or reconfigure humanoid vocal chords, which is what causes the chittering and racket-y calls usually produced by infected. The virus can also cause minor bioluminescence and hypermobility.  The infected are considered kill-on-sight. The virus controls the body wholly, and any person still conscious will be very unlikely to be autonomous despite vocal claims. It reacts with disturbingly quick instinct, and will rush toward any distinctive indicator of human life. An infected is most dangerous at its earliest stages, as their sense of sight, smell, and taste have not yet deteriorated and the virus has more ways to approximate the location of future host bodies.  

Are there surviving settlements?

There were two main shifts at the start of the end of the world: the prolificacy of death, and the human sense of organization. 

With the outbreak overwhelming major cities and spreading over oceans, Sanctuaries were made out of minor settlements to create safe areas. Usually dictated by some sort of warden, Sanctuaries are walled off communities that vow to be virus-free, safe places to harbor a semi-normal life. They have strict rules, even minor theft or endangerment is not tolerated, and all communities usually fight in groups of four or more. By law, anyone who endangers a Sanctuary is considered Outlawed. They are banned from all Sanctuaries, and their Outlawed status is documented on public forums on a digital record, along with their bounty. While death is not normally encouraged, Outlawed citizens are the exception. Most consider their removal a comfort, whether for revenge, or to deter others from defecting from the Sanctuary, but Outlaws are never kill-on-sight. For anyone hunting an Outlaw, the capture must be returned alive to the Sanctuary they were originally expelled from to face execution. This is to avoid fraud, as payment is usually given in a dedicated flow of supplies and armor to the hunter from any affiliated Sanctuary. 

Outlaw hunters are incredibly rare, and incredibly dangerous to encounter. Many have vowed strongly to protect Sanctuaries, and view anyone outside them as a threat regardless of their legal status. If you are not Outlawed, you are likely to be killed by a hunter to prevent the future endangerment of a Sanctuary. 

Fun Fact: Most of our main characters are Outlawed!

Like I said, this story will heavily follow the adventures of our two main Outlaws, Scar and Grian! It's going to deal with some pretty complicated relationships as well. I'll be taking my time to write these chapters thoughtfully and thoroughly.

We will have long term plotlines with a few of the characters on the board (and some that have been blocked out to avoid major spoilers), so stay tuned! I'd love to answer questions about the au if you guys have any :]. Feel free to check out Scar's Cassette Playlist up on my pinned! It's the music that was left downloaded on his phone when the apocalypse hit and most proper internet connections were severed.

[valiant-portabella-pirkko]

ok so I actually completed SotO's new story chapters on day 1, but I've taken a little while to put my thoughts together on it. some of it's good, some not, but I did my best to be fair and direct on it.

so anyway here we go, major spoilers under the cut!

The Good

I like the map, I like the writing direction, I like the lore. I liked most of what we got, honestly. dungeon fixes, customizable character screen backgrounds, bugfixing the new 'green circles' mechanic, and adding a mount ley-line toggle are also all huge things that people have been wanting, and I'm very very glad they listened.

Peitha is shaping into an absolutely fascinating character too, and it's getting a lot more obvious why she connected to the Wayfinder so quickly... they feel very much cut from the same cloth, two strong leaders fighting to make their worlds better. and yet they're also burdened by the weight of that choice, and the sacrifices that must be made for their vision to be made into reality.

moments like this hit me like a bag of bricks; there's so much going on in the Kryptis homeworld. it's fascinating starting from the perspective of the Ward, seeing them all as just these vicious invaders... to now finding out they have names, ambitions, homes, maybe even families. we're told time and time again that their motivation is fear. the Wanderer, Irja, the little grunts we kill en masse to power the beacons, even Heitor herself.

'There's a version of this world where she joined us.'

like... just thinking about that. man. a version where Heitor hadn't lost hope so completely that by the time we come along, Peitha informs us that she wanted to die-- if only because she knew that at least we'd make it quick. it's horrifying to think about on its own, but the reality that it didn't have to be that way makes it so much worse.

it's... such a clear illustration of why their world has to change. they're fighting and dying to preserve the status quo not because it brings them comfort or privilege, but because they've been living in hell for so long that they don't believe an alternative exists. for as alien as the Kryptis seem to us, we're every bit as alien to them.

it feels like there's a really solid direction here, and I hope that it continues being solid through to the end. I could talk WAY more about my feelings on the story, but I'd better keep going.

I also like the Convergences; they're fun and I hope they survive. having public vs private instanced content seems to cause issues with publics staying populated long-term though, which... concerns me. I STRONGLY prefer publics just because you can bring Jade Bot protocols in, which makes it easier to travel freely and keep boons.

and now that I've dug into all that, uh... let's get to the less fun stuff.

The Bad

there's a lot of things to like about this release, but there's also a lot to... Not. the main 'drop' for Convergences outside of raw essences are Concealed Unstable Kryptis Essence Coffers... lootboxes which can only be opened with an Unstable Kryptis Motivation, which at the moment costs... upwards of 10 Gold per pop if you buy them off the TP. the only other way to get them is grinding tier 2 and 3 rifts, and good luck getting one because they're RARE.

I do not like this direction, for a LOT of reasons. the biggest one should be pretty obvious: it's making a portion of the victory rewards inaccessible to players who can't shell out the gold or the rift farm time to get the keys OUTSIDE the Convergence. the other is that the rewards aren't even worth 11 Gold anyway, so the coffers are dropping rapidly in price while the keys stay high. at this point it's arguably better to just sell the keys on the TP than to ever actually use them. the market on these is gonna get wacky I'm sure.

I don't want to see that become a trend. just.......... no.

the other main gripe I have is that... there's no portal of entry in and out of Inner Nayos. no, really. you can't get in and out at all without porting one way or another. it's right next to the Wizard's Tower but there is no entry point connecting these two maps. I thought I was going insane at first so I turned on the story again while in the Wizard's Tower to see if it'd point me towards a door. nope! it just sticks the story star icon on the Inner Nayos map and calls it a day.

aside from making travel in and out unnecessarily irritating and costly, this also means that you can't easily get alts into the dang map without a TP to friend. otherwise you have to do the story on them, whether you're ready and willing to or not.

I don't like that shift either, and really hope they remedy it when the 'under construction' gate opens in the future. that said, that should have been made available as soon as you finish the story.

and now the final segment, you know where this is going.

The Ugly

it's... short. really, really short. like, no, really. I finished all the story chapters in an hour and a half tops. now at maybe three, four days in I already have enough mastery points to top off the last mastery in the new line. I've map completed the new zone twice. both of the new Vault tasks are done. everything went so so so so fast.

and for reference: this cycle is going to last even longer than the last, based on the Vault reset time period.

additionally, the weaponmaster training underwent a stealth change: the new weapons can no longer be equipped on characters under level 80. this was not listed in the update notes. while that didn't affect me, it does seem kind of cheap to pull the rug on that when a lot of players were using that to level their characters since, well... a lot of core weapons just aren't that great. I can't really blame anyone who would rather use weapons that don't hit like a wet paper towel.

there have also been some... interesting bugs on release, of which the biggest one was unlimited hero's chests per day from the Inner Nayos meta. some people got a month's worth of chests in one day before they turned the chest drops off entirely to fix it.

they're back now, but that was still... something to behold.

I've also heard rumors that the new Legendary Kit from the Vault may be bugged; some players are reporting opening the kit and getting nothing out of it. I can't confirm how frequent that issue is, but... yeah that's a little concerning. I'll hold onto mine for now, just to be safe.

Overall Impression

despite the many sore points mentioned, overall I'm... okay with it. I like what we got, but I wish there was more there to like. from the much smaller Vault selection, to the shorter story, to the single-waypoint but otherwise very cool map that feels like it could have more going on in certain areas... I dunno.

but on the other hand... if my biggest complaint is that I like it enough to want more of it, that's an alright problem to have when we know we're going to get more. I'd be more worried if what we got was a miserable slog and I didn't even want to return to the maps-- and in fact, the opposite is true! I want to return to the map frequently and I want more to do in it-- and mostly I want easier access to it.

my hope is that the slowdown is an indication of resources being put into other backend work, such as the dungeon fixes, the character select screen, and so on. because, realistically, if they can fix up the core more, that would streamline their workflow a LOT and make it easier and quicker to work on things in the future.

I guess in short, my impression is... tentatively optimistic.

that's all I've got on it for now, maybe I'll talk about story more in-depth in the future though because boy I do have a lot of thoughts on that-- which... is part of why I had to redo this post like 6 times. it kept getting way too long and rambly over story. (oops)

[historia-vitae-magistras]

I'm doing reading at the moment for American Civil War and Canadian Confederation stuff and I just need to go key smash a little so pardon this but I've got Canada's peace, order, and good government versus America's life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness stuck in my head now and it's driving me mad because... Well. Talk about parallels eh.

I was wondering if you consider it a good way to distinguish between Alfred and Matthew's approach to nationhood and their own lives in general, or do you think that was something more imposed on them rather than something they genuinely believe in? More Matt really. I'm sure Alfred believes in the latter wholeheartedly. I'm just not sure I buy Matt being that much more conservative than his brother, if that makes sense.

Ahhh very good question. So, in my opinion and read on Canadian history, the words themselves don't quite do the best job defining them and their approach to nationhood, but the interpretations of events and history and other factors that created the situations those phrases came from do.

There is some belief in Matt that fits the aims of 'peace, order and good government' but less because of any sort of British/Tory style conservatism or conservatism as in his reservedness than out of political compromise and certain demographic realities. There are two themes running through Canadian history. 1.) Keep the Americans out. 2.) Keep the Franucks in. Canadians and Canadian politicians looked at the American Civil War and drew the obvious lesson for themselves. The South ceded based on slavery, and efforts to create a Canada out of a handful of colonies had to include the French Canadians because we were still closer to half the population back then than the fifth we are now. Mechanisms had to be built into the new country from the get-go to help guarantee coherent and lasting unity.

Americans love to insist that Canada and the US are identical and Quebec is just French Texas or some other comparison with only surface accuracy but there are inherent differences between the two countries that Matt has to acknowledge. He doesn't have the advantages Alfred has of a country that can eat its own contradictions constantly and live. If he wants to survive in a condition that won't get him annexed or broken and consumed piecemeal by the United States, he has to put emphasis on law, order and both external and internal diplomacy. America fought and survived a Civil War, and Canada turned itself inside out to prevent one. Our motto is sea to sea latinate shit from the bible, but it should be "A good compromise leaves everyone angry." And 'peace, order and good government' is the result of that compromise between French and Anglo and the pro-British and pro-American and pro-'fuck all of you I just want to bring in the wheat'.

Matt values peace and compromises far more than Alfred. He views the world in shades of grey. Alfred and his idealism and power mean he has always felt the ability to do the right thing and always had faith he is doing the right thing, especially in comparison to his father and the British Empire in general. Matt, however, sees him and Arthur as practically the same.

Tldr: The British and American empires are blackholes. 'Peace, order and good government' is the cost of Matt keeping his center of gravity in a position to pull off the necessary maneuvers to keep himself from being sucked in and destroyed.

[lethesomething]

Yakuza and coping mechanisms

Yakuza has been my on and off hyperfocus for years now but also in particular the past month, so let's talk about it. And particularly, how many friggin coping mechanisms are in this game.

Disclaimer: I do literary analysis, not psycho analysis, don't come for me.

For all its silliness about fighting roomba's and disco minigames, the world that the Yakuza games is set in, is fucking brutal. They are, at their very core, crime drama's. People get murdered a lot, lives are ruined in various ways, a good third of protags spend large amounts of time in jail, usually for a crime they didn't commit. Most politicians and police are corrupt, racism is blatant and if you don't have a place in the very strict hierarchy of society, it's hard to get back on your feet (hence all the crime). I tend to read a lot of indictments of Japanese society in these games, partly because they are so clearly based on old school yakuza crime drama's.

This means that the characters go through some shit. And what's fascinating, is how they deal with this.

Spoiler warning for, uhh, almost all yakuza games except Song Of Life (since i never played that)

Pretending it's not real

Kasuga Ichiban

The direct reason I'm even making this blog post because he's the most blatant about it. Kasuga is Peak Himbo in that he's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he manages to take being beaten down Repeatedly and overcomes that with a sense of genuine good nature and optimism that is… honestly kind of hard to believe. The way he deals with any of this, is that he's a nerd who pretends to be in a video game. It's the whole premise of Yakuza Like a Dragon.

And to be fair, Kasuga suffers from an amount of mistreatment that makes me Very Angry in his stead. He has every right to be upset! He is literally homeless in the beginning of the game. If he requires the escapism of going around pretending to be in a jrpg to survive, more power to him. Especially since it works. Dude goes around helping people and making friends. Which is a good thing, because there's no way he'd make it out of Yokohama alive if he didn't have some back-up.

Side note: something similar happens to at the very least Majima, i think, in the admittedly non-canonical events of Yakuza Dead Souls. (yes i played it solely for Majima, no i do not recommend it, the game is garbage and you get more Majima in Zero anyway). In Dead Souls, Kamurocho is overrun by zombies. As a lover of all things Horror, Majima decides he may as well have a good time mowing them down like he's in an FPS while he trudges through the wreckage of society.

Self sacrifice

Mostly Kazuma Kiryu and  Saejima Taiga

If you hate yourself, at least try to be of use to someone. Let's be honest, a lot of the plot of Yakuza games is driven by self sacrifice or at least following some code of honor to its ludicrous ends.

Kiryu is the main example here. The game kinda glosses over this a lot, but he is, at least in Zero, a criminal. He goes around extorting money from businesses. He consistently solves problems through violence. It's kinda the point of the games. But he's also borderline a saint and 80% of the shit he gets into is because of his need to throw himself to the wolves for any person he cares about. He voluntarily does hard time for Nishikiyama, for one. He picks up a stray kid that he will now protect with his life. And it just goes on from there. See, Kiryu may be the famous Dragon of Dojima and the Fifth Chairman of the Tojo Clan and all that, but he would very much prefer not to be? Dude wants to live a quiet life and raise some kids, it's just that he's the protag of a game series about how hard it is to say goodbye to the yakuza life. So the plot keeps finding ways to bring him back, usually as a reluctant warrior to save the Tojo clan or Haruka  or whatever. If he was a little less honorable, he could still be chilling as a taxi driver with an unreasonably hot girlfriend, I'm just saying.

Saejima is very similar, but somehow even worse? Much as I love the guy, he's an idiot. He suffers from the same loyalty and selflessness as Kiryu, but he doesn't even get a cute daughter out of it. He spends Twenty Five years in prison for a crime he (we later find out) didn't commit. He escapes months before his parole to solve the convoluted plot of Y4. Then Goes Back to Jail to atone for (again) a crime he only thought he'd committed, only to escape (again) when he thinks Majima, his sworn brother, got murdered in Y5. As far as i can tell he goes back to jail one last time to finish his actual sentence, and to like, protect the name of the Tojo clan or some shit. My dude. My friend. Come on.

As a side note, acts of selflessness are kind of a big deal in the Yakuza games and one of the main ways to tell if someone is a good criminal or a villain. Kasuga and his crew are pretty big on the whole 'acts of selfless kindness' thing. It also seems to be one of the traits of Daigo Dojima, whose whole being screams 'I don't want to be here but who else is gonna fucking do it'. But in the case of Kiryu and Saejima it's very much verging on reckless self-endangerment.

Fabricated identities

Majima Goro, baby!

The Yakuza games really love this one, but I'll start with the big guy, everyone's favourite character: Majima. This dude has seen some shit. We see him throughout several flashbacks and the span of the games, but most tellingly we see him in Zero, at his rock bottom hero stage. And he's intriguingly unlike the other times he shows up. This is a Majima that's recovering from torture and backstabbing, and forced to do some dude's bidding for scraps. He's a chained dog (pun very much intended) and he's about to lose it.

What's fun about Majima is that he has So Many of the traits in this list. He has a lot of the reckless endangerment and self sacrifice that his buddies Kiryu and Saejima have. He gave himself up a few times for Haruka, he keeps trundling back to save Tojo and Dojima, but there's also a whole other layer of … Flamboyance to him.

And while Majima probably started out as comic relief, the games make clear that it's not all he is, and we get several glimpses of 'old Majima' throughout the series. He'll be in the middle of a self inflicted fight and drop some wisdom, for instance. He acts erratically, he is blunt, violent, exuberant in his dressing up. When given a task his first thought seems to be 'how can i make this Extra', but that doesn't mean the guy is unstable. You don't become a successful businessman with a building company, or a patriarch of your own family, without being smart and strategic. A lot of classic Majima behaviour, i feel, is a case of a mask he constructed to hide the severe depression, that became more of a second nature to him. Majima is one of the clearest examples of 'do what you need to do'. He's a survivor, through and through. Somewhere in there is a decent human being, but Majima will kill people to survive in a harsh world. It just seems like he constructed an extra layer to shield himself from all that.

Joon-gi Han (Like a Dragon): This is more a case of stolen (inherited??) identity, but again, if you don't want to be you, just be someone else. In this case someone he admires. Again: super tragic backstory, questionable life choices. As an aside, Joon-gi is fun because he is both a deadly assassin with someone else's name and face, but also  a Knight stereotype who would do everything for his queen and I think that's neat.

Zhao Tianyou (Like a Dragon): Somewhat more subtle, but Zhao is also a dude that was at one point confronted with a Situation, namely 'oh shit my dad died and now I'm in charge of a violent gang'. And to deal with that he decided to construct a persona that gives exactly zero fucks. He is very joking and very avoidant but we do learn that a fair amount of his laid back attitude is just veneer. Dude in fact gives several fucks. You don't decide to give up the throne and become a homeless sidekick to Himbo Supreme because you don't care. You do it to stop him from getting ultra-murdered by the parade of heavily armored gangsters he keeps storming into.

Akiyama Shun (Yakuza 4-5): I debated putting him here, because part of me believes Akiyama is just kind of a dick. A dick I love as a character, but still, ya know. At least some of the dickish persona is a front, though. Akiyama is another one that just saw his life's work destroyed at some point, and decided that emotional detachment was the way to go. Akiyama is different because he was never actually a proper criminal. He was homeless for a bit, and then came into some money (through Extremely Convoluted Plot Means) and now he's a moneylender. And like Zhao, he mostly pretends to be completely devoid of feelings, while having a fair amount of feelings. Enough to get into like… fist fights. With actual gangsters. Who have guns.

Vice

Sex, drugs and everything in between

The preferred way for noir drama's to show someone is Going Through It, is by giving them a classic addiction and Yakuza isn't any different. It's why several characters are shown mournfully smoking, in particular Kiryu and Majima. Yes I know it's because it looks cool and harks back to old crime movie atmosphere. That doesn't make it a healthy coping mechanism.

Another obvious one, considering the setting of the games in several red lights districts, is erotica. Both Adachi, the ex-cop from Like a Dragon and Shinada, the ex-baseball player from Y5 and also my least fave protag ever, are both in various stages of obsession about porn, sex work and the likes.

Tanimura, the cop from Y4 has a pretty severe gambling problem in the actual canon, though gambling games and casino's are a general mainstay of the Yakuza series. It's just that when Kiryu interrupts his busy day of solving the convoluted intrigue du jour to gamble in an illegal underground casino, it's not a character flaw.

Also: almost everyone drinks ludicrous amounts of heavy alcohol in these games. Both in canon and as part of the gameplay. 100% ing the games usually involves drinking tons of whiskey, but the whole Ichiban crew, sans I think Eri, is shown drowning their troubles at various times.

Violence: I mean, that's kind of the game, but an unhealthy amount of characters consider fist fights to be a good way to resolve conflict, bond with people and generally reinvigorate themselves. Particularly Majima is shown to get a real kick out of doing damage and being beaten up. There's just a lot of reckless behaviour, which is what makes the games good.

Karaoke: fake it till you make it, man.

Extra note:

You'll notice there's no women on this list, and that's because honestly the game is kinda sexist. So while there's already Very Few women in the game, the ones that are present don't exactly have super complex characters.

Mukoda Saeko, the hostess from Like a Dragon, drinks like a fish but that's about her main flaw.

Other notable female characters are Kiryu's kid Haruka, Kiryu's love interest Sawamura Yumi (Kiwami) and Kamataki Eri, the business lady from Like a Dragon. They're all stereotypical Good Girls who have no flaws apart from indecisiveness and an unhealthy tendency for selflessness.

Saejima Yasuko is ever so slightly more complex: her main trait is self sacrifice. The story promptly fridges her for it.

[emblemxeno]

Apologies if something like this has been asked before, but what would you say are your favorite things about Fates? I’m curious because I actually like the games quite a bit, and I also enjoy hearing what other people like about them.

No worries, anon!

1-The Characters

Fates, imo, has a very stellar cast. Characters like Corrin, Xander and Takumi I've gone over already in how much I adore them, but honestly the vast majority of the cast is great! There's a few I'm only neutral towards, and only one I actively really dislike, the rest I'm at least pretty fond of. The first gen cast in particular I think does a good job at having strong character interactions, especially cross kingdom supports; the big differences between how citizens of Nohr and Hoshido respectively go about their lives is crafted with a very deliberate dichotomy that is initially platformed as something forever incompatible, but is then subverted in various points in all three routes.

2-The Gameplay and Content

The mechanics and game flow introduced in Awakening I think was finely tuned in Fates. Pair up being more player controlled leads to satisfying strategies, and reclassing and skills are less centered around grinding. I like how the cast more often than not have min-maxed stat lines with clear strengths and weaknesses, as to me, that supplements an already important aspect of how FE plays regarding it's classes. That being said, classes like bow users and Armor Knights got very good niches that were very needed to not be completely outclassed. Class sets being varied by supports not just for the children but also the first gen cast was a fantastic choice as well, as it encourages other combinations beyond just getting extra stats in pair up. Dragon Veins were an amazing interactive gameplay element, and added an extra way to interact with the maps beyond navigating around terrain. Lastly, each route has a bevy of unique content, mostly maps, but Revelation has lots of exclusive supports as well!

3 The Music

The game's ost is phenomenal. An underrated aspect of the FE series is how its music is used to convey the games' stories through sound. With map themes alone, there's progression and intent. Birthright, for example starts with the light and spirited "Past Light" track, before shifting to "Justice RIP" and "No Justice", both signifying that things are getting more serious and dangerous, the latter being notable in that it's a Nohrian track to go along with how you're now in Nohrian territory. Then the triumphic "Alight" only starts when you're in the homestretch, facing familiar enemies whom were beaten before and can be beaten again. And, again, that's just four tracks! The entire ost paints a picture, be it in gameplay, story, or supports. There's even an entire track that only plays when a character's about to die in gameplay, and only gets brought in cutscenes to show how dangerous a particular foe has gotten! It's immaculate. And of course, Lost in Thoughts All Alone is an amazing lyrical track.

4 The Art style and Designs

People can rag on how certain characters or classes are designed in this game, but one thing that I think can't-or shouldn't-be denied is that the cast and setting have presence; they're recognizeable and give a taste of what's what. Besides Hoshido and Nohr being the typical "white" and "black" kingdoms, Hoshido has more spiritual or outside the box classes; they have the resources to experiment and hyper-specialize in certain crafts, even having religious classes, merchants, and blacksmiths available for options. Nohr, meanwhile, has more armor and mounts; it's a kingdom trained to be effective at competition and warfare in order to survive, and must forgo experimentation for practicality. The game is also just very pleasing to look at, where the muted but varied color palette makes characters and locales visually distinct without being too loud. There's also a lot of neat animations that characters do in battle, many that lots probably didn't notice or haven't even seen, which to me showcases a deep care and passion put into the little things.

5 The Story

While of course, not everyon'e cup of tea, I'm extremely fond of Fates' narrative. Mostly because, in storytelling media, there's always more than just words to convey a story. It's why I listed the other points before this one, because they all contribute to Fates' narrative construction. Pull from map music to hear what the story wants you to take from it from that point in the campaign, pull from character designs and portraits to see what to expect from a character's personality at a glance, see stats, classes, and personal skills to see and put into action how that unit plays and interacts with the map they join in, take a moment to really examine the terrain of maps both for strategy and to take in the kinds of environments in the game's world. Fates has a lot to say-probably too much for its own good-and so efforts were made to say things without words being necessary.

Beyond that, I think the story itself is gripping and involves themes and symbolism very easy to get lost in though (tee-hee) about. Individuality and authenticity, rejecting status quo, pacifism, the cycle of hatred/vengeance, commonality and understanding amongst opposites, etc. Hell, I tend to get into my own head about how characters are written or how moments are utilized in the story to tie back into a theme of some kind, because there's just that much to unpack.

So yeah. That's that.

[littlediscoveredstars]

Padme Time-Travel AU

Just gonna start off, this isn't done. I haven't edited this story in weeks and I lose all desire to do so as soon as I open the chapter. So, have this first chapter. I'll add the second at some point too

Chapter 1

An explosion ripples out as soon as Padmé leaves hyperspace. The shockwave throws her ship out of route and something hits them hard. Threepio's mechanical shout joins her own as she struggles to steer them out of their spiral. The ship resists her commands, nearly making her pull the handles out of their sockets as she grunts with effort. Her heart beats faster and faster until, finally, the thrusters return and she's gotten control again.

"We're dead!" Threepio shouts from where he's fallen onto the floor.

"We have to land!" Padmé's eyes trace over the navicomputer. It glitched in and out, Aurebesh letters buzzing on her screens. She ignores the red flashing lights as she spots the green planet set before her. Other ships are traveling to its surface, so she joins them. More rubble attempts to knock her out of the sky as she grips the control harder. She will not die to this. Padmé refuses.

She follows an unfamiliar starfighter into the atmosphere, where she then slams on the brakes to avoid gaining more speed. The ship groans in protest and it's forced to resist the pull of acceleration and gravity. The ship can take it, she knows. Nubian ships are made for rough treatment. This one in particular has lasted through some of Anakin's flying. If it can survive that, then it can survive her.

Padmé hopes.

"Mistress-" Threepio is thrown, once again, to the floor as the ship jolts sharply. She sees smoke billowing from the right, nearly covering her viewport. It's bad, but she'll make it.

Another jolt and she knows they've hit the ground. Her seat buckle digs into her side, nearly cutting her with the intensity of their crash. The ship continues to slide against the ground, crushing the nose of her ship and taking the other wing. Trees crack over her viewport, smashing the screen until it's about ready to cave in.

Padmé closes her eyes, her lip trembling. Her knuckles turn white as she holds the steering. She hopes, somehow, that Anakin can hear her as she begs for help. Please, Force, just let her live past this. This one crash among many. She wants to live.

The next thing Padmé knows, she's stopped. Dirt has filled the cockpit and she has to pull her legs up from it as she unbuckles. Her steps hurt as she tries to get out, a hand going to her side immediately. No blood, just bruising. She'll survive this.

Padmé climbs up a sharp slant to the ramp. It lowers clunkily, then falls to the ground and out of view. She then climbs out of the ship and tumbles down onto a forest floor. Looking out, she can see a clear path where her ship carved into the planet's surface. It's a miracle she survived, and without breaking anything. That she knows of.

"Hold it right there!" A voice shouts and Padmé jumps as several orange-suited humanoids rush toward her with blasters in hand. She raises her hands in the air, then winces again as her side pulls. Stupid. She should've thought to grab her own.

"I...I mean no harm!" Padmé pants, her voice nowhere near the elegance she would like it to be. Not that her general appearance is much better. Her clothes are ripped and covered in a thick layer of filth. Her hair has fallen from a high bun and now curls down her back in a tangle. She's lost her velvet jacket at some point, but it's less a concern now that she's facing off eight -no, ten armed people.

They get closer and she steps away until her back hits the ship wall. "Wait, please! I'm a Senator!"

"On the ground!" One from the front shouts, his voice intense as he motions with his blaster.

She complies, but not without argument. "I mean no harm! I just came out of hyperspace and-"

"Quiet!" Another snarls.

Just as they've come close enough to cuff her, a familiar voice echoes from inside the ship. "Mistress Padmé!" Threepio shrieks. Padmé looks up to see him holding her jacket in one metal hand and her comm in the other. He too is covered in dirt and a few dents cover the shiny surface of his casing. "Oh my! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" He yells, almost tumbling to the ground as he waddles back a step.

To Padmé's surprise, the ambushers pause. "Is that..." Two exchange looks.

The one from before lowers his blaster completely. "State your ID."

Threepio turns his head to the side in confusion. "Oh. My name is C-3PO, human-cyborg relations!"

All blasters lower now and the man pulls off his helmet to show a younger human. "It is." He sighs, then looks back to Padmé. "Come with us. General Organa will want to see you."

Padmé goes willingly now. Four ambushers walk with her while the rest help Threepio out of her ship. It's...odd. Beyond odd. How do these people know Threepio? Has Anakin been here? If so, she dearly hopes he's alright and not also being led places by blaster point.

"I am a good friend of Senator Organa's," Padme says, hoping they trust her. "If it's any help-"

"Quiet." A Bith woman nudges her forward. "You're not innocent yet, Ma'am. For all we know, you could be an Imperial spy."

Imperial? What is she talking about?

Padmé spends the rest of their walk in silence. She does listen to the conversations around her, hoping to pick up clues about her assailants and how this all connects together. She didn't even know Bail had operations this far out.

"How did that droid get here?" Someone asks the man. "Wasn't he with Captain Solo on the ground?"

"No idea." He replies. "But Luke was also not supposed to be in the Death Star, so..."

"Fair point."

They reach a small clearing where more ships are settling. Some are badly damaged -though, not as heavily as hers- and others seem perfectly fine. People hug as they exit their ships, tears falling from their eyes as they cheer. In fact, the closer they get to a series of tall trees, the louder that cheering seems.

Through the darkness, Padmé sees several lights glowing high up, in a settlement of wood and ropes. Music echoes against chirping insects and other critters. She spots a clumsily made elevator that she, Threepio, and the man step onto. The others leave them and return to the ships.

While Padmé could probably take on this man by herself, she also knows that he's expecting it. With any sudden movement, he could shoot her and be done with the matter. So, she stays still all the way up the tree, until the music is nearly deafening. A few trees down, she sees a fire burn and several beings all dance together. Little small Wookies throw sticks against helmets and instruments as they sing a tune.

The man doesn't take her that way. Instead, she's escorted into a little hut, where a familiar face is sitting.

"Mon Mothma?" Both she and Bail are involved in...whatever this is?

Mon Mothma stares at her with glowing eyes. For a long moment, the woman doesn't speak. Then, her eye water as she races toward Padme and wraps her in a too-tight hug. "Padmé...Padmé, how-" She pulls away and looks at Padme properly. "I don't believe it. I just...How? How did you..."

Something cold comes over her and Padmé holds Mon Mothma in return. "Where am I? What was that explosion that early killed me? Mon, what is happening?"

A smile crosses the woman's face. "We've done it. The Empire is no more."

"What Empire?" Padmé asks desperately.

The smile fades. "Padmé, what do you remember?"

The cold intensifies until she's almost shivering in the humid air. "I...I was looking to meet an informant about the Separatist lead-"

"What year, Padmé?" Mon Mothma insists.

Year? "5043 GSC." Shouldn't that be obvious?

But the way Padmé's friend looks at her makes that seem a little less so.

"...No. It can't be true." Mon looks up, haunted. "You've been gone for twenty-three years. Dead. I attended your funeral on Naboo and the tomb still stands."

Padmé stumbles back, nearly falling over. She just barely catches herself on the hut wall. "No...no, no, that's not right! I'm not-" She's not dead. She knows she isn't. And twenty-three tears? It's ridiculous!

But something in her cut twists all the same. She sees it in Mon Mothma's wrinkles, how there are more than she recalls. She also knows that whatever Empire they've mentioned can't be a collective joke. This is too elaborate.

So, she's left to wonder how, but more importantly, what. What has changed? What has she lost?

"Rest for the night. If you can." Mon Mothma winces at the music continuing to fill the forest. A forest Padmé has never seen before and on a planet she may not know existed. "We'll sort things out. I'm sure our Jedi can help." Mon seems to recall something, then she shakes it away.

The woman has gotten easier to read. That's a poor habit to lose.

"There will be many shocks, I'm sure. Just...rest. I'll escort you to our med-tents. You look like you could use some bacta."

Before Padmé can be ushered back to the rickety elevator, she stops. Pain like a knife in her head begins to flare. "Wait, what about Bail?"

Mon Mothma looks at her with a gentle confusion. "Bail?"

The knife sinks deeper. "Someone mentioned an Organa."

"...Right. We can talk to Organa in the morning. Please, Padmé, you look terrible."

The fight leaves her as they descend again. Twenty-three years. She still can't believe it, no matter the evidence.

Perhaps it's a bad dream.

Threepio goes to follow Mistress Padmé into the hut but stops at a familiar set of beeps.

"Artoo?" Threepio turns in the direction of the celebrations. It does sound quite lively and it's just the group Artoo would enjoy. But however could he be here? There was no word of Master Anakin or Kenobi arriving here. None that he can recall.

Threepio makes his way down a long and rather unstable-looking bridge to the next settlement over. As he nears the bonfire, he sees a large group of little creatures all gathered in song and cheers. The language they use registers in his translation program as Ewokese; though, with a heavy accent.

Oh. They must be Ewoks then, native creatures of Endor's moon.

Well, it certainly explains where he is, but now why? Mistress Padmé and he were certainly not looking to stop at Endor of all systems. That can't be good. It may take a long while for them to repair her ship and if they don't meet her informant in a timely manner-

That series of beeps pulls Threepio back to the present. "Artoo?" He calls again, now heading away from the Ewoks. The little creatures don't seem to mind him passing by, which is a relief.

The sound comes again and finally, Threepio finds the blue and white astromech at the third settlement, in front of an even larger fire. Any larger, in fact, and Threepio might worry it will burn the trees down.

"Artoo, what are you doing here?" He calls to his friend, as well as peeking over the tree base to possibly see more of this celebration. He reads human voices as well.

Artoo wheels toward him quickly. [Threepio? Why aren't you celebrating? Everyone else already is.]

"Not celebrating? I just arrived at this settlement! Why are you here?"

[Me? What do you mean?]

"What do you mean, 'what do I mean'?!"

The devilish thing starts to wheel away, back towards the fire. Threepio stops him just past the bridge. "Come back here, Artoo! That explosion was quite dangerous and you still have yet to tell me how you're involved. And don't act like you aren't! It's just like you to get up to trouble like this! Always dragging me along in your silly adventures."

[...You mean the Death Star we just blew up?!]

Threepio is simply dumbfounded. "The Death Star? Oh my, that certainly sounds menacing." His optical lenses face the dark sky, where this supposed star once stood. "Well, if it's as dangerous as it sounds, then I'm glad it's over with."

The astromech keeps rolling away, mumbling insults as he does, but then he stops upon rounding the corner. That shiny lens stares out at the crowd, then slowly turns back to Threepio.

Something changes about Artoo. His binary turns harsh and accusing. [You're not Threepio! Threepio's in there dancing with Ewoks!] The metal dome hits Threepio in the legs, making him stumble back.

"Artoo, be careful! I might fall!"

He doesn't stop. If anything, the bumping gets worse, along with the accusations. [Who are you?! A spy for the Empire?!]

Threepio is forced back into the bridge. The sudden give of the floor below him makes the battle against gravity even more difficult. He clutches the twine rails as best he can. "A spy?! Artoo, what are you talking about?!"

[I haven't left Threepio's side since we landed on this moon! Who are you, some kind of cheat copy?!]

"That's quite enough!" Threepio hits Artoo over the dome. His sensors start to heat up as he glares at the rusted old thing. "I did not survive that crash with Mistress Amidala just for you to accuse me of being a clone of myself! Honestly, Artoo, it's absolutely outrageous! Only organic scan be cloned!"

Artoo startles. [...You shouldn't know that. Not even Threepio knows that!]

"Mistress Amidala is my co-owner! Why in this wide galaxy would I not know her?! Artoo, are your wires crossed?!"

[Fraud!] With a single touch of Artoo's port, Threepio's circuits overload with electricity. He shouts as his sensors go off then on again. It's too much and if he were organic, the pain would be overwhelming.

Another hard slam, this time higher up on his torso, and Threepio is sent over the side of the bridge. He tries to grip the twine but his metal fingers slip away without much force at all.

On his way to the ground, Threepio realizes two things within nanoseconds. First is the fact that his most trusted friend has just attempted to kill him. Artoo meant to throw him off the bridge. He intended for Threepio to shatter against the forest floor and power off for good.

Second, is that he may very well succeed.

Wet roots and soil meet metal with a loud crack. Threepio's components jostle within the cage of his casing, causing more snaps and pulling. Then, once Threepio can process his situation, he sees warnings if oil leaking at rapid speed. One optical lens has been shattered while the other hangs loose in its socket. When he tries to turn his head in hopes of seeing just how much oil he's losing, the bulb pops out, rending him blind.

Nothing will move. This knee brackets jolt, but won't turn. The fingers in either hand go completely unresponsive and his neck joint has bent in a way that limits how far his head can go, not that it matters much.

Low oil.

Threepio attempts to shout for help but what comes from his vocoder is a glitching shrill of mixed languages and binary.

Low oil.

How could Artoo do this? After all the nights they've spent charging together, or bickering until someone orders them to shut up?

Low oil, shutting down.

What about his maker? And Mistress Amidala? Will he ever see them again? Will they ever know that Artoo betrayed him?

Shutting down.

Artoo betrayed him.

Shutting down.

Artoo Deetoo, his best friend...

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