#npc: boggle

[maydaymadier]

The Docks and The Return (session 8)

Welcome back to the Merano campaign!  All character names are in bold, spells are in italics.  Party members are tagged “merano: [character name]”.  Locations visited (cities, specific establishments) are tagged “location: [NAME]”.  Important npcs are tagged "npc: name." All posts for this campaign are tagged “campaign: merano”.

INTRODUCTION:

The party splits up, Marasmius leaving to go relax for a bit. Calypso, Delphie, and Hugo start looking around for jobs and find a job board with several gigs listed. They end up following up on two. First helping a woman in the Doors with some griffons in her garden. Then heading North to the Upstream district to get a gig as musicians for the opening ceremony of the Radiant Festival. And have a run-in with someone from Hugo's past. Before the day is over, they find a place to stay while they're in town and drown out the unpleasant encounter by having Calypso teach them how to tie knots so they'll be prepared to try and get the gig at the docks tomorrow.

IT IS MORNING AT THE RUSTY BLADE

The next day, the three of them make their way back to Upstream, the Skytouch Port specifically.  They still have some time before the bard gig and the festival, so they’re gonna try and make some money.

Calypso makes sure to pick up their axe before leaving the Clouds.

It’s pretty easy to find the guy they’re supposed to talk to, there’s a long line of people waiting to talk to Constantine Ocea.  Long enough that it takes twenty minutes for the three of them to get to the front of the line.

This Constantine person is dressed in a similar uniform to the captain of the Ceretal’s Fang but dressed down for the heat, more importantly, he bears a shocking resemblance to Calypso.  Same build, same hair, same coloration (though not as muscular or tall).

He’s obviously nervous and ends up sending the three of them to the Singing Port on the other side of the district and to just tell them that he sent them.

Hugo guesses that the two of them must be related, not that any of them have any way of knowing.

As they double back to go to the Singing Port, the three keep an open ear for any rumors flying about.  The word on the street seems to be that there’s a wedding coming up, one of the noble families, not sure who.  But if it’s true, this’ll be a large, sprawling event that becomes a public festival.

The two names they keep hearing are Yildirim and Cortese.

The manager at the Singing Port briefs everyone that they need the docks cleared in the next two hours, it needs to be EMPTY, that includes the workers.

Calypso is directed to a larger ship on the far end of the dock for more heavy lifting.  Delphie and Hugo are paired off for helping unload a nearby ship with more delicate cargo.

Calypso blends right in and starts unloading cargo no problem.  Delphie and Hugo are keeping an eye out for anything arcane as they work.  Delphie finds a box of gold rods that shine with conjuration magic.

Hugo catches a falling box, small, about the size of a shoebox, and he catches it gently with a soft clink as it lands in his hand.  He opens it to get a peak at what it is, it’s a box of star rubies.  When he shows Delphie she recognizes them as being used for spell storing.

Calypso tries to keep an eye out for anything suspicious but only sees decorations for the festival.

Back on the other ship, Hugo tries to pocket one of the gems but gets caught, another sailor shouting him down, snatching the box from him, and marching away.

The two hours pass, and everything is cleared out, the ships leaving as well as the people.  Hugo and Delphie go to catch up with Calypso.

Calypso asks around, trying to find out why the dock needs to be empty.  An annoyed sailor explains that one of the noble families paid out the ass to clear out the port so that they could bring someone in to Keystone Island by water.

They’re suspicious that the Virastis are behind this.

The three of them meet back up and decide this is too suspicious, they should try and snoop.

So Delphie casts Invisibility on herself and Calypso.  Hugo decides to go hide in a box.  However, the only box he can find is next to the Gatekeeper Box, where the controls for the gates to the lake are, and the only person still in the port.

Hugo utterly fails at any attempt to be stealthy but the goddesses must be smiling at him because the people in the Box are too enraptured in an argument about a show they saw at the local community theater.

A small, ornate ship, decorated in green and gold, rows itself down the river.  A sheer-canopied tent obscures a slumped over figure behind it.  Whoever it is seems to be alive, but unconscious.

The gates swing open, with a heavy slosh as they push through the water, and clank shut behind the ship as it enter the lake.

They all wait for another minute or two to regroup.  But immediately come to the conclusion that whoever was on that boat is going to be an ‘unwilling participant’ in that wedding.

When they go back to the Skytouch Port to get paid, Constantine starts to ask Calypso a question that sounds like it should be ‘how old are you?’ but he can’t get himself to ask it, gives them their money, and sends them off.  Everyone is very confused though.

Deciding what to do next, well, they decide fuck the bard gig, they’ll go follow up on that posting for the guard job.

Hugo Sendings Renon, to quit and mentions that he told Agatha where he is.  The reply: “You could have just killed me yourself.”

The Ozdemir Watchtower is also in Upstream so they’re headed that way.  When they get there and ask around about the job, they’re redirected to the workshop of a halfling man named Argo, who’s working on tuning up a clockwork robot when they come in.

He’s willing to hire on all three of them but needs some convincing that they can all hold their own in a fight.

Hugo sticks his foot in his mouth, mentioning fighting the Storm Warden but correcting himself and insisting no, that he’s strong enough that he could fight a Storm Warden.

Delphie does a little demonstration with Magic Missile, Calypso finds a plank of wood to hold up as a target for her.  She pulls it off with enough precision that it does push them back five feet, but they don’t take any damage.

Argo makes sure they’re okay with the travel and let them know to be at the Stonehome Fortress at 7pm, they’ll be there until the guards change off at midnight.

They ask if he thinks they’ll have time to help with the hippocampi they heard about and are told, “they’re large and stupid” instead of an outright no.

So all three head back to the Clouds and decide to do something fun and touristy.  This district is very eclectic and a major cultural center so they stumble their way into an art gallery, with plans to go axe throwing tomorrow.

This one, in particular, is a show of mosaics made out of salvaged materials, cool in theory, sloppy in execution, and the three of them clown on the artist mercilessly.

Before they have to arrive at Stonehome, they stop back at The Rusty Blade to check on their stuff.

When they get there, they notice the goblin and dwarf from earlier with a water genasi and they are having a hushed argument in the common area on the first floor.  While eavesdropping, Hugo notices the name Tobias and Delphie hears a little more, that they’re arguing about this Tobias.

Hugo approaches them and the genasi is not interested in talking but the goblin is fed up with his companion and squeals, explaining that he’s Boggle, the dwarf is Urist, and the genasi is Hippor but there’s one more of them, Tobias, he went to go follow up on a job with the Families, that was two days ago and he still hasn’t come back yet.  That he most likely went to Keystone Island.

The party’s concerned and promise to keep an eye out for him once they get a description.  That Tobias is a halfling, in plate mail, he’s a paladin, with curly brown hair and mismatched eyes.

They grab a bite to eat before they leave the district and as they’re traveling, they notice the Merchant’s Guild Hall from across the lake, a grand, domed building, flying pennants in the black and gold of the guild.

Upon taking the bridge to Keystone Island, there are seven sprawling mansions arranged in a circle, the circular green space in the middle is well-maintained and neat.  This area is being set up as event space.

Once they find Stonehome Fortress, it turns out to be the Virasti family home.

The three of them are split up and posted in different wings of the fortress.

Calypso is assigned to the front entrance.

Delphie is posted in the east wing.

Hugo is sent to the south wing.

Calypso starts up a conversation with one of the staff guards.  They find out that the permanent staff are getting underpaid and overworked, especially in comparison to the urgent temp hires.  In fact, there’s even some talk about striking.  Especially with the festival coming up they’ll have leverage.  Calypso is hands-down in full support of the idea.

Delphie immediately notices that this hall is filled with enough magical items and cast spells that she can more or less see, though she is alone in the hallway.  Until she hears something activate in the room across from her and the Storm Warden comes out, looking frazzled and in a rush, clearly looking for someone/something, holding the book she left behind in Dire.

The south wing is some kind of large greenhouse with a dining area.  There’s another guard there too, but isn’t interested in talking when Hugo tries.  Kitchen staff are setting up the table.

Hugo inserts himself into the conversation the kitchen staff are having.  They’re complaining about being asked to make another place setting at the last minute.  They’re not even being paid overtime.

Hugo casually suggests that she should quit if they’re treating her so badly.  He’s so casual and sensible about it that she does, she quits right on the spot and leaves.

Calypso sees the Storm Warden marching out, heading across the green to meet with a man whose hair is half cloud, the two of them immediately start arguing.  They ask the guard they’d been talking to who the cloud man is.

The guard is also confused, because that’s Lord Tuono, the Storm Warden, Crescenzo, works for him and the Tuonos and the Virastis are good friends, visiting each other pretty often.  Before the shift wraps up, Calypso notices a blip in the sky for a second.

Delphie sees nothing else of notice in the hall before the shift ends.

Hugo sees a woman enter, she walks with an air of authority, finely dressed, with solid amber eyes, hair that turns into wheat, and she has a marble staff, the top carved into a motif of clouds.

The three of them exchange all of the information they’ve learned once they meet back up with each other.

Skipping ahead to the following afternoon, the party returns to Keystone Island for their next shift, as crowd control for the opening ceremonies of the Radiant Festival.

The musicians are warming up and a certain someone is conspicuously absent.

There’s a dias in the center of the green space, the three of them need to be in front, maintaining the distance between the crowd and the stage.

About an hour before the ceremony is set to start, a group of Storm Wardens and druids arrive on the island.  They step up onto the dias, the wardens forming a circle along the outer edge and the druids begin what looks like a color guard routine.

Ending with all of them pounding their staffs into the dias simultaneously, conjuring a massive updraft of wind that clears all of the clouds out of the sky.

Calypso is keeping an eye out for the guard they were talking to last night but can’t find them in the crowd.

Hoever Calypso does notice someone who fits Tobias’ description.  They go to talk to him and tell him that his friends are looking for him.  But he’s never heard of his friends, his name is Tobias but he doesn’t know what they’re talking about.

Delphie checks out the situation and can see that something was cast on him but can’t tell what or how recently.

Visitors start coming in, so they have to go back to their posts.

At the start of the ceremony, seven chairs are brought out for each of the heads of the seven families.

One of them, a middle-aged man with hair that turns into ginkgo leaves, in crisp green robes stands and approaches the gathered crowd, this is Lord Virasti.

He begins a speech, which starts as follows:

Welcome, welcome, people of Feolinn!  It is that time once again!  The goddesses have reached out to each other across the universe and are finally within reach!  This will be one for the histories!  It has been a bountiful year for our amazing city and we will only become a brighter beacon of excellence as time wears on.  I would like to thank the guilds for their help in arranging the festivities, our seven families for their commitment to this tradition, the Temple of Storms for their tireless efforts throughout the city, the Circle of The Stars who ensure that all of us can always see this stunning gift, and most importantly, the citizens of Feolinn!  Tonight is the first of three amazing nights and I expect you all to enjoy them to the fullest.  I will not keep you here long.  But I do have one announcement to make, in conjunction with the Radiant Festival.  Cybele, Cesare, will you both please join me?

Two people join him on the stage, coming down from the nobility seating behind on the dias.  The same woman Hugo saw the night before, though now they know her name is Cybele, carrying the same staff with her.  The second person has long, light brown hair that turns into vines, solid jade green eyes,in a crisp black and gold ensemble, gazing out into the crowd with a thousand-yard stare.

And continues: I would like to announce a day that I will hold close to my heart.  My eldest daughter, Cybele is to be wed to this dashing young man.  We are eager for you to join our family, Cesare.  The wedding will coincide with the final night of the festival, and our celebration will keep yours going for a few days more!  The city of Feolinn is invited to celebrate this momentous occasion with us.  With that…let the festivities begin!

Once the last scrap of sunset has succumbed to the night sky.  It erupts into a dancing, dazzling light show, the Radiant Storm has begun.  Fireworks zip into the sky, the crowd on the island and watching from the shores of the lake erupt into celebration.

[kristiliqua]

the adventure zone balance is one of those stories that legit only gets Better upon every relisten (like substantially for a bit , i’d argue ..) . every detail you’ve missed before is caught one by one and each one makes the story even more impressive and makes you go “wow . that rat bastard .” (talking about griffin mcelroy)

[bogglesgate]

On a funnier note, something I like to do is imagine an AU set in Baldur's Gate when Yllis is still in her villain era except it's a WWDITS-style dark comedy. I want to see her try to rob Astarion's grave and get pissed off when she finds it empty.

[ganondoodle]

i expected the rewrite to get the most votes, i didnt expect pixelstuff and OCs to get that many votes O.o

zelda comic, totk rewrite, game stuff/pixelart, ocs are all fighting for attention in my head and i just end up sitting and staring blankly for hours aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh

[dlartistanon]

I'm not gonna comment on story development, but speaking from a design standpoint, I'm just disappointed with how they chose to present a playable Mon3ter.

Other people have said it better than I can: there's no "good" reason for him to be a cute anime girl.*

It's disappointing that one of the most iconic creatures of the game had his edges filed off for the sake of lazy conventionally attractive pandering.

When was our last furry operator? (It also annoys me when people refer to AK as a "furry" game, because it's not. Most furries are relegated to background NPCs and like 5 out of 300+ playable is negligible)

They already have an in-built sprite for Mon3ter... as OG Kal'tsit's summon.

Honestly I'd be less disappointed if they made Mon3ter a guy instead. If they weren't going to commit to full-on creature, then Kal'tsit harboring elements of gender fluidity would've been awesome.

To everyone trying to counterpoint that this was unsurprising, to be expected because AK is still a gacha game, at one point in time, AK was willing to branch out from the mold. Not a lot of games would've sold Mountain or Lee as high-rarity units. And while players have a tendency to overestimate how AK did things differently, it was still notable.

And what makes it sad is that AK itself seems to agree, and has been incrementally going down the "safer" design route and taking less risks. Now that they've established themselves, they can afford to be lazy, I guess.

* If this was "foreshadowed" in preparation for Endfield, that just sours my feelings on Endfield even more. Making EF a direct sequel to AK basically limits with AK can do narratively, and the AK story itself has to be railroaded to fit Endfield. Never mind how EF has to contend with explaining inconsistencies to the original AK lore and worldbuilding.

They couldn't have made Endfield an alternate universe with a heavier focus on sci-fi? They already do that with Integrated Strategies... it just boggles me because it's like they learned nothing from trying to please different audiences at once (re Doctor being a blank slate and/or an established character). It's like they don't have any confidence that EF can stand on its own, so they have to tie it back to their more successful game.

But, as a friend so eloquently put it: "Are the type of people coming into Endfield really gonna sit and read through the original AK story?"

Anyway, I liked this video because it encapsulates the trouble that EF seems to struggle overcoming regarding which audience they're targeting (both play-wise and writing-wise), and reconciling that with the game they want to make. AK having an identity crisis is a running theme, it seems.

[raguonmynieceandnephew]

"It's so unfair to the Rat Grinders that they are killed instantly and the Bad Kids get to roll death saves." SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUP

THIS IS LONG, AND HONESTLY FOR MYSELF, SO YEAH READ IF YOU WANT

I swear to god, this discourse is going to fucking be the end of me. Idk what kind of mind boggling spell Brennan Lee Mulligan wove into the fabric of the universe that spread through the data center of Dropout in order to absolutely hijack y'all's brains when it comes to Cocklord Assgape and her ragtag of character foils but whatever it was has made you Rat Grinder stans INSUFFERABLE in this site.

The levels of treating fictional characters as if they were real people have reached a level I honestly have never anticipated, to the point of y'all actually being mad AT THE CAST for "mistreating" them and ACTUALLY QUESTION BRENNAN'S CAPACITY TO DM. Do you not get how fucking insane that is?

We can't make fun of Copperkettle, one of the most pathetic, petty and incompetent villains in D20 history anymore (even though she is masterfully written and developed to generate this reaction from us) anymore because it's bullying apparently. I saw an account flip the fuck out because someone compared her rivalry with Kristen to Drake and Kendrick's beef. KIPPERLILY IS NOT A REAL GIRL. SHE IS A MAKE BELIEVE CHARACTER IN AN IMPROV SHOW SPAWNED FROM THE BRAIN OF A 36 YEAR OLD MAN

And then what truly pissed me off the MOST about this whole hell is the fact that, being chronically online avid consumers of this goddamn show, I would think you would have but a grasp of the main cast of characters' characterization.

Why the uproar about Riz saying they should chop Oisin's head off? The same Riz who tortured that pixie from Freshman year by shooting off their finger one by one? The same Riz who murked a disarmed and unconscious Coach Daybreak without battin an eye? The same Riz who ATE THE CORPSE OF KALVAXUS?

And the whole Fabian vs Ivy debacle MY GOD, THE GIRL WAS RACIST TO HIS GIRLFRIEND AND USED HER LAST BREATH TO CALL MAZEY "OBJECTIVELY UGLY". And the funniest thing is that is not even the most unhinged shit he has ever said.

And finally, Death Save Gate: THE RAT GRINDERS ARE NOT PLAYER CHARACTERS. THEY ARE NPCS! THE RULES FOR EACH WORK DIFFERENTLY, ESPECIALLY THEM BEING BOSS ENCOUNTERS. Imagine having to still hit Ivy or Oisin 2 more times to kill them when there is 14 foot tall Porter throwing legendary actions left and right, with Jace, and other 3 spell casters + Mary Ann and KLCK up and running. It's called balancing the fucking game. Also, game masters are entitled to break, mold and make up any rules they want if they find necessary in order to service themselves and their players. IF YOU PLAY WITH ALL THESE RULES AS THEY COME, GOOD FOR YOU AND YOUR TABLE. THIS IS NOT YOUR TABLE.

Not only is Brennan DMing for his CLOSEST FRIENDS EVER, he is also shooting and producing an ENTIRE TV SHOW. So yeah, i think he knows wtf he is doing.

"But the Ratgrinders had no real development": True. But it wasn't for lack of trying from the players. Everytime they tried to know more, the dice didn't let them, so they decided to focus on the mystery. It simply do be like that sometimes.

"But they are just kids!": And so were Penelope, Dayne, Ragh, Zayn, the Bloodrush Players, Aelwyn and Biz. Why wasn't it a problem then? Because most of them were evil to some extent and were about to bring the fucking apocalypse to the world? Yeah, sounds familiar right? And the ones who were manipulated or had any sort of redemption worked their way into earning it, right? Yeah.

In conclusion, I fucking love the Rat Grinders, I truly do, and not unlike 90% of this website, i'm still holding on to hope that they have any sort of development and redemption in the last episode, because I agree, they ARE children and they WERE manipulated by Porter and Jace, but like, can we also agree that they are fucking assholes and had it fucking coming? Also, the BKs are children too y'know. SO STOP BEING FUCKING ANNOYING.

[nikikeya]

My Highly Disjointed Ramblings About Jax and Jax Theories

JAX H. LECTER So someone over on Bluesky asked why everyone was forgiving/ignoring Jax cannibalism.

And my dude: Baby boi did not actually "eat" anybody.

We saw he just gnawed, shook, and tugged on Gangle.

He did not actually tear, or shred her. He did not swallow ever. It was all just play acting. Demented? Yes. But its a VIDEO GAME. Same with when he mauled Pax. He grabbed him, and shook him like a dog with a chew toy.

The only sounds were growling and screaming. No chewing. No swallowing. And Caine most likely just poofed the poor bedraggled NPC away in the end. Most damning evidence that Jax did not Ted Bundy his alt was Pomni's reaction tho: Pomni is a kind person, who is in no way demented. And I doubt she'd have been looking at him like this:

If he was actually sitting there ripping pieces off his twin.

So no, Jax is not a cannibal. He's a demented little hell spawn from the depths of Tartarus. (And I love that.) but he did NOT actually Hannibal Lecter anyone... ===========================

JAX.EXE

(The wtf moment that started it all. I love Jax's Toon Logic.) The only reason I even still entertain the Jax is an AI/NPC/Jax is Able theories at this point, is cause it does seem odd that while Caine's becoming more violent, and Bubble is getting raunchier than ever, Jax has seemingly suddenly become much more animalistic and emotional over all.

Also, sidenote: the Japanese distributer of GLITCH products recently put out keychains on their site, and I was kinda mind boggled about Jax's.

Everyone is holding their character items (the things they're most associated with.) So: Why is Jax holding Caine's hand? His character Item should be a KEY. (Technically Caine's should be Bubble or one of his eyes but... its still less weird then Jax.) Unless this is hinting that there's a stronger connection between Caine and Jax.

==================== RIBBUN

(These Idiots...) More than the Bunnydoll fans crashout, I am openly morning the loss of Jax and Gangle's toxic bromance. Like the 2nd most emotional scene for me was Jax worrying over Gangle picking Zooble over him at the beginning of the Stargazing adventure. I SCREAMED. SO. FECKING. LOUD. In every other episode these two were practically inseparable. And now here Gangle is off with Zooble, and Jax is alone, and so he turns to the only other option he had: Pomni** (Yeah, yeah you heard me: She's his rebound. I'm not sorry: Its true.) I am very very sad that the ONLY interaction we got with the Dynamic Duo was when Zooble SET GANGLE UP for taking the blame for the whole maid dress fiasco and then LET HIM CHASE HER AROUND... (I've ranted about how much this pissed me off earlier.) I do hope that Jax and Ganagle will get some time alone eventually to clear the air, cause I hate them just: Never interacting again ya know?

(also RIP Manic Mask, I will always miss your cuteness, and the fact that you made Gangle nearly as unhinged as Jax is now. XDD) ===================

JAXY BOY

Jax is a very immature, very conflicted character. He's a boy whose trying way too hard to be a man. He puts on shows of arrogance and apathy to hide the deeper more depressed parts of himself. He is deathly allergic to real emotions. He's built up a narrative that nothing is real, and nothing he does matters. And in that way he protects himself: both from the insanity of the circus, and the other cast members.

I don't think he was talking about Ragatha here really. Think this might have been a bit of projection about someone else. Who? Ribbit? Kaufmo? Jax's own mother? He's def got Mommy Issues, hell, he's got Mommy Volumes and a complete Encyclopedia Britannica. WARNING: Theory Suppose it turns out he was talking about his mom. Maybe she was the one who told him that everyday, and then ultimately abandoned him, leaving him with a quite possibly abusive father who instilled in him the need to "Stop being such a whiny a lil bitch, and man up." after hearing the kid cry for his mom for a week straight.

=====

Jax masculinity is something he's obviously gotten shit for, maybe cause of being scrawny or effeminate. I do not support the idea of him being Trans in either direction. (Mostly cause he's the only guy in the whole damn circus other then grandpa and the AIs. So back off please, its enough of a titty party without claiming him too.) but also cause I'm frankly sick of the fact that when anyone acts anywhere outside the gender norms, or tries too hard to act their gender, they're instantly labeled trans or wanna be trans. Like can we please CHILL?? Jax as stated by God aka Gooseworx is definitely a boy. A boy who has a clear dislike of women. So the thought of him secretly wanting to be one. after watching him crash out and look like he was five seconds from killing someone or abstracting just from being put in a dress. Yeah no... And again, before you talk about the hip sway or leg cross: Effeminate guys exists. GAY MEN exist. he doesn't need to be Trans or closet trans to act like that. ==== I really do hope we get a backstory on him and Ribbit. Somewhere maybe on Goose's twitter, there was talk that one of the episodes would be about when they all first entered the circus and how they changed. And if that's the case then hopefully we will get a full flashback of Jaxy and Bibby. (Maybe confirm the brother theory or Bunnyhop pairing.) anywho I probably will add more to this later, but I was up all night writing this. And the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak... I'll leave you with a meme I made.

meh it was funnier in my head. Ciao~!

[kcdodger]

Starfield: A review by KCDodger.

No game has ever touched me the way Starfield has. I firmly believe that it is Bethesda's greatest product and achievement, but I've been here before. I've explained it many times to many people why Starfield is good, actually… but, will you listen?

Maybe this time it'll be different. Maybe this time I can change things. Maybe not.

Starfield is every bit as good as No Man's Sky, Elite Dangerous, or whatever other space game you've spent hours on. In the following overview, I am going to use a series of shapes to represent what each game does, and doesn't have.

Starfield: ⬤ Star Citizen: ■ Elite: Dangerous: ▲ No Man's Sky: ⬧

I need you to trust me when I say that I am being objective about this. Starfield does have its problems, but they have been exaggerated. I really do mean that. So, let's begin.

Interesting Worlds - ⬤ ▲⬧ Well thought out Characters - ⬤ ▲ A good story - ⬤ A thoughtfully constructed universe - ⬤ ■ ▲ ⬧ Good Gunplay - ⬤ Good Piloting - ⬤ ■ ▲⬧ In depth Ship Customization - ⬤ ▲⬧ Replayability - ⬤ ■ ▲⬧ Roleplaying Mechanics - ⬤ Base Building - ⬤ ▲(colonization counts honestly) ⬧ Meaningful Progression - ⬤ ▲⬧ Character Customization - ⬤ ▲ ■ Loading Screens - ⬤ ■ ▲⬧

Starfield's not lacking in any of these.

Worlds

Starfield is rife with beautiful worlds that are absolutely photo-worthy, and all of them are procedurally generated outside of specific instances. If you think Star Citizen's are not procedurally generated, you really may want to think that one over. Core instances are not, but the rest absolutely is. (Probably serverside. But you know not every mountain and field is hand crafted.) Starfield's biggest problem there is that it has such a limited array of POIs and interactions. Yeah, it's really weird to find a cave with bones on Luna, and there really should be measures to prevent that. But, that's what happens when you build a single player game designed to compete with overhuge MMOs. I'd have narrowed Starfield's focus quite a bit were I in charge. Be that as it may, my gallery of amazing sights only grows.

I can not overstate the level of achievement Bethesda managed to pull off here, with Starfield's "Settled Systems". The amount of thought and effort put into each planet's properties, orbits, the ways they interact with each other, it's some really mind boggling stuff. Elite's is easily the best of that, but their engine is designed for it.

Somehow, Starfield did that on Creation. I still do not know how.

Characters

Constellation's cast is fantastic. As is The Vanguard's. The Freestar Rangers are great too. UC Sysdef and Crimson Fleet are if nothing else, memorable, and Ryujin's characters, while honestly odd in the context of a space exploration game, was really good too.

I don't know many characters from Elite. Everything they do happens in the background with no meaningful impact on the world. I've never heard of a character from Star Citizen, and No Man's Sky is anathema to the concept of characters. All three of those games are big open worlds where you and the other players are characters. I know that NPCs you can run into in NMS are apparently memorable, but nobody's ever given me a name.

But I can tell you the story of Sam Coe, a single father who's really struggling with it. I can tell you about Andreja, the displaced member of House Va'ruun. I could go on about Sarah Morgan, a woman who's had a lifetime of adventures in the last decade. Goodness knows I can talk to you about Barrett. That's just four examples. They're very well acted, well thought out, meaningfully interactive characters. They'll call back to actions of yours, things you've said, even their romances feel really good. I'm a very married woman who loves my wife very much, and it's actually quite impressive to me how genuine the acting and presentation of interpersonal relationships feels. Given the game is about how we all effect one another, how we deal with loss, moving on with the world and life, this shouldn't come as a surprise, but the characters of Starfield deserve recognition. I really like them all, even the utter bastards.

Story

Elite doesn't really have a story. It has a developing narrative that the devs guide gently. Yeah, the Thargoid invasion happened and those of us who participated in it had an effect - but to say it's a story is… lacking, I think. Star Citizen wholly lacks one, and frankly I'm not sure what No Man's Sky's is.

Starfield, though? Starfield is about discovering a mystery beyond your comprehension, but you get wrapped up in it. Starfield is about becoming part of something more and meeting new people, about learning who they are and what they've been through. You're likely the youngest gun in Constellation outside of Cora Coe, but your accompanying cast is all in their 30s and 40s, some even beyond that in their 50s and 60s. Walter Stroud is a rare character that way. I know this is the story section, but I have to go off about how aged a majority of the case is. Nobody's truly new to the job, but everyone's going into this mystery unprepared and ill equipped. The characters are all mature, and have beliefs and convictions informed by their lives.

You end up discovering what the story about the artifacts is, what they lead to, why they're being collected. It's a cosmic mystery without much of a definitive answer, but the answer really lies in how it makes you feel. On my main, I won't go into NG+. but going through just one NG+ has left a profound impact on me… and that's not even getting into what happened to me when The Death, occurred.

Few games have made me stop everything to put it all down and cry. Starfield has, and continues to. Fallout can make me sad, The Elder Scrolls can make me think and maybe even be mad, but Starfield can make me cry.

Universe

Elite, NMS, and Star Citizen do all have well thought out universes with factions and characters and gameplay that is informed by it. I won't deny that. It'd be intellectually dishonest to assert otherwise. Elite's is far future and a bit blase to me, Star Citizen's world is… I mean as unfinished as the product, and truth be told I know little about NMS' world. But I do know about Starfield's.

Starfield's world, its universe (and beyond) is a NASA Kid's playground (Hi, that's me! NASA kid! Through and through.) Starfield is for the stargazer. For the kid who wanted to be an astronaut, who wanted to be aboard a space shuttle. Starfield is for that person. It isn't for the person looking for a sci-fi military epic or a huge war, it's about the wonder of space, and the universe informs that. I could go on about the "Set design" of the ships, particularly Nova Galactic's interiors (AUUGGHH SO GOOD), about how the food is all thoughtfully packaged, about how the CHUNKS brand is inspired by existing space foods (technically, it ought to be some kind of hexagonal shape. But a cube of Sauvingon is just… chef's kiss), about how the spacesuits are big, baggy, clunky. About how almost every door is an airlock (even if that IS annoying!). The whole world is built around not just exploring space, but living in it. Which I just… don't get from the other games, who feel Transient by comparison. It's such a shame then, that Starfield's outpost building is quite lackluster.

Gunplay

I can not speak to NMS' gunplay, so I will not. Last I played it, it had about ten weapons or something. Elite: Dangerous' gunplay? Don't even bother, it's hot ass. I'm sorry, but Odyssey's release is seen as the game's lowest point for a reason. Star Citizen's? I've dawdled with it, it's very whatever, fairly standard. Oh, but Starfield…

I love Starfield's gunplay. Oh my goodness. As a shooter, it plays wonderfully. The control you have over your character can be iffy, but actually pointing and shooting feels really good. The best any gunplay in a Bethesda game has ever felt, and given how good Fallout 4's felt, that's actually quite impressive. It's helped quite a bit by how fun and interesting many of the gun designs are (and how bizarre some are. No, there are no square bullets in Starfield, you have been lied to, big surprise.) I will complain that there's definitely a set of guns Bethesda *wants* you to use... but that doesn't mean they aren't all a joy to shoot. Except the Disruptor that thing's feel is just garbage.

Piloting

Every single game on this list has good Space Combat. Elite's is thorough and well thought out, Star Citizen's is fast and arcadey (it is), and No Man's Sky is casually simple, accessible and fun. (It reminds me of Starlink.) and Starfield's is also very simple. It's quite ambitious, though, and it does something that none of the other do. It's not that you can disable ships system by system. It's not that you can enter a VATS-like targeting mode to do so. It's not that you can allocate power ala the old X-Wing games and contemporary sims. It's not that you have full control of your movement in all directions and can even maintain heading while turning. It's that you can do all of that, while near-seamlessly boarding with an enemy craft at any time, once you've taken their engines and shields out. I can't put into words how bonkers that is, dear reader. Because not only can you do all the regular space combat stuff, even if it is SLIGHTLY simplified, but you can use all - all the ground stuff you use, in space, when boarding an enemy ship. You don't enter another map, either. No. Yeah, your ship interior probably deloads, but the battle in space rages on outside. The world outside does not stop existing while you clean out an enemy ship (and if you took out their grav drive, you get to even fight in Zero-G aboard a ship, it's VERY cool!). The world continues. Yes, this is true for Star Citizen. But I'm pretty sure you can't do any of that in No Man's Sky, and Elite is honestly just pathetic this way. No shot has ever been fired aboard a ship in the ten years Elite's been alive, but Starfield's ships are riddled with bulletholes. And you can take them. You can own them. You can do hijacking, piracy, you can scrap the ship for parts, sell it, you can loot the contraband the pirates had - reader, that is not something you can do in any of the other games. Not even Star Citizen, because the mechanics in Starfield work consistently, and it's a finished product. Starfield is not scamming you. I can not emphasize enough how excellent the interplay between ships and the space combat itself is. What's even crazier is you're not glued to your seat. You can just... get up. At any point. No, you can't EVA - that does suck! But you don't really need to at any point, as funny as being a bug on a windshield would be. All of this interacts seamlessly with all those RPG mechanics. It's actually insane to me, and they did this on the engine that powered Morrowind. The one everyone keeps saying that they need to replace. I have no true idea what smoke and mirrors make everything work, but I do know that when my camera's clipped around, there are people walking around in my ship while I am flying in any of those eight degrees I can move in. I'm sure the trick has to do with only one ship having a "Real" interior at a time, but it is actually wild to me that they still got all of that rotating in space realistically within the player's reasonable perception. Starfield also lacks Elite's Engineering and unlike SC, is a finished product so... that puts it into the best here, for me, in this category especially.

Ship Customization

Nobody does it as good as Starfield and I'm going to be blunt. Yeah, you can equip whatever modules you want on the ship frames you buy in Elite, yeah you can tweak the ships in Star Citizen, yeah there are even custom ships you can play with in No Man's Sky now. But every... single part in Starfield, is customizable. Color, rotation, position, no matter what you want you can make it work. It does all get blocky and funnily shaped, but it all works. The habs exist inside and out, the geometry can be walked on, you can fit in the gaps of your ship... You can color your ship, name it, rearrange it any which way you want, you can decorate the interior and it'll stay that way (Gods Forbid you move a window, though, whups.), it's actually insane. The thing is, these ships exist inside and out, fully traversible. Elite cannot do that. NMS only does that with bigger ships. Star Citizen can do that, but it's just not a finished product and what, you buy the ships for actual money? Are you really going to spend ninety dollars for a low-mid grade ship with the paintjob you want? For an unfinished game..? Starfield has none of those problems. Yeah, you have to load into the ship but it's a short load, and the outside world continues to exist. It's a non issue. The customization is out of this world. Now, I will be real. There are issues. You don't have strict control of the doors and ladder placement. That is bad. That must be added. But the customization in this game is genuinely astounding. I can't get enough of it.

Replayability

Starfield has a genuine, narrative driven New Game Plus. It's really cool and it's really good. Anyone who gripes about the fact you lose money and weapons and ships - are sort of missing the point of a NG+ anyway. So long as you like Starfield - any game really - it's very replayable. Are E:D and SC replayable? Well, you can always load them again or start a fresh character, but the persistent universes makes that kind of a doozy. I do know that NMS has a kind of reset once you get to the center of the universe, so if you like NMS, it's very replayable too. But yes. Starfield's replayability is very good. Lots to shoot, lots to loot, lots to do.

Roleplaying Mechanics

Starfield is Bethesda's best Roleplaying game. Elite, NMS and SC, are not Roleplaying Games strictly. You may play a role, but it is not necessarily roleplaying. It's hard to be nonlethal, it's hard to be a talk-first-shoot-later character, but you can flavor your game any number of ways. You can smuggle and trade goods, you can play delivery person, you can play mercenary, bounty hunter, you name it. You can even be a lawman, soldier for hire, any number of things, and there are dialogue options, skills, modifiers, even literal powers, one of which lets you see what the other NPC is GOING to say, to facilitate your style of play. Starfield is a true, honest Roleplaying game. It's one of the most easily accessible space RPGs out there, too. If you want a Space Roleplaying game, it's this one.

Base Building

I will level with you. Starfield has an intricate Base Building system that is honestly needlessly complex but if you really like that kind of thing it's pretty intense. And tedious. Much moreso than Fallout 4's base building and truth be told not nearly as rewarding. It is a step backwards... If only for the reason that you can't build an actual colony. The biggest reason to build an outpost is for infrastructure and manufacturing. To what end? This is one of the moments where I believe the vestigial bones of Starfield comes into play. They wanted fuel to be a mechanic, they wanted outposts to be important, they wanted you to network your way through the settled systems. I am simultaneously glad and sad that these features were left on the cutting room floor, because it would have been really cool, but it also would have been very tedious. There's an entire faction - LIST, they even have a quest that introduces you to them, where their whole thing is about buiding colonies on the fringes of Settled Space... and the game just does nothing with them. It kinda' sucks. I hope they add that stuff someday. I'd like to play a version of Starfield where I do actually need those enormous fuel tanks.

Progression

Every quest has a good end reward. You can level into the actual thousands (though, ~314 is where you're going to have every skill maxed out!), and Starfield is pretty cumulative by nature. So much so, that you can very easily run into long term storage problems. Very few containers have limitless mass (and it's why armor and weapon stands are great, because they can store limitless ammo and a few guns. Great way to reduce mass taken in your cargo hold!). Starfield has an issue with inventory. Everything has weight. Some things are stupidly heavy. It's not the most enjoyable system and will pressure you into building an outpost/depot to store your stuff eventually, but that takes resources and Bethesda saw fit to add the *entire* perodic table into the game as harvestable materials. There are 108 crafting materials in the game, and you can't make guns, armor or clothing and that is honestly bizarre to me. Amazing game with some odd choices. But the character progression really is fantastic. Instead of linear "You do more damage!" perks (it does have those, but it's not all it has), Starfield ends up offering effects, every skill has 4 tiers, and you level those up by completing specific challenges. For instance, to max out stealth to get the most (or anything!) out of your sneak attacks (fun fact, you don't even GET a stealth bar without the stealth skill! Love that.) - you have to get 75 melee sneak attacks. Not kills, fortunately. So you genuinely can't just sit there on your stealth archer stint, you have to learn that melee can do x10 damage if you want that x4 gun sneak attack damage. Roleplaying!!

Character Customization

You've all heard it before. "Fucking Pronouns". Let's cover it. Elite is binary, single body type for each, has a solid face customizer. You basically never see it. Star Citizen has an alright customizer, but you rarely use it. NMS, you are just a helmet. Starfield gives you a huge array of body choices. Wanna' be shredded to shit? Go nuts. Want to be wiry, or really fat? Go crazy. You can get huge. You can customize your gait, you can put on a beard at any time, there's an entire vendor in the game dedicated to letting everybody in the world pay 500 credits (cheap as shit!) to change their ENTIRE body. Good golly holly what a bright future we live in to have such autonomy! Body type, face type, skin color, hair type, voice, pronouns (Those two might be tied together?). He/Him, She/Her, They/Them, you get choices. More than most other games. It doesn't ask you if you're cis or trans, it just asks you what you want to be. Isn't that just... Really nice? That all that matters is who and what you want to be and that can change at any time if you so desire? I love that.

Loading Screens

You. Have. Been. Lied. To. Elite: Dangerous is full of them. Star Citizen is full of them. NMS is full of them. They are all just really good at obscuring it. It just doesn't seem like a loading screen. I know Elite best, so I will talk about it. Leaving your ship? Loading screen. In an elevator? Loading screen. Getting in or out of your SRV? Loading screen. Getting into your ship? Loading screen (with big blue circles, at that!!), jumping to low wake? That is a load. High Wake? That is the biggest loading screen of all. Entering a POI, like a conflict zone? Loading screen. Leaving low orbit? Loading screen. Elite, oft compared to Starfield, literally has more loading screens. In Starfield, you can actually get into your buggy without a loading screen! You can leave it midair, try it, it's really fun! Push comes to shove, you are having loading screen after loading screen thrown at you. In No Man's Sky, when you dock, when you enter orbit, you are loading. It has the least loads of all, but Elite has more. I'm dead serious. Can't speak for Star Citizen, but what's there to load? A broken mission? I flew free for a weekend, and everything I did was broken. Who cares if there's no or low loading screens, if the game won't even load in the first place? No, you can't truly seamlessly fly between worlds, and maybe that does suck. No, you can't seamlessly land, but what difference does it make? You will always land at the POI. Maybe the middle man is important, but Starfield saw fit to cut it out, and perhaps that was the wrong move. But goodness it's honest.

Conclusion

Starfield is it. It is the Space game you wanted. But you have to give it a chance. It's exceptional. Just stop letting yourself be lied to. I have had to tell people the truth of the starfield sandwich so many times, and that lie has damaged the game irrevocably. That's just one example. It's all pendantry, that hurt the game. "Fucking Pronouns" this. "Square bullets" that (lies), "Endless loading screens" ad infinitum (just as many as any other space game. It's just honest.) Play Starfield. There will be parts that frustrate you. There are parts that frustrate me. But Starfield is a comfort game for me. It's a game I love. It's also a game that truly challenges me. It's good. It means so much to me. I have a constellation pin opposite to my pride pins on my leather jacket. I have a Nova Galactic mug that I drink out of regularly. I have a Constellation hat. I'm gonna' get that Constellation wall art piece, and I'm gonna' get my hands on that Chronomark edition someday. (If only I knew, reader.) It's not a 10/10 game for me. It's a strong 8/10. But that missing 2 isn't so bad. To Bethesda Game Studios, thank you for the gift that is Starfield. It'll stay with me forever.

[otherworldseekers]

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about ? 👀

That everyone takes the WoL for granted. Especially the Scions. And that most people simply view the WoL as a convenient tool.

I feel like a lot of the fandom in general tends to view how many npcs interact with the WoL through a lens biased toward a negative interpretation. While I believe that a straightforward, unbiased reading of what is actually said and done in game, leans toward a much more positive reading. Canonically, our WoLs signed up to be part of organizations that bare a responsibility toward the people of Eorzea. (The fact that we had no choice about our WoLs signing up is irrelevant to the game's story.) They are not taken for granted. They are expected to do their job alongside their colleagues. And as the story goes on and the WoL, due to their Special Status, takes on more and more, the response of the people they interact with becomes more and more admiring and appreciative. NPCs are constantly expressing their gratitude for what the WoL does and demonstrating how they care about the WoL's well being.

It truly boggles my mind sometimes that so much of the fandom seems to simple forget? or maybe ignore how much everyone loves the WoL. I think a large portion of the fandom has become invested in how they want to develop the narrative of their own individual WoL as someone who is very down trodden and constantly suffering on behalf of a world that doesn't appreciate them. And don't get me wrong, that's a fine theme to explore in your own writing. But the prevalence of it in fic seems to have clouded many people's memories of the actual MSQ. It's simply not the story that SE has written.

Thanks for the ask!

[maximumzombiecreator]

Seeing your post about improv theatre vs. D&D culture and the amount of skill in "humility, vulnerability, and ability to share the spotlight" that improv theatre requires. And realizing that every single good ttrpg I've played over the years had a table full of people that had that skill. I have a post about it half-written, but I'm still boggling over the idea that there are so many people coming from the D&D side that have so much contempt for the other players. (And the GM is a player, from that perspective, IMO.)

It can be contempt, and certainly sometimes it is. I think most of the time it's fear. Despite what tumblr may have told you, cringe culture is not dead, and the fear of being cringe has a deep hold on a lot of players. It has a deep hold on the culture in general, just look at the profusion of bathos in mainstream movies. For whatever reason, we treat sarcasm, detachment, and cynicism as neutral, and so they create a great suit of armour against being cringe.

Improv is exposure therapy for being cringe. There's just no way to get into improv theatre without being deeply embarrassing so many times that you learn to deal with it. But TTRPGs have a lot of opportunities to hide from embarrassment. To some extent, that's why some groups are playing TTRPGs at all. The rules provide protection. They're not playing pretend, they're playing a game which is normal and socially acceptable.

So you end up with players who are constantly protecting themselves. They make a character whose personality is a one note joke or pun. They refuse to learn NPC names and give them snarky nicknames. They constantly undercut the tone of the scene with quips and jokes. They mistreat NPCs to show that they don't actually imagine them as people. Anything to signal to the table that they're not taking this seriously, that would be cringe.

This is mostly stuff I try to talk to my players about in session zero. One thing I always say when I'm GMing is that I am committed to being the most cringe person at the table. I will not be outcringed. And I do this because I am a profoundly ridiculous person, but also because it carves out space for the players to be cringe too. And once people are comfortable enough at the table, secure enough that they won't be judged, often they can learn how great it can be to roleplay with that humility and vulnerability. Other times they'll quit the table and talk to their friends about how cringe I am for my full commitment to the inner life of a sapient hedge.

Either is fine with me.

[valle-de-sombra-de-muerte]

Homestuck Reread: Act 4, Part 4/4 (p. 1865-1988)

Read the previous post here. Read the next post here.

Oh boy it's the final stretch for this Act. I want to take a moment to express my appreciation for all the new followers I've gained over the course of this reread. I have 60 now, which is incredible. Thank you all!

With that said, this post will contain some... sticky subject matter. I wonder how many of you will choose to dip after this.

[CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of incest starts below the second image]

Oh my fuck it's the ectobiology section. Out of all the convoluted and frivolous mechanics in Homestuck, this one might be the worst in my opinion. Worse than the adventure game jokes cribbed from Problem Sleuth, worse than the punch card alchemy and other ponderous Sburb mechanics... I'd say it's worse than the time travel shit, but this is actually more of a subset of that. So yeah, time travel continues to be the worst thing about Homestuck, and shit like this and the bunny subplot are prime examples of that. But my ire is fully directed at ectobiology at this moment.

The stuff I mentioned before at least has a purpose; they parody needlessly complicated video game mechanics. But ectobiology doesn't have a purpose. It's not funny, nor does it serve the story in a meaningful or even interesting way. So why does it exist? Is it to drive home the point that these select individuals are the "chosen ones" by Sburb? If I had to hazard a guess what Hussie meant by that...

Earth is a vile place and must be destroyed, so sayeth Sburb. Everything living on it is flawed by extension, so its chosen destroyers must be fully disconnected human society and the planet itself. These destroyers have been plucked from the aether and reconstituted from bullshit plot slime in a faraway part of time and space, ensuring that they are unquestionably divorced from anything from Earth, and therefore pure.

Now that I type all that out, it's no wonder none of the kids were all that shaken up about bringing about the apocalypse. Considering that they're essentially game constructs with no actual ties to humanity, it really throws away any sort of conflict and sense of sacrifice brought about by destroying the planet. All the innocents who perished in the meteor showers? Eh, fuck them! They were all NPCs anyway. All hail the slime people!

Okay, I'm sure this wasn't Hussie's actual intent, but if there's no grander symbolism at play, what else is there? None of this adds anything to the plot. The fact that the main cast are non-humans is never touched upon and the whole thing reads as superfluous sci-fi garbage. The only significance the meteors carrying the babies had was that John's Nanna died from a meteor strike. But it was already suggested way earlier that she died because she was crushed by the Colonel Sassacre book.

That was a perfectly serviceable, slightly comedic death befitting of a family of jokesters. There's no need to escalate it and involve a giant meteor.

One other thing I take umbrage with: because the cast were all birthed from the same slurry, this means that Dave and Rose are now """related""". They aren't related by blood, no, but by slime. Which, in the eyes of Hussie and the fandom at large, means the same thing, I guess. Even though they never grew up as siblings, lived separate lives in different parts of the country, and only met online as strangers before developing a (very flirtatiously charged) friendship, the fandom treats them as if they're flesh and blood brother and sister. It boggles my mind. Why is this being treated as legitimate? Did Hussie plan all along to take the two characters with the best chemistry only to pull a Luke and Leia on us? Why would he write them like that if this was his endgame? Does he just have an incest fetish?

I wouldn't doubt it because themes of incest are actually quite pervasive within Homestuck. And that's without even mentioning how Hussie developed an alien race that fundamentally relies on incest to reproduce. Ectobiology creates several relationships, incidental or otherwise, that tie nearly the entire main cast in a complicated web of pseudo-familial dynamics. Like John is actually the kids' progenitor/father because he's the one who brought them all into existence. So even if he isn't related to Rose or Dave by genes or slime, he still gave birth to them in a sense.

I've even seen people say that since Betty Crocker/The Condesce was Nanna's adopted mother, that makes the Egbert/Crocker/Harley/English family tree "related" to the Peixes trolls, so any ship with that combination is "incest." What if I told you that Feferi is related to all the other trolls via bullshit slime mechanics as well? I guess that makes Johnkat incest too. And if John is Dave's father... gasp! Davekat is also incest!? It's over folks, burn everything down.

Anyway, I don't acknowledge Rose and Dave as biological siblings because I don't treat being born from a vat of slime as the same as being birthed from the same womb. That would be treating ectobiology as valid and sensible, which I refuse to do. I don't want to lend Hussie's fixation on incest any amount of approval. All I know is that the trolls are made of the same stupid plot sludge and nobody cares if you ship them. There are no humans and trolls: only slime constructs. Either everyone is related or none of them are. You can't have both.

In the end, none of this matters. The world would be a much happier place if we all collectively agreed to forget ectobiology's existence. If this ruffles your feathers, just block me. Don't come at me because I'll just ignore you.

So Grandpa Harley had time-traveled forward to the future and into Sburb before returning to the past, living out his life on Earth, and dying. Fucking okay I guess!

At least this answers the question I had that yes, Mom Lalonde knew what she was doing before entering the game because Grandpa told her everything. Same with Bro and Dad, it seems.

Ah yes, Dad x Mom. A relationship that ends nearly as soon as it begins. Let's put this right alongside the Exile love triangle and DaveTav in the "relationships that are teased but never manifest into anything meaningful" pile.

"Ackshually, everyone was born from a vat of slime on a distant meteor and sent back to Earth to live out their lives!" - the ramblings of an utter lunatic.

Like god fucking forbid the kids be normal people placed in extraordinary circumstances.

The babies all gravitate to the things they'll have a connection to in the future. Nanna gets her son's hat, Bro gets Cal, etc. Dave clings to Maplehoof, which doesn't seem like a clear connection. Except... that's Rose's horse, isn't it? Ohhh. It all makes sense now. 😏

This exchange is a top 10 Karkat moment for sure.

The supposed saviors that will revive the human race aren't even human, they're slime creatures! Beyond the fact that none of them are human, the Superman analogy falls flat because none of these kids are humanity's protectors. They're just following the whims of a game that ultimately does not give a fuck about any of them.

I need "JOHN EGBERT, YOU HAVE ASSASSINATED MY PATIENCE." emblazoned on a banner or something.

Also Karkat calls Superman a "Caucasian alien" and he also refers to a genie as an "Earth Arabian" in an earlier log.

He really knows a lot about different human ethnic groups, for some reason.

I think about "you always call jail the slammer when you are extra angry" on a somewhat regular basis.

Sassacre is killed, but since he was a human, his death is inconsequential. Grandpa, a slime homunculus just like Nanna, is given new life, which is a cause for celebration. This whole sequence is quite morbid with Sassacre's bloody corpse just hanging out in the frame.

But wait, if Nanna and Grandpa are adopted siblings, and John and Jade are their "genetic children"... augh, never mind! This is what I mean when I say ectobiology produces all kinds of unfortunate relationships. I don't want to think about any of this pseudo-incest anymore. How are there people who make it their whole online careers to dissect this garbage so they can harass people about this shit? Don't they get tired? It's giving me a headache.

Rose is even referred to as John's "daughter" in the title of this flash. I'm not just blowing smoke when I say that John is everyone dad. That's literally what just happened.

Now that we're finally done with this segment, I'll cap it off with this: Nothing of value was added with the inclusion of ectobiology. I know I've been throwing around the phrase "waste of time" in these posts, but this bit of worldbuilding is unequivocally, without a doubt, the biggest fucking waste of time in this entire comic.

Woof. Shall we move on?

While Davesprite and Terezi sort of reconciled in their conversation and formed a bit of a bond, Dave doesn't receive her nearly as amicably. Why is she doing the "1S TH1S YOU" joke with Dave when that was a bit she did with Davesprite?

Oh right, because she thinks that same relationship will carry over to "real Dave". She sees them as the same person just like everyone else. Lovely.

Dave thinks he can burn Terezi by repeatedly insulting her blindness, even though it's clear that it doesn't bother her at all. This is really weak, especially when compared to his log with Tavros where he forced Tavros to block him.

Terezi seems to have completely given up on John and now wants to be annoying and nasty to Dave instead. She has officially been downgraded from minor antagonist to obnoxious interloper.

Tavros could only ever enjoy himself when he could escape to Prospit, be mobile, and most importantly fly. Nobody ever wants to talk about how Tavros has a lot of avoidance issues, how he always shrinks away from action and confrontation, and how he copes with adversity through escapism (both in a figurative sense through his interest in fantasy, and in a literal sense when he dreams on Prospit). A big part of his character comes from Peter Pan, the archetype of childlike escapism! IDK man, it sucks to see people reduce him to this lovable, pure-hearted woobie while ignoring the key part of his character.

Just like with Davesprite, Terezi just needed to send the right drawing for Dave's opinion of her to flip. Fantastic conflict resolution right there.

[S] Descend is the End of Act flash for Act 4. It might be the most ambitious flash up to this point. Lots of guest artists contributed here, and it's at this point where Homestuck really begins to feel like a much more collaborative project instead of solely Hussie's work. I don't mean to discredit the music team when I say that, because they've been around since the start, but this feels more substantial since Homestuck is a primarily visual work.

Anyway, Bro slices a meteor in half to save Dave's life, and later has his rocket board transport Dave into the game safely. Chalk that up to his list of noble deeds to try and balance out his dastardly ones.

Jack fucks shit up indiscriminately, so why does he spare WV? Feels a little out of character for him.

The brief Jack and Bro fight is pretty sweet. I'm not a shonen guy, but I'm getting that same sort of energy from this. Knowing that Bro probably knew all about the kinds of monsters he'd have to fight in Sburb, he has probably been training for something like this for most of his life. Had Jack not gotten god powers, Bro probably could've wasted him.

I like to think that Rose's merging with her doomed self is what causes her to act so destructive and nihilistic from this point on. She wants to destroy the game that killed her.

So okay... when Dave and Rose gave John their bunnies for his present, both of them clearly put a lot of thought in their gifts. Dave gifted him a piece of merch from his favorite movie. Rose restored an old heirloom using John's previous gift to her. Jade assembled "a fun and completely ridiculous thing" that has no sentimental meaning and only carries a vague sense of importance.

Does she just not know what he likes? This is less a gesture of friendship and more of her blindly fulfilling the whims of Sburb. I really struggle to see how Jade fits in this friend group dynamic. She's like the weird kid that the others let hang around out of pity.

Waow! After all that buildup with the box mystery, the bunny and Jack are going to have a showdown! Finally we can see what all the fuss is about and why this bunny is so important.

... Or Jack can just fly away and they never fight at all. Cool Hussie. It's so cool how you spent several pages devoted to this plot point only to let it fizzle out like this. Incredible writing.

How much time do you think elapsed between Grandpa bringing Dream!Jade's corpse aboard his airship and gutting, cleaning, stuffing, and mounting her? He probably did it all after he flew off, but I like to imagine him doing this all before that while Mom and Dad just stood around awkwardly waiting for him to finish.

Act 4 had its ups and its downs. A lot of downs. The ups also felt a little bittersweet because for every intriguing story hook like the Exile love triangle, Dave's relationship with Tavros, Rose and her mother, or anything involving Davesprite and doomed Rose, they all amount to nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Homestuck truly is a collection of fun ideas all unfortunately cobbled together by someone who doesn't know how to properly execute them in a story. The colorful art and the kickass music can only serve to cover up the flaws so much before the veneer peels and you see the ugly cracks underneath. I wish we lived in a world where Andrew "writing is easy" Hussie had an editor to salvage the good stuff and throw shit like ectobiology into the garbage.

If it sounds like I'm wrapping things up, think again. This journey isn't over yet. It's time for Act 5! People like to joke about how you should skip all the way to that one, but after everything I've read so far... I wouldn't blame anyone if they did.

[mylordshesacactus]

Suncrest Campaign Wrap-Up: The Duality Of Session Titles

Our player-notes document is a communal Google Doc, where everyone (including the beleaguered DM) can hop back to check details from earlier sessions--highly recommend this system, honestly. And, for ease of reference, every week after the session wraps up I go in and give the session a title, so that we can use the gdocs Table of Contents feature to easily jump between entries.

In general, I try to make these at least somewhat informative--I try to match the tone of the title to the overall tone of the session, and reference something that'll make it clear in six months what the hell I'm talking about.

So, in honor of the party reaching the campaign endgame: A final write-up of all our session titles over the course of the campaign.

A Long Time Ago In A Campaign Setting Far, Far Away (Level-1 Adventures & The Doppelganger Arc):

1: You Meet In A Tavern Fire 2: Patience Is A Virtue (in which the party got what was meant to be mid-campaign reveal information in session 2 due to excellent restraint and investigation, and also met long-term NPC Virtue Chirelli) 3: Secrets Of Shroudpost 4: Nightfall 5: Jumping At Shadows 6: Teamwork Makes The Dream Work

Both Parts Of The Name (Abandoned Temple Quest Arc)

7: Stories & Stoves (the party meets Arlette, who runs a magic-and-general-store called Staves & Stoves, and is given a quest) 8: Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Realistic Consequences 9: D&D A-Bridged 10: This Temple Is Weird (the party fights a water weird) 11: Big Fucking Dragon 12: Max and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Campaign, or: The Gang Gets Obscenely Rich

Night Hag Arc

13: Once More Into The Breach 14: #WWFD? (What Would Farrah Do--her player was absent that week) 15: The Power Of Friendship And These Tits I Found 16: GAH, Or: Wake Up There's Hags 17: Now With 33% Less Hag! 18: Hag-gling Over Loot 19: Good Thing We Didn't Leave Those NPC Guards Unsupervised

Werewolf Arc

20: Trouble In Thistledale 21: Family & Forestry 22: First Blood 23: There Wolves 24: Protectors 25: Assassin's Creed This Shit 26: The Silverlight Hounds 27: Overwhelming Force 28: New Moon 29: Firelight Festival

Election Fraud Arc

30: Political Theater 31: Landlords & Other Bloodthirsty Monstrosities 32: Hashtag Escapism 33: Of Mortgages & Murder 34: A Dish-tressing Discovery (a friendly NPC was almost murdered via sleep deprivation using a cursed goblet) 35: Jackoff And The Giant Beanstalk 36: The Key To Success

Requiem Arc

37: Directionality 38: Brought To You By The Letter 'N' 39: Long Rest 40: Please Do Not Bother The Violet Guard 41: Crimes 42: MASQUERAAAAAAAAADE 43: Everything Goes Completely Tits-Up 44: Breadcrumbs 45: A Suspiciously Well-Maintained Passageway 46: Foul Water 47: Several Discussions Of Traps 48: In Memoriam (the TREATY puzzle; the party learns everything about the day the world ended 50 years ago) 49: This Is Fine 50: Sax And Violince 51: You Have [36] New Messages

The Siege of Suncrest

52: Storm of Vengeance 53: Andromeda Gets Drugs From The Cops 54: Mindboggling (the party fights boggles) 55: The Siege Of Suncrest 56: What, Like It's Hard? (the party defeats what was meant to be a session-long boss fight in two rounds) 57: Breach 58: Your Stunned Silence Is Very Reassuring (death of a beloved NPC; the party was so stressed that nobody took a single note in the doc) 59: Tallyho 60: Release The Hounds

Faewild Arc

61: Crossover 62: The Tortoise And The Almost Perfect Aesop Reference (the party rides a dragon turtle and meets rabbitfolk) 63: Warren Of The Shining Wires 64: The Next Step 65: Perfect Time To Get Stoned (party fights a gorgon) 66: The Feathered Serpent 67: Plan C: Jo [the DM] Kills Us In Real Life 68: Frostfire 69: Wolves of Winter 70: Do It For The Vine

Endgame

71: [Preposition] The Hedge (the party begins infiltrating the Palace of Summer, which sits at the center of a giant hedge maze) 72: The Dread Gazebo 73: A Wolf A Goose A Cabbage And The Concept Of Summer Walk Into A Bar 74: Domination 75: In Which Nobody Touches Anything (the wizard, after spending the entire session of sneaking through several different trophy rooms frantically trying to keep the party from touching anything, pockets a legendary item off a display case without telling anyone) 76: The Hand Of Fate 77: Hold Fast 78: The Fall Of Summer 79: The Distant Light

[championofravens]

Just learned in the new dragon age that the romance cutscenes are tied to the npcs and not your pc- so a romance cutscene between npc1 and npc2 is the same cutscene as for npc1 and your pc just with a model swap.

Every new piece of info about this game, ESPECIALLY with it's companion relationships, boggles the mind. I get the studio has since undergone a massive shift but basic mechanics of Mass Effect 2 are still better than this

[orinthered]

Finally got around to finishing the post game and gotta say, if DD1 was 50% of what they wanted to do, DD2 felt like 70% but the other 30% was the story and Battahl. I loved the game, but it really suffers from the lack of a narrative.

the game's story really does feel like a rough draft that was somehow polished up into a full game. sometimes not even that: more of like a pitch that got tossed around like "ohh yeah i guess we could do that"

the most egregious part for me is now that i'm in ng+ i can really think about just how fucking weird it is that after act 1, where lord phaesus gets the big "i'm the bad guy looking disdainfully out my carriage window, onto you, the arisen, whom the camera states i see as lesser" cutscene the rest of the game just pivots to us working with him and his assistant, i guess.

a lot of stuff in dd2 also feels like it exists out of necessity because "well, we had it in dragon's dogma 1, so it has to be in this game!" largely the beloved system. we don't have a character like duke dragonsbane who really just exists to justify the idea of having a character you're willing to give up for ultimate power and seeing what that effect might have on someone, because in dd2 you just see the dragon (who isn't named! what!) clutching your beloved, 99% some random fuck npc if you didn't manage to get the ring off the sphinx, and you just have to laugh because like there's a good chance the player has no emotional attachment to this character bc they're just pretty faces with stock personalities and the game doesn't treat the arisen as a person so what reason does the player have to do the same?

i also like briefly talked about this on twitter but when i was looking through the design documents for dragon's dogma 1 and you see how much concepting went into cassardis, the starting area... it makes it really hard for me to buy the conceit of the arisen in dragon's dogma 2. games that just drop you into the action without any backstory work really good if roleplaying was a major aspect of the gameplay, but for dragon's dogma 2 it's not. the point of being chosen to be arisen is that you have the ability to show courage in the face of futility — in dragon's dogma 1, the arisen throws away their life in order to save the village that they love.

in dragon's dogma 2... what, you push some pretty girl out of the way? you're maybe like a village guard? ulrika has like so much more motivation to be chosen as arisen it's kind of mind-boggling. dd2's arisen is a cipher but they need to be an actual character for the conceit of the arisen's will changes the world to make any sense.

this screenshot actually made me laugh out loud but in the way that one might laugh in the face of oncoming traffic. what do you even mean man. the only characters with any story relevance for the entirety of the game's plot are brant, sven, and phaesus lmfao you could get rid of everyone else and it wouldn't matter whatsoever

i mean i love this game. it's easily an 8/10 for me but it's so much harder for me to ignore a good game's bad story than it is for me to ignore a good story's bad gameplay. and if dd2's story is markedly worse than dd1's in every single possible facet...

[m4ng0m3t4l]

am i the only one seeing a bunch of people (lowkey convinced they're all npcs at this point) that just... don't understand why die with a smile would/could be on mayhem??

they're acting as if she's never done this before; adding a song that doesn't "fit" on an album:

the fame

1. eh, eh (nothing else i can say)

2. brown eyes

the fame monster

1. speechless

born this way

1. hair

3. yoü and i

artpop

1. dope

2. gypsy

basically the entirety of joanne put up against the rest of the discography

chromatica

1. sine from above

2. 1000 doves

3. love me right

like i am genuinely so confused about what is so mind boggling about dwas being on mayhem 😭😭

[satoshi-mochida]

Side-scrolling roguelike action Million Depth to be published by PLAYISM - Gematsu

PLAYISM will publish Cyber Space Biotope-developed side-scrolling roguelike action game Million Depth, the companies announced. It will launch for PC via Steam in 2025.

Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:

About

Million Depth is a “deep-diving action strategy game” where Moma, a human girl from outer space, visits Earth to find her only friend, and dives into the million-floor deep underground world known as Naraka Akasha. As Moma, players will have to design and craft their own original weapons and engage in strategic time-freezing battles to survive the hostile environment of Naraka Akasha in order to reach the bottom and uncover the true identity of Moma’s elusive friend. To Moma, left drifting all alone in space, messaging her Earth friend was the only thing that kept her going. After all of her dearest crewmates died from a virus, the only thing to do was the daily aptitude test. But as long as Moma could imagine the scenery of Earth as described by her friend, she managed to live through the boredom and solitude of life on the ship. “This will be my last message. I’m sorry. Thank you.” Her friend never sent another message, but Moma knows where they are—a million-floor deep abyss known as Naraka Akasha, the only place on Earth fit for human survival. Even though she has no idea what they look like, Moma decides to dive into the underground world in search of her only friend…

Strategically Craft Your Own Weapons and Shields

Million Depth has a crafting system where you can freely combine blocks to build your very own original weapons and shields. Every creation has different offensive and defensive abilities depending on its shape and materials used, and combining the same type of block can create parts that have special effects. Editing your weapons and shields and working towards the best creations for your playstyle through trial and error only gets more enjoyable as the going gets tougher.

Mind-Boggling Time-Freezing Battles

When Moma moves, so does the enemy, but when Moma stops, the enemy stops too. In this time-freezing battle system, you will engage in hectic, overwhelming battles… one physical step at a time. Every enemy attack and the power of each attack is clearly shown on-screen, which means you can take your time to analyze the situation and deal with them one by one. The key to winning is using your brain every step of the way to make the best decisions.

Deep-Diving Exploration

Naraka Akasha is very, very deep, and floors can either be completely empty or swarming with dangerous creatures. Scanning the upcoming areas is crucial to effective exploration, and by doing so you can choose between a wide variety of floors. Will you face off against hostile creatures, trade at a shop, expand your crafting abilities, recover some health, or gather much-needed resources? Dive deeper and deeper into the abyss and aim for floors of civilization, locations strongly connected to the secrets of the story.

What Awaits at the Bottom?

Depending on what floors you visit as well as other criteria, you will reach one of multiple story endings. What’s more, over multiple playthroughs, NPCs will act differently, and you might even be able to affect Momas from different worlds…

A Word from Pop, the Representative of Cyber Space Biotope

Million Depth is a game where Moma, a girl who drifted in space all alone, explores an underground world over a million levels deep in order to reach her one and only friend—“you.” The weapon crafting system where you can freely design your own weapons and the unique battle system where enemies only move when you do are closely tied to each other. I’m striving to make a system that encourages “crafting for battle” as much as possible. I’m also working hard on the sci-fi story with the theme of parallel worlds, and on the meaty details of the mysterious underground world, so please look forward to it!

Watch a new trailer below. View a new set of screenshots at the gallery.

Publisher Announce Trailer

English

Japanese

Traditional Chinese

Simplified Chinese