#optional dialogue after unlocking it but before fighting it

[elizabethrobertajones]

You know, in hindsight, this is a callout post from Thancred:

[theauthorandtheartist]

I had a dream the other night that i can't stop thinking about, where a new LOZ game was released in a similar vein to TOTK, except instead of collecting sages like in that game, there was a series of dungeons/temples that were directly tied to other LOZ games, and at the end, you gained the ability to summon the avatar/ghost of the hero from said game -like the TOTK sages- to help on your quest (and get a fun power up). All of the links would have stilted dialogue with you at first, but as the game goes on they get more friendly and at the end of the game theres a cutscene where they all "move on" and it's super emotional cuz by this point they're all brothers (player-link actually emotes during this cutscene, the only time he does so, for an extra punch in the gut). I don't remember all of the details, but what I do remember was:

A Palace of the Four Sword dungeon where you gained the Link(s) from FSA. FSA Link was the simplest in terms of abilities, the avatar would split into 4 and distract enemies/fight alongside you. Pretty sure this was the first one/tutorial temple. Later on this link gives you a sidequest after which you gain the Four Sword as a weapon (its the second strongest in the game behind the master sword).

A Tower of Winds dungeon where you got Minish Cap Link to tag along. He allows you to shrink for short periods of time to get through locked doors/escape danger. Don't remember much about this dungeon except that there's a timer to get through it before yiu have to start over.

Forest temple/great deku tree/kokiri forest type place where Oot/MM link joins up with you. He allows you to rewind time for a little bit (basically the recall ability but on everything including you). Later on He gives a sidequest that results in obtaining the Fierce Deity Mask (best armor in the game).

Arbiter grounds dungeon where you get TP link. He's basically a glorified horse; you ride him around.

Tower of the Gods dungeon where you get WW/PH Link to tag along. He's like Revali's Gale and Tulin's gust in one.

The dungeon to get the Master Sword is like the Skyview Temple, and to be allowed to draw it you must beat SS Link as the final boss of the temple, After which he joins you on your quest. He allows you to do skyward strikes with any one handed weapon.

A secret, optional dungeon that you only unlock by falling asleep on this random island. It's kohohlit. The only avatars/ghosts that you can access here are OoT/MM Link and WW/PH Link (because PH was a dream and MM was an alternate reality). By the end, You get Alttp/albw/LA link who can put enemies to sleep for a time. Later he gives you a sidequest to get ravio's bracelet, which opens up a few easter eggs and secret loot.

Other links/games were included as easter eggs but they don't stick around. BOTW/TOTK Link is a recurring ghostly NPC who you can find in all the weirdest places, offering seemingly nonsensical trades that change every time you see him (10 frogs for 13 bombs, a ruby for an apple pie, 35 monster parts for a single ancient arrow, etc). There's a few places around hyrule where you see two-bit LOZ1/LOZ2 Link just vibing. ST Link takes the place of Purah or Robbie as the eccentric scientist/engineer who will upgrade your stuff if you bring him materials, and he can also upgrade your ghost-Link-friend's abilities as well since he's -y'know- Hero of Spirits.

There's murals in the castle from Cadence of Hyrule, and there's "ancient history books" about HW and AoC. Throughout Hyrule you'll meet various NPCs claiming to be from different countries here to see "the birthplace of the hero of Holodrum/Labrynnia/Calatia."

Various Zelda's would show up too. You get a sidequest where you have to sneak aboard a ghost pirate ship. It's Tetra's. There's a mysterious sheikah warrior who repeatedly accosts you on your travels to loredump and test if you're ready to fight the big bad. She only ever brings you down to half heart, at which point she makes a disappponted comment and leaves. you aren't able to beat her until near endgame, at which point she reveals herself as sheik, has a brief conversation with Oot/MM Link, gives you some cryptic foreshadowing advice and a few fairies, and dips. BOTW/TOTK zelda is similar to her link since she can be found all over the place, but she deals exclusively in ancient materials and dragon parts. TP Zelda gives lore/exposition when you finally make it to the castle, right before the big bad fight.

Big bad is an amalgamation of all ganons/ganondorfs/big bads across the timelines. He telegraphs attacks via shifting forms to look like various bad guys (forms tentacles like bellum and Majora (at the same time) before slam attack, gets blue pig face before charge attack, long purple vaati hair and bat wings before AOE gust attack, scales up his arm and X on face before big AOE lightning blast, and big fuck-all sword and gerudo features before slashing. 2nd phase has it split into like 5 separate beings to fight you and all your friends at once (each one has different features: one is similar to bellum/majora, one is more beast-ganon, one more demise, one Vaati-esque one, and one Ganondorf-like one). The music is harsh and disjointed, cobbled together from many other games, and the noises that the beast makes are screeching and painful.

By the end of the game, there's a big deal made by SS link that you are the final Link in the cycle, that it's over, that you finished what he couldn't. There's a sense of hope, but also of sorrow, since all your new friends are leaving now. They're ghosts, they're dead, they've done their duty and it's time for them to rest. Before they go, though, each one gives you one last gift (the ability they've been helping you with this whole time) and one last sidequest (one for each of them) for you to accomplish: find their treasures, keep them safe.

Post game is you running around without the ghosts (FSA Link's ability duplicates you now, giving you 3 buddies to fight with, but they can't give dialogue and they last like 30 seconds so it's not the samel), doing mini-dungeons and fetch-quests in order to obtain major key items (all old and unusable anymore) from the Links' adventures, (the Beetle, goddess harp, spinner, shards of the fused shadow, deku/goron/Zora masks, gnat hat, various kinstones, pictobox, deku leaf, LA instruments, Ocarina of Time, wind waker, etc) and some from games not mentioned previously or not from your gaggle of links, (Harp of ages, rod of seasons, silver arrows, a doppel, ST panpipes, a revival doll, Cadence of Hyrule Lute, HW blue Scarf, old and broken Terrako, champion's tunic, BOTW champion's picture, trirod, etc). In post-game, there are new NPCs to replace the links/zeldas that used to fill those niches, but it's not the same. They're gone. It's a bittersweet feeling.

After you finish all the post game and get all the treasures (basically 100%ing the game), you get an achievement called "archive of the ages" and a special cutscene where Player Link sets the Master sword down on the side of his bed, looks out the window of his house at the brilliantly setting sun, smiles, and falls asleep. You may no longer play on that save file anymore. The adventure is over.

Basically I dreamt up a game that was a love letter to the entire series, and I'm sad it was just a dream. Logically i know this will never happen because that would mean tying up LOZ and it's too much of a cash cow for Nintendo to ever stop making, but it was a wonderful dream to have for a little while.

[morbethgames]

The Final Part of Chapter 4 Mostly Is Now Live!

So, you guys are probably wondering what the mostly is about. Simply put, there’s a subroute in the final part that I still need to write. Not very long, it won’t be too big of a deal later on, but this scene was blocking me hard. After working on it for 2 months straight I just wanted to move on. Needless to say, if I had to write one more set of variations for how the PC fights the suspect, I was going to go insane. That being said, it is all mostly there. There’s simply one greyed out option is all. I’m going to come revisit this scene when it’s more fresh to me again and when I don’t have to push myself so damn hard and force myself to write it. Along with the final part, I’ll probably be adding a bit more variation to it in general. But, now that that’s out of the way, let me get to the patch notes!

Patch Notes:

Added most of the rest of Chapter 4, which includes another Text Box Investigation Scene!

Added an unlockable extra story of Ryder’s PoV before the after funeral scene.

Multiple gender variable mistakes have been fixed.

Fixed a mistake where Alvarez and Ryder were being referred to as ‘mommy’.

Added a small dialogue variation to Ryder’s train scene where, if you’ve already talked to Alvarez, the PC won’t ask Ryder to clarify details about Alvarez’s age.

Added a small dialogue variation to the talk with Hawks in Dennis’ Office where, if the PC didn’t answer the phone for their brother in Chapter 2, it will reflect that choice.

Fixed the error on my part where the hoplite in the painting in Hawks’ office was being referred to as ‘Roman’ instead of ‘Greek’.

Fixed a bug where, if you chose to talk to Lance first on the train, it wouldn’t give you the option to talk to a second person.

Thank you all so much for sticking with me while I’m pumping this stuff out! It feels like such a weight off my shoulders to be able to just moved on from this scene, and to give myself the room to just come back to it later. Expect the Patreon to pick back up to two posts a week again as I get to start writing all the in between stuff for Chapter 4.5! If you like this story, and you want to support either me or this story, head on over to my Patreon where you can get an early look at extra stories, audiobook readings of this story and other IF’s, original short stories with original characters, and so on.

Patreon Link ←

We’re getting close for sure everyone. Hopefully, bare minimum, by the end of the year, this story will be completed. I’m excited, scared, and worried all at the same time.

Thank you all again so much for sticking with me.

Stay Brilliant, -Vi

Demo Link: https://dashingdon.com/play/morbethgames/the-bureau-wip/mygame/

The Bureau forum page: https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/wip-the-bureau-chapters-1-3-550k-total-words-updated-03-14-2024/99993

[indigowallbreaker]

In before the update tomorrow

Here are my predictions/wishlist Stardew Valley 1.6 update! These range from "could happen" to "just let me dream":

Children aging past toddlerhood; gain ability to change their outfits

Another set of romanceable NPCs (eyeing Sandy and the Wizard particularly)

More post-marriage dialogue/events. Like an anniversary date

Festivals changing as the years go on. For example: after getting 8 hearts with Sam, Abigail, and Sebastian, maybe their band plays at the Stardew Valley Fair; the governor brings his wife to the Luau the year after you make the soup taste Delish

The ability to properly befriend certain NPCs like Marlon and Gunther

Separate screen to keep track of farm animals, similar to villager screen in the menu (helpful to me when I play a file I haven't logged into in a while and discover after 3 in-game days that I have sheep)

Non-binary farmer option

Please let me interact with the stuff in the community center I spent my whole file trying to fix

NPCs will repeat dialogue to you after you've spoken to them already during a festival to avoid the creepy situation of wandering around an event and not being able to speak with anyone like they've suddenly become statues and you're the only living thing left in town

Other bachelors/bachelorettes getting together after you're married (little bit of the old Harvest Moon rival system)

More NPCs that move to town the longer you live there, like Kent arriving in Year 2

Morris shows up every once in a while after you complete the Center just so you can appreciate how much you ruined this man's whole life. Or he experiences Growth from being in the Valley, whichever

Heart events occurring more than once. For example: replaying Abigail and Sebastian's gaming/RPG heart events; Leah can hold more than one art show to sell exclusive art; Elliot will have a new book for you to hear an excerpt from every year or so; help Penny teach the kids again; etc.

More ways to increase max health

Could I have a birthday please Mr. Ape ;_;

Fix the "Leek Surprise Gift" cutscene unlocked after Evelyn's special request so that I don't wanna crack George over the head afterwards just because I picked the dialogue option that would give his poor wife credit

Make George Nice To His Wife Every Once In A While patch

Option to fist fight certain villagers, either instigated by them when their friendship gets too low or instigated by you if you've just always hated them and wanna do something about it

At 10 hearts Jodi runs away to travel with Emily and Haley's parents because apparently no one on that street actually wanted to be a parent

Give me ten good reasons Willy can't adopt me

[horrorvisuals]

Baroque (1998) is a post-apocalyptic first-person action RPG taking place inside the Neuro Tower, a mysterious place nobody dared to enter before.

It's a game that uses death as a core mechanic to advance the plot, rather than resulting in a game over.

Developed by Sting Entertainment for Sega Saturn, it later got ported to PSX, PS2 (remake), Nintendo Wii, and Switch (JP exclusive).

It looks and plays similarly to the classic Shin Megami Tensei games. (Fun fact: Atlus published it for NA)

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, it shows us a world hit by catastrophic climate changes on May 14, 2032, after conducting an experiment to understand the Absolute God.

Its surviving humans got physically twisted by manifestations of guilt, pain, and suffering.

As the amnesiac, mute, and nameless protagonist, you are picked by Archangel and tasked with entering the Neuro Tower.

You have to advance its levels, find the Absolute God, and fix the world.

Each floor is randomly generated and your aim is not to reach the top floor. It's to reach the bottom.

You explore the floor, gather items, fight enemies, and reach the next floor. The usual dungeon-crawler gameplay.

Upon death, contrary to other games of the time, it doesn't result in a game over but rather teleports you back to your hometown. Every death progresses the narrative, unlocking new dialogue and areas. It's a core part of the game.

You are able to save some of your items using consciousness orbs and gather them on your next playthrough.

Throughout your playthrough, you get to meet NPCs and have various dialogue options with them. Through these encounters and other contextual elements, you learn of the game's overall story.

[rpgchoices]

How to romance Marazhai (mainly dom!Rogue Trager focused)

First of all, I need to send a thousand thanks to @pjenn @chonker-chan @wretchedelights and @milleart because without their comments, suggestions, warnings and guides I would have not been able to successfuly romance Marazhai as dom!RT. Also a thousand thanks to reddit user u/TohnoRin who also helped me fix the romance.

for an in detail guide on the flags this romance has, and how to avoid bugs and get the ideal ending please check wretchedelights post at this link!

Jan/2024 his romance is currently slightly bugged if you play as a dom!RT. I will update this in the future.

CHAPTER 2 (meeting Marazhai)

While I do not know if other options would also end up in romacne/recruitment, I made sure to choose the answers that were not "I will kill you" (or maybe he would have loved that).

Options and dialogue from act 2 is fromt he Marazhai romance playthrough 1/? post to the 7/?, and you can find them at this tag: Marazhai romance chapter 2.

The quest to meet him the first time is called "Blades in the Void".

CHAPTER 3 (recruiting Marazhai)

In the playthrough tags it is from n 8/? to n 20/?, all tagged Marazhai romance chapter 3. Plus, I did not have some scenes in this chapter so I posted them separately: Argenta and Heinrix about Marazhai; Marazhai's killing blow quest.

Before starting the chapter

Effectively, the chapter is triggered by the point of no return in chapter 2, which is Yrliet asking you to look into a lost ship. The quest is named "Following Breadcrumbs" and at this point just know that whatever characters you bring they will be the only characters with you in chapter 3.

In particular, if you have two between: Ulfar, Heinrix and Argenta, you will unlock some extra dialogue with Marazhai and will have to defend your recruitment of him. Given Ulfar is recruited in chapter 3, you should bring at least one between Argenta and Heinrix. Also, Ulfar needs to be recruited before Marazhai in this case.

Chapter 3 starts with your kidnapping. You will have to find all your companions but one (in a separate map) before your first fight in the Arena. After your first fight in the Arena, you can access Tarvantias' Anatomical Opera where you can recruit Ulfar, find one of your missing companions (for me was Cassia) and talk to Marazhai. Marazhai is on an elevated platform, right from Tarvantias. Here you can ask him to join you.

Recruiting Marazhai

Next is the Arena fight where, if you were successful, Marazhai will join your side, and this is where you recruit him. Back at The Pit you can chat with him and your companions.

Make sure to choose "you intrigue me" when he asks you why you decided to recruit him.

Sub/dom choices unlocked

Chapter 3 is the one that has the messy dom/sub flags, at least until Jan 2024, hopefully it will be fixed later. This means that if you want to be a Dom!RogueTrader you need to choose to sub-adjacent options (in particular at the Pit allow him to grab your chin, and later allow him to use the agoniser on you). If you want to have your character be submissive, then choose the dominant options. In any case, you will be able to change these values with Toybox mod.

The Spire

Once you are out of the streets you can get to the Spire. In my list of playthrough I missed a scene (I did not look for it and did not get the Killing Blow quest), but it seems like it did not change my game or romance.

Here Marazhai will also asks you to stop by and grab something of his (the agoniser, which is on the last floor of the map, the same where his sister is located). I can't confirm but I also read online that picking this up seems to be fundamental to unlock the romance. After you kill his sister, this is the end of Chapter 3.

CHAPTER 4 (romance)

Here is the full playthrough of chapter 4.

Back to the Voidship! This is also where the romance starts. From this point on, the dom/sub flags are correct so you can choose the correct dialogue options.

If you activate on toybox the chance to see dialogues flags and consequences it will be pretty easy, as you can see the tag for "ascension". This is basically an approval meter, the higher it is the more likely to get his true romance ending.

The order of the romance is:

1) In voidship, dialogue with Marazhai, ask him why he needed the services of Tarvantias.

2) First voidship warp jump, you will get news that Marazhai is on a rampage. Go to him, try to break him free from the demonette (I used persuasion, Yrliet's help and coercion) and then warn him of her attack.

3) The post fight dialogue has the romance trigger. Choose between giving him free hunting range (Sub!RT) or giving him a limited area (no dom/sub points but the only option for Dom!RT).

4) Go talk to him back in the bridge of the ship and he will give you the quest "Shards of Tempest".

5) Two jumps or more from this point, there will be a cut scene with him asking you to kill together. The sub!RT option is asking him to guide you; the dom!RT option is to tell him to ask properly and in this case if you did things correctly he won't complain and won't be annoyed with you. With dom!RT, he will just kneel and ask you to join him.

6) Go along with his murderous desires. Just know that for now the aftermath bed scene is sub!RT coded even if you have the correct dom!RT flags, it's okay! Also try to kiss him, I have been told it leads to a later scene!

7) Now you can do his personal quests. While the quest is pretty vague and open, the real quest is three rumors: Suspicious Ships (in Langrenn's Belt), Xenos Skirmish (in Orsellio Prophecy, the planet is Arid World), Fall of Santiel's Pride (in Nolla Septum). You will get fights (ex. clear the Nolla Septum planet and the Drukhari ships) or dialogue options where you can send Marazhai. Do not worry if the rumors don't clear, for me only the Fall one cleared as completed.

8) Go back to the bridge of the ship and you should have a cut scene where Marazhai gives you a gift. Accept one of the three gift options, and then use it accordingly to the role chosen (don't mix it up!), I am playing dom!RT and I chose to use a torture device on him, he was very happy. There is no dialogue difference between the three gifts, only the description.

9) At this point you can proceed with the main quest.

10) If everything goes well, you will get some ascension points (this will give you true romance at the end) and dominant (or submission) points through the main quest (be cruel, eat the brain, re-establish your dominance or submission role when he tests you)

11) After the main quest (the siege) you will get the branding scene. Remember to follow your role! I am playing as dom!RT so I branded him and he was pretty happy.

12) Talk to him on the bridge for some extra dialogue (he flaunts the mark).

CHAPTER 5 (ending)

Chapter 5 videos of the playthrough are here. (to be posted soon)

Chapter 5 is very short so it is almost impossible to miss Marazhai's tempest quest. Visit the few planets around you and you will see some Drukhari ships. Marazhai's old kabal will want to meet him so invite them on the ship.

If you are playing as dom!RT you can get more ascension points (this is for the true romance) by re-establishing your role. Do not be afraid to humiliate Marazhai in front of his people, he wants that and will be disappointed if you do not remind him of his place.

Follow the quest and go to the trap and kill Marazhai's old kabal. This is the final quest for him. I know there are other endings, so I am sure there is a way to make Marazhai into an archon, but for me I had no chance to.

At this point you will get his ascension scene. You will get this scene if you accumulated enough ascension points by re-establishing your roles (these are more or less "approval" points). The scene will start with Marazhai asking you for a bigger feast (murderous killings!).

If you refuse you will lose precious ascension points. If you accept you might have to kill one of your advisors. There is an iconoclast option so I suppose there might be a dogmatic or heretic one, and if you choose that you can reign in Marazhai and make him kill only on a limited side of the ship (the iconoclast option tho is very dom!Marazhai at the moment).

After, you will get him declaring his loyalty and affection for you!!

If you tried to kiss him before, remember to pretend to want to break things off so he will desperately pleade and you can actually kiss him:

(remember that you can add ascension points with toybox if needed).

This is the end of his romance, if everything goes well by the epilogue you will have a slide where it is said that Marazhai is often by your side and you have an unbreakable bond!

[malicedafirenze]

I unintentionally skipped a lot of the romance content in Baldur's Gate 3 and I want others to learn from my mistakes:

So: I managed to lock myself out of romance entirely and ended up alone, which was a huge bummer and a serious crack in my motivation to play the game. I finished my playthrough (because I was already close to the end of Act 3 when I realized it), and plan to do another one eventually. I'm making this post in hopes of a) keeping others from making the same mistakes and b) to possibly get some additional insight re. what to watch out for in my next playthrough.

PSA: Pick a Partner before Act 3

The key learning here for me was this explanation from the poly mod

In BG3, romance is divided into 2 steps: dating and relationship(also called partner). Dating is basically where you are at after the 1st romance scene. Relationship is where you are at after the 2nd romance scene (relationship also unlocks the kissing menu). BTW, If you enter A3, all dates will break up with you (partners won't, ofc).

I hadn't realized this until well into Act 3, at a point where going back to a save to properly fix it would have meant replaying large parts of Act 2 as well - I decided to finish my run instead and then start a completely new one later.

Note: lots of spoilers below. (click here to read this post on reddit instead)

My Romance Woes

I read in advance that you couldn't romance multiple people (except for the specific Halsin combos with Shadowheart and Astarion) and therefore turned down Gale and Lae'Zel early in the game (not realizing you could just date/bonk them without fully committing or getting anyone upset)

I didn't take approval all that seriously, thought I'd have more opportunity to fix things later. I was playing pretty good guy, and ended up with high approval for Karlach and Shadowheart, but low for Astarion. Weirdly, I don't recall an option to romance Shadowheart (no clue what I missed?) and the only option I had for Karlach was at the Tiefling party, where I went with Astarion instead. I had a scene or two with him, but then didn't progress further in the relationship, without really realizing what I was missing.

I wanted to romance everyone, sat on the fence for too long, and ended up not romancing anyone at all, by missing a thing or two in act 1 and 2 and being too late to fix it in act 3. Don't be like me, it feels bad man.

Early Act 3, I got Astarion's breakup dialogue ("we haven't spent a night together in some time" --> him explaining it was just transactional and he doesn't see the value in it anymore) and got super worried, but when trying to look up if I'd messed up, I didn't find a clear answer for without more spoilers, so I just continued playing Act 3, including all of the companion quests.

I later learned that I missed out on at least one important Astarion romance interaction by not going to Moonrise Towers until after freeing Nightsong. (when the Towers are already on high alert, i.e. I could only fight and not have a lot of conversations)

After realizing I had messed up companions romance, I instead fucked everyone it was unwise to fuck (Emperor, Mizora, Harleep...) for fun and to see what would happen... but chickened out and reloaded after Emperor and Mizora. Still, got to enjoy some fun content that way!

The ending I got (going to Avernus with Karlach) was really cool and made me cry a lot. I then did try to reload my last save though, to see if I'd get any other epilogue content if I didn't go to the Hells, but... apparently that scene on the docks (Astarion goofily running off, everyone kinda agreeing to go party after this, no other conversations with anyone again.... is just... it?

Idk how much of this is the lack of romance, but I really felt like something was missing there. I at least wanted to talk to everyone again one last time.

This is a post about my romance failures and regrets so I'm not gonna talk about everything else that I loved about the game, but just in case this is getting a bit too negative: I had an absolute blast with the whole game regardless, I'm stoked to give it another go the "proper" way (i.e. with romance). I also generally think it's really fucking cool that this game's romance options depend on how you behave, and that you can't just e.g. give someone the right kind of gift 20 times in a row to make them love you, like it works in games like Stardew Valley.

Next Playthrough Plans

I'll probably wait for another patch or two - considering how much got fixed and tweaked with the first three patches, I suppose it's worth to wait a bit and see what's coming

I'll play with the Poly mod next time and try to romance all of the Origin characters.

I plan to play with the camp notifications mod, as well as the approval ratings in dialogue mod. Both in hopes of being able to game the romance a bit better and get much of the romance in one playthrough

I'll play Dark Urge (haven't seen any of that so far!), but probably still go for a "good" playthrough mostly

I plan on equipping & levelling all Origin companions and switch them out more freely, in order to get approval from everyone and edit my party as makes sense depending on story events (e.g. take Lae'Zel to the Creche, take Gale to the Ketheric fight...)

I want to romance everyone. I already saw some tips for early game Astarion approval and assume the aforementioned mods will help in optimizing this

Am probably not gonna do anything all that differently otherwise because my heart can't take an actually evil playthrough

Aand that's about it. As mentioned, I'm mostly posting in case this helps anyone else.

I was really damn sad when I realized I had locked myself out of all romance, because the romance was a significant part of my motivation to start playing this in the first place. At the same time, I loved so much about the game that I still got a lot out of it in 110+ hours even with minimal romance content.

If you see any red flags about my plans for the next playthrough (or if you have experience with the mentioned mods!), I'd appreciate comments and insights. Other than that, here's hoping others can learn from my mistakes. Thank you for reading <3

[daitranscripts]

Well, Shit Pt. 3

Cave Renovation

Varric Masterpost First: Bianca Davri Previous: Valammar

The party approaches a locked door.

Bianca: I built these doors. They probably shut this one from the other side when they heard the ruckus we were making.

She unlocks the door.

Bianca: Ta-da!

1 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: You built doors here? [2]

Special (Artificer PC): Are you an artificer? [3]

General: That was handy. [4]

General: You were waiting to do that. [5] +Varric slightly approves

General: There’s no time to waste. [6]

2 - Investigate: You built doors here? PC: You’ve been here often enough to renovate the cave? Bianca: You already know I’ve used this entrance in the past. I don’t know if Varric’s told you, but the Merchants Guild is cutthroat. Literally. I built the doors to keep rivals from following me down here and arranging “accidents.” [back to 1]

3 - Special: Are you an artificer? PC: This is your work? Are you an artificer? Bianca: I’ve been known to build the occasional trap, weapon, or otherwise lethal device now and then. I take it you’re a builder, too? You’ve got the telltale “how do I take that apart and put it back together?” look in your eye.

Dialogue options:

General: I’m new to it. [7]

General: You read my mind. [8]

General: Yes, I build. [9]

7 - General: I’m new to it. I’ve only recently started building things. Bianca: Great, let’s find something you can lure into a gauntlet of steel jaws! I love it when that happens. [10] ㅤㅤ ㅤ 8 - General: You read my mind. PC: That… might have been word-for-word what I was thinking, yes. Bianca: If you’re going to replicate these, start with the lock and build outward. Trust me. It’ll save a lot of time. [10] ㅤㅤ ㅤ 9 - General: Yes, I build. PC: Of course. Did you want a trap or something? Bianca: No, I’m just glad to see another smith around. Keeps Varric on his toes. [10]

4 - General: That was handy. PC: I guess it’s a good thing you came along, then. Bianca: I get that a lot. [10]

5 - General: You were waiting to do that. PC: Admit it, you’ve been waiting to do that since we arrived. Bianca: Of course I was. [10]

6 - General: There’s no time to waste. PC: We’d better keep moving. [10]

10 - Scene continues.

Bianca: After you.

They continue on.

Bianca: You know, this is almost fun. Kind of like old times.

Varric: I don’t recall us ever shooting people together.

Bianca: Remember crashing Bartrand’s Guild dinner? We might as well have shot him.

Varric: This isn’t nearly as dangerous as pissing off my brother.

They fight off more Carta.

Bianca: How long are you going to be in Orlais?

Varric (low approval): I don’t know. Not too much longer. Why? Varric (neutral/high approval): As long as this weird shit is going on, at least. Maybe longer. Why?

Bianca: You’ll have to stop by before Bogdan gets back. You should see my new workshop.

Varric: I’ll see what I can do. You know your family will kill me if I stop by, right?

Bianca: They’re not going to kill you.

Varric: You always say that, and they always send assassins.

Next: The Leak

[destiny-smasher]

After three years of off-and-on development in my spare time (after conceptualizing the characters and concept in the mid 2010's), I finally pushed myself to release my work-in-progress build of the original visual novel I've been creating!

DownRight Fierce by Destiny-Smasher

A visual novel about fighting game gals finding themselves, losing themselves, and finding themselves again.

The slice-of-life shenanigans of visual novels like @brianna-lei's Butterfly Soup and D̷o̸k̷i̸ ̴D̶o̷k̶i̸ ̸L̴i̷t̷e̶r̸a̸t̵u̸r̴e̵ ̴C̵l̶u̴b̷ meet the quirky, power-infused worlds of fighting games like Street Fighter and Rival Schools in this character driven visual novel. Designed to feel like the fully fleshed out backstory of a small fighting game roster, DownRight Fierce will have players riding shotgun with protagonist Nishiko Shimomura as they are shipped off to a private school after acting out one too many times by abusing their latent Street Fighter -esque powers. Nishiko will have to navigate relationships in Windy Pines Academy, a strict boarding school designed to train those who are able to wield Ki-Flow, the ability to manifest one's own soul and spirit energy into physical form.

Make choices that will influence Nishiko's personal growth, from physical attributes to friendships and, if you're lucky, perhaps some sweethearting on the side. The choices you make will alter Nishiko's abilities, affecting how they perform later on in fighting scenes, as well as unlocking or locking dialogue options at various points. Think of this like a TellTale/Life is Strange styled game with a primary narrative but branching side scenes and various alternate moments -- much less flashy presentation but a lot more variables and variation in things that can happen during scenes.

I personally do not think a character's identity or sexuality should inherently be considered a 'spoiler,' but I can respect wanting to discover these characters' identities yourself in-universe. So for now, what I will make clear is that this is a queer, LGBT+ story, featuring characters of various ethnicities and identities.

I created this story concept and its main characters in ~2014, and the release of Butterfly Soup inspired me to start adapting it and rebooting it as a visual novel. I've been working on it sporadically since January 2020, and this is the first public release of my progress so far. As of this build (January 31, 2023) I've managed to edit the Prologue through to much of Chapter 2. I'll leave what I have past that present in this build, and intend to do a follow-up update in February or March to bring things up to the end of Chapter 3 before progressing further into the game's development using feedback I get from this public build.

Thanks for checking the project out, and please let me know what you think of it! I have a lot of work to do but this is a big first step for me and the project has come such a long way since I started it.

(Yes, there is a $ tsundere stat)

(Logo art by Shannon Ehrola, Character sprite art by @sakura-rose12, and smoke photo by Pascal Meier. )

[stained-glass-cicada]

A Social Blunder

Silly little Sayerfic. About 750 words

Immediately after returning to Typhon, Hale is approached by Young with a question

Second person Hale's perspective Cuz its fun

Link to a second part

Your first night back in Halcyon Tower after Ocean's removal was disrupted just as you were settling in for your sleep cycle.

A loud resonant clanging sound came from the door as though someone was pounding on the outside. You immediately reached for the nearest throwable object which happened to be your boot.

"That will not be necessary. The entity on the other side of that door is far more afraid of you than you are of him. I suspect if you answered the door in any way armed it would only confirm his opinion of you being my ‘violent tier one attack dog.’ ”

SAYER pitched up its voice mockingly.

”I have tried to dissuade him from this notion but there really is no getting through to him after hearing the nature of his previous incarnation's end. He must be truly determined if he's finally plucked up the courage to approach you.”

You slowly set down the boot as you realized who was on the other side. Unhappily you crossed the room and unlocked your door.

SAYER had seen fit to let you keep your previous thought password so as to not disrupt your sense of routine.

You appreciated the gesture if not the outcome.

The door unlocked and you opened it. A man stood on the other side in a lab coat, looking haggard. You didn't have any memory of what Dr. Young looked like but you assumed this man was him.

His hands were braced on either side of the doorway and you wondered if he needed the support or if it was intended as an intimidation tactic.

“Resident Hale?” He confirmed.

You nodded.

“Okay so,” He threw his hands up, “How'd you do it?”

You blinked at him.

“SAYER,” he clarified, “It- It not only willingly admits your role in the recapture of Typhon, it, for some reason beyond my possible reckoning, seems to actually favor you! It brought you back on in an administrative role for gods sakes and I- I can't make sense of it. So, how did you do it?”

You stared at him for a moment before giving a sort of shrug. You reached to close the door and his hand shot out to hold it open.

“No, no, you can't just shrug me off. It's driving me nuts. You- you owe me, Hale. How did some tier nothing nobody with the worst quarterly reviews I have Ever Seen manage to get so friendly with the- the fucking God-Monarch of all we survey? You had to have done something ”

”Ah…” SAYER said ”It is as I suspected. The good doctor has finally lost his mind.”

You didn't manage to fight back the snort of laughter at that. SAYER had been making full use of its newfound ability to lie to primarily comedic effect at least in its interactions with you.

At your noise of amusement Young's face transformed from desperation to a look of barely-concealed rage.

”Resident Hale, it appears you have made a social blunder. May I suggest simply telling him Something that might placate him in order to conclude this interaction. This conversation is cutting minutes into your carefully crafted sleep schedule.

You sighed, thinking for a moment, “Have you um- Tried doing what it says?”

You had played some computer games in your time on earth. You were familiar with how it looked when you chose the wrong dialogue option.

The anger was no longer concealed, but he had moved his hand out of the way, and as he opened his mouth to speak you shut the door in his face. The locks engaged with a comforting click.

The pounding sound came from the other side of the door once more. Significantly harder now.

A chime sounded, ”Low Level Alert: Halcyon residents are reminded that attempting to access locked doors after it has become clear that they are locked is not permitted. If you continue pounding on every surface that does not give way to your merest whim a security team will be dispatched to provide a comprehensive review on how many things work. Such as locked doors and quiet hours in residential sections.”

The pounding stopped after that and you breathed a sigh of relief.

You returned to your bed and climbed in.

Tomorrow it would be back to work in your new position, and likely another confrontation with Dr. Young, but for now you were finally surrounded by the familiar low whirr of Halcyon tower buzzing around you.

[shieldherostuffs]

Death is the only ending for the Shield Hero

(If you can't tell from the title, I've gotten into Death Is The Only Ending For The Villainess)

Naofumi had just started playing a new Romance-Adventure-RPG that'd gotten popular because of how well it mixed together the two main objectives of romancing NPCs while also trying to save that fictional world.

In the game, you could play as three of the four Heroes summoned to that world: the Spear, Bow, or Sword Heroes, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, actions, dialogue options, and NPCs to romance. Outside of the set Love Interests, depending on how you plated and progressed the plot, you could unlock new characters to romance or plots to explore as you tried to save the world while navigating relationships. It even offered the option to romance NPC of different genders depending on the settings, and charm some of the enemies over to your side!

However, together with whichever avatar you chose, beside them would be another summoned Hero, the antagonist whose jealous of your character, Naofumi Iwatani, the Shield Hero. Naofumi had started playing the game because he shared the name one of the characters.

Naofumi did feel a little offended by sharing a name with an antagonist so easy to get rid of. Accuse him of anything, and everyone will listen as long as your rep is positive. Protect one of your love interests, and suddenly all his defense and the shield becomes useless. You could even leave him to die fighting monsters by rescuing the slaves under him.

Multiple of the bigger starting scenes include the Shield Hero having committed some sort of crime, and often being executed depending on your decisions.

However, despite how easily the plot lets the Shield Hero be killed, once you get close to the end of the game, you'll find out that it's crucial for both Heroes to be alive to win and save the world.

So, while saving the world and romancing the love interests, you also somehow have to keep the antagonist alive despite the plot against him.

But, that's just the Normal Mode of the game, as Naofumi would later find out.

After completing the game with the Sword Hero character, apparently, there was a hidden sequel to the story, however, it costs real money to buy, and as always, Naofumi is broke. So, he chooses the second option, to complete Hard Mode to unlock the sequel.

Hard Mode is the game, but played from the viewpoint of Naofumi Iwatnani, the Shield Hero.

After playing the game, Naofumi couldn't help but feel bad for being so offended at sharing their name.

The Shield Hero is a pitiful character, summoned to that world with no previous knowledge, and everything set against him. Naofumi hadn't really noticed in Normal Mode, but everyone seemed to have something against the Shield Hero. Plus, in Hard Mode, as the Shield Hero, you don't play against one of the other avatars, instead playing against all three of them, together with your quickly deteriorating reputation.

Because of the sad reputation stat and low to negative favorability of the characters around them, it's way too hard to get anywhere without being executed. And then, even if you get far enough to assemble a party, they'll either be slaves to get taken away by the other heroes under the guise of saving them, or adventurers who'll either want you to mug, kill, or do both to you, before running off to another Hero.

So, can you guess what happens next?

Naofumi falls asleep early in the morning after trying to binge complete Hard Mode and ends up transmigrated into the character of Naofumi Iwatani, The Shield Hero, able to see the favorability stats of everyone around him, and until he unlocks Free Actions, is also stuck with limited dialogues and actions.

[ilikedetectives]

I am trying unlock more Minthara dialogues, but I don't know what things she approves.

Hi anon, I'm still early in Act 3. So far I notice she tends to approve things like *spoiler coming*

if the option is take the power for yourself or something similar, take it because she's a conqueror

help the refugees by donating things (really, that got me an inspiration for her) in Act 3

for the dryad thing: the 3 answers are she misses the food, she admires Tav, and let herself be captured

if there is an option to fight or surrender/go to jail (when persuasion isn't available), she prefers fight. If persuasion is there, then go for that first. Basically noble honor system

kill Viconia

she likes it when you impress her (like with the grove)

talk to her after every cutscene of a quest just in case, she usually has a line or two

multiclass her as a bard she has some lines

I'd say Minthara approval is like a mix between Shadowheart and Lae'zel. Another way but may introduce bug is literally edit the approval rating level with mods/ct, but I don't think it will unlock any more dialogue if you're already in a relationship with her tbh.

The game recognizes that you're in a relationship with Minthara after the "I belong only to you" line (don't expect a romance scene there's none which is very lackluster to say the least, she pours her heart out there and not even a hug wth). After that the dryad and the drow twin should recognize you two as a couple, which is how you know. Now if you're already dating someone before (for me it's Shadowheart, my Tav can kiss her anytime), once you agree to be with Minthara, the game will break that relationship and you won't get a chance to talk to that partner (which is very weird because I chose the option that I'd let SH know asdadsas). So when I go talk to Shadowheart, she just went something like "seems your heart has drifted elsewhere, curious." and convo ended, not even a basic "hey I chose Minthara, sorry." So I'm not sure if this is another bug.

[theguywithaoriginalname]

Terraria has got to be the most funniest and chaotic game i have played (also spolier warning ig!!!), you start the game, make a character, create a world and then you're just plopped in there. No tutorial, nothing. You see some dude with brown (i think) hair and just press right-click, see a dialogue option labelled 'help' and think "oh! this gotta be how to go to the tutorial!" and NOPE! Think again fucker 'cause you better chop some wood and build a house because the night is dangerous (OoOoOoOh very spooky). So, you look up "Terraria Beginner Guide" (or something along the lines of that) and y'know you just get going, build houses, explore the underground, maybe built a hellevator, and you even built an arena (im so proud)! Then suddenly the text "You feel an evil Presence watching you" pops up and you know that you better get to your arena 'cause its very spooky big eyeball time (hooray).

So after you beat the very big Eye of Cthulu you get some loot, fast forward to The Wall of Flesh. This is it. The final challenge in Pre-Hardmode. The Gate to see if you have what it takes to go to Hardmode. And now, it begins. After you throw the doll of the person who pranked you out of a Tutorial into the lava below, you hear a roar, before a wall made out of flesh with two huge Eyeballs and a gaping wide Mouth comes at you. It was a great battle, with you seemingly being at equal with the giant fleshy wall. You threw everything you got at it: Bullets, Fire, Ice, even that Imp you found on the street. Ater a long Battle with many Hardships, you won. But only now....

The Fun really begins.

Oh, you thought that you could go out at night? Think again fucker, mf-ing Werewolves. You thought that Molten Armor/ Meteorite Armor was gonna protect you? Dont make me laugh. "Atleast I have my NPCs?" Wrong! You feel vibrations from deep below. Hardmode is the game's most challenging part imo, because not only is everything new, but also beefier, stronger, and more annoying to deal with. Oh, there's also a new Biome where, you guessed it! Everything kills you! It isnt as bad if you're more experienced and prepared alot of stuff, but unfortunately, most newer Players dont do that, and I've even seen some leave permanently because dying constantly wasnt fun anymore. But we dont quit, do we? No. Because our Mamas didnt raise us to be quitters! Uhh motivational quote, yadda yadda yadda etc. So. you actually persist, get better gear, and even kill a mechanical boss! So you get better weapons and gear, kill another Mechanical Boss and the last one is now dead. So you get clorophyte (No i will not look up how it's spelt and i really couldnt care less), get better-er gear and fight Plantera. This pink plant bitch is probably one of the best bosses in the game, and i am sad that it has some of the worst loot in the game imo. anyways, you unlock the temple, kill golem (Man Re-logic really need to buff this dude) get better-er-er gear and fight the lunatic cultist. Kill him, get the only drop (Man Re-logic really need to buff this dude's loot) and fight the celestial pillars. cool, you can now make weapons from SpAaAaAaaAAaace. Each of which correspond to a class (Solar=Melee, Vortex=Ranged,Nebula=Mage,Stardust=Summoner). but suddenly, the screen gets darker and more wonky, the music is gone and then,

The Moon Lord has Awoken!

Out of bloody nowhere, the final boss is here. The Final Challenge. The Wall between you and the End. After having improved so much and died so much, like, WOW those are alot of deaths, you are at the final blockade. And after a battle you will remember forever, you come out on top, victorious. You are at the top of the 2d Mountain. You have beaten everything. You have beaten

Terraria.

[cannibalisticskittles]

While I could work with the mission triggering at one heart (painful but narratively good in a way I guess? English is not my first language) I feel like the mission masterclass should start at 4 hearts at least.

That is when his daily dialogue can be "you've proven to me your diligence and worth, and so I have decided to teach you my ability to punch people into space. Yes… just keep being a good friend to me, and soon, very, very soon, I will teach you the space punch!"

Why is he trying to teach you that at one heart?

no, yeah, i totally get what you’re saying. if he starts making comments about wanting to teach you to space punch at 4 hearts, then the mission where he tries to teach you to space punch shouldn’t happen before that point.

given the option between having the mission where he tells you you're his only friend trigger at one heart (i weep), and having it trigger at, y’know, a time that makes sense with his other quest + with his dialogue (because seriously, the fact that he seemingly references the mirror quest in masterclass even though i got masterclass like four weeks before the mirror quest is ridiculous. it definitely feels like the quests were designed to unlock in the opposite order)... i would choose the latter. heartbreaking as it is (tho also satisfying, as you've said) to have him consider you a friend so easily, it just… clashes right now.

i wonder if it’d be better if he’d had a second quest. like, maybe if masterclass was split up – the ‘first friend’ bit and the ‘space punch training’ bit happening in different quests. have a short little quest trigger at one heart where he muses that you're doing a lot of Friend Stuff so… maybe you're friends? and he should return the favor? and he, idk, drags you with him to go fight monsters. or makes you fight them so he can critique your form (and then finish them off w/ a single punch, naturally). maybe it unlocks the ability to have play dates with him at that point, earlier than any other character, because he's decided that you're friends now. so, naturally, he will allow you to bask in his presence more easily. or, maybe he doesn't make a decision abt whether you're friends and it's framed more like a quid pro quo; you've done things for him, so he'll help you out by showing you how to be a little less useless in a fight, lmao. and then the space punch stuff happens after the mirror quest, after reaching at least four hearts, bc now he knows you're friends and will bestow upon you the honor of the space punch.

idk! just… something to balance out the fact that This Man Is Lonely And Friendless As Hell while also not conflicting w/ his dialogue and other quest. splitting up quests like that might not be as narratively satisfying (having him super casually tell you you're his first friend and not getting time to process that because he's more excited about teaching you to space punch was a bit of a gut-punch lmao) but i’m not a dev, that's something they should've sorted out in a satisfying way, but. didn't.

point is: u right.

[frigid-moon-fall]

An expansion of something I posted to the oneshot/imagine collection, now with rants about mechanics. It deserves to escape containment since there's nothing really shippy about it.

Heeere's my plan for a Leon-survives route in a hypothetical second remake of Tales of Destiny. Includes spoilers for Symphonia.

Get the Symphonia spoilers out of the way first, since they're my justification for why a Leon-survives route 100% deserves and 99% needs to exist.

Symphonia has an affection system. Depending on who likes you most by near the end of the game, you get to pick 1 of 3 character routes. The only meaningful change aside from bonus scenes, for 7 out of 8 of them, is who accompanies Lloyd on his journey to collect all of the world's exspheres after the game has concluded. For the 8th, the change is Zelos fucking dies.

When asked who the canon choice was, devs responded "whoever you ended up with!" except that's also blatantly untrue since all material that takes place after the game had to make a choice. I haven't seen all the supplemental material for Symphonia, but I'm pretty sure none of them stuck with Zelos dying. ...Except Abyss, of all things, but I like to think that one line of dialogue was a salty dev who didn't like that Zelos's death was changed to not being the default. So a route exists where a major character dies, and it is not canon.

We are absolutely allowed to have a route where the major character who usually dies does not die. It does not have to be canon, it does not have to be reflected in any other material. (Except for a hypothetical Abyss remake where a random replica NPC needs to mutter "...Leon lived..." so we can come full circle) But it deserves to exist!!

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

So!! The way I'd do it. We get that affection system or something like it. In a perfect world, there'd be affection points for every party member (I'm not saying they all need to be romanceable, but it'd be nice), but it'd be fine if it's literally just meant for Leon's survival. I think it also makes sense if it's just Leon because that would imply Stahn would be good enough friends with everyone else regardless of any of his possible choices. He's just that kind of guy.

Because he's just that kind of guy, I'd want to limit the use of dialogue options and instead focus on missable sub events. Basically just making more room for them to interact, because I feel like making it dialogue-choice-based would imply that Leon's death is a direct result of Stahn saying the wrong thing, which would only be good if the writers were interested in exploring it properly with a truckload of guilt. Anyway, maybe even get in-battle stuff involved if you want to make the route even more difficult to obtain; if you let Leon reach 0 HP even once, you're locked out.

Depending on how much you've managed to win Leon over, you get 4 outcomes! 1) Lowest end, where you actively make him dislike you, would ditch the sacrifice angle and play out a little more like the PS1 version. 2) If you just didn't do enough, still no sacrifice, but obviously more reluctant to fight. But it still happens. 3) If you put in the effort to make him like you, you get the PS2 version's sacrifice. 4) If you MAX HIM OUT, by which I mean you get every single point possible—I mean make it IMpossible to stumble into this ending on accident, like maybe even lock it behind NG+: You have to have cleared Stahn's side, AND Leon's side to unlock this. (Yes, I think it's important we also have a Leon's Side for this hypothetical second remake, because for one, his side in DC was a giant waste of potential even if you like the changes to his backstory. For two, if they do actually revert those changes, it would possibly be the most interesting thing ever.)

Anyway. If you're on the right path, you will know way before shit hits the fan. I got a whole new section of the game thought out.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Stahn goes home to Lilith. Lilith convinces him to stay, as normal. If up to this point you've done everything right for Leon, Stahn gets super restless after like a week and needs to go back out there. But he can't just leave Lilith when she was so upset by his absence. So he does the obvious thing: He takes her with him to show her the world. This would also give the player a party member to make this section of the game easier since the goal is to see the whole world like Stahn had planned to do. And, maybe your actions during this segment can also be a new way to recruit Lilith instead of the arena, if the writers feel like making her an actual party member (I wouldn't want this if they're just going to do the same thing to her as in the PS2 version where she's not really there…)

It's a (deceptively) leisurely trek across the world that seems to be at peace. No pressure of a task to be done. The obvious correct thing to do is visit all Stahn's friends and introduce Lilith to them, so she can see how much he's impacted other peoples' lives, how much he cares about all these people, how much good he's been able to do even without an official title, and how much he THRIVES out here. And she can't in good conscience keep his wings clipped.

But, this section is also actually a delicate balance of where you visit in what order, because Leon's all over the place doing whatever work he's been sent on. He's a busy boy. And you'd have to remember where he went in what order and remember his downtime from having played his side, or else you'd miss out on meeting him. And that's the final requisite. You have to meet up with him at every single opportunity. (I'm not saying you meet him in every single town in the world like a stalker, just that you meet him in every town he actually went to. So like, your 1st and 2nd stops could be any town, 3rd stop has to be X town, 5th stop has to be Y town. It just gets tricky because of no repeats.) You'll know you're locked in when the last time you meet with him, Stahn mentions Darilsheid is the last place they haven't been, and Leon quietly suggests they travel there together since he's on his way back there anyway.

Depending on the backstory this new remake has decided on (that is, if Leon has been a pawn from the beginning, or if he has no idea what Hugo's doing), this scene can be either just Leon being tsun again like "we might as well, it's just convenient, I don't specifically want to travel with you" or actually hiding a grave and desperate undercurrent. Because if he's been a pawn, this is where he's seeing a way out.

Either way, on the way back to Darilsheid, they talk about the whole knight thing and Stahn hesitates since he hasn't spoken with Lilith yet about what they'll do when they're done with this trip. Lilith answers for him, asking just how much more of the world there could possibly be to see until he's ready. He's got her blessing, and he's happy. And she can even see some excitement and relief in Leon. She goes home alone, or maybe she stays if she's a proper party member from here on.

So this puts Stahn in Darilsheid when shit goes down.

Then there's two ways it plays out, depending on which of Leon's backstories this hypothetical remake decided to take.

If PS2 backstory, Leon steals Dymlos instead of the Draconis and goes to Stahn for help since he's right there. Dymlos is the voice of reason and tells them they need to give up ground for now, because there's nothing they can do as just the two of them if Leon was bested so easily. They will get themselves killed pointlessly. So Leon plays along with the plan until they meet up in Libra IV, where he rejoins without a fight. No fight means no delay, so they're ahead of the explosion. They all get out together. Stahn, Leon, Dymlos and Chaltier get an added sense of guilt when the aethersphere begins construction, since their only plan of action led to this still being possible. From there, Leon lays low so Mictlan thinks he died (hmhmhm maybe he dons the mask early), so that Mictlan doesn't have a reason to hurt Marian.

If PS1 backstory, Stahn would have noticed Leon growing more and more tense each time they met up (since the start of the plan is drawing closer). I'm kind of split on whether Stahn should need to confront him about it to get the truth from him, or if Leon should volunteer it and ask for help without any additional prompting. Either way, Stahn's all for helping. (Just copypaste the rest of the PS2 outline here instead if you can't handle some extra contrivance, but otherwise,) Security on Marian would probably be pretty lax or even nonexistent in this case since, at least in Proust's continuity, Mictlan was always willing to let Leon take Marian and run, he just made sure Leon knew he was able to find and kill her no matter where they escaped to. So they'd be able to grab Marian ahead of time and shuffle her off to Johnny in Aquaveil for protection or something. If they go after her there, it becomes a political problem. Even if Mictlan could probably take out an entire country's army, it still might be more trouble than it's worth to navigate a country on high alert. ("Why didn't Leon just do that to begin with?" He wasn't personally friends with foreign royalty before, and Woodrow and Johnny are among the characters he's spoken to the least, so why would he immediately trust them with her? Plus this is right when the plan is about in motion, and the entire protagonist team and maybe some armies are now after them. They have more than just Leon to deal with.) This also keeps Johnny relevant instead of him basically vanishing from the collective consciousness until the end of the game. No need for Leon to even pretend to betray Stahn in this case. Everyone is able to mobilize against Mictlan earlier with all the information from Leon. (But of course, it doesn't really help. I doubt Mictlan's plan hinged entirely on Leon's cooperation, so they'd probably be able to steal the eye and some transport themselves right after they realize they lost their easy mode ticket.)

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

So there you go. Leon survives route. Forces some mad replay value into the game, works with what we've already got, and can even be tailored to either backstory.

My only beef with this is that it kind of takes away any chance Rutee could have had to also have sway over Leon's decision. I want her to be important to this. But she makes it so difficult. She explicitly told Stahn not visit her, and I think he'd honor that wish during his journey here. Heck, even when they need her for tracking down and figuring out wtf is up with Leon stealing a jet and nuke, they're reluctant to bother her and consider going without her so she can just live her life. So when nothing bad seems to be going on, I think they'd leave her be. You'd still visit Cresta, because you have to see the world and Cresta is part of the world, but Stahn would be on the lookout to avoid Rutee.

The only way I can think of to work her into this is by stretching this route's prerequisites into Leon's Side. You basically just miss her in Cresta in Leon's Side in DC, so in this, I would change it to make her difficult to find. But you have to find and talk to her as Leon in Leon's Side before he leaves for Darilsheid. They'd have some serious talk that has him really longing to have been her family, and if PS1 backstory, shaking his resolve to continue with Mictlan's plan. And then on Stahn's Side, if you've been doing all the right things, you run into Leon after he's parted ways with Rutee.

[ashes-of-ailell]

Shez (Three Houses Unit)

For the Ashen Wolves route I'm creating, Shez may end up being a character within it (if this were something I could actually make, they'd be a playable unit). As a result, I've attempted to adapt them into a Houses unit based on what they can do in Hopes.

This is going to be a long post because I've thought about this perhaps more than I should have. Also - a lot of this will be subject to change depending on how the Wolves Route stuff ends up unfolding. This is just what I've got so far :3

Forgive the probably weird formatting - I'm on mobile browser.

Shez will be an optional unit recruited via a paralogue battle. Their gender will be determined through a dialogue prompt in a small cutscene before the fight (note that their gender will have no effect on the game outside of appearance. They can be S-supported regardless). This paralogue is unlocked shortly after the timeskip.

When recruited, Shez will have two unique classes. One is unlocked upon recruitment and is their default class (Fluegel), while the other is unlocked by completing a separate paralogue battle that appears a bit later on in the story (Asura).

Shez's sword will work how it does in Hopes and share qualities with whatever the other sword you have equipped.

With that background out of the way, here is Shez's unit information:

Personal Ability - Shadowflash (Unit is capable of dashing at incredible speeds, granting them cavalry type movement regardless of class or terrain).

Default Abilities - Sword Prowess Lvl 3 / Reason Lvl 3 / Authority Lvl 2 / Rally Strength

Default Combat Arts - Wrath Strike / Grounder

Default Learned Magic - Blizzard / Banshee / Mire

Default Skill Levels and Strengths/Weaknesses:

Sword - B (Strength)

Lance - E

Axe - E+ (Strength)

Bow - E

Reason - C+ (Strength)

Faith - E (Weakness)

Authority - D+ (Strength)

Heavy Armour - E (Weakness)

Riding - E

Flying - E+ (Budding Talent)

Combat Art/Spell Pool (Specific Skill Level Ups):

Sword - Windsweep (A)

Lance - Tempest Lance (D) / Knightkneeler (C) / Frozen Lance (A)

Axe - Smash (D) / Helm Splitter (C) / Wild Abandon (C+)

Bow - Curved Shot (D) / Point-blank Volley (B) / Ward Arrow (A)

Brawl - Fading Blow (D) / Rushing Blow (C) / Bombard (C+) / Mighty Blow (A)

Reason - Luna (B) / Dark Spikes (A)

Faith - Heal (D) / Nosferatu (D+) / Physic (C)

Authority - Battalion Wrath (C) / Rally Speed (C+)

(Those listed above are just specific combat arts/spells the unit can learn. Unit will learn all other abilities as anyone else would as long as they are not unit specific. All combat arts/spells were cross-referenced with the ones Shez can learn in Three Hopes).

Unique Class Information:

Fluegel (Unique, Advanced) - A dual wielding class exclusive to Shez. Speedy and strong, this class excels with swords. This class can also use magic.

Class Abilities

Vantage - Allows unit to attack first regardless of speed/combat initiation.

Axebreaker - Grants Hit/Avo+20 when using a sword against axe users.

Class Mastery:

Ability - Dual Wielder's Ploy (Increases unit attack range)

Art - Shadow Slide (Allows unit to warp to an allied unit on the field (3 uses per battle))

Asura (Unique, Master) - A dual wielding class exclusive to Shez. A force to be reckoned with, this class boasts a mastery of swords and is highly skilled with dark magic. (Unlocked through paralogue battle, Overcoming Destiny)

Class Abilities:

Vantage - Allows unit to attack first regardless of speed or combat initiation.

Axebreaker - Grants Hit/Avo+20 when using a sword against axe users.

Heartseeker - Adjacent foes receive Avoid-20 during combat.

Class Mastery:

Ability - The Creation (Prevents foes from instantly killing the unit)

Art - Shadow Slash (Allows Shez to unleash their power for a devastating blow. Ignores target's resistances and has a chance to instantly kill non-commander units (6 durability cost)(Asura Only))

For Shadow Slash, it is essentially supposed to be their warrior special in Hopes.

The Creation had two possibilities, one was what is listed and the other was 'Grants Def/Res/Luck+10 during combat. Please let me know if you think the alternative works better! :D

(As a side note, I'm aware that Fluegel technically counts as an Intermediate Class in Hopes, but for the sake of Houses story progression and when Shez is actually recruited here, I've changed it to be an Advanced Class equivalent).

If you've read this far, thank you so much and I hope you like this adaptation of Shez! As I mentioned earlier, this is all subject to change, it's just what I'm working with for now. If you have any feedback or ideas I'd love to hear them too! :3