#or upon return of some quest etc

[what-is-it-to-be-pk-esque]

More screenshots I’ve had lying around and never posted of these two being adorable in the Underdark

[e-vay]

A Guide to My AU ("Evay AU")

Hello! I make art for anything and everything I love, but if you follow me you'll find that a large amount of my content is centered around my own Sonic AU. I thought I'd make a handy little guide for those of you who are new and just learning about my AU or for those of you who have been following me but might want a refresher.

★This guide is a living document that will be continuously amended as I make changes and additions to my stories. ★

♡♡♡♡♡♡

OVERALL PREMISE

My AU centers around Sonic & Friends through adulthood as they navigate relationships, careers, marriage and family. The primary genres are "slice of life" and "romantic comedy" with some action/drama interspersed throughout. My AU mostly follows the video game canon and the IDW canon with some elements from Sonic Boom and Sonic X tossed in and then I created my own characters and stories to fill in the gaps. My AU DOES NOT include the Sonic Cinematic Universe, Archie comics/characters, Fleetway comics/characters, Sonic Prime, SatAM, the OVA, Sonic Underground, the 1992 Manga, etc.

SPECIAL NOTES

In my AU, I depict "Classic" versions of the Sonic cast as their younger selves with their "Modern/Boom" versions being older.

Although my canon does not include Archie/SatAM, I do refer to Sonic characters' classification as "Mobians" and the planet they are on is referred to as Earth/Mobius interchangeably. I credit this as simply "cultural variation" between humans and Sonic characters but they all originate from the same planet.

MOST IMPORTANTLY please remember this is a fanmade AU. Nothing I say, write or draw influences the Sonic franchise or canon in any way. I'm just here to have fun and I hope you enjoy the ride!

KEY

For the timeline below, Canon Sonic characters will be highlighted in blue and my original characters will be highlighted in pink.

If there is a comic or written fic that corresponds with an element of the timeline, I will include it as a hyperlink.

ABRIDGED TIMELINE

Project Shadow is created and suspended.

Domino and Phlox meet. Sonic is conceived.

Domino raises Sonic to approx. toddler age until she loses her life in a flash flood. Sonic is left alone to fend for himself and eventually represses his memories of Domino to cope with the trauma.

Clay Rose and Lulu Petula meet. Together, they have Amy and she lives with her parents until her fortune cards lead her to meeting Sonic.

Majority of the game/IDW canon takes place.

CC (originally labeled as "Code Compiler") is a spherical/ovoid robot created (August 26) by an independent inventor (no relation to the Robotniks) to assist with production. CC's intelligence rapidly evolves and she gains sentience much to her creator's dismay. After a struggle, the inventor powers her off and the workshop falls into disrepair. The building is marked condemned and CC's chassis remains hidden within the rubble.

Sonic and Phlox run into each other on several occasions. Neither realize they are related.

Amy begins her pursuit of archaeological studies.

A mystery woman going by the name "Light" (who is secretly Aurora from the future) appears and warns Sonic & Team of an oncoming threat that is hellbent on killing Shadow before wreaking havoc on the planet. Light claims she was sent here with the task of protecting Shadow but is not forthcoming with any other information about herself or her 'previous team'. Light & the Team work together to fight off 'the threat' and along the way Shadow develops a romantic interest in Light who also has strong feelings and an allegiance to him for reasons he does not know. Upon defeating the villain, Light must return to where she came from. Shadow tries to discourage her and even asks to accompany her, but she insists that if she stays any longer, she risks causing catastrophic damage. She departs and Shadow vows to find her again.

Rouge and Omega join Shadow in his search to find Light. After combing the globe with no luck, their quest takes them off-world and they go on an interplanetary journey. The three become mercenaries to fund their space expedition.

Knuckles bulks up! His goal of spending time away from Angel Island did him some good!

Sonic and Amy begin a romantic relationship.

Sonic moves in with Amy.

Tails establishes Yellow Sky Industries, a company where he can begin sharing his gadgetry with the world as well as partner up with other innovators to put their genius to good use.

Stone establishes The Mean Bean coffee shop. Much to his delight, Eggman frequents this cafe but is unaware of Stone's affection.

Sonic and Amy get engaged. Upon hearing the news and growing homesick, Rouge and Omega return home, leaving Shadow to continue his journey on his own. While attending the wedding festivities, Knuckles and Rouge rekindle their budding romance.

During one of Eggman's many failed attempts at world domination, he falls victim to a near-fatal accident of his own making. Sonic rescues him, but Eggman loses his right hand in the process. Eggman is forced to reconsider his health and kickstarts some moral dilemmas for him. His attempts at world domination begin to dwindle.

Cream departs home to pursue humanitarian/Mobianitarian(?) efforts

Rouge uses her mercenary wealth to develop her own mining and jewelry business (she does not give up thievery). Knuckles is initially hired on as head excavator, but this job is only temporary until he secures enough money to fund a dream project of his.

With his own money and with the support of Yellow Sky Industries and his friends' investments, Knuckles develops the Young Heroes Program - a nonprofit youth organization. He works full time as a trainer at the program to help empower kids and strengthen the community. Sonic assists YH as needed, but is not a full-time volunteer.

Sonic and Amy decide to start a family. Aurora is conceived.

Rouge and Knuckles get married.

In one last ditch effort to regain Sonic's attention and to encourage Sage to follow in her father's footsteps**(See note), Eggman kidnaps Amy. This triggers her to go into labor early and Aurora is born (March 13). This is the nail in the coffin as far as Eggman's villainous efforts go and he makes an unspoken agreement with Sonic to 'retire' from villainy. He still plans to regularly annoy them by inserting himself into their lives. (**Note: This comic was made before Sage was introduced to the game canon. In retrospect, Sage would have been a part of this story and part of the reason Eggman decided to kidnap Amy, no matter how much Sage discouraged him. Sage instantly bonds with Aurora and vows to be her lifelong friend.)

Amy takes on a second job as an interior designer to support her family while Sonic becomes a stay-at-home dad and focuses most of his time and attention on raising Aurora.

Once Aurora is old enough, she begins attending the YH program. This is the closest Sonic will allow her to participating in any adventures.

Ruff Hyena is born (January 29).

As a defense mechanism against constant bullying from her peers, Aurora’s light powers begin to manifest.

In addition to attending the Young Heroes Program, Aurora begins a mentorship with her Uncle Tails for optics/physics lessons in order to better understand her powers.

Eggman and Stone begin dating.

Aurora begins to experience premonitions in the form of dreams. Amy does her best to help Aurora hone this skill, but without much success.

Tumble Hyena is born (January 30). Ruff and Tumble are abandoned and left to fend on their own before ending up in the foster care system. They remain there for many years.

Aurora develops a crush on a boy named Kyle and they go on a few “playdates”. Aurora invites Kyle over to the house to meet her parents and Sonic does not handle it well. After an argument, Aurora and Kyle agree to not hang out together anymore.

Knuckles and Rouge adopt Ruff and Tumble.

Aurora ages out of the Young Heroes Program. Sonic discourages her from venturing out on her own and convinces her to work for YH instead.

After receiving a heartfelt message from Rouge, Shadow resigns from his quest and returns to Earth. He decides his new mission will be to get to better know the world Maria had always spoken so highly about.

Feeling “stuck” in her life, Aurora broaches the topic of moving out to be on her own. Sonic talks her out of it.

While reconnecting with The Team, Shadow is introduced to Aurora. He instantly recognizes her as the woman he’s spent the last several decades looking for, but doesn’t understand how that’s possible and she is adamant they have never met before. While telling Sonic and Amy of his world travel plans, Aurora offers to be his guide around town as she knows every inch of it. Shadow takes her up on her offer and the two quickly develop a friendship.

Shadow decides it doesn’t matter if Aurora is the Light he formerly met or not. He asks her on a date. Remembering how badly things went the last time one of Aurora’s “boyfriends” and Sonic interacted, she accepts Shadow’s courtship but only if they can keep it a secret for now. Shadow is wary of this, but agrees to her terms.

Keeping secrets from her parents begins to take a toll on Aurora, to the point she is getting sick. She tells Shadow she can’t keep lying to her family, so she tells him they shouldn’t see each other anymore. In hopes to “fix” the situation, Shadow meets with Sonic and Amy to ask their permission to date Aurora. This immediately escalates into a battle between Sonic and Shadow. Aurora intercepts the fight and, heartbroken, she tells Sonic that as much as she wants his blessing, she doesn’t need it, and is going to continue to date Shadow. Sonic, Amy and Aurora have a heart-to-heart to try and reconcile things, but Sonic makes it clear that though Aurora is a grown up and can technically date whoever she wants, she has to follow certain rules while she’s still living in their house.

Tails purchases an abandoned factory to expand Yellow Sky Industries. There, he finds the deactivated CC. He powers her on but she is severely traumatized and significantly damaged. He repairs her and after understanding how advanced her intelligence is, he offers her a job as his lab assistant.

CC quickly develops romantic feelings for Tails.

Knuckles, Rouge, Ruff and Tumble legally change their last names to “Motley”

In her pursuit to become “Mobian,” CC fabricates herself a Mobian-like body.

As Shadow and Aurora’s relationship progresses, they begin to explore more of the world together.

Tails and CC host a charity banquet. Things go awry.

Aurora gets her first apartment. She also begins a singing career.

Tails and CC officially begin a romantic relationship.

Aurora begins to have recurring premonitions about Shadow being in danger. She puts her musical tour on pause to stay vigilant.

A dangerous, mysterious entity appears and attacks The Team, severely wounding several members and nearly killing Shadow. Before the threat can be defeated, it retreats by escaping via time travel where it plans to successfully kill Shadow. With most of The Team out of commission or fearful of altering the timeline, Aurora travels back in time to save Past Shadow and the rest of her family. To protect her identity, she goes by the name “Light.”

Sonic and Shadow reconcile their differences. Sonic becomes noticeably more accepting of Shadow and Aurora’s relationship.

Shadow and Aurora get engaged and move in together.

Aurora continues her musical career.

Shadow and Aurora get married.

Ruff ages out of the Young Heroes Program and in the hopes to follow in Knuckles’ footsteps, he becomes a crime fighter. When Tumble isn’t helping his brother fight crime, he’s working on his own mechs.

Eggman and Stone digitally uploadt heir consciousness to Cyberspace so they can live indefinitely.

Shadow and Aurora decide to start a family. They have their first litter of triplets: Piper, Zane and Nova (November 12).

Shadow and Aurora have a second litter of twins: Aster and Blitz (April 8). At this time, Shadow uses the wealth he’s amassed to construct a large house that can accommodate their growing family.

Shadow and Aurora have a third litter of triplets: Cinder, Diamond and Boon (February 18).

Sonic and Amy return to a life of world traveling.

In addition to attending the Young Heroes Program, Shadow trains all of his children in how to best use their powers for the greater good of the planet.

During a fight, Cinder critically wounds Diamond with his “Stellar Tantrum” power. Boon uses his powers of healing to restore Diamond to full health without any scarring, but Cinder never forgives himself. He becomes withdrawn and distances himself from his family members from this point on.

♡♡♡♡♡♡

You can learn more about my AU by looking through My Art tag, referencing "My (Major) Comics" Directory, or by looking through My AU tag.

[mohntilyet]

literally cannot remember if this is already a post you made but do u think about if illario was a companion character and lucanis wasnt (maybe still rescued from the ossuary, maybe not). would he even be a viable companion character. etc.

i think i've mentioned it in tags but god yeah i've been thinking about companion illario. through bias and visions i think he could have made a really great companion!!!! i just don’t think we had enough who lie to/betray you in veilguard and i was like illario would love to do this <3 or at least TRY to do this and find that he can’t, because the betrayal-according-to-approval mechanic would return in this concept. this assumes a lot of things that i consider to be canon, including that illario’s a genuinely good assassin (YMMV on this i think. i look upon him with rose tinted glasses) but we’re introduced to illario as the second-best option who accompanied lucanis on various mage-killing quests.

he’s recruited in minrathous and not treviso because he’s been killing venatori like a man crazed. i forget who made the post but the one about how veilguard recruitment quests feel forced because you are recruiting, when stumbling on the right people could have felt more organic and a lot less formulated. he’s been operating in minrathous as the ‘demon of vyrantium’, which he admits to rook that he’s not the original. the original was lucanis, who was captured and killed by the venatori, and in his grief, has been trying to kill the magister (zara) that killed his cousin. he’s actually very nice and fun for an assassin, but players get the feeling that the charm is practiced, and there are glimpses into the “something rotten” under the surface.

what the players also do not know is that his hatred for the venatori is definitely projecting his guilt, because even in this au, illario is the guy who originally betrayed his brother and his complexes (slash pos slash hot slash i often picture him on his knees) remain. anyways. plot breakdown under the cut because its so fucking long and please take with a grain of salt because this was workshopped on a call with fie, who ‘yes and’s everything i say, so it might not be the greatest plot ever. nor very coherent. however, this is my blog and i can say whatever i want

act one recruitment: hunting down and killing zara. there’s foreshadowing here or something where she definitely recognises him and the facial animation leans towards “betrayal”. like zara saying “you?” in a way that can be mistaken for fear, when it’s recognition and betrayal + illario killing her before she can reveal anything else. they find evidence that lucanis is still alive and you see how excited he is, but also very conflicted. illario finally returns to treviso, and you immediately see the favoritism when he informs caterina that lucanis could still be out there. caterina delights in the idea of her favorite weapon back in her possession, and illario swears to bring him back.

in between: there’s a venatori leak! the magisters send some back up to weisshaupt which makes things a lot harder for the veilguard (miniboss before ghil?), and it contributes to failing to strike at ghilanain. but who could it be? everyone is a bit wary of each other, and causes friction.

act two: the ossuary <3 inexplicably, illario has found where lucanis is. the veilguard fights their way in and out, escaping with lucanis and destroying the vial of blood. they also find out lucanis is possessed, and when they return to treviso, after the shock and relief leaves, there’s a gleam in caterina’s eyes. illario is moved up in line of succession because caterina can’t see an abomination becoming talon (canon not discussing that he’s fucking possessed pisses me off so bad btw), and she’s obviously envisioning a world where lucanis’ leash is passed onto the grandson she’d seen as lesser, but has recently proved himself better than she had previously judged. suddenly, illario has everything he’s ever wanted, but not in the way he’s wanted it. he’s never wanted to necessarily be greater than, and doesn’t want to lose him. illario is very uncomfortable about becoming a new caterina to lucanis, but can’t express himself or explain it because he’s deeply repressed and he’s trying to be happy because, isn’t this what he wants?

in between: illario’s acting super weird. a high approval illario is a lot more awkward and doesn’t seem to know what to say, which is a first for him. he’s obviously putting on a brave/pretty face on, and hesitates to say something— but finally just thanks rook for helping him get lucanis back. a low approval illario is actually much happier, smiling and laughing and delighted by the way things have gone, with rook/the player none the wiser about what’s happened. (kind of like… bull’s reaction to the chargers in the dreadnought quest being positive either way, but the repercussions come later)

if you are in a romance, a low approval illario will trigger a sex scene, a high approval illario does the dellamorte branded “lean in for a kiss but he can’t bring himself to actually follow through and leaves rook awkwardly”. the differences in reaction would ideally confuse and interest players :)

act three: hinges on approval rating. illario plotted to trade rook’s life for lucanis’. the venatori at weisshaupt was supposed to be their shot to kill them, but failed to do so, and now they’re forcing him to make good on his deal. there’s a cutscene where the party is led into a trap and a high ranking venatori magister— the one who actually experimented on lucanis (because zara is like a middle man. she wants the blood but isn’t the evil mage scientist who did all the experiments)— shows himself and reveals everything illario has done. he was the one behind lucanis’ initial ‘death’. how the venatori leak was him. illario is desperately trying to keep the venatori’s mouth shut, but the magister is tricking him with magic as he tries harder and harder to keep his cover. a fun, trippy kind of sequence where there are illusions and mindfucky magic as illario stabs at the magister and finds out he’s attacking air, and the party keeps getting attacked with magic that they can’t figure out is real or not until it hits them, in this hall of mirrors type freakshow. it splits into two different paths:

low approval: the deal to save lucanis over rook was made early on, and nothing they have done has made illario think differently. he’s scripted to be more defensive and try to stop the magister from speaking, ignoring the party and thinking only about how he can keep his secrets but failing to. he’s angry that his plans have fallen down around him, and attacks both the party and venatori, determined to keep his failures from reaching anyone else (god forbid it reach caterina). the party are forced to kill him when he turns on them, willing to work with the venatori to keep the power he has before it slips away from him again.

high approval: everything they have done has made illario think differently and he’s spent ages regretting and trying to find a way out of the deal (see: the distress he feels right after becoming first talon, interesting codexes, etc). he’s scripted to defend rook from magic, at cost to himself, physically protecting his friends/rook from the magister and getting in the way of spells. he admits what he’s done and pleads with them to help him, despite having no reason to trust him. after the party fights the magister off together, illario begs for forgiveness, explaining himself, how regret couldn’t make up for what he’s done but he’s still tried to change things, change himself. but how could you ignore the feeling that, as with everything else in his life, that this is another lie? you get the choice to trust him and forgive him, or kill him for betraying the veilguard. i think this can hit harder if he’s romanced and you forgive him. the image of him pleading literally on his knees is about to get me to black out, followed by a rook who gets down on the ground and lowers themselves to his level just to kiss him before pulling them both up onto their feet again…. its like a ‘i fear to stain your hands with blood’ moment <3

completed companion quest: faced with compassion that he’s basically never extended to anyone, illario is inspired. he admits this guilt to lucanis, wanting to make him talon and leave everything behind, and while lucanis initially is obviously both angry and distressed, he later seeks out illario by himself, and their reconciliation happens off screen. i’d love for rook to be there so i could this but i honestly do not think its their place like can we leave the dellamortes to do this by themselves. in private its just a very “you went through hell to get me back. i think i need to give you a chance” + a slow rebuilding of the trust they had. and also lucanis has not even gotten the same outside support system as illario has taken his place and i think it’s good to note that. well. illario is about the most positive his relationships get and the only other person he would potentially have is caterina, who is also a more intense and outwardly scheming in this au. so not to be like “lucanis has no choice” but he kinda has no choice LOL. the point is: lucanis decides to protect him, and says that this betrayal is something they have to keep secret together as long as it safeguards illario, which safeguards himself. like what would the crows think of 1) illario trying to usurp power using an outside source (infighting/betrayal is okay. bringing a third party into crow business is not), 2) illario losing the idgaf war and desperately bringing lucanis back, 3) lucanis being possessed, 4) lucanis forgiving illario despite it all because they’re so codependent they can’t even bring themselves to leave the other. house dellamorte so weak that they can’t snuff out the weakness in each other? oh fucking brother. they can’t let anyone know how dire this situation is, and need to present a united front. also the terrible fact that they love each other deeply remains. mentioned in banter probably? eg:

“So… what do the Crows think?” // “The Crows don’t know.” // “…What? But your brother, and you—“ // “Are keeping it to ourselves. We’ve discussed this. House Dellamorte can’t afford to look divided, not right now.” // “So, what, he just forgave you?! You’re moving on? From trying to kill him?” // “'Forgave' is such a strong word, but maybe someday, yes. And we’re not just family, we’re Antivan Crows. You should know by now that we’re odd like this.”

“Illario. How long do you think you can keep that secret?” // “Considering only us, Lucanis and I know about it, hopefully forever. He insists that no one else has to know. Or should I be afraid that you’re going to go tell on me?” // “No! It’s just… Lucanis doesn’t, I don’t know, want vengeance?” // “Ha! He is the vengeancey one. But no. No, he’s… between the two of us, he’s always been the good one.” // “Lucky you.”

i also picture a lot of post revelations blackwall type banters and maybe something like davrin going “I have to believe you can be better, that you’ve changed. Half the Wardens are like that.” and once again i have to grieve varric because if there’s anyone that would understand lying their ass off and having mixed feelings about their brother, IT’S HIM LOOLLL. i think harding would treat him quite harshly, and neve loses a lot of respect because why would you ever even think about working with the venatori. but there’s a recognition over how he’s changed for the better. i think bellara is the surprise sympathiser, with everything she feels about cyrian. (“For a second, listening to Anaris to be with my brother again was worth it. So… yeah. I get it.” // “You weren’t foolish enough to fall for it. I did.” // “But you’re fixing it, aren’t you?” // “I’m trying.” // “Cyrian tried too. And if I can still forgive him, I can forgive you too.” // “…Thank you.” )

i also think a serious talk about being talon happens, where lucanis doesn't think he should be talon (possessed so his self worth is at an all time low. and also he's always thought illario should be talon anyway) and asks illario to keep the title. which is... weird because suddenly illario realises he doesn't necessarily want to be talon anymore. sure he can, sure he finally has caterina's approval, but he's got a new chance in life and he's not sure he wants to spend his life running an organisation that doesn't even care about him, would betray him first chance they got and remind him of the way he used to be, or see who he is the way the veilguard/lucanis has. his bitterness towards caterina also trumps his envy of lucanis, and the idea of lucanis resenting him as much as he resents caterina is something he'd like to avoid, which is another reason he's uncomfortable with being expected to tug at the leash. indecisive, illario can't quite fully commit himself to the crows, but is nervous about what leaving them would mean.

endgame: he would take lucanis’ place as a magekiller in this ofc, so he’s the guy killing ghil, and (for now….) first talon leading the crows to fight in minrathous (illario: “one of us should probably say something. remind the crows in whose name this fight is to be fought. we are emotional beings after all, and rhetoric is the fuel that feeds the fire—“ viago: “maker’s sake just give your speech”) i’ve also implied romance throughout this ask while not discussing it properly (ask me about it later. i need time to think on the whole romance arc and beats i know it exists but i refuse to give out half baked illario thoughts.) and i think the endgame post-fade prison talk would be very sweet and so intensely genuine/sincere and illario’s half struggling with being this truthful but pushes through because he wants to say “i love you” and really mean it. almost losing rook has put his priorities in order, and rook is at the top of this order, which has made him reevaluate everything else in his life and realise, "i don't think i can live without you. please don't make me". it’s fun for me that lucanis’ romance is a first in many different ways, but for illario it would be the first time experiencing actual romantic feelings for someone that he’s not faking, so you can imagine the damage its wrecking on his crow-psyche. sometime here i think there’d also be a decision where he’d ask to leave the crows and be with rook, tho i also think if given the chance to develop he could actually find something he cares more about than being first talon. genuine affection might kill him, reciprocated affection would probably be the nail in that “fuck the crows actually i just found out i like life outside of treviso” coffin.

but this is kind of leaning towards “illario only leaves the crows if you romance him” which i don’t like the sound of. he should be able to do that without a romantic relationship. i think narratively the best way to end this arc is for illario to leave the crows after having found alternatives to what he believed his life should amount to (as i think lucanis should have in veilguard), but i also don’t exactly know how to end it. i do want house dellamorte to be defunct, like an ‘illario leaves, and so does lucanis’ thing, where even lucanis gets the chance to grow out of believing “death is his calling”. i also like the idea that illario, ever the extrovert, gets real friends and is like “LUCANIS. you gotta fucking experience this” LMFAO. i’m thinking maybe the companion you spend most time with illario in the party after his act 3 quest starts to suggest things, so neve being like “you made a pretty great demon of vyrantium. consider making venatori-killing your full time job, you were good at it, despite all the traitor stuff.” or taash going “you know, you wouldn’t be the first lord of fortune to make mind numbingly stupid mistakes. drop by sometime. you and isabela can bond over it.” and they’re half joking but it makes the cogs in illario’s mind turn where he’s like “whoa. i could just. stay with the people who like me!” and where he goes is mentioned in the epilogue. a romanced illario would potentially just join the faction rook is a part of, tho a de riva would probably be unique in choosing if they want to remain a crow.

HOWEVER. i honestly don’t know if this is in character. fie and i convinced ourselves it was but i’ve had some time to really chew on it and idk if he’d want to give his ambitions up?? if someone has managed to read on this far, feel free to suggest things if you like i am always stumped because i don’t actually want to crows to stop being an assassin house, and there’s ofc no way to really make them ‘softer’ without taking away the bite that makes them interesting to play with. but extricating the dellamorte cousins from this WHILE feeling true to dragon age writing is difficult lol. just let me think. i’ll be back with some results hopefully.

side note: if illario is killed, lucanis takes his place with some difficulty (spite getting in the way, and no relationship building as he would get in canon) especially because despite his incredibly complicated feelings about his cousin trying to kill him, all of his anger is directed at rook for actually killing him. it doesn’t matter if lucanis would/could have never forgiven him, or otherwise, rook has taken that chance of hashing it out with illario from him completely, and lucanis won’t forgive them for it.

anyways the potential endings and first talons:

lucanis defaults into first talon if illario is killed as the only remaining heir, and struggles in this role alone, though the fact he is an abomination helps keep the crows in control for a while #cycles #snakethateatsitsowntail #housedellamorteissocooked

illario can remain first talon if encouraged to stay during the endgame, or if romanced by a rook de riva that also chooses to stay with the crows. depending on how the crow missions were complete, his direction with the crows either hardens/softens the organisation.

teia becomes first talon if illario decides to leave the crows, and rook has made choices that lean towards ‘softening’ the crows, eg. sparing ivenci to humiliate him, helping the crow-venatori loves run away, being kind towards jacobus, etc. the crows gain a reputation for coercion and can once in a while be found targeting, killing or exposing corrupt officials.

viago becomes first talon if illario decides to leave the crows, and rook has made choices that lean towards ‘hardening’ the crows, eg. killing ivenci to humiliate him, turning in the crow-venatori lovers, being harsh with jacobus, etc. the crows gain a reputation for efficient, quick assassinations that tip the scales towards anyone who can pay for their services.

if missions were not complete, the antivan crows’ reputation falls as they get sloppier, unable to recover from their losses and struggling to keep ahold of their power. there’s a reshuffling of talons, but the crows are in such disarray that it takes a decade for them to recover and gain back the effeciency they used to be infamous for.

ANYWAYS. sorry for that it is actually getting away from me and i don’t know how much of this is clear and how much of it is just my wishful thinking. i think there’s enough good things here to publish as an answer tho i’m aware this plot is kind of dollar store zevran LOL. maybe the best way to describe it is that i’ve accidentally combined blackwall, bull, and zevran’s arcs into this. hope this is at least a bit compelling for you anon!!!!!

[toseesoclearly]

What a “Return of the King-ish ending” for ST5 could mean for Will (and Mike): Part One

[this post contains spoilers all of The Lord of the Rings and more importantly for all ST5 leaks, make your own choices in deciding to read <3]

The Lord of the Rings, in book and film form, is obviously a big reference point for the Duffers, along with the books looming large for our group of nerds in-universe.

I have just always loved these covers even if they're not quite period appropriate for ST. I am going to imagine Will's copies of the books are used, well-loved trippy '60s editions

ST5 having a “Return of the King-ish ending” has been cited by the Duffers and the cast a few times now. They could just be referring to the tone (bittersweet, but happy overall) and/or the length of the epilogue. RotK’s infamous multiple fade to blacks should be the assumed probable end for “The Right Side Up” at this point (imo people who complain about that in RotK are weak-willed and losers /j).

But, the idea that RotK is being used as a broader touchpoint for ST5 is exciting for me because Will being a total Frodo type isn’t just added flavor for my ST experience, it's been a huge part of the show's appeal for me. Frodo was a formative early favorite character of mine, so I was extremely onboard for another soulful-eyed sensitive* boy gradually losing his sense of self to the horrors.

Texts between myself and a friend in November 2017, I think our text thread contains the only written record of my thoughts on this show pre-2022 because I used to be able to tune in for the newest season, coo at Will, and promptly stop thinking about ST. I miss that version of my life

Obviously I responded to this in s2 right away, but looking back on it again, it is striking how Frodo and Will’s supernatural torment and corruption share a visual language:

certainly some of this is big big eyes on smol ~delicate face, but I think there is some classic Duffer borrowing going on here

*I can't seem to fold this into this post in a natural way but I feel like I need to note up top that queer audiences reading Confirmed Bachelor Frodo as gay has been happening, with passion and enthusiasm, since the LotR's publication. Sam too of course, but Frodo doesn't even get a compulsory female love interest to marry upon return from the journey like Sam and Aragorn do.

But there are some important distinctions. What’s going on with Frodo isn’t really possession, and there are a couple major elements of his arc that have not been present in Will’s story (yet).

Temptation

The Ring's poisonous influence has a specific bent, coming from the temptation to wield its power. It’s all very biblical, we know LotR is extremely rooted in Tolkien’s Christianity, etc. Frodo’s ability to resist that temptation for as long as he does comes from his nature as a hobbit, the most humble of the races of Middle-Earth. Even the smallest person can change the course of the future, as you may have heard.

This layer of the Frodo-esque supernatural psycho-drama that Will is enmeshed in hasn't shown up for him so far. I think it's definitely on the table for s5 - especially if it turns out he has powers, or something else Vecna wants. But I expect, if it happens, Will’s temptation wouldn’t be about something so grand or theological, but more personal - overlapping, aptly for a season that is being billed as Will’s coming-of-age, with that stage in his hero’s journey like @/therainscene discusses here.

Choice

Again and again, Frodo chooses to keep going, despite the hardships inherent in his quest, his own doubts, and his accelerating mental deterioration and loss of all hope. This is to me probably the most important narrative divergence between Frodo and Will due to the different roles they have in their respective stories (and where ST’s horror/‘80s Spielberg ethos overrides any mythic/fantasy epic tendencies). As much as LotR has an expansive ensemble cast and storylines driven by other prominent characters, Frodo is the saga’s “main character.”

Will’s functions in the ST’s modern genre framework as a mash-up of a bunch of different (typically supporting) character types (my favorite write-up on this, c/o @/pinkeoni), and unlike your classic central fantasy hero, those types are often defined by a lack of agency. 

Frodo’s victory results from his endurance and, ultimately and unexpectedly, a specific act of mercy. Will’s story is also characterized by his endurance, but, unlike Frodo, he largely hasn’t been given a chance to opt into or out of the circumstances that require that of him.

But that set up should mean the pay off for Will’s arc will involve him finally being empowered. The valence of that empowerment will look different than Frodo's for the reasons discussed above, and I'm obviously extremely (the most??) excited to discover what that looks like.

Thinking about that difference in Will and Frodo’s positions in the larger structure of their stories brings us to another interesting point: Mike and his role as the show's "main character"/audience surrogate. Which will be discussed in the next post because this got too long. 😇

read part two here

[ganondoodle]

totk thought

i feel like totk (as unfinished and duct taped together as it feels, which is wild given the time and everything) missunderstood what was so appealing about a direct sequel to botw, at least in my opinion

i have talked in length about what good of a foundation botw built to keep going with its world and characters and mysteries, and how totk needlessly, bafflingly, throws ALL of it away instead (and i do mean all of it, to me other than their models being the same no character feels like that character anymore etc), which is connected to my next point

alot of people were worried about them reusing botws world, some really didnt like it, some thought it would be fine as long as they changed enough (which they didnt..), and i thought it was really appealing bc i was excited to see this world progress, grow (not size), to .. change, but not how totk did 'change', its all rather surface level anyway, but the change i was interested in was seeing locations i loved be expanded, built upon, developed- and i feel like that is what they should have focused on, if you reuse the same world you CANNOT get it to feel as new and exciting as it did the first time for returning players, which id say is most of them, so you need to shift focus

aside from its mysteries and story potential of botw to be built further (which totk does not, you cannot change my mind, dont try) soemthing i was THRILLED about was just to see how the world has grown- i hoped to see the towns maybe expanded, new buildings in hateno added, someone perhaps painted their house, someone built or IS building a new additional room to their home (maybe you could help finish it?), some thing that made it feel like time passed and people lived there, sure, adding some mushroom stuff is change .. but its rather surface level, like all other changes

in taburasa (tarrey town?) there could have been new houses, maybe they tunneled into the mountain and built cellars there, have some buildings be attached to the sides, the narrow pathway secured with stonewalls, something that felt .. logical? instead they ,,,, removed ... buildings??? homes you literally built a few years ago?? just to make way for kiltons little figurine project, which was funny, but also a little? why remove buildings to put him there, couldnt it have been on the other side of the bridge?? or like a balcony on the side of the cliff?(even the forest .. well the forest is mostly gone and its now an ugly to look at playground for a short little building thing, it all feels so ..... idk, forced? pasted on, this isnt there bc it makes sense, this is your playground)

same should be said about the main regions villages (though my idea there is to actually change it via devastation aka death mountain collapsed and gorons forced to move or adapt, or the zoras dried out and them being forced to go elsewhere, rito being trapped in an actual dangerous blizzard so cold you need special gear for it an cant glide etc bc its damn stupid to put the points of interest in the EXACT same location as last game and then neither change them signifacntly, permantenly, NOR use anything existing as the base for the new dungeons, like making the water temple be an ancient cistern or .. waterworks underneath the now dried out lakes instead), the village of the zoras isnt expanded or anything, its got mud there and an insulting statue change but the mud goes away and then its the same as ever, just like all the other things are undoable and it all goes back to before (aside from death mountains lava)

WHY would the stable in that big empty field just ... vanish? esepcialyl that one?? there isnt anything like a dramatic change there, there is not bossfight there, theres nothing, its just gone and its empty footstep replaced with a semi annoying quest (that is also reused ....)

why the fuck did malanya move???????? the horse god????? leave them there and have the way to them now built in awe of them or soemthing, show that people are travelling there now having found their spring, have it overgrown with flowers that have funny horse shapes or something, even if they dont show up for other people, let them give you a quest that introduces new kinds and colors of horses instead of one random old guy in the spy post after which suddendly there is new pattern??

the statue of in the gerudo highlands, instead of having a very specific puzzle suddendly pasted on, toppled over or broken to reveal an entrance to a new or old shikah/yiga base, or an old gerudo town that shows there was a group that once lived up there (maybe ganondorfs followers???? those that stayed loyal or soemthing??)

akkala fucking fortress?? prime material for a dungeon revealing disgusting secrets of the shiekah persecution or something? no its .. a cave like any other in the door. somehow. in the dirt. (what what waHT WAT)

castle town rebuilt, that farm ruin rebuild! maybe to let all your horses roam there in a big space?? a central tavern hub for the recovering land! ruins that felt like untold stories or teasers to be given a purpose! the fairy fountains being in the same place but their lair expanded, a larger flower or now like a little lake, people actually manaing to visit them now and there being little shrines or offerings, decorations! maybe one of them had to flee (if the "cataclysm" actually .. did anything) which would make that impact much stronger, no, they are just picked up and plopped into the next best place to create the surface level illusion of change without understanding how that comes across, they have to be unlocked again, for some reason, and now its music with the most annyoing quest attached than even the sign guy- why?

how cool would it have been to find a spring and the fairy not being there, her spring is, its open, but she isnt there, a kidnapped fairy somewhere in the udnerground? a corrupted one? since its reusing the same world what you need to do is think about how to surprise the player that grew accustomed to things and attached to chaarcters, and significantly mix up the main points, focus on the characters and narrative to hook them without making it feel forced, its diffcult yes, but so is game making, and botw was such a great basis that imo its not even that hard to come up with compelling things

im not saying there arent any changes, or there was no attempt, but it falls flat or utterly missunderstood WHAT needed to change, the spypost is the biggest attempt at that, but even that doesnt feel like it was done bc it made sense, like the things they wanted to happen where the first thought and the entire thing built just to support that, so all it serves for is to give you that 'hub', even though that position is weird? the place chosen a little disrespectful imo and not very save either, hyrule castle was cleared after clam gan was done for, why would you built a SPY post on the ground level directly in front??? well ,, that was bc the cataclysm happens and the castle is AGAIN the place of the boss, and AGAIN poisoned, the people there couldnt have known it, it makes no sense even if you say well the ground was so poisoned from botw still they wouldnt built there, .. but then right in front? in the middle of a flat field? you could have used the farm ruins for that hub? put it on the hills that are all around?

even characters, instead of like expanding on their character and continueing or challenging their ideals its just so flat, all of them have abilities they never had before, that were never hinted at, other than being vaguely genetically connected to the champions, excuse me, those dont matter, the SAGES i mean, you see riju struggle like, once, with a power she didnt use to have and it only really serves to make her power used by you not her herself (the others didnt need that excuse?) tulin makes me the most mad and his cuteness only worsens it bc he was a little side NPC in botw, now suddendly the main guy (instead of teba?? i guess he was too old, sorry teba, only kids can be blessed with powers or something) he has no character arc and .... he can just use almost an exact copy of revalis storm, just sideways, which is both boring and insulting given how much revali struggled to learn it (which also explains his attitude!!) other characters just seem to forget part of themselves bc its not relevant, robbie has de-made cherry into a little bucket size thing, washt she important to him? purah doesnt have any interesting beat to her either, she just .. offscreen made herself the perfect pretty age with the tech that supposedly vanished as soon as clam gan was done? what? and only serves you to tell you where to go over and over, its sad (not saying botw gave her a super intersting arc or sth, but it built the basis for it, you could have expanded on it? have her reunite with impa? anything?) (and not all shiekah tech is gone, its still there, aaaaaaaaaargh it doesnt make any sense!!!! but its to serve you so, it serves YOU, PLAYER CHARACTER)

the entire game is awfully plagued with that problem, nothing it does feels logical or lived in bc it only serves YOU (and their new favorite thing that everyone loves and should obsess over, sonau/zonai! who doesnt love everything being THEM TM), and once you have checked it off your list it ceases to be anything, theres is no thought about why a contraption is there or what purpose it once served, bc it never has, it serves only to fling you somwhere; to some extent that is fine, like the snowy mansion dungeon in twilight princess is a weird way to build a mansion/fortress but you know its a dungeon so its gotta be that way, back when dungeons where dungeons, but you can easily overdo it, i think its good to think about the world and how to make it interesting for the player at the same time, there needs to be a balance of believability and deniability; a character telling you to press a button is gamestuff, a little weird but ok, a dungeon being built a little weird, well, its a dungeon- people walking around in normal ass summer clothing in the region thats frozen solid? that makes it less believable, even if the game joke about it that they are freezing or explains via 'these people dont feel the cold' or whatever (pokemoooooooooon)

especially with botws foundation, you could have achieved that, easily at times, theres so little restriction anymore, the wasted potential and needlessly thrown away 'everything' still hurts

[melrosing]

How do you think Dany will get along with the starks (Bran, Sansa, Arya, Rickon, and Jon)

I think in theory she could get along really well with all of them - but it’s a story so I guess I can only imagine there’ll be some friction somewhere down the line, whether that’s upon initial meetings or further along.

w Jon specifically it’s murky because we don’t know what he’s going to be like once he comes back, so you can’t really gage Dany’s chemistry w a character you can’t anticipate. I imagine him coming back as like…. angrier and more hard-headed, but I don’t think the rest of his story would work if it robbed him of all heart. like Beric still has a tenderness about him as he’s died countless times. so in any case, would imagine the two don’t get along perfectly to start with: Dany finds Jon a strange sort of guy who doesn’t go out of his way to accommodate or appease her, and maybe Jon thinks Dany’s quest for the iron throne is a vanity project compared to what he has on his hands. I do think they’ll become a couple, so presumably they overcome initial impressions to achieve a dialogue and then become closer…. but the whole undead Jon thing really sticks in ur teeth lol like I have NO idea where this couple is headed together. where’s this going george

for the Stark sisters, I think both would naturally be attracted to Dany’s character but it’s only to be expected that they’ll have reservations of their own? Dany has a negative opinion of House Stark owing to Ned’s part in Robert’s Rebellion, whilst the Stark sisters may remember what the Targaryens in turn did to their family. then there’s also the fact that neither Stark sister has had the kindest encounters with queens so far, so I think it would be normal if they’re troubled by a new player arriving out of left field?? but as I say I think both Stark girls would admire Dany: Sansa would think Dany is like some kind of platonic ideal of a queen and I think develop an affection for her as she does Margaery (only more bc she could be surer of Dany’s authenticity) and likewise Arya would be in awe of Dany and all she’s accomplished and hero worship her as she does Nymeria. and Dany is a found family kind of girl who I think would be naturally delighted w two new lil sisters. but all of that’s complicated by the context - this is a story, things get lost in translation, there’s a war going on (actually there’s several), etc etc. so as i say there may still be a great deal of scepticism between the three of them.

Bran and Dany….. I mean Bran is a similar case to Jon. I don’t think he’s going to return as some kind of human computer as he does in the show - Bran’s sweet nature is such a key trait of his, it seems it defeats the point of the character to do away with who he is as a person to better accommodate his powers. and I always saw D&D’s doing this as simply a betrayal of the fact that they’ve never known what to do with Bran, much less once magic is involved. but he’ll still be operating on a separate plane to the other characters and I can only assume the way he engages with Dany will be based on what he sees of her future. and idk what that future is, so like…. idk lol. I do also tend to think that Bran will be one of the last characters to arrive at Winterfell (if indeed that is where he spends TLN). Bran supposedly knows all, and you don’t really introduce a character like that until the others have had time to puzzle it out by themselves. otherwise (per the show) you just have bran coldly watching from the sidelines. anyway, in neutral circumstances i think Bran would get along w Dany as he does everyone, and Dany would adore him in turn uwu

and finally Rickon. tbh I think he will just be pestering her for rides on Drogon and then if she ever obliges he’ll start pestering her for a second ride

[fuckyeahbaldursgate]

Bhaal's errant progeny and BG3.

Hey all, just some witterings from me that I really wanted to post about a particular encounter because it just super irked me. This post contains spoilers for Act 3 and specifically the serial murders quest.

My overall view is that most of the returning cast from the original BGs have been treated fairly respectfully and consistent with their character arcs in BG1/2 however, there is one unfortunately that I just don't like and that's Sarevok. Yep he's back for a brief encounter where he's revealed to Orin's granddaddy and he's going to smack your butt for funsies. Now while I enjoyed the fight itself the overall conversation / plot points were kind of disappointing for the following reasons:

1.) No Kevin Michael Richardson. Given the guy recently starred in Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear and is a fairly prolific voice actor I have no idea why they didn't ask him to do this role and given his distinctive voice, it's really noticeable. I appreciate with the other returning characters haven't got their original VAs either but I think Jaheria and Minsc's VAs do a good impression of originals and in some ways can hide behind the accents of the characters.

2.) Ignores the impact of Imoen's soul. It's referenced in the conversation that the fairest Bhaalspawn resurrected him so that implies that BG3 assumes it was Imoen who gave a bit of their soul to revive him in Throne of Bhaal. Now there were a few conversations that touched upon the fact that Sarevok was actually mildly influenced by this (he has cravings for sweet things and other strange things etc.). I'm not saying that this would have completely turned him overnight into a good guy but his re-embracing of Bhaal seems contrary to this.

3.) Inconsistent with conversations with Sarevok in BG1/Throne of Bhaal. In my view, the game is fairly clear that Sarevok's goal was never to serve the Lord of Murder but to become him. Furthermore, in TOB he actually seems pretty accepting of the fact that he failed to achieve that and is almost regretful in places, particularly in relation to Tamoko's fate. Why has he gone back to serve the Lord of Murder no less in BG3 when he wasn't really a true believer in the first place.

4.) Inconsistent with Sarevok's epilogue at the end of Throne of Bhaal. Sarevok's arc in TOB revolved around the nature versus nurture argument. One of the big challenges the Bhaalspawn faces is the revelation that Gorion had the opportunity to take either you or Sarevok and it was pure luck that you were chosen instead of him. The question for the Bhaalspawn is: would you have turned out exactly the same as Sarevok had you not lived in the relative safety of Candlekeep? Sarevok is given an opportunity to do things differently at the end of TOB. His epilogue notes that he never settled in one place for too long, routing an army of orcs before he conquered an entire city by himself only to then mysteriously vanish. The epilogue concludes that he actually returned to Kara-Tur to bury Tamoko and never returned, which ultimately suggests that Sarevok is a changed man at the end of TOB.

So yeah it seemed really lazy to me that he's just back as another mook of Bhaal for you to mow down. Now I've been playing a fairly neutral drow wizard who turned down the offer of becoming an assassin of Bhaal so maybe this comes across better if you have more time to talk to him but yeah was left feeling a bit sad by how he ended up in BG3.

[bloodycyrano]

Gifts I think the DAO companions would appreciate, outside of giftable in game items! (Pt1, I think this will be a long post if not sectioned)

Sten-

Incense and expensive tea, possibly imported. He talks about how he hates the smell of Ferelden, and misses home; Tea and incense being the most notable scents that stick out to him.

Cookies, or a good recipe for cookies. Everyone in the Fandom has had the dialog where Sten reveals that he enjoys cookies, and that in his homeland, there is no such thing. I think he would greatly enjoy a recipe to be able to bring such a thing back with him- Even if he may not be able to make them himself at home. My memory is fuzzy on qunari custom, but I don't think he'd be particularly allowed to bake.

A wardog of his own- I don't think he'd be permitted to keep it, upon return to the qun. But he has immense respect for Barkspawn, and I think if he were here in 2024, he'd be a great dog dad. I think he'd probably give it to his closest companion upon his return, but he would keep a detailed sketch of it with him always. He'd probably give it a specific title in his native tongue.

This is sort of a separate headcannon, but I think in a modern AU, he'd really like pumpkin spice lattes.- It's always the ones you would never expect.

Shayle-

Obviously, we know they like crystals. They like being pretty, and *sparkling*. So it's not too farfetched to assume they would appreciate gold ore or other shining metals fitted to some of their stone bits- Sort of like.. Magically grafted on with heat? Morrigan could weld them, or I'm sure Sandal could potentially do it.

I think, while they couldn't really read themselves, I think if you brought them books and such, they would enjoy hearing you read it to them. Especially if you manage to find some old records of their own lineage after the orzammar quest line.

I think they would also enjoy being given I big, stone bowl to keep shiny trinkets in- Like a crow, almost. Crystals, cute pebbles, coins, keys, etc. Pretty things for them to look at.

Leliana-

She would love it if you wrote her a poem, regardless of what it was about. I think she'd just be so happy you thought of her and wrote something lovely- I honestly think she'd love it even more if it wasn't the best quality. After all, that would mean you were inspired by her to write something of which you had no prior experience and still tried your best. She'd think it was cute.

I think she'd like it if you gave her one of your own personal favorite books or fables, with little notes on your commentary and theories. She'd love that, honestly.

A ceramic nug. No explanation needed, she loves Nugs. I've got animals I love, too. And if someone gave me a ceramic or plush critter of my choice, I'd be over the moon.

A little on the weird side, I think she'd like a type of porcelain harlequin doll. I can't think of the specific type, but they don't make them the same way anymore.. they're usually from overseas in Germany or Russia or France, you know? The ones that are really glossy and have beautiful line work in the paint? I feel like you found one in the denerim marketplace, imported from Orlais, and it would remind her of another experience she had there or even just of her time as a bard. After all, they weren't *all* unpleasant memories.

Alistair-

A golem doll. Like a little poppet. I don't think it's rare dialogue, but the other day is the first time I noticed it since I first played the game rented from a family video over a decade ago, so.. Yeah. Point is, Alistair mentions in front of "Wonders of Thedas", that Arl Eamon (I think) once bought him a little golem doll as a child, and how he adored it and wondered if there would be one like it at the wonders of thedas.

A griffon figurine. He's a Grey Warden, I think he'd like it. The wardens have always been his real home, and it's truly where he belongs. I think a memento of that is something he'd hold dear.

A book of poems about honoring fallen soldiers. I feel like it may bring him to tears, and perhaps make him confront some extra grief after ostagar, but perhaps it could also bring a sort of comfort. Maybe he isn't the most religious, maybe he has a bit of trauma from the chantry.. But I think he still prays, if only for the ones he's lost.

Again, I think he'd like a war dog. I'll never let him take Barkspawn, but he'd love a pupper of his own. If you gave it to him as a puppy to raise and train all his own, he'd probably be overjoyed.- Off topic, but I headcannon that all companions to the wardens have an extended lifespan, and live and die with their humanoid counterparts if they don't die in battle, kind of like the animal companions do with the avatars in ATLA. Far fetched, and backed by absolutely no real lore as far as I know, but I like to think it's true.

[tlbodine]

Overthinking: The Headless Ghost

The Headless Ghost came out in November of '95, and somehow skated past my radar entirely as a kid. I don't even remember this cover. I went in blind, not knowing quite what to expect, and I came out feeling....well. I both liked and didn't like this one.

First, the Plot: Duane and his friend Stephanie are town menaces. After getting a taste of how fun it can be to scare people, they've taken to sneaking out of their house after dark and roaming the neighborhood, pranking their neighbors -- making weird noises, throwing props, leaving stuff in mailboxes and through windows, etc.

They also love the nearby haunted house, Hill House. No, not that Hill House. But a house on a hill, that gives tours. The kids are such regulars there that the tour guides know them and let them in for free.

The story with the house is that once upon a time a sea captain was lost at sea and returned to roam around his house looking for his wife who didn't wait for his return. Then later a kid named Andrew is killed by the ghost and takes over haunting the place, searching for his head, which was removed and hidden somewhere inside. Story goes that until he finds his head, he's tied to the place.

On a late-night foray through the house, the kids meet an older teen named Seth who asks if they want to see a ghost for real and arranges to meet them tomorrow. They show up and go on a head-hunting (heh) quest through the house.

Predictably, Seth turns out to be the ghost after all! He's just borrowing his head (?) and wants to take Duane's instead. Gulp. But the kids manage to evade his murderous impulses and find his head....in time for a different ghost to show up, because hey, ACTUALLY Seth wasn't really the ghost, gotcha! He is the tour guide's nephew just trying to scare the kids.

But Duane and Stephanie are good and spooked, and they decide to give up scary stuff for a while. Later, though, they go back to the house for a visit and get a tour...but bump into some cops on the way home, asking them suspiciously what they were doing up there. Turns out the house has been shut down for months...and the tour guides might be ghosts as well.....OOOooooOOOoooo

Overthinking It: Okay. Here's the thing. As you can surmise by the plot summary, the actual plot of this book is pretty thin and frankly riddled with holes. The end twist doesn't really make much sense, the double-helix ghost reveal is kinda dumb, and I really struggle to believe that these kids are able to sneak out of the house night after night to go roaming around after 10:30 pm without getting caught.

However!

This book does something interesting with its structure, and I do enjoy when Stine experiments with form. It's something he actually does quite a bit, which I think is really cool. He certainly could have made the books even more formulaic than they are -- as formulaic as people tend to assume they are, I think -- and still done fine. But sometimes he gets a little experimental.

This book is layered with stories. Most of its pages are actually dedicated to ghost stories -- retelling things about the house. You hear multiple different ghost tales in here, and the whole book sort of celebrate the oral tradition in a neat way. It's never entirely clear what is true and what's made up, and there's no way to really know. It feels charmingly authentic, and I really liked that about it.

If You Liked This, THESE Will Really Give You Goosebumps:

If ghost stories layered on ghost stories, told by someone who might also be a ghost, is your jam, then you should watch Kwaidan.

The central conceit of this book also made me think of the entire concept of Screaming Skulls, of which there have been some movies made but they were not very good. Still, scope out The Screaming Skull to see what I mean.

I also kept thinking about The Fog while reading this. No reason, really, just a vibe, but go watch it and tell me I'm wrong.

[teamchasezwrites]

I need to get some thoughts off my chest about WWE. Feel free to comment! I don’t have anyone to chat with about wrestling! I’ll go back to my regularly scheduled fanfics.

Felt ranty. Might delete later. Idk.

-The IWC is exhausting.

-Drew McIntyre does not need a character pivot to attack the Bloodline. Not everything needs this grand backstory. He’s attacking them because of what they did to him. It’s perfectly fine.

-It’s exhausting how the Bloodline gets their ass kicked weekly while Roman never comes out to save any of them during this feud with Drew. It’s a major downside of Roman never actually wrestling on TV.

-The Judgement Day moving to feud with Wyatt 6 (if rumors are true) would not be Liv lowering herself. Wrestlers cannot be in the main event/top storylines all the time. It will not hurt her. She feuds w Wyatt 6 for a month or two. Then comes back into the IC/US title hunt or Championship. It will be fine. If done right (probably won’t be) both sides will move on to be fine.

-The Wyatt 6 should have 100% feuded with Judgement Day upon their debut.

-Liv and Rhea should have ended their feud at Bad Blood. Full stop. The name was in the title.

-same with Damian and Finn.

-Same with Roman and Solo. Though I will allow them to carry on to Survivor Series, but no further.

-With Drew inserting himself in Bloodline business, why are they still trying to push Solo? He’s coming across as a tantrum throwing younger sibling demanding “look at me!” While the Bloodline’s attention has turned to Drew.

-It’s perfectly acceptable for wrestlers to actually wrestle on TV and not just PLEs. They don’t have to wrestle every week, but it would do wonders for feuds if matches actually happened instead of promos and jawing.

-Raw on Netflix is gonna be some grand first episode and then revert back to Raw as it always is.

-Jey Uso and Drew McIntrye should have happened tonight like it used to be. Get attacked in the opening of the show? Match is scheduled that night. Not next week.

-STOP CHANGING ENTRANCE MUSIC!

-Rhea was always going to get the title back. It’s the story. She vacated it for injury. The story ends with her getting it back.

-KO should win the title at Royal Rumble but Cody should win it back at Elimination Chamber. If he doesn’t, that feud needs to stop.

-it’s okay for belts to change hands on Raw/SD. Once upon a time, the belts changed hands at house (live) shows.

-It’s okay for belts to change hands after a month. Even if they go back to the other person. Again. It helps the feud. It doesn’t make the reign bad.

-Matches on TV don’t always need to have a story or push an agenda. They can just wrestle.

-The Rock puts fans in the stands, will get a major pop, but ultimately wrestling does not need him and it’s extremely irritating that he pops in for no reason other than almost an “I’m bored”.

-Any match The Rock is in, does not need a title. The Rock v Roman (of that ever happens with a closing window) does not need a belt. They have The Head of The Table title.

-Wrestling does not need Roman either. (They have recovered from losing Cena, HHH, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Hogan, etc.) He will forever sell merch and be a top seller no doubt, but the shows will be fine

-The draft needs to happen the week after Wrestlemania. Feuds end at the titular event. Hold the draft the following Monday and Friday and actually change up the rosters.

-STOP PUTTING THE TOP GUYS IN THE SAME FUED! (Looking at you Seth, Drew, Punk, Roman, Sami, Jey…) Jey can still be in the IC title picture. Bloodline can be a side quest. Shit man. That’s why people are tired of seeing Gunther v Damian. But what can they do?? There is no one else.

-please don’t give the/a belt to Charlotte immediately upon returning.

-Same with Becky. Let her feud with Liv since she made those few comments about retiring her. Again. No belt is needed.

-injuries/depleted roster really hurt the Raw’s women’s division and they never tried to jump those hurdles. That’s what caused Liv and Rhea to drag on. There was nothing else. It could have been handled differently. (Though still stand by it ending at Bad Blood.)

-We don’t need long title runs to solidify a reign. Not everyone can be billed as unbeatable (Goldberg, Lesner, Roman and not Gunther). Book them well for 2 months and it could be a great reign as one that hits a year.

[sacredheart-stigmata]

your writing style is so cool and the excerpt is so intriguing!!!! what is the novel about? have fun and good luck!!! <3

hope you don't mind me @'ing you but @theancientfootsteps since you asked about it too, i figured i would!

so my beloved WIP novel that i have been working on for like. years. is called (hesitantly) Bovzek and the Devil. It's an expanded version of a short story i wrote in high school , and based on the Czech fairytale 'the Three Golden Hairs'. I'm American, but my da's family is Czech, so a lot of my bedtime stories growing up were Czech ones-- Vitazko and Holy Sunday, the Twelve Months, the Man Who Met Misery, etc-- and i adore fairytale, so in high school i took a huge collection of fairytales and rewrote them with lgbtq/queer main characters and themes. then, in college, i found them again and really enjoyed them, so I decided to make it 'official'.

BatD (as i lovingly call it) is the story of Bovzek of Václav, a miller's boy living in the make believe country of Milan Rosae (in the area that would eventually be the Czech Republic) in the year 1155. Adrian IV is Pope, Frederick I is the leader of the Holy Roman Empire, and Christianity is quickly marching across Europe. Bovzek lives in the small town of Václav, a small, sleepy place where the old ways of paganism and folk magic are being pushed and pulled against the rise of Christianity, and no where is it clearing than in between the trees of the Šumava, a massive forest of towering evergreen. The fae and spirits are still alive and well there, and while Bovzek is unaware at the beginning of the novel, this is where he's really from.

Bovzek's biological mother is a Samojuda: a nymph-like fae found in forests and beside ponds and rivers. Samojuda have complex relationships with humans, sometimes violent and sometimes apathetic, but are known to thrust children upon disrespectful women and hold disdain for men. But, somehow, this creature managed to fall for a lumberjack, a woman with a kind heart and hard hands, and together they had Bovzek, a child with both fae and human ancestry. But the lumberer dies in childbirth, and the Samojuda is unable to provide milk for Bovzek-- thankfully, King Claudius of Milan Rosae was stranded in the Šumava after a mighty storm separated his hunting party. Found by the Samojuda, he agrees to take the child with him to the capital city of Abisa to the Abisali Court and raise him there as a squire in exchange for his life and directions home. But there's trouble afoot; when Claudius hears the Samojuda bless her son with true love and riches and royalty, Claudius becomes terrified for his own newborn son. He can't have some dirty half-breed marrying into the crown!

So, he does what any sane person does: drops Bovzek headfirst into a well as soon as he leaves the forest. :)

The Miller and his family in Václav find a half drowned newborn in their well and raise it as their own, naming him 'Bovzek', or 'God's-Gift'. Bovzek, through many shenanigans, meets Alois, Claudius' son, and through more shenanigans involving a band of thieves and fae creatures, finds himself married to the man. they are deeply in love, but when Claudius finds out after returning from a long trip abroad, he orders Bovzek's death. But Bovzek carries magic in him, and Claudius decides that death is not good enough. He sends him on a quest to find the Devil (yes, that devil) and steal three locks of his golden hair.

Bovzek accepts this quest, and meets a wonderful cast of characters along the way, both in Czech folklore and paganism and Christianity, before being caught by the Devil and lying that he was here to submit an application to utilize his services in torturing sinners in a desperate plan to save his life. Stuck in Hell, Bovzek and one of the witches of Hell, Anastazia, must work together to free themselves from their contracts, before Alois is forced to remarry and time runs out.

aaaaand that's it! a much quicker TDLR back of book blurb:

Compassion. Bravery. Love. Three things Bovzek is blessed with by his mother the night before he is snatched away by a cruel king and dropped head first down a well, just a week after his birth. King Claudius is sure the bloodline of his kingdom of Milan-Rosae is secured now that the fae boy destined to marry his son is dead, but it takes more than attempted drowning to keep down a prophecy of true love.

19 years later, in the year 1155 AD, Bovzek the Miller’s son wants nothing more than to move to the capital and publish books of poetry, but for now, he’s stuck tending to his father’s watermill, writing in the corners of a stolen bible to pass the time. But when Prince Alois finds himself face to face with the miller boy, he can’t deny the spark between them. Wedding bells are ringing in the distance, but Claudius is willing to do anything to protect Milan-Rosae from common blood, no matter the cost. Now, Bovzek finds himself climbing down to Hell, tasked with securing three locks of the Devil’s hair for the right to Alois’ hand. The Devil is cunning, and Bovzek’s poems can’t save him now. 

Based on a Czech fairytale, Bovzek and the Devil is a dark fairy tale of demons, faeries, and old Slav folklore as Bovzek fights to see if true love can truly conquer all. 

[tarnishedbloodhound]

Jolan rare/unused dialogue

I was watching a mini-movie of all Jolan's dialogue recently - link here - and I was struck by a dialogue set right near the end of the video.

It plays during the fight with her in the cathedral following the Metyr boss fight. Some say the trigger is to not interact with her at all throughout Ymir's quest-line, although I am still to test that myself. Someday I will report back with a video of my own if it is the truth.

“You were warned. Not to betray the kindness of Count Ymir. "Appalling. Your lot never ceases to repulse me. "Such willingness to exploit true largess. "You would abscond with it. The whole of Count Ymir's wisdom? "You undeserving little miscreant. "Surrender. To the Night of Jolán.”

This post got a little long so the rest is underneath.

I do like how she says we were warned and yet to get this dialogue one has to completely ignore her. Girlie absolutely no-one warned us

So yes, Jolan is none too happy with the Tarnished PC at the conclusion of Ymir's questline. She isn't no matter what iteration she is in, but without talking to her once she is at her most vehement by the end.

What is interesting is what her dialogue says about the both of them.

Largess(e), as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary:

The willingness to spend freely; (the virtue of) generosity; liberality, munificence. Also: this virtue personified.

An act of generous giving; a gift of money, etc.; spec. a gratuity given at harvest time.

Liberal bestowal of gifts; money or other gifts freely bestowed, esp. by a person in a high position on some special occasion. Also (occasionally): lavish or prodigal giving.

She calls Ymir a most generous soul, and he is. Between the guiding maps, the Beloved Stardust talisman, means to ring the bells via the Hole-Laden necklace, teaching unique and rare spells for a most meager fee, and previously unknown and important teachings about the state of the world, Marika, the origins of the Fingers, and Miquella, Ymir truly has been of service to the Tarnished PC. And all he asks for in return is for us to ring some bells for him, hardly a difficult task for all he shares with us in exchange.

As for Jolan it turns out she really doesn't care for the Tarnished as a whole. She is swift to lump them/us all together into one category. Even those raised in a dark gaol it seems look down upon the graceless Tarnished. Small wonder she reacts as she does after we kill Metyr and push Ymir deeper into instability. The gall of this random Tarnished who gladly takes all Ymir offers them, wounds him somehow, and then, in her eyes, attempts to run off with everything as if nothing had happened and escape without punishment.

Perhaps in the act of talking to her in other runs of Ymir's questline, we soften her perception of the Tarnished enough for her to at least tolerate the PC enough to fight alongside them in summons and speak somewhat civilly. She is not nearly so vehement in her other battle dialogue, instead coming off stoic. She does not insult or belittle us, only stating that she will do as the Count wishes.

Of course, Jolan is rather correct about the Tarnished, individually and as a whole. How often do we seek out rare arms and armour and spells and only go on to use a fraction of them, dumping the rest into our storage box? How often do we complete an NPC's questline, not for the sake of helping them, but to access certain areas early or for the reward for ourselves that awaits at the end. RIP to all the NPCs we kill just for their armour sets alone....

It brings to mind the dialogue of Sir Vilhem from the Dark Souls 3 DLC Ashes of Ariandel:

"I've seen your kind, time and time again. "Every fleeing man must be caught. Every secret must be unearthed. "Such is the conceit of the self-proclaimed seeker of truth. "But in the end, you lack the stomach. "For the agony you'll bring upon yourself…"

She and Vilhelm might have gotten along rather well, in their own way. Both devoted utterly to their respective lord and lady. Both failing to protect them and falling before the Tarnished and the Ashen One.

We gladly take everything Ymir offers to us in our quest. How were we to know what would happen to Ymir with Metyr's death? Whether he truly snapped or was possessed by whatever remnant of Metyr was left after her boss fight matters little; he "wishes for our death" all the same and Jolan is all too eager to enact on the wish of her guiding star, and, in this case, work out her own grievances with the miscreant Tarnished in the process. What else is there to do but take all they have left with their subsequent deaths at our hands?

[v3663l]

LOTLW Devblog #39: Quality of life

Hey all!~ For over a month now, I have been very busy doing internal testing and fixing the game's most glaring issues! In this entry, I'll share favourite of the changes I made to the game.

Glaring issue #1: Game's too hard!

The game's original difficulty mode is balanced around my, a developer's, personal tastes.

That means for many people, it will be a tough experience, to put it lightly.

And so I set out to remedy this by introducing 'Origins' or a fancy way to describe difficulty modes.

Intended for people who want an undemanding experience, with interest mainly in the story

Void's Chosen perks will ensure a smoother progress through tougher quest challenges

+50% damage, accuracy, health, and aura!

+3600 guldens upon completion of the first quest.

10 > 15 talent points

Vastly reduced item insurance cost < work in progress feature >

Start with three healing ointments.

Start with higher power items

Ordinary Drifter:

No surprises here!

Start with 100 health and aura

Unmodified stats

The mode everyone who ever played LOTLW is familiar with! Recession Kid:

Ordinary Drifters got it too easy? Prove to them you're tough as nails to survive during a recession

Start with reduced aura, meaning it's tougher to get around

Get shoddy weapons and only a few coins at the start

Gain only 50% > 25% of the item's value when selling an item

Start with only 5 talent points

Glaring issue #2: No tougher combat challenges!

Combat is good and fun, however, the game has lacked boss fights to encourage and reward players for being proficient in it. And so I turned a bunch of enemies encountered into boss fights!

Glaring issue #3: Too much loot!

Gameplay kept being interrupted by a need to either drop valuables or return to the talkstone chest/merchants to cash in the findings. The inventory simply isn't big enough for the amount of loot some of the areas contain. The solution is a spell that remotely opens a talkstone chest!

It is definitely on the mana-hungry side, but still, very useful to keep the adventures going!

Glaring issue #4: Bows and staves suck!

< SUCKS LESS AT LEAST >

Glaring issue #5: Combat audio is kind of weak!

< FIXED >

Glaring issue #6: It's difficult to start multiplayer

< WORK IN PROGRESS >

Now, upon starting the game, the players are prompted to set up their controls and desired modes. Much better, though a lot remains to be done in this regard.

And more work-in-progress: Coming soon!

Manual

Optimization

< ANYONE struggle with FPS IN EASTERN TRILITH? YEAH, ME TOO >

Hotkeys for quick heal/swap/spell/etc.

< PRESS H FOR QUICK HEAL, PRESS L TO SWAP LOADOUT, that sort of thing >

Economy update

< New powerful items and services to deal with the overflow of guldens high-level players have >

Inventory Rework

< Drag 'N Drop items, sort, quick-stack, quick-deposit, quick-retrieve >

Talkstone Chest 2.0

< More and larger tabs! >

Alchemy Recipe Book

2x Zoom

Side Quests

Classes 2.0

Unique Items

More Capes ...

Thanks for reading!

[sluttyquarantinetheory]

Fur is used in Dalish clothing to some extent in all of the Dragon Age games, but in different way for each. It's used the least amount in Origins. In origins only female mages sport fur pauldrons. Marethari, Merril, and Zathrian's first all have these. In Dragon Age 2 this motif continues on with mostly only Marethari and Merril wearing fur. There is however a random found item quest where there is a male mage wearing the same style of fur pauldrons in the Dalish camp. By inquisition we see more Dalish just in general and several have fur pauldrons. Hunters and mages alike.

This could imply a scarcity in fur throughout the first two games or possibly cultural differences between dalish clans in different areas. Or some semblance of both.

So fur pauldrons as a mark of a respected female mage could be common practice amongst Fereldan Dalish clans as status markers. This is backed in Inquisition with that one Dalish mage you can meet in the hinterlands in the ruin where you learn about veil fire.

In the Clans of the Free Marches it is likely it does not have a gender related connotation (or possibly I'm assuming someone's gender). The mage you meet briefly in the dalish camp is not part of Merril's clan and you will never see them again.

What's interesting is you see this design a lot in general mage robes in both Origins and DA2 most notably in the clothing Anders wears and escaped circle mages in Dragon Age 2 especially. So there is some sort of cultural exchange going on with this outfit. It wouldn't be unlikely for circle mages to latch onto this outfit as a symbol of freedom for mages and this choose to wear this outfit.

Most of the Dalish you meet in Inquisition are in Orlais. Hunters of all genders wear them as well as herbalists etc. This indicates a cultural difference between the different clans across Thedas. Orlesian Dalish likely have a less symbolic use for fur pauldrons in their attire making it more of a design/fashion choice.

What's especially interesting about this is the difference in wildlife throughout the games. In Origins the world is very devoid of wildlife apart from wolves and the occasional blighted bear. Which if you look at it less as a mechanical result of an older game engine and more of a narrative choice does imply some interesting things.

If the forests are lacking in wildlife in origins it is very a likely a result of the approaching blight. Animals flee when shit is wrong and it would not be a stretch to assume much of Fereldan wildlife has a made a run for it. Or even that the ecological effects of darkspawn were wiping them out. This would result in lower supplies of fur and fewer varieties or it available. In which case reserving luxuries like fur for necessities of insulation and warmth would become a top priority and decorative displays of it such as with the pauldrons would mark a higher status such as you see with keepers and their firsts.

During Dragon Age 2 the Dalish clan you interact with is camped upon Sundermount for years and sundermount appears to only have giant spiders and undead so fur would still be at a premium.

By Inquisition however much of Fereldan's wildlife has returned and there is plenty of varied wildlife throughout Orlais and everywhere you visit. This would make it more acquirable as a fashion choice thus increasing the number of dalish you see with the design as a whole.

This would still be a cultural variation. Origins implies that the blight had been building up for awhile by the time Origins starts hence why Duncan is recruiting. And Kirkwall is so goddamn blighted by bloodmagic it's hardly a surprise half of all wildlife is giant spiders and that's definitely been going on for a long ass time. That could easily lead to these cultural differences between Dalish clans in various areas. These differences are easily exacerbated by things such as the Orlesian occupation of Fereldan, the 5th blight, and every other thing that happens in Thedas.

Side Note: the robe Marethari wears in Origins is the same as the Archon Robe which is described as being "decorated in the style of tevinter" which adds another layer to the adoption of this style by run away mages and some interesting further discussions on the original of this style as a designation for mage.

[funwalker]

The Curious Phenomenon of Player Turnover in Video Games and also a Review of Garden Story.

[This is a crosspost form cohost. The original was posted on Aug. 3, 2024.]

I played Garden Story.

It's a cute little game. Not quite what i expected when I played the demo (however many years ago that was now).

I had assumed it would be an adventure game in the vein of The Legend of Zelda where you pick your way through the world fighting monsters and solving puzzles, but it's really quite different from that, sort of blending in management sim(?) elements (managing your towns by gathering resources every day, fighting off monsters, fixing broken things around town, etc.).

A lot of games have trophies that act as milestones for player progress, like "beat the first boss", "beat the second boss", etc. There are four towns in this game which basically serve as chapters of the story. A play in four acts, you might say.

Now, I understand that for any given game--regardless of genre, regardless of length--it's unlikely that most players will finish it. Like all the way to the end. It's an interesting statistic, but people bounce off of games for all kinds of reasons, and I'm definitely guilty of this sort of thing as well. I was both a little surprised and also not surprised at all that only about 35% of players had beaten the first boss (according to the steam trophies).

For context, these are like, the numbers that you get when a player has to jump over some sort of hurdle. Some excerpts from my Steam library: Only about 40% of players made it past the first major story beat in Broken Age, and it's been a while since I've played it, but I'm pretty sure it's mostly due to obtuse solutions and some point and click jank. About 23% of people who looked past the finicky controls of Skatebird and made it to the second level. The number of people who made it past the tutorial of Deadly Premonition is about 45%. (Honestly, I'm surprised it's even that high, but I guess most people who pick it up know what they're in for...)

Garden Story is not an especially long game. Steam says I've played it for about 26 hours now, but probably 4 were tending to my towns post-game, and another 6 of those were the game just on in the background while i walked away to do something else. (It's one of those games that only saves at the end of an in-game day, so instead of completing a day and shutting it off, I usually opt to just leave it running.... ) [A memory floods into view of my hands as a child, turning off my tv but leaving my snes, ps2, wii, ps3 running as I go off to school. I return, play, finally save my game. the in-game clock reads 999:59, as it has for the last several days.] Does anyone else still do this? lol

But anyways, I think i clocked in at about 15 actual hours of play upon completion. Not long. Not short. Much of that time was spent extending days on into endless nights gathering every last resource from the land so I could upgrade my hammer or whatever.

The first town is definitely the shortest to complete from the start to the boss. It maybe took me about 2-3 hours, and those first hours bounced off about 65% of players. I honestly also thought about putting it down in that time.

I think it's fair to say that the gameplay at the beginning kinda drags. The game emphasizes how "cozy" it is in the trailer, which is kind of true, I suppose, but for me it lacks the satisfaction of something like a farmsim or puzzle game. The daily tasks are pretty shallow and usually uninteresting. Some of the quests (like finding rare resources for NPCs) are downright frustrating. It took me probably 4 or 5 days to find a single glass lens. 4 or 5 days of breaking the same 4 or 5 glass bottles on the beach. It was a quest that required two lenses, but I had the first before starting the quest, which may have skewed my perception of how easy it would be. Maybe I just got really unlucky. I nearly gave up on it though.

Starting out, Concord (your main character) is pretty weak. You have two pips of stamina which means you can attack twice before taking a break. Or you can run for a second and attack once. Or run for a few seconds and attack none. You're pretty slow. Combat--while not really challenging--takes a long time. You pick your way slowly through any screen with enemies. Attack, attack, recover, wait (the enemy is charging up it's rebuttal which takes a second), attack, sidestep, attack. Move on to the next one.

Add this little dance to the first boss fight (which, aside from the last, was the only one that killed me), where you have to wait for the boss to come down from the ceiling to become vulnerable and then you can only get a few weak whacks in before it retreats again... I can understand why a lot of people may not have had the patience to make it this far.

After this battle, you get your first upgrade to stamina (unless you're smarter than I am and equipped Concord's memory instead of Plum's), and that's when the game gained some semblance of fun for me. The difference between two and three pips of stamina is honestly an ocean.

I think maybe the player should've started out with 3 stamina instead of two and it really would've fixed a lot of issues I personally had starting out. Maybe they would've even retained another 10% of players past that first boss fight.

The story starting out doesn't appear to be anything special. Very fantasy-adventure-chosen-one-save-the-world but with cute little talking vegetables and also frogs. It's generally well written, though perhaps a bit needlessly padded in a way that had me skimming and skipping a lot of the dialogue, but I found myself actually getting into it as I went through the final town. There's something quite lovely and bittersweet about the ending that I like a lot, but it took quite a bit of time for me to get there.

All in all, I think it was a pretty alright game. I played it mostly as something to do at night and less as an actually engaging experience. The art is wonderful. The music is nice. I think the bosses are neat. I'm kinda sad that you can't fight them again in the post game. The story really only picks up in the last act, but it went a way I was not expecting from the outset and deals with themes of loss in a way that you don't see often, which I liked.

For as charming as I think this little game actually is, I can understand why 65% of players could not make it to even the second area. There are a lot of little things that add up. The nothingness of a lot of the daily missions. The tedium of fighting enemies. Confusing and under-explained mechanics. The reuse of certain interactable assets in ways that you can't interact with them and vice versa. The feeling that you must be missing something as you try to progress through the world.

There are things where I'm so sure that as a dev, having played through certain scenarios hundred of times, I would find acceptable, but as a player, having to interact with them only a few times, drove me nuts.

But putting that aside (after all, most of the people who did not finish the game had already left by that point), the question I'd like to ask is, "Why was the retention rate so bad, and how could I avoid such a thing in a game that I make?"

For me personally, I think this question can also be answered by a post I saw floating around on cohost a while ago about reasons for unfavorable ratings on Japanese indie games. A large part of it was those games not finding their target audiences. People complained that combat was too hard, the graphics were ugly, they wanted a different game than what they got.

So circling back to my first impressions, I honestly can't tell you whether the demo gave me a false impression of what the game would be like, but the impression I held of this game in my memory was indeed quite different from what I got. Looking at the launch trailer... well, it doesn't quite misrepresent the game but more like... beefs up its resume.

Scrolling through the first page of Steam reviews, I only saw two that wouldn't recommend this game and their main complaints are completely valid that the start of the game is pretty rough, tedious, and repetitive. Digging further, I think becomes apparent that the main complaint is the actual gameplay doesn't support what sold people on this game: the idea of a cozy gardening game. (Seemingly, some sources compared it to Stardew Valley, which gave people a false impression of what sort of game it would be.) Despite the incredibly high bounce off rate of players in the first couple hours of the game, most of the reviews on steam are positive. Probably, the take away from this is that most of the players that bounced off were just apathetic. The game isn't so irredeemable in the beginning to inspire anger. Some of the negative reviews even expressed a sympathy that they couldn't really recommend this game because it turned out they liked it in the end.

Looking past the presentation, I think this is a basic pacing problem. Like when reading a book, you need a hook to hold interest. Your book can be really good in the latter half, but if there's no interesting or urgent conflict to be resolved, a lot of people won't make it to the good part.

With games, this problem is two-fold. You need either a good gameplay hook or a story hook (preferably both). I've played games with mediocre stories because the gameplay was fun and vice versa, but you can't just coast off of both average story and gameplay. Obviously, some people will play anyways, but if you have something to say and you want that thing to be heard by anyone but the most dedicated players, I do think you need something to propel people. Especially if your game relies heavily on random generation and grinding to pad itself.

A "hook" doesn't have to be a big bombastic thing. Even without doing a bunch of fixes to clarify things in the design of the game--without changing the story or even the gameplay nearly at all--I think really it just needed a small adjustment, whether it's just that one extra pip of stamina to make early game combat and foraging more fun or even to trim out a lot of the superfluous dialogue. The art and the music are there. It just needs a little kick in the pants.

As a game designer, I try to keep in mind all of the reasons why someone would buy my game but not make it to the end, because I think that's the goal of most game designers--to find their target audience and give them a meaningful experience to engage with. That's kind of the nature of art, isn't it? I think maybe Garden Story became a good game eventually, but I do also think it had art at its heart the whole time. I know it maybe sounds like I didn't like it, but I really did enjoy it in the end.

Anyways, that's my onion. After about 10 hours into this game, I glanced at the Steam trophies and this piece was born. Haha.

Anyways, thanks for reading. Stay fresh.

It's summer in Texas. Pray for me.

[chryza]

Max's Durgetastic Guide To Killing Isobel Thorm With Zero Consequences (and acquire jimjams as normal)

Killing Isobel is sad. But fun. The first time around, I grimly accepted my consequence -- Dammon's death. You can avoid killing (almost) everyone else by waiting to free the nightsong before killing Isobel so Jaheira and the Harpers leave for Moonrise. But Dammon...

It is possible to wait until later to kill Isobel, and still receive the slayer form, but if you wait too long, then Jaheira will permanently leave your party. And we can't have that. She is crucial to the perfect resist!durge narrative. And thus began my quest to find a way to have my cake and eat it too, and after several hours of research and experimentation I have landed upon the precise solution. What follows is an attempt to guide any other wayward souls through the dark.

Ingredients: 4-5 Smokepowder bombs (or some other method of instantly killing Isobel such as a crit flame strike or otherwise), a potion of invisibility, and access to create darkness, some stuff worth around 500 g like extra armor.

Step One: After defeating Ketheric Thorm the first time in the throne room, do not speak to Jaheira. If you do, she'll join your party. It's imperative that you wait until after the Myrkul fight to recruit her or she'll leave (I tested killing Isobel without anyone noticing, killing her while Jaheira was dead, etc. Doesn't matter, Jaheira Knows through her all powerful bhaalspawn vision i guess.)

Step Two: Proceed as normal. After the fight with the avatar of Myrkul, when you return to Moonrise towers, all of your friends are there waiting for you, including one miss is-o-bel. You can choose to kill her while she's waiting in some dark corner (as I believe she's present somewhere). Or, you can opt for maximum pain, and let Aylin and Isobel reunite. This is the route I went.

Step Three: Send everyone except your durge to camp so that they will not be implicated in your crimes.

Step Four: place an array of 4 smokepowder bombs around Isobel. If you want to keep Aylin alive, try to position them to where Isobel is in range, but Aylin isn't. This may take some experimenting.

Step Five: Move up to the rafters out of sight. There is one spot in the rafters where you can hide without being seen. Cast darkness around yourself, then enter turn based mode.

Step Six: Pull the trigger, and drink a potion of invisibility as fast as possible.

Step Seven: If you've hit Aylin, you'll be instantly put into combat, however she will be unable to track you and will not move. Simply move far enough away and escape to camp.

Step Eight: Long rest and claim the slayer form from Sceleritas Fel

Step Nine: Grab some valuables and head back to Moonrise Towers. Speaking to Aylin will prompt the narrator to encourage you to give her a gift to improve her opinion of you. Dump stuff into Aylin's lap. Then, speak to her until she says her dialogue about joining you in your camp and you can invite her for Act III.

Step Ten: Recruit Jaheira, and head down the road to Baldur's Gate, having beat the gods at their own game!

Enjoy!