#rubyvroom plays video games

[rubyvroom]

BG3: the first playthrough

Because I always do my first playthrough of a game blind (unless I get completely 100% stuck, no guides) I have no idea how good/bad my worldstate is in BG3. But since I have not managed to romance* anyone I consider it a failure and I'm already planning my next playthrough. But since I've finally reached Baldur's Gate I'm going to play it out and see what kind of crazy result I'm going to get on my own.

I'm on a goody-two-shoes Paladin playthrough so it's probably pretty typical, but she's also a vengence paladin and a high persuader/deceptive so that keeps things lively

Good? Points? Maybe? Reformed Shadowheart away from Shar. Opposed the queen Gith and Lae'zel supports Orpheus now. Recruited Halsin and saved the nature kid. Rescued Tieflings from Moonlight Tower before I did Shar's Gauntlet. Isobel and Nightsong are hanging out in camp making heart eyes at each other and I keep trying to get in on that action

Bad? Things? Missed rescuing anyone from the fire in Act One. Some of the Tieflings died when I rescued them from the tower and others are mad at me. Could not figure out how to work the forge or do the brain puzzle. Did not rescue Zevlor or Mol or Will's Father. Killed Orthon. Jaheira is dead (big oops). Buddies with Emperor, don't know if that's a good idea. I'm half squid and I don't like what it did to Vez's face. Gale is also half squid. Realistically he was the only companion I could imagine doing it without being bullied into it. But I also bullied him into it. XD

Am currently looking for Astarion's vampire lord, not sure if I will encourage him to ascend or not. Would like to free Orpheus but my buddy Emperor will not like that. I let this kid into my camp but she is maybe a murder shapeshifter? Will do everything possible to save my BFF Karlach and find Shadowheart's parents and burninate the elder brain. Let's go endgame

*Was TRYING to romance Karlach and turned down everyone else trying to get with her, but it turns out I recruited her too late and got locked out. I did manage to get both Astarion and Halsin to visit the Drow twins with me, which was exciting at first, but kind of a bummer in practice.

[faejilly]

15 Questions, 15 Mutuals

tagged by @genginger, no-pressure tagging ANYONE WHO WANTS and also uh maybe @brennacedria @curiouscanvas @defira85 @eponymous-rose @foxghost @indigorally @atomicpen @msviolacea @rubyvroom @quilleth @angstmongertina @teaandinanity @thedivinemissema @twistedsinews @michellemisfit ???

blank questions for copypasta after my answers ALL HIDING AWAY under the read-more

Were you named after anyone?

My Great Aunt, who was a model and an artist and had an amazing smile and I am not very much like her but it's a thought that makes me smile when I think of it.

When was the last time you cried?

Uh. About 15 minutes ago at a stupid (but sincere & heartfelt & thus effective) Red Cross video?

Do you have kids?

Yep

Do you use sarcasm?

When warranted. And frequently when not. 😅

What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Depends on the person? Usually height and/or hair. Basic silhouette stuff, yk?

What’s your eye colour?

Brown

Scary movies or happy endings?

Both! (Happy endings tho)

Any special talents?

No? I used to be really good at tailoring my recommendations to the person I was talking to (books/movies/tv/whatevers) but I now mostly just tell everyone to read Murderbot. 🤣

Where were you born?

At a hospital! After my poor mother had been there a month!! Placenta previa is a shitty thing y'all, especially 40+ years ago.

What are your hobbies?

Reading, writing, and casual/cozy games because I HAVE NO BRAIN for anything that takes more than half a minute of concentration.

Have any pets?

Almost always. (Currently two dogs and a cat.)

What sports do/have you played?

I... cannot think of any? I am a potato.

How tall are you?

Just barely under 5 & 1/2 feet tall

Favorite subject at school?

All of them tbh, I am a giant nerd. But I am also very bad at school, so that has not been a thing for a few... decades... so my memory of subjects probably don't bear much resemblance to what they'd look like now.

Dream Job?

No idea. I am always taking suggestions. 😉

*****

Were you named after anyone?

When was the last time you cried?

Do you have kids?

Do you use sarcasm?

What’s the first thing you notice about people?

What’s your eye colour?

Scary movies or happy endings?

Any special talents?

Where were you born?

What are your hobbies?

Have any pets?

What sports do/have you played?

How tall are you?

Favorite subject at school?

Dream Job?

[thessalian]

21 Questions Meme

Rules: Answer 21 questions and then tag 21 people who you want to get to know better!

I was tagged in this by @skybound2

Nickname: Thess online, Jan in real life

Zodiac: Aquarius

Height: 5′4″ish

Last movie I saw: I got about 3/4 of the way through The Wolf of Wall Street before I decided I could no longer take watching this bunch of degenerates.

Last thing googled: "D&D challenge rating calculator”

Favorite musician: ...Stop Sophie’s Choice-ing me! Right now I’m probably going to say Colm McGuinness because the man who wrote "Welcome to Wildemount”, which was so awesome that Critical Role asked to use it for the fan art scroll, deserves some love.

Song stuck in my head: I don’t remember the title or musician, but currently I have the song that I used to use for my D&D group video’s intro sequence.

Other blogs: I need to do more with @thesswrites, but beyond that I don’t keep a lot of side blogs.

Do I get asks: Every now and again. Not as many as I’d like.

How many followers?: 358. I generally purge the porn bots, but I may have missed a few.

Amount of sleep: Average on the weekdays - 6 hours. Average on the weekends - 10+ hours.

Lucky Number: How very arbitrary. No idea.

What I’m wearing: Rolling Stones nightshirt, purple robe with polka dots, bunny slippers (it’s 3am leave me alone).

Dream job: Anything writerly, preferably either novelist or lead writer for video games.

Dream Trip: Another tour of the US visiting friends I’ve made online. Ideally, getting everyone together at, like, Gencon or something so we could do the convention thing and huddle up in a hotel room roleplaying when we need a break from crowds

Favorite food: I’m a moody foodie - by which I mean that my favourite entirely depends on mood or dietary needs. I’m a big fan of red meat, though - largely because I am slightly anaemic and need the iron.

Play an instrument:I used to play saxophone a long time ago. I could probably pick it up again with practice.

Languages:English, intermediate French, pidgin Spanish. Pondering learning British Sign Language and Russian.

Random Fact: My name was a placeholder. I’m my mother’s only child, but my father’s eighth child from his third marriage (my father is waaaaay older than my mother, by the way), and when they were discussing names, my father insisted that I was going to have blue eyes because all his kids did and that I was going to be a girl because then he’d have four of each. So he wouldn’t discuss boy’s names at all and was holding out for Nadine. My mother, having just missed the hippie thing, wanted Dawn or Joy or Crystal, none of which my father liked. So they debated the whole thing through my mother’s entire pregnancy and finally my mother hit on, “Janet!” My father’s response to that was “Maybe”. So I was born and because they didn’t have anything else, I got the ‘maybe’.

Describe yourself as aesthetic things: Stacks of paperbacks, amber glass bottles and lit tea light candles, purple dice with sparkles and steel, bunny slippers and sensible steel-toed black boots, ace pride flag, footprints in snow, amethyst geode, beat-up and much-loved teddy bear

Tagging ... @lindira, @fauxfire76, @true0neutral, @emilreloaded, @ichithecupcake, @hyperewok1, @raceofhearts, @mayaminamoto, @maybethings, @fairyboydammit, @matovilka, @felitomkinson, @hyperbali, @joasakura, @ladysmaragdina, @mastro-soul, @novemberocean, @pibroch, @rubyvroom, @vehlr, @yamisnuffles

[foundcarcosa]

@rubyvroom replied to your post: “@rubyvroom replied to you post: forever salty that they put all these...”:

ah, ok. that's legit. my reaction to repeated dying is LOL so I love it, but it has been made clear to me that this is not fun for everybody. the story is so up your alley though!

that’s the thing -- I started playing video games in the first place because I’m a storyteller and I realised there were games out there that make wonderful tools for telling stories through an interactive form of media

so basically I don’t play games for the gaming factor (my fine motor skills and retention isn’t honed for it tbh, handicap of not growing up with video games), I play them to learn about the world they’re set in, and the characters that populate that world, and to mine for sweet sweet lore

repeated dying and other elements of combat-heavy strategy-intensive gaming would be a distraction to my purpose and would make it difficult for me to even absorb the elements I came here for in the first place (or impossible, if I reach a point where I just can’t beat an enemy and I give up, thereby missing out on the rest of the game, possibly at a point where I was just starting to get interested in its world)

hence why I am very much supportive of the “Narrative Mode” element that some games have started rolling out, and would love it even more if there was a way to absorb a game’s world and content from a noncombatant perspective, like a nomadic wanderer who helps people in ways that don’t involve a sword or something, but then everyone would yell “That’s not what games are for! This is dumb and for babies! DOWNRATE, DON’T BUY” so I get why it’s not a thing.

[rubyvroom]

BG3 update: upon further review (learning what Ascension actually entails) managed to talk Astarion out of it. And we unleashed the vampires. That may not turn out well but whatever, we can hunt them down if necessary.

[rubyvroom]

Well, I figured some nostalgia comfort food was in order so I ordered the Final Fantasy VII remake. 

So far it is: beautiful to look at, kind of weird to play, dialogue is still awkward, Barrett is still problematic, Sephiroth is still an edgelord - but I do enjoy the ways they are teasing us with the fact that most people playing this game know the original very well and therefore are already expecting all the beats of the story. That little “ha-ha, Sephiroth is still gonna kill Aerith and there’s nothing you can do about it!” moment was a treat.

This game is also fully aware that Stopping the Evil Corporation from Destroying the Earth is every bit as compelling as a main objective as it was in 1997, if not moreso. 

[rubyvroom]

Finally done with Dark Souls III - completed two playthroughs and the Ringed City, finally beat Gael this morning and I've pretty much done everything. Spent about 5 months with this game, so I definitely got my money's worth. I'm Kind of sad because I don't want to be done with Dark Souls, but I suspect I'll throw in another Bloodborne playthrough every now and again, so I'm never really done. Anyway, starting up The Witcher III, which is a Christmas present I haven't gotten around to get. I've never played a Witcher game so yeah, we'll see how this goes.