#such a good combo of franchises too

[sunbedo]

Hey guys. gay rights

[dr-spectre]

So.... This game is 2 years old now huh?

Honestly... I don't think i have a TON to say about this game. It's just a great ass fucking video game that has given me a lot of fun and great memories!

This game came out during my final year of school, which is kinda funny considering that Splatoon 3 acts like a "finale" to a trilogy. It's interesting how those kinds of things work out eh? Splatoon 2 came out at the start of my secondary education, and Splatoon 3 came out at the tail end of my final year.

I remember thinking before the game came out, "why do we need a Splatoon 3? This is pointless, it's just more Splatoon 2." And then my mind was quickly changed once i got to play the Splatfest test fire and the actual game itself.....

I completed ROTM in such a short amount of time and i documented my reactions to my friends. Although i was spoiled in that Deep Cut had boss fights and Mr. Grizz was the final boss, ROTM still gave me a giant smile to my face all the way through. It was so fun, so charming and just a really good single player experience.

One of the things that i LOVE about Splatoon 3 is the vibe. I just love the location of Splatsville, i love the aesthetics, the lighting, the model improvements from Splatoon 2, the music, it's my favourite art style/aesthetic out of any of the Splatoon games by far. It just feels so polished, i don't know how to exactly describe it.

Also the fact that this game won best multiplayer game of 2022 over CALL OF DUTY! OVERWATCH 2 AND MULTIVERSUS MAKES ME SO GIDDY AND HAPPY!

PEOPLE GOT MAD ABOUT THIS AND THAT MAKES ME WANNA EVIL LAUGH! All of those fucking depressed and sad Call of Duty players who whine and complain about how "wahh modern gaming sucks!! There's no good games anymore wahhh!! It's all microtransactions wahhh!!" BITCH! SPLATOON 3 IS LITERALLY THE GAME YOU'VE BEEN ASKING FOR!! Yet you won't play it because it's on Nintendo huh? Yeah... You're a fucking PUSSY!! YOU'RE WEAK!! You're SCARED to be seen as less of a manly man!! You only wanna play games with oily dirty buff men.... Yet you call others who play games like Splatoon gay? Hmm..... Sounds like you're a wittle insecureeeeee!!!!

Have fun rotting in microtransaction hell you LOSERS!! GAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways.... uh.... sorry....

I also fucking love Deep Cut too. I thought i wasn't gonna like these guys and i remember thinking when i first saw them "oh... okayyyy..."

But now? I love these bastards.

I love their dynamic and how they are bandits but they actually wanna help the people back in Splatsville. That is such a cool and unique take to have for Idol characters. The Squid Sisters are very cutesy and so are Off the Hook, but Deep Cut aren't. They are loud, messy, chaotic, in your face, rude, etc. They are about contrast and the character designers did a phenomenal job at conveying that theme via their backgrounds and looks.

Another thing that i love about Splatoon 3 is that it also acts as a celebration of things that have come before, Inkopolis Plaza and Square return as hubs, old colour combos from previous games act as loading screens, most of the music returns in the jukebox, it rewards long time fans for sticking around and for a long running franchise IT'S SUPER IMPORTANT to have that stuff!!!

Seeing the improvements in the model quality from Splatoon 1 to 3 genuinely makes me kinda emotional, it shows how far we've come in just a little under 10 years...

It really homes in on the point that... These characters, have grown up with us.... The Squid Sisters are about to reach their mid 20s, Pearl is nearly 30 fucking years old!!!

And the last thing i wanna bring up before i talk about the Grand Fest...

...Is Side Order.

This fucking DLC... My god... Being able to experience it by myself and just enjoy the stuff i was seeing, being able to SCREAM AND CRY AS MUCH I WANT WAS SO IMPORTANT TO ME DUDE!

When i got to the 10th floor in the tutorial and i saw Marina Agitando staring me down.... I did the loudest gasp a human could possibly do and my jaw was hung to the floor for a solid MINUTE!

Marina's first fucking dev diary made me cry and scream, THAT IS NOT A JOKE!!!! THESE CHARACTERS ARE THAT IMPORTANT TO ME!

And the final boss.... Made me cry, it broke me down, i was singing along to Ebb and Flow as best as i could, it felt like i was brought back to 2018, being in my room, listening to that song on repeat... I feel like a kid again....

I love this song... i love it so much... Like it's not the most hype finale song ever, but, the emotion behind it, the build up from Splatoon 2... The power this song has in it's meaning... It's some good shit man...

So yeah! I love Splatoon 3!!! It's my favourite game out of the series and anyone who is gonna jump into this game now is gonna have a LOT to chew on.

And... It's both sweet and sad that we're at the end. This is it... The moment we've been waiting for. The final Splatfest to end them all. The event 9 years in the making.

The Grand Festival...

I am extremely excited and so FUCKING NERVOUS for this Splatfest!!!! I know i am going to cry and be so overwhelmed with joy. Seeing the Squid Sisters and Off the Hook perform their old songs again after all of these years is gonna make me sob so loudly it's not even funny.

These characters genuinely mean the world to me and it's gonna be so fucking hard for me to watch their final major appearance and say goodbye. Cause after this, we don't know what's gonna happen. I know they will come back, they have to but... In what capacity? That's what I'm scared about...

So yeah, let's savior this moment when it eventually arrives, take all the time you need to be engulfed in the Grand Fest.

Thank you Splatoon 3, you have given me so much.... It's not time to say goodbye just yet but, i wanna watch you as you walk into the sunset with your head held high....

[brothadom]

Sonic Hero Shooter Fancast

Hey uh, so, I really like Overwatch and Marvel Rivals, and y'all know I love Sonic the Hedgehog. And recently, I've seen some really good videos, posts, ideas about what other franchises would look like following the Marvel Rivals formula, so I figured why not take a crack at it with my favorite franchise?

I think there's a lot of potential here! I have a whole roster of ideas, but I just started with some classics. The overall goal was to make sure that I didn't lean too heavily into the Damage category, and fairly show love to Tank and Support (my main) roles.

So we got Sonic: a fast moving dps hero with a lot of movement and follow up options. With him, it's all about the flow state and combos.

Then Tails: a steady support hero with options to heal, boost abilities, and move allies around. For Tails, control and options are the key.

And Knuckles: a solid tank hero that wants to dive into the action. Based on maintaining aggression, his Maximum Heat will provide boosted attacks and shields to allies.

Let me know what you all think! This took some effort, but was really for fun. All the art comes from official sources, and is edited to fit the style. I have three more hedgehogs next if people want to see more!

[3416]

I'm new to Leafs hockey and im trying to understand all the hype about about how much Auston and Mitch are such a big deal as a duo? I stumbled upon your blog and it seems like you'd be in the know 😂 please help i wanna be in the know!

JFKJDSKLFS LOL. i fear i've made the two of them and their bond my entire personality at this point and made it my mission to document everything they do the past couple years so fsjdfkls YOU'D BE RIGHT. i could probably write an essay about this, but if you just want to know about their hockey, they play very complementary styles as players, they wanted to play together for a long time after bonding as rookies but weren't allowed, and then once they did, both of them have had pretty insanely impressive careers next to each other. i think the really really short answer to this question of why mitch and auston are known as such a duo is because they want to be, lol. they're close friends, they love playing hockey together, and they use their leverage as elite players to be on the same line as much as physically possible season after season, no matter the gm or coach. but i'll give a longer answer abt their hockey too.

auston's a wonderful two way centerman who can score 60+ goals a year BECAUSE he has one of the best playmakers on his wing, and their chemistry is insane and they've been nurturing it for ageeeees, basically since the start of their careers (peep this warmup routine they started around.. 2018? i think? where they spend the entire last 2 minutes just passing back and forth and feeling good abt themselves ((they also have a ton more small rituals together in warmups but i digress)). it's a highlight when you see leafs hockey in person). one of the things that makes them compelling to me is that their positions are actually flipped from the usual goalscorer/playmaker combo, like usually a center is the more pass-first guy and your winger is the goalscorer but their tendencies are opposite so they naturally fit and embrace those roles. mitch is also really dedicated to the defensive side of the game though, both of their names come up in the selke convo, and it just tells you that the way they've grown as players over the years has really been rooted in the same philosophy.. like you know they talk the game and love the game and love to communicate. they're also on track to essentially be the two best leafs of all time (nylander will be the third but his game isn't as rounded out as theirs and his success isn't as tied to 1 specific person the way mitch/austons is ((or the way they clearly want it to be... like they WANT to be known as a duo and if you don't believe me... believe this excerpt from elliotte friedman where he says matthews has made it known he wants to play with marner longterm to the front office lol))). last year mitch and auston broke the leafs franchise record for most goals factored in on by a pair of teammates (and if you want to see every goal within that 240+ list, i'm posting them on twitter here as they go) and they're only halfway through their careers if they stay healthy (PRAY) SO LIKE.. they are on track to do special stuff for this franchise (they already have... like mitch became the fastest player to 700 points for the leafs earlier this season and auston's going to break HIS record this year just back to back... they get to break records in tandem like that).

if you want to know about their lore and personal connection off the ice, you can check out these primers i've made about them (first, second). although i haven't updated the second for the past 2 seasons, you can search my blog for #1634 and then #2324 (for the 23-24 season) or #2425 (for this current season) for content of them lately. if anything's broken or you're looking for something specific lmk, but they basically came into the league the same year and imprinted on each other and have wanted to play hockey together ever since tbh. whenever the leafs get stale and need a change up, they'll swap them and give them different linemates, but it won't last long in all honesty (and they've been outwardly annoyed abt it before too), lol. they're always gonna revert back to what they know works, even though they have their down times as all line combos do. don't let this years stats fool you. auston's playing injured and way under producing for normal/has missed a lot of time. it's not exactly a typical year for them, but they're still a trustworthy combo in all zones against any line in the league and morre importantly..... they just enjoy playing hockey together, lol. you see lots of players around the league that want to be teammates forever, but these guys want to be LINEMATES forever in essentially every situation (neither of them ever leave pp1 unit and auston's started penalty killing this year and you'll never guess who they put him out there with a lot of the time lol) and are unhappy when they're not for any extended stretch of time.

sorry for a mini essay here, but that's mostly just the hockey part. i hope it somewhat answers your question and i hope you enjoy exploring more about them!!! i don't think there's a dynamic in the league quite like it, on or off the ice, which is why i love them.

[mahou-furbies]

It is time for

This time the event will be hosted by the green Cure Ocs, who got a little attention this year.

Mahou anime of the year:

(Wonderful Precure!, Heartcatch Precure!, Precure movies (All Stars F, Mahou Tsukai series movie), Märchen Mädchen, Sasaki & Peeps, MahoAko, MahoAku, MahoNare, Acro Trip, Magilumiere, Samurai Flamenco)

Manga:

(Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card, Shugo Chara Dream Joker, Magical Girl Dandelion, Mermaid Melody Aqua, Champignon Witch, Pretty Guardian Stress, Who Said Blues had to be Cool)

Other:

(Magical Girl Raising Project Aces, W.i.t.c.h. reboot vol2, Mermaid Melody Encore)

While 2023 was an extremely Precure year this was the opposite and I only barely managed to finish one of the backlog seasons. I'm hoping to get back on track next year and finish the remaining two, and then we're off to new adventures when that opens up slots for a different kid show mahou franchise. It'll be exciting to see which one it ends up being, I guess Doremi has a chance since I already started the first season, but that was also on a whim so anything else can also happen.

We had quite a few contests this year, starting with the favourite Precure (won by Cure La Mer), and there was the Miss Meguca contest about their outfits, with select few major characters from MagiReco (won by Madoka). And that was followed by Miss Meguca contest for casual outfits (won by Konomi) and Halloween outfits (won by Darkness Mitama). And then there was the Christmas outfits, which is still ongoing because I didn't quite have a good moment to put up the final round... Sorry about that, it'll be way out of season once it concludes but that's how it sometimes goes.

I also planned a Magireco swimsuit contest for summer, but since the game shut down at that time I thought it would have been kind of mean since I predict the air around it to be kind of negative. But I'll probably do that next summer.

Magireco shutting down was a shame since even if I didn't play, it had been a good source for new mahou designs. Though new stuff had really slowed down so it wasn't exactly a surprise.

We also had a little Halloween event with my mahou OCs, and looking for video game food items for it was a lot of fun.

Then it's time for the awards!

Best henshin design goes to the main character's Snow White transformation from Märchen Mädchen! Truly an S-tier design that has a lot of good elements but still isn't overdesigned. Let's point out the asymmetry, pale colour palette and white hair, slight gradient, winged shoes and flower colour accents. The miniskirt + long train makes foor a great combo too, it's still recognisable as a magical girl but also looks super cool.

Honourable mention to Berry Blossom from Acro Trip for the simple but super cute strawberry outfit.

Best team design goes to Heartcatch Precure! They're simple and recognisable and also include the season's flower theme.

I also want to give a shoutout to Wonderful Precure because for the first time in like a decade the Cure outfits have a recognisable visual theme going on.

Best powerup design goes to Wonderful Precure Diamond Ribbon style! I like that they're more uniform (probably too uniform since only the skirt part is different but whatever) and I'm a big fan of the way the skirt colours make a gradient.

Also not a powerup but I don't think it's something that needs its own category, but a special mention to the evil clones from the W.i.t.c.h. reboot, I'm always ready for slightly altered designs of the main characters.

Best civilian design goes to Tsubomi, specifically because of her glasses! I just can't get over what a great design element they are, and she even wore them far more often than I expected. I thought she'd completely swap them for contact lenses for marketability but no, they regularly showed up through the season!

Best school uniform goes to Mahonare! It's cute and looks refreshingly different from usual and thus fitting for a magical school. Plus look at the cute little hat! And girls can opt for poofy shorts too!

Honourable mention for the warm brown palette of the Wonderful Precure uniform, plus also giving the shorts option for girls.

Best hair goes to Yuki's civilian hair from Wonderful Precure! For being simple and elegant. I also like her Cure hair except for the "sideburns" whose length feels a bit awkward.

A honourable mention to the little stars in Byakuya's hair in MahoAku.

Best magical item goes to Byakuya's staff from MahoAku! It's simple and doesn't look like a plastic toy.

Hibana's staff (also from MahoAku) isn't bad either.

Best henshin scene goes to Byakuya from MahoAku! It's well animated and and the glowing stars are beautiful.

A shout out to Heartcatch for giving Tsubomi and Erika unique animation for their dual transformation instead of just splicing scenes from their individual henshins together.

Best fan creation goes to Mermaid Melody Encore! It has the benefit for being an extremely favourable comparison to the canon sequel, but it has a lot going for it outside that too, with an interesting premise, likable characters and appealing art.

Best relationship goes to... do I have to give this to SatoIro? I'm not a shipper and I couldn't care less about Iroha, but the confession and date episodes were really good.

Alternatively, Luna and Lis from from Champignon Witch have a really interesting tragic and complicated relationship.

Best mascot goes to Daifuku from Wonderful Precure! Has a quiet but powerful presence, indomitable, doesn't have a shrill voice, never does anything annoying, has an appealing colour scheme and perpetually looks kind of grumpy. This is peak mascot performance.

And since she photobombed the picture, let's also say that Niko has a really funny personality. And I guess a shout out to Wonderful Precure in general for doing something different with the mascots this year.

Best supporting character goes to Shade from Magical Girl Dandelion! I regret to tell I like his tumblr sexyman design and he has a super interesting and fresh dynamic with the main girl.

Best visual goes to the MahoAku title cards! There's somehow a lovely retro vibe to them.

In the general visual category I considered both Mahonare and Mahoaku. Mahonare has a more unique look, but since anime is supposed to be moving pictures I do have to dock some points due to the fact that the animation is clearly struggling. Meanwhile Mahoaku's lovely pastel style is less distinct but also looks consistently good even in moving form.

Best audio goes to All for One Forever from Precure movie F. This song slaps and makes the fight scene it accompanies incredibly epic.

"Conflict between light and darkness" from the Heartcatch OST is also a beautiful piece of music and "Fight for the future" gets you pumped up for a big fight.

The Innovation award is given to a magical girl work that I think does something fresh for the genre. This year it goes to Magical Girl Dandelion for its extremely fresh premise that still doesn't feel too tropey.

The Golden Mana award is the prize given to one thing I didn’t like.

This year it goes to the entirety of Mermaid Melody Aqua. I know I already awarded it to Lucia's design specifically a few years ago and in general I'm trying to avoid repeats, but frankly it would be disingenious to act like Aqua didn't deserve it this year since it turned out to be one of my least favourite manga ever. There's the awful heroine and irritating or irrelevant side cast, the awkward art, the weird fanservice, the lacking storytelling… the list goes on.

Dishonourable mention to the stupid side cast of Mahoaku.

Best character goes to Cure Blossom! The rare shy main Cure, great character arc, lovely design (the glasses!) and in general super sympathetic and likeable. I hope she won't remain the only of her kind among the franchise!

Best work goes to Champignon Witch! Much deliberation went on among the one-person council of Mahou Furbies if it should be eligible for any of the awards since it's clearly not a magical girl series, but then again neither is Petite Princess Yucie and I rewarded it last year. So let it be known that from now on anything I deem mahou enough to warrant a review post on this blog is also qualified for awards.

But anyway, Champignon Witch has a lovely fairytale setting, unique story, likable characters, magical art, melancholic mood and S-tier outfits. I'm really looking forward to the anime next year!

If you think only actual magical girl works should qualify, then you can think that Magical Girl Dandelion is the winner; so far there aren't a lot of chapters out of it yet so even on that grounds it might be a bit too early for it, but for what there is to judge I've liked everything about it. Heartcatch Precure is also a good contender, but it does have the typical kid show tropes holding it back so it's harder for a Precure season to win when there's actual competition aimed at an older audience.

Plans for 2025:

I also intend to get back to MagiPro, finally reading Aces was really fun but then I hit the Episodes filler books and the progress halted.

The new Madoka Exedra game is also coming out, though I'm not particularly excited. I have no intention of playing it (gacha eww), and also since it's 3D I'm under the impression that adding new characters requires more effort, which would probably mean less new or obscure characters and more focus on the old favourites.

Art-wise I want to create the missing green Cures for the three newest seasons at least, and also finally do something more with the DPPC. Though that's what I say every year...

[junkdrawernoggin]

So as a BG3 fan who has not played any Dragon Age and has a week off, is Dragon Age Veilguard a good buy?

I’ve heard really good things about the franchise, but I’m pretty terrible at combat. I’ll have to do some more searching to see if there’s a really easy mode. I’m wanting to improve, but I just haven’t found any good entry level games. Like Elden Ring looks really cool but I think even on the easy mode I’d be very frustrated with myself. I prefer the RPG side of things. I love combat in BG3, but I love it because it’s turn based, so there’s not as much pressure to be perfect or make combos quickly.

Is it maybe better to start with a different Dragon Age? I’ve heard the most about Inquisition. The other option is I may finally bite the bullet and give Skyrim a try, but I admit that I’m not a huge fan of the look of that game. I’m spoiled too much with modern 4k games I suppose lol.

[basil-does-arttt]

Devil May Cry 2. The pimple-faced teenager of the series, widely regarded as the worst game in the franchise.

While yes i agree with this viewpoint to some degree, and i think all the jokes about it being the worst one are funny... i honestly dont think the game is THAT bad. In fact, i think people give it too much shit.

Ill start out by saying this: no, the game isnt amazing. Its under-developed, rushed, and in no way is it up to the same standard as the other 4 games. Im not saying its this perfect game, but its not as horrible as some make it out to be.

Ive played through the game on the original PS2 version and the remastered version, and although im yet to complete Lucia's campaign, i can confidently say the game is mediocre at worst really.

First the gameplay: Boring? Yes. Definitely. Do you like standing in one place and shooting everything for 15 minutes untill it drops dead? This is the game for you. But you dont have to do that, it just happens to be the easiest option because the controls are so jank. I spent (some) time myself learning the combos, turns out it depends on the way you angle the joystick, and once you get the hang of it, its not that difficult to S rank combat encounters at all. Its annoying, but not impossible, and the combos can honestly look pretty cool imo.

The movement is also another thing, the dodge animation takes way too long to perform but i do like the forward dash. Its a nice alternative to using stinger as a makeshift movement dash, i wish they kept it for furture versions of Dante. (Yes i know theres the trickster dash, but he doesn't do a flip)

I also really love the flying mechanic with aerial heart, and the different kinds of core thingies you could combine as a whole. A unique feature that kinda got combined into other things in Dante's design.

A few of the bosses, if they had been fleshed out and maybe balanced a bit better, could've been just amazing too. Furiataurus for example. One boss i feel was done well though was The Despair Embodied, and although you can just stand around and shoot it to death like everything else, you do actually have to put effort in to not get hit and die. (Trismalga is also kinda in that boat too, a well(ish) done fight you actually have to put effort into, but i personally didn't like it.)

Next, level design: You have to admit they did some cool things with the level design. *some*. The whole "grungy city" vibe is something i found very interesting, and the trippy purple iteration of lower town was, while infuriating to navigate thanks to the camera and graphics (esp on the ps2 version), was actually quite neat. I also really liked the clock tower in Lucia's campaign.

And also, the music. Can i just say, i think dmc 2's soundtrack is my favorite one out of all 5 games. The ambient background tracks are almost dreamy, especially Lucia's ones, the boss themes honestly go hard and the piano track that's repeated throughout the whole soundtrack just sounds good. If you take anything away from this post, its that you should listen to the soundtrack. (I reccomend the tracks "Unholy Relics", "Cry for the Moon", and "Shoot the Works")

The character designs are another thing i think they did well in this game. In my humble opinion, Dante's dmc 2 style is the best looking one in the whole series. Lucia also looks quite cool, her devil trigger form especially.

The characters themselves, Dante especially, need work, but might i remind you the developers were rushed when making this game. They didn't have enough time to do everything they wanted to do, 6 months before the game was supposed to release they didn't even have it in working condition. It was only thanks to Itsuno stepping in as the director that we got this game in the first place, and all he could do was salvage what the team had already created and get it in a releasable state before launch.

If only they had a bit more time (and maybe resources), dmc 2 couldve been quite the cool game. Though, on that note, if it werent for dmc 2's catastrophic faliure and Itsuno's prompt pestering for a sequel so the franchise didn't die outright, we wouldn't have gotten dmc 3. Though i think Capcom would've made a 3rd game regardless of the scenario.

All in all, i dont think dmc 2 is that horrible of a game. If you have the remaster collection, or even the original PS2 version, at least try it. Give it a go, play through the first few missions and kill one or two of the bosses.

Don't take it seriously, just have fun and enjoy the game in all its janky half-finished glory. If you look at dmc 2 that way, i think you'll enjoy it a whole lot more.

Or dont. Yknow, its your choice.

[emeraldhypothesis]

For the ask meme, Yuya, Yuto, Yuri! And Zarc, if you want to ^^

I appreciate the enthusiasm in asking for four characters!

Yuya:

Why I like them/why I don’t

Yuya is... complicated. He's probably my least favorite protagonist in the series to date, largely due to suffering from what feels like a writer conflict where half the show wants to validate his beliefs in entertainment and bringing smiles to people, while the other half wants to go "No, you're stupid, it's time to grow up." Yuya's left in the middle and it hurts his character a lot, not helped by how the show has him repeat his Season 1 character arc in the Synchro dimension by having him go "Oh I need to develop my own style instead of copying my dad's," and then... has him do it again in the Synchro dimension.

Even discounting that though, he's just not very engaging. I find the other YuBoys more interesting and think most of them could carry the show better.

I'm also just not of his deck and playstyle- Performapal has so many junk cards that do nothing, and I wish he'd pivoted more to the Pendulum Magicians/Odd-Eyes Dragons as the series went on. As is, it pulls his deck in so many different directions that none of them quite land or work as a strategy (barring PePe but that was also due to them taking Performage's lunch).

What I like about their appearance

Orange is a very rare color in this franchise so I like his shirt. His goggles are fun. I like the way his hair looks like a tomato. I like the effect for his Berserk Mode eyes and how in his first time possessed fully, he's this cold menace.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?

They're the same.

Performance wise I think I prefer Kensho Ono's take on it. Some of his line reads are a bit awkward but I'll take it over the dub VA's voice cracking audibly during some of the Pendulum Summon chants.

OTP

I usually just ship him with Yuzu because they're basically canon, but I also dig Pendulumshipping.

OT3

I think him, Reiji and Yuzu would be cute together. I've read a few fics with that premise.

Favourite card they use

Five-Rainbow probably looks the coolest if we're counting his in-show cards. I like Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon if we're counting his legacy support.

Favourite moment they were in

Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon's summon is probably Yuya's most iconic moment for a reason, it's really good.

Least favourite moment

Yuya's argument with Crow about how smiles are more important than food is... hard to top.

Yuto:

Why I like them/why I don’t

Cool appearance, cool dragon, cool deck, gone too soon so he has the buff of wasted potential and dies before the show's writing plummets in the second half.

Yuto doesn't get a lot of screentime but I think he uses it well to leave a good impression of a complex character, someone who is very good at fighting but would really rather do anything else. It would have been fun to see him meet Reira and identify with that, and so Reira can get another addition to their "If you try and touch this kid I will bury you alive" squad.

What I like about their appearance

The tattered cape is pretty cool, I also like his mask and goggles combo that he drops after his first appearance. I'm fond of his random tie.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?

I will never call him Uto.

Manpei Takagi is my preferred Yuto voice over Liscio, but I think Liscio improved by Duel Links. Takagi is my favorite though, I love how much impact he gives the simple lines like "Ore no turn," and his summons in Duel Links.

OTP

I can go either way with Shun or Ruri as a shipping partner for Yuto.

I didn't have any real answers for NOTP or OT3.

Favourite card they use

Silent Boots is pretty cute. Shout out to Arc Rebellion for being my secret weapon in Lunalight.

Favourite moment they were in

The Raging Dragon summon is really cool. I also like his first duel against Sawatari for how lacking in fucks he is.

Least favourite moment

Dying so early. He's a mountain of wasted character potential.

Yuri:

Why I like them/why I don’t

Yuri's fun. Arc-V villains are generally sub-par but Yuri is the hard carry for his team. He's got a good duel record, a fun appearance, a very charming personality and a certain allure to him that befits his deck.

What I like about their appearance

A lot of it's in the face. Yuri's a smug little bastard and always smirking and looking like a cat who got the cream. It means he's always enjoyable to watch because he's always smugly preening like a peacock.

I also like his cape, it really gives his design a certain je ne sais quoi.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?

Same in both languages, same deal as Yugo where I conspicuously develop dyslexia while I watch the Pendulum Beat OP.

Language wise, I think I have to give this to Liscio. Kensho Ono's a delight as Yuri, but Liscio gets to get very over the top with his performance in the dub, acting all posh and fancy while he summons his plants, and he gets to occasionally lace his dialogue with a surprising amount of venom when Yuri gets really off the reservation.

OTP

Duskshipping, Yuri and Dennis are very captivating together as I explained in my thoughts on Dennis.

I also like Yuri/Yuya for when I'm in the mood for some truly poisonous toxic yaoi, mostly just whenever I look at Angeat's art.

NOTP

Like I said with Yugo, I'm not as fond of Pawnshipping, largely because I prefer Yugo with other characters and if I want some toxic Yuri, there's other ships.

I also have to work to enjoy Yuri/Serena, I think they're both too different (and gay) to co-exist. I'll give it a whirl but it's far from my top pick for either.

OT3

Dennis/Yuri with Yuya being the intermediary is... interesting to consider post-canon.

Favourite card they use

Dragostapelia's fun. I also have a Royal Finish Ophrys Scorpio in Master Duel that looks really cool.

Favourite moment they were in

Telling Sora "I don't care about your sick sister, she can fuck off and die for all I care" in the manga was pretty based and Yuripilled, one might say.

Otherwise, a lot of his silly expressions are very fun and give him a lot of personality. I'm quite fond of his final duel with Yuya, as long as I ignore the misplay he makes in the final turn that would have let him win.

Least favourite moment

More of a general thing but I really dislike his duels never making use of Predaplant's Extra Deck and just becoming Starving Venom turbo. He doesn't duel enough for it to be a problem but you feel it on rewatch and when you learn of cards like Dragostalia or Chimerafflesia and instead he's just always making the same dude. Starving Venom's a fun dude, but variety is the spice of life.

Being used as the vehicle to sell an Ancient Gear Structure Deck by styling on Asuka. I know the anime sells the cards, but that case was perhaps a bit too on the nose, especially during a part of the show that's already making me look at the writing and go "Wow, you really do just hate women."

Also, while Duel Links has walked it back a little, I dislike that he dodged consequences without having to try thanks to being merged with Yuya. He should have faced some punishment or been made to expressly atone.

Zarc:

Apologies in advance, this is probably one of the more negative entries I'll be writing.

Why I like them/why I don’t

I profoundly dislike Zarc. He's my least favorite final boss villain in the series. I consider him in every regard a failure of a character who wastes a lot of the setup and squanders a lot of the mysteries around the Dragon Boys, alongside being a lame resolution to the mysteries specifically around Berserk Mode. He looks ugly, like a under-developed gargoyle who popped out of the womb prematurely. I hate so much of the circumstances around his revival, I hate the nature of his boss duel, I hate that it's not a YuBoy Tag Duel against Zarc which you would expect as the final boss of the series, and is instead Zarc beating up every jobber still alive while playing the most protracted game of pass the baton in recorded history, all while every time a character threatens to beat him, he reveals yet another broken protection effect that lets him summon a billion dragons and do five bajillion damage. I hate that the last ten episodes of the show basically involve making the baby Zarc smile to prevent another apocalypse.

Anything nice I can say about Zarc almost entirely comes from fanart, fanfiction, fan theories, fan headcanons, and in general, from fans who salvage his character to make something of it. I think it's telling that my favorite take on Zarc comes from Dana's NotLawrence AU where she makes him a complete and utter failure of a person who peaked in high school and has a Soundcloud channel for his raps. I guess I like his deck, but he gives it a bad showing by just sitting on his busted towers for so long that it gets boring.

I do not like Zarc. I don't think I ever will.

What I like about their appearance

I like that Zarc's eyes glow this cool shade of yellow when he gets fired up. That's really it, I hate his design and I much prefer how fans have translated Zarc's design.

I guess his human design is fine. I wouldn't have minded I guess if that was his main form for his boss fight, or a corruption version of it that gives him his dragon form's green lines- those are cool.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?

Same in both.

I know some people find it funny with things like "Zarc." "WHAT," but I really hate his dub voice. Kensho Ono at least has a bit of fun making Zarc a typical villain who purrs a few lines, but I really dislike the Gilbert Gottfried voice that Liscio settles on. If he's still doing it when Zarc comes to Duel Links, I'm installing the Japanese audio tracks for the entire time his event is playing.

OTP

Genesisshipping is one of those ships that I rotate in my head sometimes like a microwave dish. Deeply fascinating that Arc-V has its own little creation mythos ship that involves the world's messiest divorce, and godlike power granted to two of the worst people who could have been given it.

NOTP

Literally everyone else. Not on moral grounds, I just think everyone else can do better. I'll let you decide what that implies about Ray in this case.

OT3

Zarc/Ray/The divorce papers.

Favourite card they use

Astrograph Magician is such a beautiful card. One of my favorite arts in the game.

Favourite moment they were in

Getting heckled by Sawatari and Crow who repeatedly call him a bitch and a sore loser was pretty fun.

Least favourite moment

Most of the rest of his boss duel. I find it loathsomely boring on rewatch.

Would I fuck, marry or kill them

Ray can have that hot mess of a loser all to herself.

[bluecheckeredskirt]

Baron Draxum’s Design for My Order 66 AU

Like in the franchise, his identity is split in two, so I’ll put them in different columns

“The Baron”

I’m leaning towards color scheme 1, though I wanted to display 2 with the gargoyles

Sidious’ whole thing is black clothes, but I knew Draxum looks good in blue and wanted to incorporate some red (like in Palpatine’s ROTS outfit)

Something that was very important to me was covering up Draxum’s legs. As Sidious was someone very secretive, covering up everything except the lower part of his face, I knew that I had to cover up one of his most recognizable features. So I kinda reversed how it was in the show.

^ It is also why his hair is tucked away

His gloves are larger than his actual hands. This doesn’t mean that it’s too big for him to fit in, just that it makes his hands look bigger

Armored chest helps hide actual chest shape

Voice modulator in mask makes him sound like season 1 Baron Draxum

Couldn’t figure out how to do his belt thing without making it look weird… looks a little plain but it’s better than the alternative

One of the reason I changed Lou Jitsu’s belt buckle to silver was because gold kinda represents evil in my au (Big Mama will also have some gold). (Ok it was mostly so it would match his sword, but the symbolism ended up working out.)

Draxum

I explained why I revealed his legs in the Baron’s section, but it also makes him seem more exposed/open. Since I couldn’t find a moment in the show where his legs were exposed without the bodysuit, I made up my own color (tried same color I used for the upper half, but it just looked weird 😭)

It’s also why his hair is down. It also kinda reminds me of something like Mufasa’s mane, and he’s practically the paragon of goodness/kingliness

But shape language! Usually don’t do it, and it was mostly by accident/following his show design, but we got triangles, which resemble evil/strength.

The outfit color scheme is largely based off his show’s, though I added some orange to match his schlera. I think it’s a pretty color combo

Draxum is never seen with the gargoyles, only the Baron is

The explosion in his lab left him with some scars. Namely, the one on his arm, which is the worst since he used it to block the blow. (This is my first time drawing burns, so kindly lmk if there’s anything I can do to improve <3). It was important to me for there to be some remainder of the fire, as burn scars usually don’t go away and idk how they got out of it peachy fine (esp Lou, like he was in the middle of it…). After the explosion tho he teleported away, so his burns aren’t too terribly severe.

Naturally sounds like season 2 Draxum

Can we call him a wolf in sheep’s clothing? (Ik he’s a goat but still)

I can’t decide if I still want his irises to be orange, or if I leave that solely for the Baron and his eyes change color like the Sith. Either way, I chose to just draw his eyes like I did for everyone else—just black dots. I will say, it helps make him look friendlier and in place.

[varusai]

⭐️Get to know your mutuals⭐️

⭐️ Tagged by @elvenmoans

this took me forever to fill out i kept forgetting it in my drafts. oops😔

⭐️ What's the origin of your blog title?

blog title: ☆ ฅ^•⩊•^ฅ ☆

i was looking at a big ass list of japanese emoticons, don't even remember the specific one i was looking for, but came across this one ฅ^•⩊•^ฅ and???? hello??? its so cute???

i never know what to title my stupid blog so i just put that there because it makes me happy to see her.

⭐️ OTP(s)+ shipnames(s):

i’m on the oc shipping train rn but for regular non oc ships we got

moonsea tyrants (manshoon/ fzoul) - the forgotten realms

gideon/harrow/ianthe (any combo) - the locked tomb

farcille (falin/marcille) - dungeon meshi

durgetash (the dark urge/enver gortash) - bg3 (only default hot white dragonborn durge tho, i don’t care about any of that custom character shit)

scar/lex - AVP (i’m having my annual resurgence of this ancient fixation. it will pass soon)

⭐️ Favourite color:

black, but since a lot of ppl consider this a non answer/cop out, purple. i have a particular soft spot for ultraviolet purple.

⭐️ Song stuck in your head:

Thnks fr th Mmrs - Fall Out Boy

i heard it on the radio yesterday after not hearing it for a long time and now its stuck

⭐️ Weirdest habit/trait:

i think this is more of a question that one would need to direct outward, not self-assign. like i talk to myself and consider that both find and normal what the fuck do i know about what counts as a weird habit lol

⭐️ Hobbies:

mainly playing dnd right now. playing dnd and thinking about The Characters. i also write and draw sometimes. i just never finish anything. I’ve also been reading a lot more this year, which has been nice. and I do/learn math for fun, but idk if that counts as a hobby? i'm gonna count it because i do it often enough.

⭐️ If you work, what's your profession?

i got some chronic conditions during covid and was fucked up and disabled for a while in addition to being really depressed. i'm on meds now and its getting a little better but now the job market is fucked so i don't have a job job rn and i just do gig work and temp jobs when i run out of money. usually admin, tech support, tutoring, or doordash. kinda just depends on what comes up.

⭐️ If you could have any job you wish, what would it be?

tbh i kinda already had my dream job? i was a physicist doing research on planet formation. undergraduate level, but it was a paid position so technically i made it. i do hope to go back to it one day when i'm not mentally and physically fucked up, but considering the state of the world now def doesn't seem like the time. unfortunately.

⭐️ Something you're good at:

befriending cats. i’ve literally never met a cat that didn’t like me. even stray cats. i’d like to think i’m pretty good at art too.

⭐️ Something you hate:

capitalism. i also hate driving, temperatures higher than 80F, and the human head, neck, back, and nervous system. mine specifically.

⭐️ Something you collect:

pens and notebooks/office supplies. which was fine when i was in school/doing research/teaching but after??? i would have ended up in some trouble space wise if i hadn't started playing dnd lol. now i can use my stuff again for my notes/game binder :3

i also collect dnd dice sets✨

⭐️ Something you forget:

i'll forget anything that you can ask me a question about out of nowhere. my brain is never stupider than when i'm put on the spot😔

⭐️ What's your love language:

talk to me about something that i'm obsessed with. especially like fic/character/dnd/oc worldbuilding. and especially if we're working on it together. if you can get to this stage you're prob in for life.

⭐️ Favourite movie/show:

The Thing (1982) is my favorite movie ever i watch it literally all the time.

big shout out to the Alien franchise and LotR tho they're tight runners up.

my fav show fluctuates a lot more, but i gotta say just based on rewatch value How Its Made takes it easily.

⭐️ Favourite food:

panda express orange chicken and chow mein combo with crab rangoons, that exact order

⭐️ Favourite animal:

cats or seals! literally two of the cutest animals to exist.

⭐️ What were you like as a child:

undiagnosed and strange

⭐️ Favourite subject at school:

science! i literally took every science class my small town high school had and was still losing my mind

⭐️ Least favourite subject:

government & economics.

yawnnnn

⭐️ What's your best character trait?

knowledge seeking & creative.

⭐️ What's your worst character trait?

asocial & irritable

⭐️ If you could change any detail of your life right now, what would it be?

add about 3 to 4 more zeros to my bank account balance

⭐️ Tagging: @twilight-alchemist @sunnidaydreamer @voxiferous @sunsetfields @zarnitza @darkeecofreak @shadow-djinni @overcaffeinated-paranoia @roosterzebra @inadvisablyappliedmagic @bi-colored-corn @revasnaslan @a-la-orilla-del-rio @minigenos

i know a lot of y’all already but its still fun lol

[randomthefox]

Two weeks ago on April 4th, I was so upset by the piece of shit god awful Netflix Devil May Cry show that I decided to replay Devil May Cry the video game and talk about it. Because the best way to explain why the Netflix show is such an unacceptably awful adaptation is to celebrate and display what makes the video games so good. How this franchise is not just some silly little excuse plot of a narrative just because people don't pay attention or skip past all the cutscenes and think the only value the series has is in combo videos and wacky wahoo pizza man, and therefore it's fine that the Netflix show wiped its ass with the story of the series.

Two weeks later and I've played through all four of the games again (because 2 is truly miserable to play and I don't really have anything to say about it narratively). The series from the very beginning had a story to tell and it told it well. I feel I've achieved my goal. I challenge anyone who likes the Netflix devil may cry show to write a 100K+ word essay about what's good about it, the way I have written that many words dissecting these video games. Bet you can't.

The final theme of DMC5 is Legacy, because that's what the last note the series ends off on with Nero boils down to. This game series started with a mythic backstory about how Sparda woke up to justice 2000 years ago. And it ends with Nero continuing on that legacy as the true representation of Sparda's will and testament.

The lyrics are simultaneously about Sparda and Nero. Perhaps sung by Eva and Kyrie to their man.

When those voices deep within Bring you down to your knees again Redemption calls on to All of those who persist With the strength of the few

Don't come to question All that you've known Remember: you are not alone I will be here, standing beside you

There is no mountain Too tall to overcome We will be as one You will rise again This is your legacy Rise again This is your legacy

If I've done my job correctly then you should now have the tools to interpret these lyrics and their meaning on your own.

Please play the Devil May Cry games. They invented and codified a genre that other franchises are inspired by and build upon to this very day. They are ridiculously influential and important to the history of the medium. And beyond the merits of their gameplay, they have a deeply personal story to tell about the importance of family and the beauty of humanity, and they tell that story with good cheer and sincerity. They deserve to be played and appreciated.

If you watched the Netflix show and enjoyed it, then I'm happy for you. But that show does not represent what these games are. If anything, it tarnishes them. I cannot encourage you enough to play these video games. They have so much more to say about humanity and love than "what if humans were the real monsters and demons were actually the victims?" The characters have so much more depth and observable arcs of development than "silly little penis man learns that maybe his daddy wasn't so great after all, and madam swears alot discovers that maybe racism was bad." They have much better music than pop grunge from the mid 2000s. And they are fun and accessible to play for gamers of all experiences and skill levels. This series is so much more than what you saw in that show.

I love Devil May Cry. It's been fun sharing that love with you. A new day brings new adventure. But for now... Rest easy heroes.

[stiltsthegm]

GOTY 2024 #8 - BLUE REFLECTION: Second Light

BLUE REFLECTION: Second Light is a game that came out in 2021. At least A Highland Song came out in December of 2023, so it almost counts as a 2024 game. However, you will increasingly discover in my GOTY list that I do not care about release dates. I only truly care about when I played the game.

BR:SL is a sequel to the first Blue Reflection game made by Gust, a game studio with a really fascinating if often shaky track record. Although the Atelier series is by far their most popular and successful franchise, my introduction to Gust was via Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia, a game that blended a pretty standard RPG plotline with VN dating sim elements and a pretty cool and unique combat system. The writing was...okay at best, and often far too heterosexual for its own good, but it was a style of RPG I had never seen before, so I appreciated Gust's moxie even if I felt the end result was kinda mid.

BR:SL reminded me a lot of Ar Tonelico as I was playing through it. The story is certainly better than Ar Tonelico's, but still nothing I'd classify as "great". It's way too grindy and a bit long in the tooth (I still haven't actually finished the game, but I got very close). It is, however, an audacious game in all the ways I adore.

It throws you into an ATB-esque combat system where combo chains matter, you can interrupt enemies (and vice versa), and every action you take causes you to move back into the turn order by a different amount. It trusts you to learn on your own when to go for the big but slow hit, when to delay acting at all so you can guard just when a boss unleashes a powerful attack, and when to push for just one more chain attack to stagger an enemy. And then once you've gotten comfortable with that, it reveals that there's ANOTHER combat system layered inside the first one, where a party-member can go one-on-one with an enemy to really do some damage.

It introduces a crafting system where you can make new items (beds, vending machines, martial arts training dummies, takoyaki stands, etc.) with all the other magical girls trapped alongside you in a weird, liminal dimension that consists solely of a high school building and it's immediate grounds. You can then take each of the girls on dates to these points of interest you've crafted out of bits of abstract material dropped by emotion demons.

And by god does it have yuri. The player character--Ao--is an absolutely relentless yuri warrior, taking every opportunity possible to flirt with the other girls. Once Ao's affection with a girl is high enough, they'll hold hands when they wander around the school. The whole game was a parade of new things that made me smile and/or shout "really?!?!" at my screen.

It's just delightful.

I'm so glad it exists.

[zzthekaiju]

THE GREAT MONSTER HUNTER RANKING! Part 7

I'll be upfront, mammals aren't really my thing when it comes to monster design. It seems that when it happens, creature designers always default to the same primates/canines/felines/ursids or what not. An argument could be made about reptiles having the same issue, but you know, personal biases. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean they CAN'T be cool. And this franchise knows (most of the time) exactly how to do that. We're looking at the mammals...and the Wyverns that look like mammals!

Before we go on, I will say that there are certain sub-categories of mammal monster in this world. I'll be starting with the most popular of them...because it's a sad fact of life that we as a species are somewhat narcissistic. So OF COURSE the beasts based on monkeys and apes get a lot of popularity. Eh, at least they're neat.

The Primate Fanged Beasts:

"Please laugh."

We're not exactly to a dignified start here. The Congalala and its smaller Conga followers look like a cartoon character as opposed to anything you'd expect from these games. They're big pink gorillas with the heads of hippos...and they fight primarily by farting. Yes, this deadly razor-clawed combo of some very powerful African animals fights by eating mushrooms and producing enough flatulence to warrant deodorant should it hit.

It...bears mentioning that gorillas in real-life do indeed fart a lot. Perhaps Capcom was on to something. But it doesn't make for an appealing monster. This thing is like a bad joke they couldn't stop telling. And its STILL able to throttle hunters with its aforementioned gross-out humor and razor-sharp talons. Bleh. 4/10.

"What? Were you expecting a yeti or something?"

In contrast with its predecessor, the Blangonga and its troop of Blangos fairs far better on the eyes and during a fight. Despite its heft, this baboon-gorilla is exceptionally agile, and can run circles around you while its underlings harass you. However, should you break its fangs, the Blangos will abandon their leader, as big fangs are considered a major sign of power amongst these monkeys. That's really neat! But aside form that, they're really just big baboons and that's it. Neat baboons, but still. 6/10.

"And this is to go EVEN FURTHER BEYOND!"

The Rajang is by and large the most feared Fanged Beast, and one of the most feared monsters period, that this world has to offer. I know I say that a lot, but it's pretty amazing how those so-called Elder Dragons keep getting shown up by supposedly lesser monsters that won't settle for waiting until the old-timers are gone. Raj here is already an intimidating sight, being a large gorilla-baboon with huge horns that make it look almost like a minotaur. But then it gets mad and/or takes a bite out of the horn of the Kirin (its favorite food). Then, it lights up with brilliant yellow stripes, lightning crackles all over its body, and before you know it, you're facing an honest-to-God Super Saiyan, complete with fists that hit so hard they superheat and release steam as they glow an angry red. Oh, and it can fire beams of lightning from its mouth too. But like a Saiyan, you can remove this amazing power by severing the tail (unless you're fighting a Furious Rajang, which has no tail but remains super anyway because screw the rules). The only thing that keeps this whole affair from being an unfair fight is that the Rajang has low health by its rank's standards. Plus, its armor set is based on the very being that inspired Toriyama all those years ago: the legendary Monkey King called Sun Wukong.

Gotta say, go monkey, go. 8.5/10.

"What good is a fight if it isn't fun?"

Just when you thought Primate Fanged Beasts were going to get old really fast, in swings the Kecha Wacha! First of all, just look at this and tell me it isn't the weirdest and the most charming of the monkey crew we got going on here. It's got the body of a monkey, the coloration of a fox, the face of an elephant, and the flaps of a flying squirrel to glide with. It's also got some wicked talons to swipe at you with, and its big ears can cover its face to make it look like it's wearing an intimidating mask. There's just so much personality and creativity in this design! It makes me want to see more of it in future games, and why we haven't seen that remains a mystery to me. 9/10

"I like to move it, move it! You like to beat it, beat it!"

The Kecha Wacha was an amazingly unique primate, but so too is the Bishaten. Personally, I see this beast as more of a giant lemur as opposed to a traditional ape. Though really, there's nothing quite like this beaked, winged, crafty, beautifully colored simian! You might have noticed, but one of its more striking features is the hand-like tail it has that it can use to rear up and hit even harder than before...or get a better aim. You see, the Bishaten fights not just with fast reflexes and raw strength. It stores a lot of special fruit in its chest pouch, which it can then chuck at foes. These include fruits that flashblind and fruits that inflict poison. Though should the monkey be knocked back down to the ground, it will drop not just these fruits for the hunter to use instead, but also healing fruits. It makes for a fun fight, against an already fun monster. I should also note that the Yokai this Rise monster is based on is the Tengu, a being said to be like a bird-man, and oftentimes malicious and/or devious. I was hoping they'd make a Flying Wyvern out of the Tengu myth, but this works just as well! 8/10.

"My body is literally a temple."

The Garangolm is...kind of underwhelming. It's dubbed one of the Three Lords of the MH:R Sunbreak expansion, and it admittedly has the power to back that up. It looks like and is built like a living castle, and while it doesn't usually attack people, it can destroy opponents with the ability to cover its arms in gauntlets of either magma or the moss it shares a symbiotic relationship with. The result is a lot of pain, and the ground being uprooted at all times. I should also note that it's specifically based on the mythological golem, or being made of materials like clay. That, or Frankenstein's Monster (which is technically a golem). But in terms of design and execution, I can't help but feel that Garangolm is a little derivative. It's just a big gorilla with armor. Not much more, not much less. 6/10.

Pop quiz, what's the scariest mammal you can picture that isn't a big cat? If you guessed bears, you'd be absolutely correct. However, because this a world where suped-up dinosaurs and living dragons exist, the mighty bear finds itself more than a bit outclassed, and thus most of these Fanged Beasts occupy the bottom end of the danger totem pole. That doesn't mean you underestimate them totally, though!

The Ursid Fanged Beasts:

"Oh bother, I'm going to have to gut you for touching my honey pot."

Again, monster bears are some of the least of our problems in these parts. That's how ruthless this ecosystem can be. But that won't stop the Arzuros from trying to beat you down for daring it interrupt its feeding on its favorite snack, honey. In fact, should you have some honey to put on the ground, it'll drop everything its doing to dig in. Amusing, but I'd like to say that even as a monster meant to get bodied by beginners, it's not bad. It's basically a giant bear, but it's got pretty colors, and its arms look like they've got spiked braces on them. A bear of character, this one is. 7/10.

"BIG, BIG, BIG CHU-no."

Although its one of the three bears that kickstarted the Ursid line in the first place, the Lagombi looks more like a giant rabbit that slides around hitting everything with its momentum, or just flinging huge snowballs at foes. Of note in its design is how its face looks like an armored version or a wombat, or even the wombat's giant prehistoric ancestor, the Diprotodon. It's a very unique beast, and for that it already deserves a spot above its simple bear predecessor. 7.5/10.

"Rollin', rollin', shockin'"

The last in the bear trio, the Volvidon all but drops the ursid look in favor of being basically a crocodile-armadillo. That's cool! And yes, it can roll around and hit you as a big ball. Oh, and it also has a long tongue that it can use to whip you, saliva that paralyzes you, and...the ability to fart really hard so that you need a deodorant. Not again. Well, at least this one sports a more dignified and vividly weird design than Mr. Pinkie McFartsalot from way earlier. So much so that I'll let it completely slide. 7.5/10.

"Now bears are REALLY bad news!"

Out of all the bears that came before and even those that might be still to come, none are quite as big of a threat as the Goss Harag. To give you an idea of how intimidating this big ursine is, it was based explicitly off the Namahage, a Japanese bogeyman that lives in the mountains, wears a scary hannya mask, and wields knives to eat up misbehaving children. The Goss Harag fits that description near-perfectly. EVEN THE KNIFE BIT. This is because it can suck up cold air and expel it so that it either freezes prey or, failing that, instantly harden upon hitting itself, turning most of the time into a huge icy knife. And this monster is intelligent enough to use it well. To add to the demon motif, it spends a lot of combat on its hind legs, and its skin can turn a furious red whenever it gets really steamed.

I'm calling it, this is the best Ursid around for being a major love letter to Japanese folklore and just being so darned unique. 8.5/10.

We come to the end of our exclusive furry club, but at this point, the monsters get harder to sub-categorize. So, here are the mammals that are neither primate or bear.

The Other Fanged Beasts:

"THEY CALL ME, MI-STAR PIG!!!"

The Bulldrome is a giant boar. That's really all there is to it. Granted, giant boars are no joking matter, even with the normally docile Bullfangos that this monster is a bigger version of. But other than having that wild haircut and a way bigger right tusk, there's not much I can say. If you really like pigs, this is your guy, I guess. 5/10.

"Everyone's taking the L-ephant"

The last of the Fated Four I'll be covering, and sadly one of the most underutilized. You look at the others and you find that they've at least gotten some time to shine in the recent games. Not poor Gammoth. For some reason, this huge pachyderm has been shafted again and again. And to be fair, I kind of understand why. This elephant is HUGE, one of the biggest large monsters around. It's nowhere near as fast as its peers, it takes up a lot of arena space, and the strategy to fight it begins and ends with hitting its legs until it falls over. But while all of that doesn't make for the most engaging fight, that doesn't mean Gammoth is a bad monster. In fact, it's a great one! Capcom went all out with designing a huge fantastical Woolly Mammoth, giving it a really appealing color scheme of reds and blues, as well as a rather striking piece of head armor. And if you do some digging, you'll find that this beast is every bit as honorable as most real-life elephants tend to be. It is said to sometimes live alongside herds of Popo, and valiantly protect them from its most hated enemy, the Tigrex. Also, every Gammoth we've seen so far is female, a nod to how elephant herds are led by a matriarch. Also, its theme music is appropriately grandoise and heavy-feeling. Love it! 8.5/10.

"Please stop calling me a four-legged dumpling."

Our last Fanged Beast is a small one. The Bombadgy are the only major new small monsters in Rise, and they're kinda gross-looking and pitiful. Look at that! It's the size of a beach ball and just as bouncy. And they explode. Yes, the gasses within the very appropriately named Bombadgy are so volatile that if you were to hit it, it will go flying in whatever direction you're facing, and deflate with the force of a bomb. Such absurdity is befitting of a creature based on the Tanuki, a Yokai that looks like a crafty racoon dog with...rather gifted lower regions. In fact, a Bombadgy sitting down kinda makes it look like...that. What a sad weirdo. 5.5/10.

And that's the Fanged Beasts!

Now, we come to a very interesting category. Initially, only one was in it, and it quickly rose to fame in a heartbeat. Now, there are several, and at first it may seem odd as to HOW they're organized. Some look like mammals, but then some don't. Well, there's actually a simple explanation for that. These creatures are, in my opinion, Synapsids. That means mammal-like reptile, and it refers to a bunch of prehistoric creatures primarily from the Paleozoic Era that looked reptilian, but also have very distinctly mammalian characteristics. Thus, these Wyverns fit snugly into that description. So without further ado...

The Fanged Wyverns:

"Don't lie, you're thinking of the music right now."

Some might say that the Zinogre is an overrated monster. But in my eyes, it earned the reputation it has. It's a giant wolf, already the mark of something that will have mass appeal, but it's also huge, has gauntlet-like fists with huge blades for claws, a vibrant color scheme, and a wide tail like that of mutant beaver. But Zinogre's true power resides in its symbiotic relationship with Fulgurbugs, small insects that can generate obscene amounts of electricity. Living within small cavities in the monster's horns and spikes, the bugs in exchange give the Zinogre the ability to channel electricity into its attacks for devastating damage. And this is on top of hitting hard with moves that make it almost look like its breakdancing. Such spectacle and biological wonder make for a monster that does indeed represent what makes these beasts so fascinating. And on top of that, it's well-known for having a theme that incorporates an electric guitar on top of traditional eastern instruments (there was a version of this theme on Youtube that combined the MHW:I and MH:R themes, but I can't find it). 9/10.

"GIT IN MAH BELLEH!"

A lot of people have bullied the Great Jagras for being a starter monster that gets its ass kicked by just about everything. But I find myself rather charmed by it. It's basically a giant iguana, but I don't mind the simplicity. It being an iguana brings to mind the Slurpasaurs of those old 50s movies that used iguanas to substitute for dinosaurs. That, and it just makes me think of the monster-sona of Shaggy from Scooby-Doo, right down to having the same voracious appetite. Oh yeah, it can swallow large herbivores whole. Still, I like this monster for what it is. 8.5/10.

"I'm a snaaake."

The Great Girros isn't quite as charming as the Jagras, but I still think people are needlessly mean to it. It's a big lizard-cobra with cool colors and gills to help it breathe in its realm, the corpse-laden Rotten Vale. Most of the time, they just scavenge off of what falls into that putrid land, and fight with fangs capable of paralyzing foes. Again, not the greatest monster, but certainly not a painfully average one. 7/10.

"Reptilian ankle biters."

The Shamos are an interesting breed. Like the Jagras and the Girros, they are small Fanged Wyverns that occupy a part of the New World, in this case the Coral Highlands. But unlike the other two, they don't have a Great leader. They're just weird little scamps that show up every now and then. Bit of a shame, really. A Great Shamos would be interesting to see. 5.5/10.

"Protect at all costs."

The Dodogama all but captured the hearts of everyone who saw it. And I see the appeal! It's a big rotund reptile colored with the appealing hues of a agamid lizard and a massive lower jaw that not only looks way less dumb than, say, the Uragaan's, but also makes it look like it's giving us all the biggest smile! Also, it sounds like a whale. But don't think for a moment that the Dodogama is totally defenseless. Its saliva is incredibly volatile, and when mixed with the rocks it feasts on, they become explosive boulders that it can lob at foes. Gotta say, it's rare you find a monster that manages to be cute and cool at the same time. 8.5/10.

"That's not flying! It's falling with style!"

Monsters that look like snakes are never not going to score big for me, but I really admire the direction they went with the Tobi-Kadachi. It's got the head of a snake (complete with the brow of an eyelash pit viper), but the body plan of, of all things, a flying squirrel. Yes, it can glide. That's already neat, but then you factor in how it can generate static electricity by rubbing itself against everything and then storing that static in special spines across its back. Once again, we have a Fanged Wyvern that goes all-in on out-there creativity, and I love it! 8/10.

"I SMELL BACON!!!"

The deadliest predator in the Rotten Vale that isn't an Elder Dragon, the Odogaron looks like the sort of thing you'd expect in a particularly harrowing tale about eastern demons. It certainly has the look of one, with its tail studded with teeth-like spikes, two sets of claws used to lacerate prey, and mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. All on top of a hide that looks like exposed skin. Yup, it's a demon Gorgonopsid, alright. I should also note that I've always been personally unnerved by how it sounds like a psychotic hound on top of everything. It's fierce, it's fast, it was my first major roadblock while playing World. Props to the homicidal slim jim! 8.5/10.

"And yes, they indeed don't care."

Once again, we have small Fanged Wyverns without a leader. And what's worse is that I LIKE the small ones here, so I'm wondering where the big guy went off to even more. The Wulgs occupy Hoarfrost Reach, and the best way to describe them is "badger wolves". With scythe-like spurs on their front legs. And they can coil around hunters. Yeah, these guys don't let their smallness get in the way of being proficient predators. Should they ever come back, I NEED to see a Great Wulg. It would be awesome, I know it! 7/10.

"Samur-aye aye aye"

The flagship of Rise...how do I feel about Magnamalo? Well, I do like the concept. A massive cat with the horns and fighting style of a dark samurai that produces a deadly purple flame capable of detonating whenever it stays in place for too long. This flame, known as Hellfire, is actually volatile gas produced by the monster's rampant metabolism, and it can be used in a variety of ways. My favorite tactic comes from how the Magnamalo uses its flexible spear-like tail. It can literally wave it around like a wand, summoning homing balls of Hellfire, or even concentrating it all into a quick and huge BLAST of it. The fire itself is based on the Hitodama, which are lights said to surround ghosts in Japanese mythology. But aside from all of that, as well as a pretty cool theme music, Magnamalo isn't really an 8 because I find its design to be maybe just a bit too try-hard and edgy. Plus, it doesn't really affect the plot as much as it would like to say it does. 7/10.

"AH! A wild furry!"

At first, the Lunagaron appears to be totally unimpressive. It's literally just a big wolf with scaly armor and ice powers...until it gets mad. Then, its armor violently extends, it covers its claws and hide with ice, and it rears up on its hind legs. Suddenly, you realize in what way this thing was based on the myth of the werewolf. There's a world of a difference between how striking the Lunagaron is in its base mode and its empowered form, which can slice you to pieces with lightning fast claw strikes. For that, the big dog avoids being average in a big way! 7.5/10.

Well folks, we're on our way to reaching the end here. Our final part will cover the most powerful monsters of all...the Elder Dragons.

Index:

Herbivores

Neopterons, Carapaceans, Temnocerans

Bird Wyverns

Flying Wyverns

Piscine Wyverns, Amphibians, Leviathans

Brute Wyverns

Fanged Beasts, Fanged Wyverns

Elder Dragons

[loopy777]

I read your post saying Zuko not reciprocating Mai's feelings is a writing failure and it made me think: Zuko absolutely has all the makings of a loverboy. With how dedicated he can become to people around him it would have made complete sense if they wrote him pining for Mai after boiling rock. I wouldn't even have blinked, let alone consider it ooc or anything.

But the fact that he didn't—and the ember island forced kiss [shudders]—makes me feel like the writers did it to keep ship speculation in the air.

Which is horrible because it had impact on the romance they wanted to show—this is why romance in ATLA sucks despite it being a pretty good show otherwise. They indulged these shipping wars too much.

Was “how would aang manage to stop Ozai and simultaneously not betray his values” not enough of a mystery?—and the main plot point of the show?

They had to go with “hehe, guess who ends up with who?”

Reminds me of Miyazaki in an interview saying he doesn't care about the audience when he's writing; ATLA's the opposite of that.

Honestly, I think there's enough weirdness in the develop of Late Book Fire that I wonder if there was room for that kind of intent.

We don't know a lot, but there's strong indications that the second half of season 3 was aired 3-4 months later than planned. When it did air, it was dumped in daily airings over the course of a week, rather than the previous weekly schedule. And season 3 in general had been ordered by Nickelodeon leadership to be more episodic so that it could be aired in random order for reruns, but then after that week-long finish AtLA never appeared on the main Nickelodeon network again and only aired in proper episode order on Nick's secondary cartoon channels.

My own suspicions are that there were delays in production which ruined the original plans for Book Fire's rollout, turning AtLA into problem child which has over the last ~20 years had to work its way back up to a headliner franchise, and even now I think Nickelodeon is cautious about it.

Aside from the production issues, most of the Zutara teasing and acknowledgement came from outside the series. The Nick magazine sometimes claimed Zuko was one of Katara's potential love interests, the sometimes contradictory Avatar Extras are the sole source that there was ever a romance considered for them, and of course the trailer for Late Book Fire had that hug from the end of 'Southern Raiders' prominently placed.

But the most we got in the show itself were those "your girlfriend" remakes from June to Zuko, and of course the gag about the Love Cave in 'Ember Island Players.' In both of those cases which occur in Late Book Fire, the characters are actively hostile and disgusted by the idea, almost certainly reflecting the creative team's feelings.

So I have trouble believing that there was an intent to tease the idea of Zuko having a romance with Katara (and let's face it, that's what we're talking about here, as there was barely any interaction between him and Toph, Suki, and Ty Lee in Book Fire, and I think the audience was 98% sure the hostile chemistry he had with his sister wasn't going anywhere) in that environment. By the time the Boiling Rock aired on Nickelodeon, there was literally 72 hours until the endgame ships would be revealed in the finale. The episodes had probably been in development for years, possibly longer than Nickelodeon leadership being aware that Zutara was a significant thing. And the creators were preparing a Powerpoint presentation for their next San Diego Comic Con where they would ridicule everyone who didn't see Kataang, Maiko, and Sukka coming.

So how do I account for the bad Maiko writing?

I think it's a combo of two things I mentioned:

Rushed production involving animation that takes years to produce

More episodic storytelling

I think scripts were being developed in parallel with the intent that they should tell complete little character stories. I don't think they wanted to carry over emotional baggage from episode to episode in case things needed to be tweaked, like the dynamic between Zuko and Mai changing in tone or something. They didn't want to have to reanimate a few seconds of Southern Raiders to make Zuko more or less upset in his mention of Mai because of having to cut some violent content from Boiling Rock to meet network standards.

And since romance was never really a focus of AtLA, I think it was very easy to target it as the first thing to drop when production gets complicated. Plus, I really do think that both AtLA and LoK show that the Mike and the Bryan, for the most part, don't have good instincts for romantic storytelling. I think it's less that they wanted to keep the final romantic pairings a mystery as they just wanted to conform to formula and put the romantic resolution at the very end of the story.

I think it says something that Sokka's romances with Suki and Yue are the best love stories in AtLA, and they also got the least amount of time and attention. XD

So yeah, this is one thing I don't thing I don't blame on evil intentions. I think it's just run-of-the-mill fumbling a difficult situation.

[mmoxie]

Cheeseburger Cost Too Much: Take 2

AN: Americans explaining economic hardship: "Imagine a hamburger."

Summary: Employee wages can double and the price of a meal can be halved and the company still turns a profit. But you already knew that. This is about going insane with a calculator.

A double cheeseburger meal* costs between $9.00 and $13.00 depending on which restaurant you're at. *That's two patties, any toppings you want, medium fries and drink.

That's an absurd amount of money.

It costs on average $3.00 for all the ingredients if they're just bought at the grocery store and not in bulk, y'know like restaurants do.

Of course, restaurants have to make a profit and pay their employees. They also have to pay to ship their ingredients and pay for utilities. Some restaurants don't even own the building they run out of, and instead lease it for cheaper.

Let's do some experiments based on this under the cut:

Suppose you have a typical 2000sqft burger franchise. Your lease, shipping, and utilities come out to $3500 a month. You have six employees- four of them make $15/hr and work 20 hours a week, two of them make $17/hr and work 40 hours a week. You're open 7 days a week, and are closed on Christmas.

Let's pay those employees first and foremost: $1200 for the part-timers, $1360 for the full-timers.

So as soon as you open the doors in the morning, you need to be able to pay out $6060/mo.

==========

You are a very simple burger franchise, with a single menu item- the Double Cheeseburger Combo. Comes with lettuce, onion, pickle, tomato, ketchup, mustard, and mayo, atop two 1/8lb all-beef patties with two slices of American cheese. This is served with a side of fries and a 16oz fountain beverage. Like the combo, you get one. It's Coke.

You make the best burger in town, and average 100 customers a day.

Your combo costs $10.99. So you make $1,099/day.

Now let's factor in the cost of ingredients. At $3.00/combo, you're actually making $7.99/combo, or $799/day.

In a month, you make $23,790 from sales after the cost of ingredients. You pay your bills, and you have $17,730 left over. This is what corporate keeps.

Let's say business is steady for a year. Your franchise makes $212,760 for corporate.

You are one of 21,000 franchises worldwide. They all do exactly as good as you. Your corporation has amassed $4,467,960,000. For brevity's sake, we'll just say $4.47Bn.

You've made this amount after accounting for wages, utilities, shipping, and leasing. Let's say you get a Superbowl ad, and run a healthy ad campaign to promote your combo all year. I'll be generous and say that the regular ad campaign is the same price as the Superbowl ad- so you're out $14 million dollars. Taking you down to $4.45Bn.

You pay your CEO 24 million dollars as a bonus. You have $4.3Bn.

What's left here is called EBITDA- Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.

Let's pay your taxes. It's about 23% of your income. $1,012,000,000. $1.01Bn- you have $3.44Bn left.

Throw all that in the bank. With a 7% interest rate, you'll have made an extra $241 million or so.

Leave it alone for five years, that's a cool billion you made doing nothing.

==========

I'm not gonna talk about stocks, shares, or "worth." This is about a sandwich and what it should cost. Suppose instead that it's $7.99. Let's see what happens to the company when I make it so!

You now make $499/day, $13,972/mo. Subtract your operating costs-you now earn $7,912/mo.

Every month. Every franchise. What has the company made after a year?

$1,993,824,000 - $1.99Bn.

Superbowl ad. Regular ad campaign. CEO bonus. Taxes. All at the same rate.

14 million dollars, 24 million dollars, and... 457.7 million dollars.

So what do we keep? $1,532,300,000. Or 1.53Bn.

So the company is still a billion dollar company. Just not a four billion dollar company. This is why I won't talk about stocks, shareholders, stuff like that- it's just scorekeeping. It's just making the number go up so that the fans at home can make a number go up for themselves- and it's all at the expense of the working poor.

You put 1.53Bn in the bank for 5 years at 7% interest, you're making 107 million additional dollars, by doing nothing.

After 10 years, that's a cool billion without any effort on your part.

==========

Let's see what we can do with just the interest.

107 million, split across 21,000 franchises, that's $509.50 you can pay out every year, to every franchise.

Doesn't sound like a lot, but two things- one, this is just interest, and two, you'd be surprised what a little pocket change can do for a restaurant. You can replace a heating element in a fryer. You can get the floors waxed. You can buy your staff concert tickets. If someone gets sick, you can help them out! On interest.

You haven't gone a penny under the 1.53Bn you put in the bank.

Suppose you did. Suppose you raised the minimum wage at all franchises to 20 dollars, with managers making 24 dollars.

$1600/mo for part-timers now, and $3840/mo for full-timers. You still have a staff of six and your shipping, utility, and lease haven't changed. Your new monthly total is $8940/mo.

And fuck it, a combo is $5.99 now. Ready for round 3?

$299/day -> $8970/mo.

Your franchise now makes 30 dollars a month for the company.

That's $630,000 a year when you multiply it across all franchises worldwide.

You can't pay your CEO a 24 million dollar bonus. You can't buy 14 million dollars worth of advertising. You make $44,100 a year in interest. You pay $144,900 in taxes.

You're a 486 thousand dollar company. You pay your CEO a 10,000 dollar bonus. You make it back fourfold in a year.

You can no longer give every store $509.50 extra a year. Heck, on the interest you're making, you can barely scratch $25 per store in terms of money you can give away every year. But that was always just bonus money. Playing with your interest.

You're half the size of McDonalds, feeding people all over the planet, reaching further than Burger King, and your company is valued at 413,000 times less than they are.

And you're still half a million dollars in profit that you don't have to spend on anything but paying your CEO- who makes $30 an hour, salaried to 45 hours a week. $64,800/yr for the special boy.

You've still got $420,000 in the bank, which, in a world where a combo meal costs $5.99, is the perfect amount.

This is as good as it gets in 2024. A time traveler from 1995 would laugh at us:

[doctormage]

ok I have my veilguard thoughts. I put both things I liked and didn’t like here. it’s not a complete list and I reserve the right to add more as I think of them. godspeed

narrative thoughts

shouldn’t have been surprised but was genuinely floored by how racist they were about the qunari. my god.

like I think it might be worse than inquisition. they literally distorted their voices and hid all their faces. deeply insane

also very disappointed that the culture with the most potentially interesting approach to gender (the qun) was just pigeonholed into being like all the others’. esp bc the trans companion was literally qunari. what happened to roles in the qun being their genders, like….

and on the note of racism/orientalism, what the actual fuck did they dress Isabela in. why are all the lords of fortune armors like that. gun to my head I could not have predicted this

almost no reference to the long standing conflict and prejudice bw tevinter and the qunari. and almost no reference (outside codex entries) to Actual Fucking Slavery in tevinter. all very bizarre

I think a lot of shit got ignored because they were trying to make the game as marketable as possible to players new to the franchise. which I logically understand but hate in practice, bc how are you gonna decide this game is “character driven” and then make almost every character from the previous games, including our choices as the player characters, irrelevant

I mention this in the immersion section but it’s relevant here too. all the stuff that got left behind or unmentioned made the world feel small to me. the world building and lore are, imo, important and load-bearing components of this franchise. I’m still thinking on how they could’ve done it differently, or what missing pieces were most crucial, but for now I’ll leave it at that

appreciated that characters’ feelings of anger and injustice (like Harding about the titans or Neve if you didn’t save Minrathous) and/or weirdness and guilt (like Bellara and Davrin about the evanuris) were respected and discussed. I won’t say everything was perfectly handled but it’s miles away from the shit we’ve seen in previous games

I’d been afraid they were gonna completely rehabilitate solas as a mostly good guy and I’m glad he was still shitty in a lot of ways LMAO

I’m still mulling over his ~penance~ of holding up the veil w his life force or whatever but I do appreciate that they weren’t just like “ok the evanuris are gone and the veil can stay up and everything’s fine now” about it

wait brain blast this goes PERFECTLY W MY SOLAS/ATLAS PARALLELS (1, 2) ACTUALLY HELLO!!! HELLO

gameplay thoughts

wasn’t in love w the combat system but I didn’t dislike it as much as I thought I would. I felt very limited by the amount of abilities I could have usable at a time though

enjoyed that both play styles for a mage (staff vs orb+knife) had viable ranged and melee components. also the orb and knife combo was just cool in general

I like the companion-specific abilities instead of just class-specific, makes them feel more important as a person than just a function

wish I could actually switch to the other companions tho. wouldn’t really do anything but still wish I could lol

that said I do like the very specific ability branches for the companions too bc it makes my life easier lmao

as mentioned previously, I miss armor crafting terribly 🤧 feel like pure shite just want her back xx. anyway. I wore the exact same armor literally the entire game and just kept upgrading it

didn’t love the da2 style “you can’t put your companions in just ANY armor” thing but didn’t hate it either. I appreciate the dedication to the vibe

the hero of the veilguard armors everyone got were really cool (tho I didn’t love bellara’s. sorry my love xoxo) and I’m interested to see what they look like if you pick other choices for their personal quests

unsurprisingly I wish there’d been more stuff to loot and collect out in the world but that’s just who I am. Picks Every Single Elfroot In The Hinterlands Gang rise up

moving around was kind of annoying but I think again that’s just personal preference. plus I’m a fog of war enjoyer (satisfying to clear a whole map of it yk) so do with that what you will

the way the maps were set up isn’t badly but it did kind of discourage me from exploring the way I did in dai, sort of how exploring felt like a huge bitch to me in da2. so it would’ve been nice to have more incentive to explore other than like, a rarity upgrade for a weapon I never use from a chest that took me 15 minutes to get to lol

already said this but I’ll say it again: bring back 4 person parties I miss my friends

really enjoyed how the banter was place based and REALLY really enjoyed how they would be like “what was I saying?” and repeat it if banter was interrupted by combat or something

no fancy party quest or level!!! v disappointing. we had so many options. we even had 2 parties in the game and they were both lame :(

very much wish they’d made it clear that completing certain main quests will lock you out of others. I only missed one companion side quest bc of this but it haunts me

honestly. extremely unpopular opinion but I never minded all the dumb little fetch quests in DAI lmao. I love you quarries I love you logging stands I love you astrariums. I don’t love you ocularums but that’s bc you’re made of tranquil skulls. fucked up

immersion thoughts

way, WAY fucking better at taking your character’s background into account regarding dialog (both in conversations and in cutscenes) thank god

it felt…..small? I wasn’t expecting it to be set up like inquisition with a bunch of big open maps per area, but it felt a little stretched thin. might just be me though

this also sort of ties in w the stuff in the narrative thoughts, about how a lot of historical conflicts and issues (including SLAVERY!!!) were barely touched on at all. the intranational problems add depth to these places as much as the international ones

(btw isn’t the “black divine” supposed to be kind of a conspiracy theory??? is it not meant to be heretical and shit?? that tevinter has their own secret divine and they don’t respect the authority of the southern chantry??? this was not addressed at ALL?????)

some of the areas felt very removed from like, the rest of the country they were in, if that makes sense. eg, the rivain map was weirdly isolated to me and I’m like. where do people live. lmao

the gender stuff is. weirdly handled. as excited as I was to have the opportunity to play as a nb rook and to have a canon nb companion, it was extremely immersion breaking to hear them all say “non binary.” there are a trillion ways to go about this without making it feel like a weird anachronistic DEI seminar

could not fucking tell you how long the events of the game take. ik this isn’t a huge deal to everyone but it is to ME lol

most decisions felt like it made sense that rook was the one making them. or at the very least, it made sense in context and wasn’t just like “hey Cole, you should be more human/spirit.” for example I liked how the way you talked Harding down is what solidifies her narrative one way or the other; we’re not straight up telling her what to do

loved the companions’ book club and notes and conversations. legitimately so endeared by it all. I wish what conflict there was had felt more serious so that the resolution felt earned, but all in all I really enjoyed their dynamics

the golden/black city being arlathan is just. not fucking discussed after we discover that!!! like we all just decide not to completely disprove andrastianism and then go on our merry fuckin way I guess!!!

other thoughts

Solas doesn’t like raisins 🫶

I fucked hard with the solas and felassan memories, and the various notes from felassan you could find

I was never a huge fan of the “ancient elves were spirits that took physical form” theory (though not for any particular reason) so it makes me sad to know my tweenage solas musings are decidedly debunked 😔

mythal fragment stuff was weird. wasn’t a fan

what happened to solas’s elf army. lmao

also what happened to the foci/orbs. aren’t those titan hearts or something. didn’t we discover this in trespasser

where is solas going once he binds himself to the veil??? the same place he put the evanuris? couldn’t he just…..make it different lmao like he created it. I get being all martyr-y and masochistic abt it to atone for his mistakes or whatever but if he’s bringing lavellan can’t he make it suck less?? 😭

feels like we got a LOT of old questions answered (yay!!!) and not a lot of new questions to think about (sad)

THE MUSIC WAS LACKING IM SORRY. I AM STUNNED THAT HANS AND LORNE DID ME LIKE THIS BUT YOU KNOW WHO WOULDNT HAVE DONE ME LIKE THAT IS MR TREVOR FUCKING MORRIS

major choices

dalish veil jumper elf mage rook

romanced bellara 🩵

saved treviso, which hardened neve and blighted minrathous

lucanis spared illario (just to see what would happen tbh. the answer is basically nothing)

gave the griffons to the dalish

softened(?) harding? idk I picked the “remember who you are” dialog that got her the child of the stone relationship title thing

taash embraced rivaini culture

emmrich revived manfred

bellara saved the archive

made a deal w the threads

davrin ultimate sacrifice :( I didn’t know :(

neve kidnapped by elgar’nan :(

redeemed and saved solas. happily ever after w my lavellan as god intended. sorry

idr where I put everyone to help w factions while fighting elgar’nan but everyone survived the final battle (except davrin obv who died before. RIP my absolute king im so so fucking sorry)