#the fact that you are railroaded into decisions…

[discard-celestia]

USE MOUTHWASH / DO NOTHING

[unveiling-unguarding]

Veilguard pulls so many punches, but perhaps the worst punch to pull is not allowing the player to properly contend with the fact that Rook, for all their good intentions, unleashed a double blight on Thedas. There are what, maybe two or three dialogue options in the entire game you can choose for Rook expressing any emotion about it? And each of them is glossed over faster than it takes for the VA to even deliver the lines.

It's especially egregious given that they're so very clearly trying to create parallels between Rook and Solas. But for what? All of the conversations have been written without taking into account anything the player might be interested in exploring further. Your options are so railroaded they might as well not exist. It's always in a rush to get to the next moment.

I can't help but compare this to how regret and trauma are treated in KotOR II. Now, granted there's a big difference there, with kotor being years after the fact and veilguard being in the midst of it all (not that the plot structure or companion quests ever really give you that impression). But in KotOR II you are given multiple opportunities to rebuke or justify the Jedi Exile's actions that led to the near destruction of the Mandalorians and the Jedi and even the Republic as well. Cataclysmic consequences for actions your character felt were necessary to save the world. And the entire game is about you either succumbing or moving past the regrets and trauma that resulted by perpetrating more selfish harm or helping communities heal.

Like, you can't just state that regret is a theme in the game and give the player no meaningful ways to reckon (or not) with regret over their character's actions. You can't assert there's a theme there you didn't bother to actually write. I'm certain they absolutely had it in mind as a theme when writing, but you as the player do not interact meaningfully with it until the Big Emotional Set Piece about Regret™. Until that point it's kind of like a light sprinkling of seasoning on the bland companion characterizations.

It's so frustrating to think back on this game, to try to meet it halfway, only for all the creative decisions to shrink away before you've even started to pry into it.

[sinisterexaggerator]

I finally beat Fallout 4!

I sided with the Railroad and destroyed both the Institute and the Brotherhood, basing my decision on the fact that:

A) The Brotherhood fucked with my Ghoul husband and made fun of him.

B) The Institute threw my darling Synth boyfriend out with the trash and hurt his feelings.

You fuck with my men, you gotta answer to me (sole)!

[waitmyturtles]

Hot Take: Be On Cloud and Sammon out GMMTV-ed GMMTV with that lame-ass 4 Minutes finale

(TW: Ummm, this ended up being a rant, so don't read this if you enjoyed that finale.)

WOW.

This is not the central thesis of this post at all, but I need to get this off my chest, FIRST OF AWL: GET AN ORIGINAL OST. WOW.

LIKE, ACTUALLY, I want to not get into this, but I actually need to talk about this for a second. ICONIC OSTs like, SAY, "Why Don't You Stay" or "Just Friend" (OR THE DARK BLUE KISS THEME SONG, THE BEST ONE) are meant to invoke THE SHOW FROM WHICH THAT SONG HAILS, AND THE FEELINGS THAT THAT PARTICULAR SHOW MADE ONE FEEL. WHAT THE FUCK WAS 4 MINUTES THINKING?! THIS SHOW WAS NOT KINNPORSCHE. NOT AT ALL. I FELT NO KP FROM 4 MINUTES. I hope Jeff Satur sues BOC for copyright infringement. ANYWAY.

I mean, this is gonna be messy, but in yet another case of shippy roooooomance, a kind of rooooomance that's supposed to leave us feeling like the central couple is worth redeeming against both the obstacles that the story gives them, AND/OR a weak script as well (I wrote about this recently during a rewatch of The Eclipse), I mean, BOC and Sammon just threw an otherwise really amazing storyline to the dogs.

We were supposed to get a lot of moral and ethical loops closed here. I would have been okay with a Ton Kla redemption! I would have been okay with Korn living the rest of his life in pain and suffering for neglecting Ton Kla! Instead, they're both "redeemed" by their own deaths?! I get Win being upset, but Win, you knew who you were sleeping with! Come awn!

AND. I'm supposed to believe that Great is worth redemption because he threw a corrupt government minister under the bus and prevented his parents from coming back to Thailand, while we see him walking away from a woman having a heart attack???? Like, THAT'S NOT GOOD!!!! He's had a messy life, but he's not necessarily a good person, folks!!! HELLO!!! "He's a good person?!" TYME?? Like, Great's hot, BUT LIKE, DON'T BE LIKE THAT, TYME, GURL, ACTUALLY LOOK THRU AT WHO YOU'RE DATING.

ALSO, TYME, HIPPOCRATIC OATH, DUDE. I KNOW YOU WANT THAT GUY DEAD, AND HE DESERVES BAD THINGS, BUT YOU CAN'T MAIM HIM PURPOSELY, HOMEY, YOU'RE ABOUT TO BECOME A PROFESSOR.

And LIKE, WHAT THE FUCK, putting a whole new story point about Warit's kidnapping from some dude named Wanchai who we don't even know, and finding out that Warit is a general?!?! It was JUST CONFUSING.

Also, Den dating a patient. I know medical ethics are probably different in Thailand, but they cannot be THAT DIFFERENT, friends, they can't (right? right?).

And. Finally. TYME GOT SHOT MULTIPLE TIMES IN THE CHEST AREA. He survived after two months of recovery?! HE SURVIVED POINT-BLANK SHOOTING?!?!?!??!?!?! AND GREAT SURVIVED HIS POINT-BLANK SHOOTING, TOO?!?!?!?!

LISTEN. LISTEN. I get that BOC wants GreatTyme together. JesBible are a good pair. It's fine Great and Tyme are together. It's nice.

But there was an ACTUAL storyline, told WONDERFULLY for seven episodes, that had these characters in moral and ethical chokeholds that could have received different and very much more appropriate endings. This is fiction, of course, but the moral and ethical prisons these characters were in were very real-to-life by way of what humans value, and how you balance those values against the real-time decisions that humans need to make for themselves and their families.

Instead, BOC took the wild GMMTV playbook of late (The Eclipse, 23.5, Only Friends, Wandee Goodday, even Last Twilight and My Precious) and just railroaded ethical explorations for, my GAWD, guitars and boats. GUITARS AND BOATS! If either Great or Tyme had died, how would the story have expressed regret, uncommunicated feelings, unsolved mysteries?

The ending sucked the mystery out of this series, and frankly, made light of the fact that we were not in a Series Y for seven-eighths of a runtime, only to truly suck us back into Y territory -- real, sugary, cheesy Y territory, GUITARS, THE KP OST OMG -- that just clashed with the tonality of what was shaping up to be a great queer crime murder mystery show. GMMTV already does this. BOC did not need to go there.

Funny that some of us are watching Kidnap now, and commenting (I'm stealing @shortpplfedup's words here) that Kidnap is not a crime BL, but a crime BL. Kidnap knows what it is: it is shaping up to be a fun, unserious Y series that's centered around two himbos not really understanding the consequences of their decisions, and being googly while doing it. It seems to be taking its unseriousness seriously. Good on GMMTV for taking initiative there.

4 Minutes? 4 Minutes needs moral closure, not sappy romance. I could have used a hint that we were gonna get punked earlier. I wouldn't have taken this show as seriously as I did if I had known otherwise.

[eluminium]

WOOO! WE MADE IT LADIES, GENTLEMEN, AND EVERYONE IN BETWEEN AND OUTSIDE! SKIZZ WEEK 2 DAY 7!!! YIPPIE! Can't believe I managed to actually get all the days! Crazy ngl. As your reward, and mine, have some Imp and Skizz being silly and dancing with each other. Is it platonic or romantic? Eh, that's up to your interpretation.

AS ALWAYS BUT DIFFERENT, thank you to @skizzlemanweek for organizing this round of Skizz Week! It was really fun to do! You better go to their blog and look at the other Skizz Week 2 creations when you're done here!

Prompt 7: Free day!

It's not often Skizz finds himself in an environment like this. Specifically, he hasn't been at an off-server party in lord knows how long. He got most of his partying out of his system by the time he was 25, if not even earlier. So excuse him if he's a bit rusty, he's doing his best. His best being standing on the sidelines with a glass of overly fancy strong cider in his hand and watching the whippersnappers have fun on the dance floor. The noise of people having fun and partying is music to his ears, if a bit loud. Above him, beautiful light shows play out in the dark sky to the beat of the generic but still bopping music discs the DJ is playing. The massive and beautifully decorated Decision Dome stands proudly in the background.

He's honestly grateful that they're outside, not just because of the beautiful view but because it keeps the temperature comfortable. Back in his day, they used to party in whatever run-down shack they could find, and those turned into SAUNAS by the end. And they were TIGHT too, which sucked for a guy like him, with his clumsily large wing span. Said wings puff up at the memory and he makes sure to stretch them out just to bask in the fact that he has enough personal space to do that without knocking someone flat on their ass! It may not be fully fair to compare those parties to this one though, considering this isn't just some random party. This is the afterparty of one of the biggest events in the multiverse. MCC. Of course, it would be a bit fancier!

Skizz brings the glass to his lips and takes a tasteful sip. The refreshing taste of pear hits his tastebuds gracefully, hiding the mild but fulfilling taste of popped chorus fruit. The alcohol leaves its familiar burn as he swallows, his eyes wandering back to the dance floor. It's like a little rainbow in there, everyone's color-coordinated outfits blending together into a light show of its own. Various wings, tails, ears, horns, antlers, and other distinguishing features stick out of the crowd, clearly enjoying the opportunity to stretch out as much as Skizz. He can't help but smile, a sappy happiness rising in his chest at the sight. Although that may be the alcohol making him soft.

"Hey man, you thinkin' about something nice?"

Skizz looks to his side and meets a pair of kind chocolate brown eyes and a teasing grin. "Nah, not really Dipple Dop. Just enjoying the moment," he responds, patting the spot next to him. Impulse takes the hint and sits down next to him, a fresh new drink in his clawed grip. His second that night, surprisingly.

"Where's Top? Did he decide to head home with Etho?" Skizz asks when he notices a lack of firey hair anywhere nearby. Impulse takes a sip of his drink before he answers.

"No, he's still here. He got caught in a conversation with Cub about Railroad Rush. They're in the Dome, by the bar, if you're wondering."

"Aha, I see," Skizz responds with a nod. A little bit of pride hits him at the information. Usually, Tango avoids busy social events like the plague. It's nice to hear that he decided to stay a bit longer! As for Etho, there's no convincing him. He dipped as soon as it was socially acceptable. Mysterious as always, although maybe it's because many of the players here are Etho fans. Sounds like his worst nightmare to be stuck in a conversation with people who admire him and are probably drunk. Maybe he should consider not being as awesome then, but Skizz digresses.

Suddenly, a very familiar sound reaches his ears. Specifically, a song. He can't help but snort.

"Oh my god." Impulse says with a surprised and slightly flustered laugh as he also realizes what song they're playing.

It's an oldie, but a goodie. A tune from when they were but naive teenagers. But it's not the song itself that tickles Skizz's funnybone. It's the fact that, with this song, comes a specific dance that was all the rage back then. A partner dance. If you wanted a girlfriend, or a boyfriend back then, this was what you practiced to perfection before you took them to the club.

Oh, he remembers it like it was yesterday! How a soft-faced Impulse timidly approached him and asked him to be his practice dummy for the dance because he wasn't satisfied with just practicing it in front of a mirror and he really wanted to impress this one girl. And of course, a younger Skizz helped him out, after laughing at him for a minute for being such a cheesy romantic. He remembers every attempt, every re-try, and that's impressive because there were a LOT of them. Bless his best friend and his need for perfection.

Skizz meets Impulse's gaze again, and it's clear that he also had the exact same flashback. Skizz can't help but giggle, a giggle that turns into a full-blown laugh as Impulse covers his face with his hand.

"I'm never escaping this! It haunts me!" He exclaims as he takes a deep swig from his drink like a depressed alcoholic detective in a mystery movie.

Skizz has to wipe a tear from his eye with how hard he's laughing. "Come on, dude! You got SO good at it! You were great!"

Impulse gives him a playful glare. "Oh yeah, I got SO good at it, huh?" He shoots back, his voice dripping with salty sarcasm, which causes another bout of cackling from Skizz.

"It's not your fault she was a lesbian! If she wasn't I'm sure you would have had her smitten with your dance skills!" He knows he's rubbing salt in a decades-old closed-up wound but in his defense, it's funny.

Impulse struggles to hold his faux seriousness in the face of a torrent of Skizzleman laughing. "God, I still can't believe I didn't know! I was so in love yet I couldn't figure out something so obvious!" He says with a barely repressed snort.

Skizz's laughing eventually dies back down into giggling. "Come on, you were both still cool with each other after that! No harm, no foul."

"Yeah, except my dignity," Impuse quips in an overly whiney and weepy tone.

Skizz rolls his eyes fondly. "Shut up, man!" He fires back. They both giggle and Skizz takes a gulp of his cider. A comfortable silence settles between them as they both look back to the dance floor. Multiple people have paired up with each other for the song. Others have created some sort of three-people version of the dance. One is even a group of five! Makes sense that the dance has evolved to be more casual as the years have gone by. Now not just couples and potential couples get to enjoy it, but friends too!

However, there is one difference Skizz spots that he's less than impressed by.

"Wow, they kinda suck at this." Impulse dryly comments before Skizz can even say anything. He can't help but laugh at Impulse's uncharacteristically sharp observation. The booze is getting to him for sure.

"What, you think us old farts can do it better?" He pokes back with a raised eyebrow.

Impulse splutters a bit, borderline offended at the mere suggestion. "Yeah, obviously! They don't even know where their feet are!"

Skizz is content to laugh it off at this point. The song is basically over by now, so it's not like they'll get a chance to prove-

The sudden cries of "ENCORE! ENCORE! ENCORE!" force him to reevaluate. Well, that changes things quite drastically!

"You wanna go put your money where your mouth is, Dipple Dop?" He jokingly says, pretty sure he's gonna need more than just that if he wants to convince Impulse of anything. He has to swallow his prejudice when he meets Impulse's gaze one more time. His best friend's face is flushed from the alcohol, and his eyes are a bit glazed over. But even more terrifyingly, he can see that familiar glint of competitiveness in his eyes as well. And if Skizz is honest with himself, he can feel the buzz of his own drink clouding his brain. He's ready to make some questionable decisions.

Impulse doesn't even respond, he simply slams the rest of his drink, places the glass down, and starts walking towards the dance floor, tail whipping back and forth. Skizz quickly slams his own and follows him.

They get there just in time for the encore to start. Impulse lunges to grab Skizz's hands in time so they don't miss the rhythm. Skizz raises an amused eyebrow at his best friend's antics, and he gets an unimpressed look in return. Impulse's slightly scaled hands rub up against Skizz's scarred ones, but it's a feeling Skizz is extremely familiar with. It's like two puzzle pieces fitting together. Then the melody starts, and it's off to the races.

Skizz can't lie and say he isn't impressed by both himself and Impulse's ability to remember the motions. Moving around each other almost feels subconscious, each sway to the left and right perfectly timed. At first, they're both looking down at their feet to make sure they aren't stomping on something important, but they quickly realize they don't need to. Their gazes slowly connect instead, and a dumb goofy smile graces Impulse's face. Skizz feels himself responding with just as stupid of an expression, but he can't help it. It's like he's back in that memory again, except without any teenage awkwardness.

One step left, two steps right, twirl back around, two hands connected reaching for the stars above. It's silly, really. Two middle-aged men dancing in a crowd where the max age is early thirties, to an old love song, with a dance originally meant for wooing potential partners, after competing in the biggest competitive event in the multiverse. But Skizz never cared about useless details like that. He's having fun with his best friend, m'kay? And they're smoking the competition at the same time!

Skizz eventually gets lost in the motions, lost in orbiting around his other half in long-ago practiced steps. For all he cares, the only things that exist to him right now are Impulse, the music, and the ground they're standing on. His best friend's familiar marrone eyes keep his blue ones locked, and the few times their bodies graze each other in the dance it causes a certain softness in Skizz's heart to spike. Impulse's hand in his is solid, but the hold is gentle, casual, despite the energy in their motions. But eventually, the song starts winding down, each step taking them closer to the end. As the singer lets out the final words, and the instruments their final notes, their right hands detach and fly out behind them. At the same time, both their right feet take a step backward. They strike the final pose perfectly.

The song ends, and the new one that plays plunges Skizz right back into reality. Oh my god, he doesn't remember being this tired afterward! He lets go of Impulse's hand to place both his hands on his knees so he can try and regain his breath. Impulse seemingly has the same idea, but he also has the brain cells to grab Skizz by the shoulder and lead them out of the crowd and off the dance floor. They both crash on a nearby bench.

"I am so sweaty dude, holy moly" Impulse exclaims as he wipes his forehead.

"That was fun though, man!" Skizz responds between his huffing. Impulse gives him an acknowledging noise, but not much more.

Suddenly, someone is applauding.

"Wow, didn't know you guys could dance like that!"

Skizz looks up to see Jojo.

"Thanks, Junior Shabado," He says with a kind smile. "What he said," Impulse adds on.

"Maybe next time we have a training session, you could teach me!" She adds on, a slight slur to her words. Skizz has to fight for his life to not start laughing.

"Yeah, I'm sure Impulse would love to pass down the tradition!"

The unexplainable noise that Impulse emits at his suggestion will fuel him for the decades to come.

(What he'll also be fueled by was that someone managed to record them dancing and posted it online. Sober Impulse's flustered but still proud reaction was nothing short of glorious. Because yes, as the comments on the clip point out many times, they really did SLAY the competition.)

[kogratorm]

QSMP's Candidates Statements (Translated)

From QuackityToo June 19th Stream.

DISCLAIMER: My native language is Brazilian Portuguese, not Spanish nor English. Due to that and the differences in language expression, I made some changes/paraphrases while translating to accommodate the context, but the overall understanding remains 98% loyal to each candidate’s speech.

BadBoyHalo

BBH proposes that he is the only person capable of carrying out the necessary decisions that the president of Quesadilla Island must take. He believes he is the only one who has the courage to make the difficult decisions necessary to keep the island safe and sound for the residents and prevent a dictator from taking power, all while protecting the eggs.

Foolish

Foolish is excited about the opportunity that the island has provided. He says he wants to enjoy and make the most of the situation because it's not every day that you end up on a crazy island with a diverse population speaking a variety of languages. Some people would prefer to get out of here [Quesadilla] as soon as possible, but he wants to make friends with everyone and enjoy everything the island has to offer.

Etoiles

Etoiles stated that he is charismatic, generous, and that the only negativity he carries is for himself and never for others. Etoiles sets out to explore the island in order to better understand the environment of where they are; he will visit as many dungeons as he needs to get a better understanding of the island.

Baghera

Baghera stated that she has her head screwed on the right way and wishes only the best for the islanders. She values communication and maintains positive relationships with everyone. Baghera believes she is capable of dealing with any fervor or rash situations that may arise. Quesadilla Island is where she was introduced to motherhood, and as a result, she has a specific goal. The place that gave her family and friends is one she must protect at all costs.

Felps

Felps work(ed) as a shipping officer, bus driver, artist, and gardener. What he wants to do is make everyone happy by giving more rights to eggs, noodles, and pasta.

Forever

Forever stated that he is one of the most active players on the island, and as such, he will always be there to protect the people's interests. As a professional Minecraft player, he has many ideas for community projects. Forever describes Richarlyson as one of the happiest things that has happened to him, as well as meeting all of the island's inhabitants (despite the fact that the French make a lot of noise at the egg hotel), given how everyone is very friendly and entertaining.

Mike

Mike promised to restore order to Quesadilla Island, his favorite aspect of the island being the islanders themselves. He would forbid the use of waystones, which would improve the island's dynamics by forcing players to build paths between their bases, allowing them to finally implement a railroad train system.

Cellbit

Cellbit has had prior work experience as a tribute (HG), murderer, prisoner, and detective. He claimed to be Roier's husband, capable of making eloquent arguments and pose intricate inquiries in various scenarios and circumstances. In summary, he believes he is a good president for the Island's future, both for introducing new creative ideas and new narratives to other content creators, as well as for protecting the eggs. His husband, son, and friends are his most valuable things on the island.

Gegg

I swear this isn’t bad translated; it is literally what has been said.

Gegg said he's a businessman, going door to door Gegging. He's a Geggwar criminal. He is an influencer of the family lifestyle. Gegg changes the world. What Gegg likes most about Quesadilla Island is the humidity, the damp places and caves. Gegg promises you freedom. Gegg promises the truth. Gegg promises you power. Gegg promises the abolition of all government rules, taxes and any existing laws. The government establishment holds us, so Gegg will release us. Just one geggrule: believe in Gegg, because Gegg believes in you.

El Quackity

His speech is about his character as well as the election scenario (from the perspective of a Content Creator, not a character). I decided to put it all together because it was somewhat scrambled and also because it was an important reminder for the community.

According to ElQuackity, there is a lack of organization and order. He believes that in the ideal scenario, this can be resolved. He believes that his candidacy in this work and position is critical, and that it will be the best possible. One thing to be clear about it: during his campaign, he will do whatever it takes to ensure that the people have a good president. Thus, he reminds and states that this election event isn’t predetermined, scripted, or planned, and there is no pre-written ending. Elections will be decided by the votes of creators, the efforts of creators, and the votes of the community. He warns that if If he decides to kill a candidate or an egg because it suits his political campaign, he will do so. And, if another candidate decides to kill him for their own benefit, it will be done. No one (except the creators) can say anything to encourage another narrative. We, as a community, need to understand that none of the creators will truly hate each other if one decides to attack the other or kill the other for their own campaign benefit. He encourages the community to support their favorite candidate, but if a creator decides to do something bad to another creator within the game at any time, those who send hate towards creators for actions taken by players in game will be rightfully banned and restricted from all QSMP chat streams. It is, after all, a game. It's a block game. The decisions made within the game will be made by the creators themselves. If the creators ever have a disagreement, it will be solved in private DMs. And nothing bad will ever happen because all the QSMP members are adults who understand that this is all for entertainment purposes. The QSMP Elections ARE for entertainment purposes ONLY.

[utilitycaster]

You described C3 as frequently feeling like it's accelerating only to pump the breaks, and that really perfectly articulates some of the mixed feelings I have about this campaign. There have been a couple of times now when I've been really excited and invested in where the story is going (Laudna's death, the party split, Ashton blowing up, now with FCG's death, etc.), and then it's felt like that momentum has been either derailed or softened (either immediately or after an episode or two). It's all moments on the darker end of the emotional spectrum, so I wonder if it's folks wanting to pull back from it, but it feels like it's been a theme in this campaign in a way it wasn't in C1 and C2. Maybe there's something else going on that I'm not thinking of though?

So I think this post about pacing I made earlier this week covers this indirectly. I think it's a mix of the early groundwork for the party developing a culture of checking in with each other, working through conflict, and deciding what to do being constantly interrupted; and the fact that this is a more heavily railroaded campaign. I want to be clear - I don't think the railroading is bad at all! But I think that the prep for a campaign that had a more defined plot, especially starting quite early on, needed to be more extensive. I think it should have probably had a session zero that was a tradition one - not a playtest of two or three characters who knew each other, but the main cast members sitting down and saying "oh, huh, no one here has a high INT score" - or a heavier hand from Matt.

I think, for example, Ashton exploding was great and the choices afterwards were sound, it's just that the party doesn't have the tools to resolve this sort of conflict and so they shy from it. I also think some of the players who tend to embrace difficult choices and conflict that ultimately lead to those darker places and, in my opinion, better story, have chosen to take a back seat; and some of the players in the position to make those bold decisions have declined to make them, which is their right in terms of agency but is less of the story I personally wish to see.

I do want to note that like...they have interrupted the story but they have not yet been proven to have pumped the brakes now; it is possible the cast will pick up seamlessly with the next episode. It's really just that like...as you said, it feels like a pattern.

I suppose the next thing I'm going to say is going to be unpopular, but let's be honest, that has never once stopped me. I think a lot of Campaign 3's more passionate defenders are people who prefer what I'd consider quick, easy, feel-good highs, with a trade-off of a deeper narrative since that requires effort. The people who unironically said "must a story have conflict?" The people who just want weeks on end of downtime after this moon plot (and look this campaign has surprised me many times, and as this question indicates, not all were positive nor narratively satisfying, so I absolutely could be wrong here but I'm just increasingly like...what will they do after this moon plot. Name a significant plot hook that isn't part of the moon plot.) The people who are like "why would the party attack Bor'Dor simply because they tried to kill them? Why would Orym contact the person he clearly has a massive crush on when he's upset when other people are right there? Why would the people of Gelvaan have reservations about mind readers? Why doesn't Ross, the largest friend, simply eat all the other friends?"

But getting back to the original point I really do think that because of the different nature of this campaign - and it is different, structurally, and I don't think that's the root cause - more intense prepwork needed to be done both leading in (character creation) and in the early stages, and I think because it was going to be so tightly plotted later on I think it needed looser plotting earlier to allow the party to mesh and be easier to guide.

[danvolodar]

Pathologic and the Town's Russianness: 5

In this last numbered part of the miniseries we'll explore the issue that, honestly speaking, prompted me to write on the subject to begin with: the Town's eating habits, and whether they match those of the historic Russian Empire.

As in the previous parts, a warning is prudent - the Town's unique situation must affect its cuisine as much as the rest of its life. So an unusually large share of meat in the local diets, or the shortage of grains and legumes due to the lack of fields we've discussed prior, cannot be used as indicators of difference.

Still, some amount of grains must be making it into the Town-on-Gorkhon, since they do have bread available. It wouldn't be fair to say it's un-Russian for not having black rye bread, though, since it only makes sense the Town makes do with whatever's shipped in, and it's likely wheat grows better in the climes near the steppe (in the Marble Nest demo the Bachelor even notes that "the local [bread] is greyish in color and crumbly to the touch, making you doubt if it was actually made from grain"). What is decidedly un-Russian, though, is the lack of any buns when there's flour available: pirozhki stuffed with beef or fish, rasstegai, or vatrushkas. Those were the street food of choice in the Imperial Russia, so extremely common, which means not seeing them is a strong sign the Town is not a part of anything like it.

And since we've mentioned vatrushkas - it's surprising that there's no stuffing for it in sight, no tvorog. Then again, there are no cheeses other than the steppe qurt at all, so I guess that can be attributed to that. There's a decisive shortage of diary foods in general: other than milk and tan (ayran), ice cream is spoken about but never shown (but at least it must be available), and kefir (widely spread throughout Russia by early XX century) isn't even mentioned.

But those are all foods one can carry; even if not exactly a cornucopia, they got at least some representation. Cooked dishes, the foundation of Russian cuisine, did not, at all. "Schi and porridge are our food" is a Russian saying describing the commoner diet throughout history; but I don't think I've seen even mentions of any soup or porridge in the game. Vegetables might be lacking for a soup (although I imagine it's pretty easy to catch scurvy with a diet like this), but where there's bread, there must be grains, and where there are grains, there can be porridge - especially minding that there's a source of milk always available to make it tastier.

The fruit and berry variety is even stranger. There are raisins, lemons and coffee beans available, yet the Haruspex has never eatern nor even seen in person a strawberry or a raspberry, both widely cultivated in temperate climate - despite him having studied outside of the Town for years, and likely joining the Army for a while. From that alone, one can imagine that the Capital-based civilization must have a climate radically different from the Russian Empire; further supported by the fact that the railroad to the Town is called "the north-western" one. This could suggest a state somewhere south-east of the steppe zone, in the mediterranean clime maybe.

Finally, while there are as already mentioned coffee beans for the healers to chew raw (like a wild animal would), there is a remarkable absence of the quintessential Russian drink: tea. Neither in compressed bricks, which one would expect in the steppe, and which would be the right thing to bite into, nor as the beautiful brew. Minding that a fancy samovar was a common way of showing prosperity at the beginning of the XX century for the lower classes, the absence of these is also telling. Lack of tea in historical Russia was a sure sign of utter societal collapse, only seen in the worst days of the Revolution - and even then people drank hot water from cups, even if there was nothing to brew with it.

Furthermore, drinking tea necessiates having sweets and confections, and there are noticeably few of these, too. As mentioned, ice cream can be found (in the dialogs), Murky says Sticky made her some candy, and Fellow Traveller calls the coupons he sells "candy wrappers", but that's about it - it would be nearly impossible for a Russian to properly drink tea in the Town to begin with!

I think this factor settles the original question decisively: a Town in which no one drinks tea ten times a day cannot possibly be a part of anything resembling the Russian Empire.

[archon-maenad]

wake up babe new thought exercise just dropped! if worm characters became protagonists of slay the princess how would each of them shape said princess with their thought patterns?

this could be done with characters from any fandom really, but I came up with the idea from imagining taylor hebert reacting to being told that "there's a world ending threat in the basement over there can you please kill it thanks!" with absolutely no evidence to back it up.

girlie would be suspicious as hell about everything, from the situation to the narrator to the voice of the hero. but she wouldn't dip from this premise because she's taylor hebert (don't think I need to elaborate on that point).

she'd take the knife because better to have and not need and all, and would come face-to-face in that basement with a cynical manipulative bitch. the narrator's warning about the princess' scheming nature ironically enough ensured she'd be someone tay would never underestimate, since the blend of "pretty primadonna at the top of a hierarchy" and "prone to lying to get her way without a care for who gets hurt" obviously reminds her of emma.

the narrator is very happy that his protagonist refuses to trust the princess. the narrator is very unhappy that his protagonist believes the princess to be the most insidious kind of dangerous.

I think taylor would end up on the adversary route. she fully believes herself able to defeat the princess because tay knows she is ruthless and strong enough, but without her bugs or even armor her mortality is stark in her mind. so when she decides to kill the princess it ends up with both of them dead after an actual fight.

meanwhile lisa, and rachel, and a lot of characters probably, would end up on the stranger route by nopeing right the fuck outta the situation and continuing even after the narrator turns them back around towards the princess. lisa because she can tell it's making the narrator annoyed even as he tries to hide it, and rachel because she's plain stubborn. since you only need to turn around three times they wouldn't give up before going to the next chapter.

since the stranger is a railroaded path (the cheev you get from completing it literally references "the illusion of choice" lol) both of their following actions, while different, would still end up in the same place.

does anyone else have enough context for more interesting explorations of this concept? I'm caught up on the fact that pretty much every character from worm would take the blade, cause they come from a world where not carrying a weapon even if you don't plan to use it is a dumbass decision. and that cuts off half the paths available, admittedly making this less interesting.

[ibbity]

I haven't followed the main Fallout 4 questline that far (current mission is "find Virgil in the Glowing Sea" and I've been ignoring that for several in-game months) but I'm not satisfied with the only option at the end being to nuke the Institute. I feel like the most just thing to do in-universe would be to execute and/or expel the Institute's leadership and hand the place over to the non-courser synths as reparations, since their labor was what sustained it. Gameplay-wise, this could be an option for the Railroad and/or Minuteman ending - if you got kicked out early on, you would be stuck with "nuke 'em" as your only option, but if you managed to stay undercover long enough, a quest with this as its final stage would become available. Maybe there would be some tasks or a specific mission you would have to accomplish to open up that possibility. The Brotherhood of Steel ending, however, would remain as just "nuke 'em" since the BoS hate synths.

Coursers who were willing to accept the changeover could stay on as defense; those who weren't would have to share the leadership's fate. Maybe a new ruling council or board of governors could be elected from among the older/more knowledgeable synths. The rest of the non-synth Institute population would have to get their own fates decided by the new synth ruling council. Perhaps they could choose to extend mercy to those who weren't cruel to them and decree execution/exile for those who were. Or they could simply kick all of the non-synths out, since all of them benefitted from synth slave labor. In-game, this could be accomplished by having them lay out various options to the sole survivor and ask what sole thinks would be the best option. The synths could then choose whether or not to continue expanding their own population by creating more of their own kind. Maybe some of them want to be parents, and so could use their own genes/combine their genes with a partner to make a child for themselves to raise. This could also be a decision made in-game by having them discuss it with the sole survivor. Or it could just be stated that the new ruling council will make such decisions based on what they feel is best.

The Institute could then become a synth community, optionally with some non-synth researchers/workers there as well depending on what decision was made about that, and could serve as a center of free learning and progress, rather than closed and slave supported. Maybe it gets a new name at this point and isn't called "The Institute" anymore. The synth leadership could arrange for trade with other communities like vault 81 does - maybe there could be random encounters with a synth trader from the Institute after this was all accomplished, like Rylee from 81. Or random encounters with synths who wanted to go out and see the world. Other post-ending aspects could be that the sole survivor gets to have a permanent base in the Institute and is granted special status as a valued ally. At this point, the Railroad's original purpose would be obsolete, so they could pivot to spreading the word about what went down and advocating for synth acceptance now that the Institute, as such, no longer exists and will no longer do the things people were afraid of. The fact that the Institute's scientific and technological achievements can now be shared with the Commonwealth - if its people are willing to deal with synths as equals and allies - could be a good bargaining chip for this. As a special ally, and as the official Railroad/Minuteman liaison to the reformed Institute, the new synth management could sometimes ask the sole survivor to do quests for them. These quests could be things like persuading infiltrator synths to stop spying and come back to the Institute, or fixing a problem/helping with some work within the Institute, or rescuing an adventuring synth who went out into the Commonwealth and got into some trouble.

This endgame allows the synths to benefit from the results of their own labor, puts them in charge of their own destinies, and avoids the problem of "oops now there are a ton of homeless synths running scared among a surface population that fears them to the level of committing murder, and that doesn't understand what's actually going on." It also seems like the most just and equitable solution to me - the problem-causers are gone, the advantages of scientific/technological progress and development are retained, and the former slaves now have control over a safe and familiar environment that they've already been managing on the ground level anyway. Plus it opens up the possibility of some more interesting post-game missions and gives the Railroad a meaningful postgame raison d'etre.

[bullet-prooflove]

Killing Me Softly Part One: Livid - Alexander 'Tig' Trager x Reader

Tagging: @mortal--soul @yourwinchesterbros @buddinglinguist @spookyboogyuniverse @nessamc @ritasantosworld @bl4ckt00thgr1n @anime-weeb-4-life @redpoodlern @ravencrow83 @nu1freakshow @@oureternalbond @the-wandering-lunatic @lexondeck @keyweegirlie  @theplacewhereallthedemonsgo

There are two things that neither you or Tig will compromise on and that is Luann and the club. Everything else has a degree of flexibility. It’s why the two of you work so well. That is until something forces an impasse, such as Clay’s decision to keep Georgie Caruso alive when he re-enters the country.

Tig has never seen you this furious, there’s a fire in you that blazes like the fucking sun. He can feel the rage emanating from your skin as you stand in front of him. He’s infuriated, aroused and livid all at the same time because you’d gone behind his back and taken matters into your own hands, pointing a gun in the face of the man that had murdered your friend. The only thing that stopped you from pulling the trigger was the fact that Clay had left him babysitting.

“You are fucking killing me here darlin,” He’s yelling when he hauls you outside. “…killing me.”

You wrench yourself out of his grasp, twisting to face him with a fury in your eyes that he thinks would be at home in the seven circles of hell. You look wild and untamed, a beautiful force of nature. You shove him hard, he falters a step, so you do it again and he lets you because all of that rage your feeling, it has to go somewhere.

“I’m killing you?!” You snarl at him, your palms smacking on the leather of his jacket. “I just walked in there, to find the man I love cuddling up to the man who murdered my fucking friend. He’s a fucking animal.”

“Cuddling?” He hisses, grasping you under the arms and drawing you close. “You think we’re sitting in there taking turns with that fucking blow up doll? It is taking every single fibre of my self-control not to wrap my hands around the little fucker’s throat and choke the life right out of him.”

“That feeling you have…” You tell him, jabbing him in the chest with your fingertip and it feels like a fucking railroad spike straight to heart. “…is what I live with every single day, knowing that bastard is sitting comfortably on his throne of fucking cocks, jerking off while Luann lies in the ground rotting. Give me back the fucking gun.”

“I’m not giving you back the fucking gun.” He snaps, meeting your ferocious gaze with one of his own. “I’m not letting you do twenty-five to life for killing him, I’m not letting you sign your own death warrant because you know that’s what will happen don’t you? He dies and Clay comes after you, is that what you want?”

“It doesn’t fucking matter.” You snarl, tearing yourself out of his arms.

It’s like you’re screaming into the fucking void, and no one can hear you. All the agony you feel in your chest, it surges through you until it becomes almost unbearable.

“Of course, it fucking matters.” He tells you, his voice cracking as his hands come to rest upon your shoulders. His eyes are fucking stinging because he senses that the inevitable is coming, the two of you are at a crossroads and he knows there’s no turning back.

“Fuck you Trager.” You spit, tearing yourself away before retreating back to the shelter of your car. “Fuck you and fuck your club.”

Love Tig? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[arrynnat]

Believe it or not, while watching the new Dungeons and Dragons movie last Thursday I was half expecting the movie to cut to a scene where the actors of all the different characters plus a DM were revealed to be playing the whole plot out as a regular D&D game and then arguing among themselves about making bad rolls, the various decisions and plans Edgin made throughout the game and the fact that Simon kept talking about the limits of magic with Justice Smith saying something along the lines of “it’s what my character would do”.

Or maybe picture this: in the scene where Xenk leaves the party it cuts to the actors/ players arguing with the DM about wanting the paladin to stay and then the DM trying to justify how Xenk was way too OP for the campaign with the players nearly accusing the DM of railroading you know what I mean

[sagesariadnd]

Dungeon Master Red Flags

I've seen so many RPG Horror Stories about behavior from DMs that new players let slide and/or get turned off from D&D (or other TTRPG systems, but I usually see it in D&D) because they think it's how the game is supposed to be played.

Just giving it to you straight: if you're uncomfortable, talk to the DM or leave the table. The game is meant to be fun, and if you're not having fun or feel uncomfortable or threatened at the table, it is not worth it and that is not how the game is supposed to be played.

So here is my list of red flags to look out for when playing with a new DM. Feel free to reblog and add to the list, and I'll have one for player red flags in the future. Some of these can still work out in the end - sometimes DMs make mistakes out of inexperience - but they are at the VERY least things to be wary of and keep your eyes peeled; if things don't improve, then you have a bad table.

does not have a session zero, or at LEAST a pre-game period in discord or similar where you can do session zero tasks such as meeting the players, establishing table rules and boundaries, and discussing the kind of character you want to play

starts session one but calls it session zero - session zero is for game setup and character creation. if you start playing the game, you are no longer having a session zero.

does not give direction, especially if any direction you try to take is the 'wrong' direction

rejects multiple character ideas for arbitrary reasons

insists that you MUST play a certain race, character, gender, etc.

gender or sex targeted house rules (IE: "charisma is at disadvantage while on your period," "roll for dick size," or "all female dragonborn are sex workers")

criticizes your character concept or in-character decisions

NPCs try to seduce you and either won't take no for an answer or will force the issue with charm, fudged dice, skipping ahead, etc.

does not stop harassment from other players or at least pause the game to make sure everything's okay

does not introduce your character as soon as possible, leaving you sitting at the table doing nothing

enemies exclusively attack you for reasons that can't be justified in-character (obvious tank, they saw you casting spells, you're carrying something you know they want, etc.)

immediately takes away abilities or items you were excited about

scoffing at or mocking safety tools

does not consult with you for major character changes (such as alignment changes or losing powers), or doubles down if you address displeasure with it after the fact - you as the player should be braced for bad things to happen, but if your character is going to be massively overhauled for story reasons, it should be a conversation.

punishing characters in-game for out of game behavior instead of talking to the players

favoritism of one character over the others (only focusing on this character's backstory, only ever finding loot this character can use, etc.)

Main Character DMPCs - I don't dislike DMPCs the way others do because I think they CAN be done properly, but if the DMPC is the center of attention in literally EVERY scenario, then that is bad DMing.

deliberately putting you in constant unwinnable situations just so a DMPC can swoop in to rescue you (see previous bullet point)

Rolling a natural 20 is only met with "you fail."

getting angry if you come up with clever plans

"We're going to be the next Critical Role!" or comparing themselves to Matt Mercer - Critical Role is awesome, but you should not be expected to play exactly like them or be the same level of quality of roleplay or production

Openly hates a class or race but allows you to play it anyway - this is a one-way ticket to being targeted and antagonized in game. If they hate this race or class, they should just not allow it in their game. They ARE in fact allowed to do that.

none of your choices are permitted or matter - there is a massive difference between a linear game and railroading. Railroading is not the presence of a path, it's the absence of choices.

lets the session grind to a halt because players missed something, failed a roll, or genuinely have no clue what to do

adheres to RAW, historical accuracy, or other Hard Rules to the point where the game isn't fun anymore

plays the game like a character meat grinder without warning you of this being their playstyle

punishes you for making a choice offered in game, then criticizes you for making that choice at all, especially if you were "supposed" to do something else

"cutscenes" - sometimes you'll WANT to just listen to the DM's narration and let it play out, but if you're not allowed to interact with a scene at all because the DM is treating it like a cutscene in a video game, that's a red flag and an actual example of railroading.

[simlit]

3, 6, 7, 9, 13, 19, 22, 24, 25, for VEN

What is your OCs fatal flaw? Are they aware of this flaw?

In his current state? Probably his selflessness. He gives too much to people and has a hard time drawing lines if it's someone he deeply cares about. Case in point, letting Naida more or less railroad the entire family into chasing the Fountain of Youth. In his defense, Naida isn't really someone you can win fights against, but considering the dangerous nature of the voyage, one would think he should have fought against it a lot harder. I do think he's aware of it, but not in a way he can actively check, because it's a lot of him overcompensating for the way he used to be and the things he's done. So I guess a larger and probably more fatal flaw is the fact that he carries around so much guilt and does a lot in the name of reparations.

How easily could your OC be convinced to do something that goes against their moral compass?

Easily, but tbh I feel this is one thing Ven shares with Kato. His morals can be bent depending on who is involved and the consequence of the situation. Ven isn't standing on moral highground in the first place, despite understanding right and wrong well enough. He certainly doesn't care enough about authority not to break rules, and as far as life or death is concerned, a life will always matter less to him if they're at odds with someone he loves. That being said, I think he's resourceful enough to find ways around making risky choices.

What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

Also a really fun question, cuz I haven't thought about it in years LOL. Though Ven stayed mostly the same from conception, he was supposed to be a bit more "roguish" even after his Reaper years. More of the typical pirate: loose, unkempt and thieving. But he ended up being way more charitable and straightlaced than I'd initially planned, but that ironed itself out almost immediately so I don't really consider it to have been "the plan" just "what I had had in mind at some point" lmao. Now the idea of Ven sleeping around with literally anyone is goddamn baffling to me.

Do you have a specific lyric or quote which you associate with your OC?

Every single word of his theme song, "The Balancer's Eye" by Lord Huron, but all of this: Nothing's waiting for us in the great sky Life is equal to dust in the Balancer's eye Now I know that I can't lift an old curse Tell me, how does a man change the universe? Will I ever be forgiven for the crime of my life? Will it haunt me till I die? To the end of time?

If you met your OC, would the two of you get along?

I think Ven is one of the few characters I can genuinely answer "yes" to this question lmao. Just because Ven is hands down the least judgmental of my OCs, not to mention packing all that charisma, he can literally talk to anyone. Although I probably would just be dead on the floor so it wouldn't be a very interesting conversation.

How does your OC behave when enraged?

We so rarely see Ven angry. Honestly, a bit like Kyrie, Ven has a quiet temper. He's good at restraining himself now, because he knows intimately well just how horrible of a person he can be, so he makes a concerted effort never to let anything get him that upset. Mostly, things don't anger him as much as he may be disappointed or saddened. There is one scene in OST:O I've had planned for years that actually showcases Ven's true anger and it is very much "silent and lethal" lmao.

What character alignment would you consider your OC to be?

Oof, I dunno, somewhere between neutral good and chaotic neutral. Hard to pinpoint lol

What is an alternative life path your OC might have gone done? How different would their life be if they'd made those decisions?

Oh, this one is interesting. I think Ven could have easily continued down the path he started on when he got the sight. That is, had he not been able to pull himself back from that maniacal person he'd become as consequence, he'd be unrecognizable today. That's not to say he isn't already because he absolutely was that person for a moment in time. The Reaper King wasn't just a persona, it was his entire essence. He was ruthless, violent and he did very literally kill dozens (I won't say 100s but it's up there) of people. We like to imagine him as the loving father and perfect husband he is now, but outside of maybe Elsera he's my OC with the highest bodycount. And while in a way you could justify he killed people because "they deserved to die" he was never in the right to pass that judgement. Had he not eventually woken up from that state of trauma and derangement, he'd still be a completely unstable murderous lunatic .-.

What is your favorite thing about your OC?

How hot he is. The end.

[everygame]

Fallout 4

Developed/Published by: Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks Released: 11/10/2015 Completed: 24/05/2024 Completion: Completed the game by following the Railroad path until the end, when I noticed doing the final mission for the Institute would be slightly quicker.

Like many people, off the back of the perfectly cromulent Fallout TV show I though to myself, “gosh, I sure would enjoy some more Fallout right about now” and having completed the series up to New Vegas, I thought, “well, how bad can Fallout 4 be?”

Very bad.

Fallout 4 is an empty vessel. It takes all the signifiers of the series (post-apocalypse! S.P.E.C.I.A.L.! V.A.T.S.! Factions!) and then does… nothing with them. It does nothing with them in style though, with a framing narrative that works so immediately poorly that I have to imagine that it was forced upon the team by an executive, because as we know, the only American executive to ever be right about anything is Howard Phillips.

In Fallout 4, you play a mother or father who, after being frozen in a vault, awakens to discover your partner getting literally fridged and your baby boy being stolen. Finally able to escape your own freezer pod, you head out into the wasteland to seek your lost child.

Now, this is a set-up that requires some urgency, I would say. If I was a father–and I was playing one–I’d be pretty damn fucking determined to find my kid as immediately as possible. It would, let’s say, be a lot more urgent than getting my revenge as in Fallout: New Vegas.

In fact, I’d probably expect that the game would really thread the narrative strongly at the beginning. New Vegas, memorably, beautifully shapes the world into an initial binary decision–get to New Vegas immediately through an impossibly dangerous route, or take the long way round by necessity, but learn a lot on the way.

Fallout 4 does not do this. It dumps you into a wide-open map and then essentially the first quest you are going to happen upon will lead you into a chain where you start doing what the game is really about: building settlements.

*groan*

Before I continue: I understand the first thing you are going to say, which is “well if you’re determined to roleplay a desperate father, just head straight to the next place they tell you to go!”

It’s not unfair, but I want to express: the game does not want you to do this. It simply does not want you to move the main story forward quickly. “Thou shalt get distracted by bullshit every god-damned time” is a very funny thing for The Ghoul in the Fallout show to say (and to be fair, he does seem to have spent several hundred years on side quests rather than finding his family) but it’s not actually how a player is supposed to feel.

I have complained about settlement building before. It’s frustrating in No Man’s Sky, and it’s actually a bigger ballache here, as the game is unbelievably specific about where you can place objects, but also completely unintelligent about it, meaning that if you, let’s say, wish to place a fence around a settlement (as you would) half the time it won’t let you place the piece where you want it, and then if you can place it it completely ignores elevation, so you’ll end up either stuck with a fence that’s too low to continue at points, or that’s floating absurdly in the air.

(The fix to this, insanely, is to play a weird game where you place fences, then posts, then delete the fences, then replace the posts to get the elevation right, then replace the fences. It takes forever.)

(And it turns out fences don't matter anyway, because if your settlements get attacked, enemy spawn points are often in the middle of your settlements, rendering any realistic defenses moot.)

I spent far too long on fucking around with this trying to make it fun but it’s not, so eventually I gave up on that aspect of the game completely except when the main story forced me to, which was, frankly, more than I would like.

And to get on to that main story. This main story makes me question: Do Bethesda even like Fallout? Now, Fallout has its share of unbelievably goofy, easily arguably inconsistent world-building. Super Mutants, Hubologists, even the Enclave is a bit silly. But almost the entire story of this game relates to a super-powered science community making literal replicants. Also Terminators.

I guess I kind of get it as just adding to the pop-culture post-apocalypse mish-mash, but the science behind creating robots that like… bleed and shit just seems so far from tube TVs and nuclear-powered cars, and while you play it feels like it steps away from the hard-scrabble survival context of Fallout enough that you just don’t really feel like that’s what you’re playing at all. 

Being as charitable as I can muster, it’s possible it could have worked if it didn’t completely subsume the narrative of a father just trying to get his kid back. Now, admittedly, my hero seemed quite happy to fuck about doing literally anything else, but there comes a particular point in the story where it becomes aggressively clear that they don’t have a meaningful way to conclude that story, and it honestly becomes rather nonsensical as you end up either helping or subjugating a new robot race. They actually lampshade it at one point, as you might walk past a character that says something like "if we're creating the future of the human race, why are we building human-like robots? What does that achieve???"

They never explain it, and any and all emotional stakes you might hope for from the setup are completely blown apart to drive towards a “pick a faction!” ending, and the worst thing of all is that nothing you do actually matters anyway.

You know how in Fallout the best thing is when you finish it and you get to see how you changed the wasteland? You’re like “oh cool, those two characters settled down together” or “amazing… that character got over their trauma… by becoming an evil warlord” or whatever. Not here! Here you get an insanely generic video that barely changes between the factions and nothing else.

This aligns with the fact that a huge amount of quests in the game are “ambient” quests, which means that they’re just generic busy work for one faction or another, and with the settlement building, the entire game smells like a dry run for Bethesda’s later Fallout 76 as a proving ground to see how much an audience can put up with not very much bespoke content. I have to admit I was suckered by this, assuming that if I just kept placing maguffins for a certain character the quest-line would end and something cool would happen, but then I worked out that it would just go on forever and literally every quest in the game was just going to be “go to a generic location, kill everyone/kill someone specific/place an object” and once you see behind the curtain, there’s no going back.

In fact, in Fallout 4 there are almost no meaningful decisions to be made at all. It’s possible I missed some incredible bespoke quests, but the most exciting ones I fell into (for example, an entire quest-line pretending to be a silver-age radio hero that meant I spent the rest of the game looking like the fucking Shadow because no other armour turned out to be better) don’t even have any moral dimension; maybe it was the move to the Mass Effect-style dialogue system, but the only thing it ever seems to affect is how much a companion likes you, so you just do whatever you know they like. So I went from a saint to an arsehole about halfway through the game and it didn’t make a lick of difference.

And speaking of those mechanics, they’re broken anyway. The game lets you save anywhere (good) but also makes all skill checks rolls (rather than previously, which were strict stat checks) so your stats barely matter unless you’re a fucking saint (don’t pretend that you are.) 

Sure, sometimes character A ends up dead or character B hates you, but it feels arbitrary.  Ultimately in Fallout 4 there’s really just no role-playing. The game is actually just a grind, with some choice in which grind you want: do you want to grind flavourless missions to level up, or do you want to grind thanklessly building settlements?

I didn’t want to do either of those things. I wanted to play a Fallout.

Will I ever play it again? I put far too much time into this, and I didn’t touch any of the DLC apart from one featuring a vault which I did more-or-less by accident. Maybe the DLC is chock-a-block with the characterful narratives that are lacking from the main game. If they are: that makes me even more annoyed, and I’m not going to fucking play them anyway.

Final Thought: This article originally featured a 1000+ word lamentation about the lack of actually useful game criticism because I find it breathtaking that if you look for even contemporary reviews of this game they say nothing useful about it and how it fails to live up to any of the values of the Fallout franchise, just being generic product review shill shit, and by this point in 2024 anyway all you’re ever going to find online about the game is guides, endless guides. By 2025 it’ll just all be AI summaries of the guides that aren’t even correct.

Anyway, at least you’re now one of the chosen few who get to know Fallout 4 is a load of shite without having to actually play it. Unless you have already, in which case: I’m sorry.

Support Every Game I’ve Finished on ko-fi! You can pick up digital copies of exp., a zine featuring all-exclusive writing at my shop, or join as a supporter at just $1 a month and get articles like this a week early.

[robo-bozo7125]

VOTE FOR STEPH IN @lemon-demon-oc-tournament !!!!!

I don't have any art for him yet, BUT I shall make you fall in love with him via the power of words!

Steph is based off the song "My Trains", and wouldn't you know it, this kid loves trains more than life itself! And that's only a little bit of an exaggeration. Who knows what the mystical allure of the train is - perhaps it's the horns blaring an angel's choir in your ears, perhaps its the way they speed across their tracks like a cheetah sprinting through a safari, perhaps he's simply drawn to the feats of engineering like a moth drawn to a flame. He lives and breathes trains - you should see the collection he has in his basement! He's constantly doodling them, thinking about them, reading about them, daydreaming about them...

Speaking of daydreams, Steph is an avid daydreamer. More often than not, reality can be...upsetting. Things in life tend not to go well for him. His parents rarely show an interest in him unless it's to get on him for things he does wrong. They support him in the material department - after all, they do fund his miniature railroads - but in the emotional department, they haven't a clue. Steph feels as though he can't come out as transgender to his parents, fearing they just wouldn't understand. In fact, he fears most people don't understand him. He can't fathom why people think his obsession with trains is weird - why even other train enjoyers find his passion over the top. That confusion morphs into anger very easily...and so he finds himself alone in school and among his peers. He daydreams to cope with this. In his head he can be in a world where anything is possible; where you're weird for NOT liking trains, where he can be his own conductor, where his parents love him and his hobbies, where he can get the haircut he wants and wear a binder whenever he feels like, where people won't bully him for his weight or his braces or his temper or his trains.

He spends most of his time in his parents' basement. That's where all his trains are and where he's set up shop for the most part. There's nothing more relaxing to fall asleep to than the soothing sounds of a mini train running around the tracks littering his room...did I mention he has a train bed? His parents find it childish, but found out the hard way that he would not sleep in anything else. He also has a whistle that sounds like a train horn, as well as a conductor's hat that he never ever takes off. Not if it can be helped, at least. Posters litter the wall showcasing various models of trains and railroads and newspaper articles about trains and railroads. He criticizes whenever media gets something wrong about a train, or whenever people get facts about them wrong, and will be instantly sure to throw various fun facts at you regardless of if you showed any interest or not.

Because of his temper issues and the fact that he knows how to get around without his parents knowing, Steph has a pretty bad rep. It was by pure luck that he didn't get severe repercussions from the beat down he gave to the asshat that insulted his trains. He tends to sneak out, to not go home after school, to stick around the wrong sort of crowd... or just make bad decisions in general. He knows his parents don't care, as evident by the several times they remarked that they hadn't even known he'd been gone when he'd returned. So he just...does what he wants. One time he even went train hopping with one of his only friends, who he had a brotherly bond with until he was found dead in his own workshop. Steph hasn't had many friends since that, and yet he still finds himself regularly visiting the arcade they frequented.

Anyways, that's Steph!!! Vote for him!!! And good luck to everyone else participating!!!