#the game won't let you do that

[mikkeneko]

While writing that Dragon Age 2 post the other day, I made a narrative connection I had never made before.

I was writing about the Templar route, and about how the game makes no bones about how the Templar route is the evil route, it's clearly narratively marked as such. Because the structure of the game sets itself up from the start to make Hawke have some sympathy for the mages: they are the child of a mage and the sibling of a mage. This is an issue that Hawke cannot exempt themselves from having opinions on.

But that said, yes, you can choose the Templar route. You can decide that the tragedy of your family being ripped apart by the mage plight has hardened Hawke's heart against them. You can join forces with the Order that has hunted your family members their whole lives. You can choose to tighten the iron fist, instead of choosing to break it. You can become the ruler of Kirkwall. You can kill your sister.

And then I realized: That's Meredith's story.

Meredith, whose sister was a mage, the sister who died from it and ripped her family apart in the process. Meredith, who hardened her heart against people like her sister and dedicated the rest of her life to punishing others like her. Meredith, who joined causes with the Templar order who made that happen. Meredith, who took over the city.

You can choose to become Meredith. The game lets you do that. But you have to know -- as you climb over her corpse to ascend her bloodied throne -- that it's not a 'good' choice.

[dewwshi]

The people demand more Minlach. ( please more we are desperate and your art of them is so good 🥺🥺🥺)

🫡

my beautiful yuri... sooo critical to me that minthara 1. fell first 2. fell harder. something abt the idea of this self-avowed villain being utterly and inexplicably smitten with the sweetest nicest golden retriever girl in the world

[toyboy-molloy]

-suchdol-

Sam paced the ramparts, wondering if Henry was actually going to show up or not. He gazed out across the landscape, watching the camp like a hawk. Finally, Henry turned looking more refreshed than he had done in a long time, an added spring in his step as he approached. It didn't take a genius to work out what he'd been up to.

"Here I am."

Sam nodded, unable to resist teasing his brother, "who was the lucky girl?"

"Give over," Henry waved a dismissive hand, blushing, "I lost track of time, that's all."

Not a girl, then. Sam narrowed his eyes, giving Henry another once over. Eventually, he sighed deeply and rubbed his forehead. Henry frowned.

"What?"

"You have shit taste in men, bruder," Sam said honestly, shaking his head, "you could have chosen anyone else! But Capon?"

Henry scoffed, rolling his eyes, "as if you wouldn't have done the same thing if Lichtenstein was here."

[yirima-chai]

I started playing "The Stanley Parable" and it's one of the best games I ever played !

So of course I had to use my crafting skills to make the Bucket

[asharaks]

something else that grates on me about taash's writing is the.....casual cruelty they talk to everyone else with. they mock bellara's gods and religion as sordid and petty; they accuse neve of performativity, of shallowness; they treat rook like an idiot, unavoidably; they are sharply disrespectful of emmrich, and only apologise when pushed (and this is the only time the game even has them apologise! notably, to the white man-) to by rook. I wouldn't hate this abrasiveness as a character choice, if we were given the option to push back against it, if it was shown to be a flaw - youthful bravado, defensiveness, preemtive responses to what they assume people will say to them.

instead, they're coddled, treated as innocent of harm: neve mothers them through their feelings, rook holds their hand as they lash out, we have to therapy-speak them through their feelings about death magic, and most notably to me, bellara's gentle request for them to be respectful in the way they talk about her gods, fallen or not, is rejected, and rook has the "funny"" option to get on board with the degradation. it's just another facet of weekes' writing, where shitting on the indigenous religion is made retroactively acceptable because they're evil and always have been, where being blunt is the same as being rude and pushing back against it makes you just another regressive parent figure trying to tell them who to be, where the context makes any and all interpersonal cruelty acceptable but only if it comes from the Right person.

[vaguely-concerned]

in his and davrin's banters, lucanis exhibits a certain little shit energy I don't think we see him have with anyone else other than illario and honestly I am living for this

[schlozo]

Fallen Hero: Into the Taylorverse Trilogy Finale - Connor confronts Taylor Swift

dw he said sorry

Sequel to this

Fallen Hero by @fallenhero-rebirth

[plusultraetc]

WIP Folder Game

TYSM @bfire92 & @bloody-bee-tea for tagging me!! sorry I'm a little late 😭 I've actually tried this ask game in the past, but it's been several months and at the rate I accumulate new wips, I have plenty to talk about lol. plus (ultra), I remember it being a lot of fun!

my mission for the week between Christmas and New Year's is to answer most if not all of the asks in my inbox and drag myself out of my writing depression by any means necessary :')

Rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Tag as many people as you have wips. People send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

in the interest of not posting another fifteen titles, I gave myself some self-imposed restrictions--nothing that was asked about last time, and no super au-ish stuff (so, no fantasy/Star Wars/role swap, etc). that leaves us with:

conquer my vertigo

do my best to get it right

hold on and feel i belong

like money on a bad bet

practice all your worst mistakes

start again from the beginning

take all the courage you have left

the world was figured out

time makes you bolder

training montage

no-pressure tagging @machiroads @blinkeasy @karliahs @kyurilin @starlightbelle @poppy5991 @ifyougoillfollow @aromanticannibal @velwynn @pennultimateslugfriend and any other writers I missed who feel like participating!!

bonus stuff (what songs the titles come from & a look back on the fics from the first round) under the read more <3

"You Told The Drunks I Knew Karate," Zoey Van Goey

"I will be able to make toast for her in the mornings. I will do my best to get it right." - Everything Leads to You, Nina LaCour

"I'm Still Here," John Rzeznik (yeah it's the song from Treasure Planet 🪐)

"I Lost a Friend," FINNEAS

"Tulsa's Last Magician," Willi Carlisle

"Son," Sleeping at Last

"Little Lion Man," Mumford & Sons

"You Are Enough," Sleeping at Last

"Landslide," Fleetwood Mac

"Training Montage," The Mountain Goats

[softpine]

well it clearly won't be ready for christmas BUT the frozen pines sims are being lovingly packaged right now and will soon be delivered to you 🎁

happy holidays everyone. i love you always

[licorishh]

i love og soap too much. my stomach hurts. i don't feel good.

[dismembered-narrator]

man the second half of mouthwashing really let me down

[knightwhoisni]

concept: unromanced eleanor as drifter's romantic advisor and wingwoman. how successful she actually is at this depends on how serious she's feeling.

[blueskittlesart]

do u have any navi thoughts from your oot replay

i've been waiting to answer this until I actually beat the game in my current playthrough because navi is another one of those characters that i think of in like a "set" with several other characters who serve relatively the same thematic purpose; in this case that purpose being the "mother" character, and i wanted to have all the characters in that set fresh in my mind. it's notable that while oot shows us very clear and consistent instances of the ways in which the adults of hyrule fail to protect their children, there ARE several adults who DO go out of their way to both oppose ganondorf and protect and nurture the children under their care. All of these characters are adult women, and all of them explicitly help the children out of some sort of parental responsibility or sense of duty towards them. in this group I include link's late mother, impa, nabooru, and navi.

all 4 mother characters, despite being adults or adult-coded, reject the inaction mentality which characterizes other adults in the game. they become either direct supports or shields to their children from the conflict the world has to offer them, and they are always explicitly punished for their interference--link's mother is killed trying to protect her son, impa's village is burned, nabooru is brainwashed. The mother's fatal flaw is that she will protect her child above all else, even in a world in which children cannot truly be protected. however, with the exception of link's mother, these characters manage to persist even in the face of her punishment, and this is where I think navi becomes the exemplary character.

Navi, after a lifetime of being link's only support system, the only adult in his life he could truly, consistently count on, receives her punishment at the hands of ganondorf--in the final battle, she is pushed out. she is unable to reach her child. she cannot protect him. However, BECAUSE link has grown up with her at his side, he is strong enough to take ganondorf down. and when ganon rises again, navi is there to support link, promising not to leave his side, and the intuitive targeting of that battle (a mechanic which navi is inherently tied to!!) makes it a cinch to win. Navi, and the other mothers we meet, are a reminder to the player that the world doesn't HAVE to be the way it is. Their persistence when punished, their insistence that their children ought to be protected, is a reminder that good adults do exist, and that good adults raise good children. link and zelda are able to win in spite of the adults who refused to help them, but also BECAUSE of the adults who DID. It's a reinforcement of the core theme of oot--that childlike idea that the world SHOULD be good and fair and if it isn't, it should be changed until it is. The mothers of oot are examples of what the world COULD be, reminders that it is possible to grow up without losing hope or growing bitter, and they are examples of the next step for the children they've raised to change the word--to continue fighting even in the face of punishment, to refuse inaction, and to foster that same hope and persistence in the generations to come.

[rubberduckyrye]

You ever see a post that you agree with and you wanna add on your own two cents but your brain is like "Hmmmm.... nah. I wanna watch House MD clips instead."

[carnage-cathedral]

sometimes your brain just becomes old timey mental hospital hell

[indiiglow]

If- IF they ever make a Bloodborne show it needs to be in the style of Arcane. I will not accept anything different.