#the sidequest continues

[sixofravens-reads]

My Circle of Magic collection!

I believe the middle row are the ones my library had when I was in elementary school, or a combo of the middle + top ones, so I'm very glad to have them! I think the art is the best, and they more accurately depict real scenes from the books. Also, I now just permanently own 3 copies of Daja's Book because there's no way I could let one go. Pierce books are family.

Part of the reason why I dislike the newer covers (from the late 00s I think lol) is how dark and yet undramatic the art is, but also I find it weird that while Sandry and Tris are still visible, Briar and Daja are hidden.

Idk if it was an intentional publisher/artist choice or just something the artist did without thinking, but it strikes me as a little odd. Still not going to get rid of them though, Tris' Book and Briar's Book were gifts from a friend in high school and well, Pierce books are family.

ANYWAY! because I'm relentless I'll probably try and collect the top-row editions too. They are easily identifiable because the spines are solid colours while the second row have gradients.

[miralyk]

just played lies of p's demo, pinocchio broke into my house and... blessed me with enough to buy the full game as an ominous omen?

[bladeweave]

minthara is really enjoying hunting for these missing letters

[moonpaw]

rejuvenation has made me cry twice now and it was both about dying mothers </3

[clonerightsagenda]

While I judge his youthful naivete in going 'wait, the military killed people???' I support Edward Elric sapping government resources for years and then immediately leaving when he got what he wanted. Same energy as the guy who took a job at a software company, fixed one bug, and then quit.

[teleport-teapot]

[endawn]

thinking more about hunger trying to re-possess pax again and -

[perilegs]

i am my father's son (enjoyer of irl sidequests)

[sezja]

Oh Valan looks great

[three-bunnies-in-a-trenchcoat]

Still so funny that if not for my typical "Hey maybe I should put this off for a while" strategy for the end of games I would've walked directly into the Ganondorf fight without seeing a single one of Zelda's memories

[hiddenbeks]

5, 12, 13, 17 & 29 for liah hehehe <3

WOOHOOOO let's go this ask game is licherally perfect for liah. thank you red!!!!

(oc battle asks)

5. fighting style?

liah is a soldier and jedi guardian so she heavily emphasizes melee combat with fast and powerful strikes, aiming to dispatch her opponent before they can react or counterattack! she doesn't use force powers much besides augmenting her speed and mobility and the occasional force push when needed. she's a much more physical jedi than bastila or jolee for example.

jedi guardians can also use force jump to instantly close the distance to enemies and it's perfect for liah because she is the frontline fighter and will gladly jump right into the fray before the rest of the party has even drawn their weapons. just picture her zooming and flipping and spinning across the battlefield and just. destroying her enemies with the sheer force of her momentum. god she's so cool. in one in-game dialogue carth says "you've got the skills of an elite commando" and it's like. so true bestie.....

also liah uses a double-bladed lightsaber right. as a padawan she learned that the double-bladed lightsaber can deal more damage but is also more difficult to master than the common single-bladed one so obviously she decided she would have to master it. to challenge herself and to prove that she can. and also because the idea of being more powerful fascinated her. this was absolutely not a red flag and did not herald her fall to the dark side at all

12. what is their attitude towards winning?

to liah winning is something to be proud of and proof that all her training is paying off! she is confident in her skills and she goes into almost every battle with the mindset that she will win. and in a life-or-death situation she will of course do everything she can to ensure victory but in a less serious encounter - like the duel ring on taris - it's more about the opportunity to challenge herself and see how far she can push herself and how much better she can get. i mean she still takes it seriously and expects to win lmao but being the adrenaline junkie she is she's also there to have a good time and enjoy the thrill of the fight.

13. what is their attitude towards losing?

due to her (sometimes unfounded) confidence liah tends to forget that she's not invincible and can actually lose? and when she loses she becomes weirdly frustrated and retreats into the mini gym she set up inside the ebon hawk to blow off steam on the punching bag. but once the shock and anger wears off and her mind is clear she will meditate on what she can learn from the loss. and then she goes back to training to work on her weaknesses so she won't lose next time. it's that unwavering shonen protag style resolve baby

17. speed, strength or strategy?

speed and strength in equal measure? she's not stupid (i gave her 14 int in character creation bc a guide told me to ok) or incapable of devising strategies when a situation calls for it but she is reckless and so certain of her own abilities that most of the time she thinks she doesn't need any strategy besides "lightsaber go wWwoooOom"

this of course doesn't always work and liah will have to confront the harsh truth that she has weaknesses that the others can cover with their strengths. she eventually learns to listen to the more cautious companions and work together with them as a team 🫶

29. who do they want to fight the most?

carth lol... verbally at least. in an actual fight liah would most likely curb-stomp him so it's a good thing their arguments never turn physical. or do they 😳

to give a proper answer tho... malak i guess? like yea she wants to stop him but after the Reveal it becomes personal and she wants to 1v1 malak and will stop at nothing to strike him down herself. also not to get too deep abt this but like... she probably wants to fight herself more than anyone. would love to kick her own ass. unfortunately she can't fight herself physically but damn if she doesn't have some inner war with herself going on 24/7. it's rough.

[goldensunset]

‘think you could swing a visit to kitakami?’ i was JUST THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE

[rawliverandgoronspice]

also kind of love how almost everybody just Gave Up on trying to make TotK not caring at all that it's a sequel to BotW make any sort of sense

[elletromil]

I love finally getting to part of a game were the sidequesting really start becoming available

[shiroselia]

Honestly actually, I've been rotating "Please assume the player Has done things rather than assuming they Haven't" now because I think that's the tldr of the tldr on the questchain I just finished, but really I think it can just be applied to SSO's writing as a whole

A Lot of problems with the quest writing would be, maybe not solved, but atleast made milder, if the writers stopped being so fucking scared of assuming their players play the game, assume your players Have done things, because your writing is taking some Major hits from you doing the opposite

And if that is such a problem anyways maybe we should make a tighter quest progression/unlock system instead of intentionally souping it all up without any structure so the writers don't have to play guessing games and walk on glass not to spoil their own game and also players can have a better and tighter gamplay experience

[scramble-crossing]

ntwewy was such a huge clown nose moment for me because like. 99% of the time when I read/watch/play something I'm just along for the ride I don't really care much about theorizing but with this I was absolutely SURE of so many things and was so so wrong all the time...I thought the game was going to end with a final scramble slam between the Shibuya and Shinjuku Reapers. I was CONVINCED Tsugumi was Swallow. Gun to my head I would've staked my LIFE on Minamimoto getting a redemption arc..............🤡