#there’s a lot of them! I love all the detail put into the npcs!

[gaylittleguys]

it’s actually so fucked up and evil that random white npcs from bg3 that show up twice got more dedicated fans than Wyll

[peliginspeaks]

I think part of the reason horror is so important, especially in dark times, is that it deals with the question: When you can't stop what's coming for you, what do you do instead?

When the horror is cosmic, when the dread is too big to be changed, the things that the characters in a well-written horror do still matter, even if it doesn't change the resolution. We feel in an instinctive narrative way that they matter. Small ways of fighting back, forming relationships in the midst of it all, a character picking a tiny goal like keeping one person safe for as long as they can and throwing their life at it again and again, another finding beauty and pointing it out between one calamity and the next... It matters to them, and it matters to the other characters. The middle part matters, even if it doesn't change the ending.

It's not about hope. You don't have to have hope - you can feel in your bones that everything's fucked, and it can be 100% true, but the middle part still matters. I think, in times when it's hard to reach a bar as high as hope, that's what makes horror more accessible. Sometimes you need hope, but sometimes you just need to know that the middle part matters.

[justabrick]

A place where I can be without remorse...

You know, I've read many a discussion about MGR and occasionally polls pop up that aim to rank the bosses from least evil to most evil. And somehow Mistral frequently ends up in some kind of "misunderstood" or "lied to" category.

I have a couple strong opinions on that view.

I'll start this off with a weird thing – the dwarf Gekko.

Little recon focused UGs that follow Mistral everywhere. Here are some fun facts about them: - they vocalize in high-pitched tone that can be interpreted as childish and cute - when the player gets hit by Mistral, the Dwarf Gekko will either applaud Mistral or laugh at Raiden - in the section where you get to play as one you can applaud the other dwarf Gekko and they'll dance with you - chopping off the upper arm of a Dwarf Gekko in blade mode will result in it briefly pausing in confusion as it searches for its missing limb - Courtney thinks they're cute and compares them to little mice

- there are cute figurines of them made as merch - a lot of fanart features them in adorable chibi forms - they react to pain by wailing and screaming

So, they're little critters, right? They're cute, make cute noises, they display surprising degree of emotion through both sounds and gestures for a military UG. Like little monkeys, or mice, as Courtney put it.

Now how does Mistral treat them? Her pre-bossfight cutscene: Comforts the tripod that Raiden hurt, even holds it's hand tenderly.

To only moments later tear off it's arms and crush it as it wiggles around and squeks in pain.

Comforts something -> hurts it, keep this dynamic in mind for later.

And throughout the fight she tosses them around, obviously killing them in the process. Courtney comments on that too:

You could say that it's all intimidation tactics to get under Raiden's skin, except we get to see Mistral in her downtime in Bladewolf DLC. Boy do I have a lot of details to highlight there.

The very first thing Bladewolf sees as he comes out of VR training

Yeah, that's a freshly killed tripod just laying there, fresh enough to be smoking and throwing sparks still. Remember that "NPC gekkos will dance with you" detail? Yeah, those things are seemingly programmed to be social, and she killed and displays the remains of one of their kin to her "chair". The gekkos composing her chair are constantly whining and moaning as they try to hold up her evidently immense weight. And I mean constantly, all the time she sits in that thing, they shake and make noises. That thing is NOT comfortable or practical on account of said noises, so the reason she does this instead of opting for just a chair is because she loves hurting things. I'll dare to say that she displays more moments of pointless cruelty on screen than Sundowner does, and it's an achievement.

Look at the poor thing on the left hugging itself and rolling around looking traumatized. It jumps up in fear the moment Mistral turns around, too.

She's also not just hurting them, she frequently displays mock "affection" towards them. She does it at two different points to the chair gekkos alone:

Here and here. Let's not forget holding the hand of the Gekko in the pre-fight cutscene.

It can be argued that she does it to Bladewolf in a similar manner, calling him endearing pet names while constantly mixing them with mockery, insults and threats. The whole "shake" scene follows it to an extent as well, Wolf is being tortured while being forced to engage in what should be a friendly and affectionate gesture.

Also note all the gekkos cheering her on and acting like they adore her as it transpires.

So, what we get from all these scenes is that Mistral enjoys hurting cute things she has under her control while constantly flip-flopping between giving them affection and torturing them. Besides that she's casually abusive to every single UG we see her interact with, whether physically or verbally.

Give affection to something that trusts you and depends on you and then hurt it, rinse repeat.

If you know what exactly this resembles, I'm really sorry, if you don't – I'd rather not shatter your hope in humanity. That'd be very dark. Instead I'll just go for slightly less dark.

Look, I'm not implying that this is the pattern of behavior that indicates somebody who enjoys torturing small animals...

I'm telling you in plain text that it's exactly what Mistral displays in overwhelming majority of her cutscenes. She's an unrepentant sadist, one that will take advantage of even allies, and she won't be quick about it either.

And it's not like she's lashing out due to some kind of trigger relating to her past, this crap is done just because she's enjoying it.

Desperado really is the one place she can be without remorse, surrounded by two equally cruel partners whose ideologies only encourage her to indulge in her horrible desires shamelessly and openly. One could even say that all three of them are broken to the point that they're all eternally strangers to any kind of normalcy.

It's not like she's fighting for Armstrong's ideals of mega freedom anyway. Out of the horse's mouth:

Belonging, purpose. That's all she wants, really. Armstrong gave her a fucked up little family she can relate to and some goal to share with them. What that goal is about isn't really all that important.

[azuresage]

It gets talked about a lot but I still can't stop nerding out about Link's characterization in TotK. It's done through his many creative dialogue choices and his expressions of course, but it's also done so subtly through what he *doesn't* say. Notably, he doesn't talk about himself. And this is why nobody recognizes him unless they've already met him. Because he doesn't tell them when they've got the wrong impression of him.

The meme about Link having Tony Hawk syndrome is so real. People will look at him and straight up say, "Wow, you look exactly like Link!" without a hint of irony. Lookout Landing has a detailed picture of his face in their watchtower and the search party still doesn't recognize him. Penn works with Link for a long time and thinks he's unlucky that the Yiga keep "mistaking" him for the Hero (granted, Traysi asked him to deliberately keep quiet, but Penn still didn't put two and two together himself). I think the reason for this, aside from it being really, really funny, is that Link just doesn't talk about himself. He doesn't feel the need to.

Characterization isn't just about what we see a character doing, it's also about how other characters respond to them. Link is so unassuming and humble that he doesn't match people's expectations of what "Link" should be like. The three Gerudo ladies hanging out around Outskirt Stable are one of many perfect examples. Link stands in front of them carrying the Master Sword, but they expect the Hero to be taller than they are, with a giant glowing sword, so they don’t believe it's him. Obviously that's not the reality, but they don't know that. Link doesn't correct them, either. Again, he doesn't feel the need to.

This is also why many NPCs from BotW don't recognize or remember Link. To them, he was just a passerby that did them a good turn once 6+ years ago. Nobody's going to remember a person like that for so long after. They had no way of knowing he was the Hero, unless it came up for story quest reasons. When they hear stories about the Princess's Appointed Knight who woke up from his 100 year nap, defeated the Calamity, and rescued Zelda, they imagine someone larger than life. Then when they see what Link actually is like, they can't put two and two together.

This is true even during the Hyrule Restoration efforts. Link always follows behind Zelda as her shadow, which she notes in her diary, but the people in the stable investigation quests and in Hateno don't recognize him either, even though he went everywhere she did. Link is just that unassuming. He resigns himself to being a shadow, allowing Zelda to take the lead and do as she pleases but always staying nearby to support and protect her. He doesn't need to be recognizable to do his job. And we know from both BotW and now TotK that he's wholly devoted to her. He's content with this. Many people more eloquent than I have spent many paragraphs elaborating on this. I just wanted to focus on what it says about his character.

Link is humble and unassuming, so much so that nobody believes that he's the Hero unless they already know him. He's devoted to Zelda, so much so that he's willing to do anything to chase even a glimpse of her. He doesn't talk about himself or correct people who have the wrong impression of him. He doesn't need to do that to chase his Zelda. He is a person of great humility in spite of his station. I think that's so interesting and neat how the comedy of him being unrecognizable also tells us all this about him. It's also cool how this is only one aspect of him; all the dialogue choices and expressions he makes during cutscenes and actions out in the world show a whole other, lighter side to him that meshes with this. It's all so good. I am in love with it. It always kills me inside when people dismiss his characterization as being nonexistant or flat just because it's not spoonfed to them or when they say Link being unrecognizable is lazy writing instead of a deliberate choice. I am biting and gnawing and gnashing over him and his relationship to Zelda. I love them so much.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I read ur twst chars analises a lot,n I just wanna say I really love how u write em!!! I like ur nuanced interpretation, how they r very detailed,thoughtful, n objective, even tho its not about ur favs or even ones u dislike, also made me realize how good twst writing can be. So if I may ask, which of the cast do u think is the/one of the best written char(s) in the game?? N vice versa if u may, like ones u think need improvement :^]

[Analysis masterlist here! I believe it’s currently full so I’m working on putting together a second one :>]

First of all, thank you very much for enjoying my analyses ^^ I try very hard to research and to put myself in the shoes of each character I’m writing about, and I’m glad that it seems to show in my writing.

If we’re talking about the main 22 NRC students + Grim… (I’m not counting blank slate Yuu, NRC staff, Halloween characters, RSA students, and NPCs because they have such limited lore + vignettes and I feel it wouldn’t be fair to compare.) Honestly, I feel like they’re all written pretty decently, with perhaps the caveat being that there’s more content weighted toward the OB boys due to their significance in the main story and irl marketing. Some other characters, like Jade and Rook, are purposefully more mysterious as part of their characters.

I guess if I had to point out some weaker characters, I’d say they’d be Jack and Epel? I feel like those two are pretty… one note… 😔 What do we know about Jack? He’s strong, loyal, likes to exercise, is disciplined, is a tsundere… What do we know about Epel? He wants to be cool and not cute, he YEEHAWS, he likes apples, he’s really close with his family… You can see this reflected in the core of Epel’s dream; he wants to be tall and muscular, which is very simple when put next to the other dreams.

Of the two, Epel is worse off because he actually had a character arc in book 5 where he begins to accept that beauty and femininity can be a strength and isn’t something to be ashamed of. However, almost ALL the vignettes and side content outside of the main story have Epel exclusively talking about how tough and cool he wants to be + rejecting cute/girly things, which sort of negates the main story development and feels like he has regressed so much. I get that maybe he wouldn’t change his mind right away or do a 180, but it still creates a strong whiplash. Jack is at least consistent. Sort of stale, but consistent.

Those two aren’t flat or anything, but it feels like they hinge on the same handful of traits in every appearance and whenever we learn anything new about them, it’s just the same thing we already knew before but said slightly differently. I’d like to know more about Jack and Epel outside of these areas.

P.S. SORRY TO THE JACK AND EPEL STANS IN My AUDIENCE OTL

[theresattrpgforthat]

@alizarinessence thank you for your patience as I took my time to respond to you! PbtA games can be pretty daunting, and I certainly didn't understand how the play flow was supposed to work at first. I personally learned through trial and error, as well as watching other GMs who had figured it out - I am blessed to have a friend who is very experienced in running PbtA games so I was able to play in some of his games and ask him questions.

That being said, there have been a few things that I've also found helpful that I can refer to you, so I'm going to put them up here.

The Flow Chart

This flow chart was originally posted in a Dungeon World reddit post, and later referred to me when I started asking for PbtA advice. You'll likely see a similar flow chart in Apocalypse Keys, where Rae Nedjadi illustrates how a typical session of play is likely to look like.

In any given PbtA game, you as a GM are going to be presenting pieces of information to the players, just as you would in any other ttrpg. PbtA codifies this information as "moves," and each game will present you with information that is considered useful for the kind of story that it is design to tell.

In Masks, the players are teenage superheroes, so the game encourages the GM to introduce facts such as "civilians are in danger" or "your dad thinks you're being irresponsible."

In The Ward, the players are medical doctors in an Emergency Ward, so the game advises the GM to introduce truths such as "a patient's condition is worsening" or "someone's dad is fighting with a nurse in another room."

This reinforces the common maxim that the game is a conversation, a cycle of presenting new information, letting players decide what they want to do with that information, and making a roll if the fiction calls for it. This is a rather simplified cycle of course - the "see what happens" sections may include moments when players may jump in with their own characters' reactions, generating more events that the GM doesn't need to add to in order to make them interesting. Many PbtA games thrive off of player conflict, which can occupy the table for a couple of hours without the GM needing to add anything (Last Fleet is a good example of this kind of play.)

Listening to Others

Listening to other people play PbtA games can give you a sense of how the game is meant to feel, especially when the GM's and players take their time to talk through their moves and how they work.

I found Monster Hour to be exceptionally helpful; they started out as a Monster of the Week podcast, and even though I've never run MotW specifically, listening to Quinn talk the players through how to ask questions or use different moves made the game very easy for me to understand.

Joining a Community

Joining a community that loves a specific PbtA game, or PbtA games in general can be very helpful when seeking out advice. The PbtA Discord channel has a number of players and designers, who have a lot of game experience and are more than happy to dish out advice.

Start With Games That Have Guide-Rails

Not all PbtA games are created equal, and while the original spirit of the game was to make sure you didn't plot out a story-line, there's still some games that have a certain amount of prep that will give you the tools you need to gain confidence as a GM. Here's some of my favourites:

Visigoths vs. Mall Goths can be played as a one-shot, and doesn't require players to make a lot of decisions when putting their characters together. It has a number of scenarios that you can throw at your players, a mapped-out mall with details on all of the NPCs (and whether or not you can flirt with them), and some pretty hard limitations on what you can and cannot do. You can't leave the mall, for example - go through an exit on one side of the mall and you'll just pop back in on the other. You can visit the stores throughout the day, but each team of players can only go to so many places before the mall is closed for the day, therefore bringing the mission to a close.

Apocalypse Keys has a game structure that looks daunting but can be broken down into steps, and also comes with pre-written scenarios as well as instructions on how to create your own. The concept is pretty straightforward - you're solving a mystery, and you need to do it before one of the Doors of the Apocalypse is opened. This puts the game on a timer, which helps GMs keep their players on task, and also provides the Game Master with a list of clues to drop into the story as the players look for them. I've heard very good things about how Brindlewood Bay, which inspired some of the mechanics in Apocalypse Keys, makes itself easy to run for new GMs, so if you can get your hands on that book, you might find it helpful!

Last Fleet is laser-focused on a very specific premise - you are humans, in space, running away from a terrible and insidious threat. What is more, this threat has the ability to infiltrate your fleet. The laser-focus brings everyone at the table to the same page pretty quickly, and the setting includes a mounting pressure track that will make sure things keep happening, so as the person running the game, you won't have to do much after you set up the initial scenario. The game also comes with some really good advice on where you want to start with your players, to make sure they're on edge, but not fully panicking yet. Then you just need to tip the scales enough to cause them to ask questions, make questionable choices, and start a series of actions that snowball into catastrophe.

Wrapping Up

This is all the advice I have for stepping into PbtA, but more than anything, I recommend just diving in and giving it a go! As with any GM-ing endeavour, you will likely walk away from your first session with a list of things that you'll want to do differently the next time around, but that's just a sign that you're learning.

[syninplays]

Modern Ikke - world download

The idea behind Ikke was to create a scandinavian/swiss inspired world, but most importantly a place where sims can go (fake) skiing and be surrounded by pine trees and snow. I took inspiration from the Swiss/French Alps (especially Verbier) so naturally all buildings go along that vibe.

I kinda made it my mission to leave CC to a minimum, so I used only a few cc items and the rest is from expansion/accessory packs or ts3 store. - So make sure to at least have Supernatural, Pets, Into The Future and Late Night in order for the world to show up properly.

Note: the world file is pretty much empty, so I strongly recommend to download the world AND the save file so Ikke can look the same way it does in my game. - I am going to share furnished lots too, but finding cc takes time so bare with me :p

All relevant info is under the cut, so please read it!

>DOWNLOAD< (early access until 20/10/23)

>CC: there's two folders included with the download; the one called CC has all the necessary stuff you need so the world looks exactly as it does in my game. I didn't include some mods objects, so if you don't already have these then grab omsp, omsp resizers by Buckley, medium size rocks here, (more) medium size rocks here, city hall/police station/military base rug shell (you only need that one) & this set of patterns (I didn't use all of them, but I love them and highly recommend getting all of them hehe - I used the ones from the wood category) / the second folder called CC Recommendations is not necessary for the world to show up properly, but everything there goes along with the vibe and would look great in most buildings (;

>Modern Ikke.world: as said above, it's almost empty except for some scarce decor and the chairlift (but without it's start/finish bit) / Goes in Documents>Electronic Arts>The Sims 3>Installed worlds

>Save File: Has all the buildings I did (14 lots), plus a few other details I changed from the original world file. I tested it along with my bf, so you'll start with my Svensson household and there will be some npcs (with randomized Spanish names as he has the game in Spanish hehe) - obviously just get rid of them all and start with your own simmies (; / Both folders inside 'save file' go in Documents>Electronic Arts>The Sims 3>Saves / you NEED to install the world file too or the save won't work!

>Additional note: If you downloaded the shell rug linked above, then you'll find a "city hall" icon in Ikke's Hotel; I put it there mostly so you can change NRass settings if you're using it. Otherwise (or when you're done setting things up) feel free to get rid of it.

[hollowtones]

ayy monhun fan! what are you thinkin of what we've seen of wilds so far?

The initial trailer they dropped months ago was pretty cool. "World" is my least favourite game that I've played (even thought I liked it a lot!!), and 90% of why I felt that way was "this is the first time they're making a game of this scale / scope / direction", so it's exciting to see them make a successor to it now that they're not also learning how to make a game like it from the bottom-up & not also building the tech side of it from scratch.

Big desert environments have me excited!!!! I love the way these games do deserts. I'm always dreaming of Val Habar. I love the colour palette they're using for this area. Big fan of Yoshi being a new mechanic. In general I'm noticing a lot of things in "Wilds" that feel like a really cool mix of ideas from "World" and "Rise" in a way that feels a little more grounded. It's cool that they're bringing back a buddy you can ride around on & control. I wonder if they'll let Yoshi fight with you. I don't remember if they showed that off already. Getting to hotswap between 2 weapons without having to run back to base camp feels like a big deal that I haven't really wrapped my head around yet.

The focus mode thing seems fine. More granular control over aiming sometimes seems neat, & the footage we've seen makes it feel like positioning & animation commitment are still a part of it, which I like. Expanding part-breaking into "opening wounds that take more damage & enable special attacks" seems cool! (There was a similar-ish tenderizing mechanic with the Clutch Claw in "Iceborne", and I fuckin hated using it. Loved the idea of it at first. Having to do this whole separate action that interrupted the flow of the fight in a weird way to enable more damage felt awful after a while!! And they designed all the fights around the fact that you have it & use it! So I'm glad they're seemingly taking what I liked about it & chucking out the rest, haha.) I remember there was some hubbub about focus existing at all when news was first dropping. Some people were mad about it? I feel like this happens every time they announce a new Monster Hunter. They reveal a new feature, and a couple guys crawl out of the woodwork to go "THEY HAVE MADE THE VIDEO GAME PITIFUL AND EASIER - THIS IS THE DEATH OF THE FRANCHISE!" The franchise has died every game since the first one, by my count. (They end up buying the game anyway, of course.) I hope they put out a demo soon, though. I wanna get my hands on it & see how it works in the middle of a fight to see how I actually feel about it.

Weapon & armour design so far has been great. Happy about that. The bits of NPC designs we've seen have been cool. I don't really like the smith's look very much. Which makes me sad because I'm pretty sure she's supposed to be Little Miss Forge. LOL

When they first showed the game off I remember thinking "yeah, that's cool, I'm looking forward to this, but it's coming out Next Year & we're not even halfway done with 2024." Well now we're almost two thirds of the way through the year. And they keep dropping gameplay trailers. And they look hype as fuck!! And now I'm feeling more impatient!!! I wanna try this shit out soon!!! I wonder if they'll drop a public demo after Gamescom or something. I wonder if my computer could even run it...

I liked the way Hunting Horn played in "Rise" but it's cool to see the more traditional recitals back. (But faster!! And with new combo paths!!) I think I've spent a cumulative hour or two watching that horn trailer over and over again for little details. The funny bubble reminds me of bead of resonance but it seems like it might also be some kind of AoE team buff? It could also just be extra damage like bead was. But I loved bead. So I'll take it. Being a Hunting Horn fan is accepting that you'll be playing an entirely different weapon in every subsequent game, so I suppose I fuss less about whether or not it plays like any one specific game. But mannnnnn it looks cool as hell this time around.

[homestuckreplay]

If WV And PM Have No Fans I Must Be Dead

(page 1032-1039)

The mirroring of Jade (Prospit; dreaming) and Jade (Earth; robot) has been expanded to also mirror PM (Earth; years in the future) and PM??? (Prospit; now) with more identically-composed panels. It is actually a really smooth transition, and I do think that having time to sit between updates makes it easy to keep track of different versions of the same character, where and when they are, and how they can interact. I’ve seen in forum threads that some people have blasted through the first 1000 pages in a day as they discover the story which must feel like a very steep and confusing learning curve (even if it’s technically more accurate for representing the kids’ story, which for them is still a single day).

The imps in John’s house all look similar enough that this could be a fakeout, and this Prospit white chess piece is not PM, but they have the same build and eyes (see above from pages 723, 844 and 1033). Whether or not this is PM, I love their design. The blue/green stripes hippie two piece with matching hat feels like something I would see on a middle aged woman at a music festival who turns out to be the loveliest person I’ve ever met. But back in Homestuck the angle on page 1033 makes it look like PM(?) has boobs which, cmon, they are a bug/chess piece and I’ve never seen a busty chess piece and this is the laziest possible way to indicate a character is female.

I really do love these futuretime folks like WV and PM, I think their story is so interesting. They’re aliens, they’re bugs, they’re chess pieces, they’re video game NPCs, they’re time travelers, they’re irresolute wanderers through the wasteland, they’re the fabric of freedom and democracy and they’re carrying out the orders of a mysterious thirteen year old girl from a different species who lived centuries ago. That’s fascinating, and all their quirks and strangenesses put them in contrast to the kids who – while pretty weird themselves – are fundamentally just humans on the internet, and so are more grounded much easier to relate to then WV and PM.

I don’t know if they are fulfilling time loops or trying to actively change the past, but they seem naturally drawn towards these bunkers, like they instinctively still interface with the video game world after leaving it.

The narrator also talks directly to WV again on page 1036, something they did a lot while WV was commanding John in Act 2 (p.258, for example), though this hasn’t really happened with PM (yet). In fact it better parallels Jade, the character who most often speaks to the player. Today she actually tries to command WV, using several ==> commands in her note – I wonder if he is programmed to respond to these in any context, not just via computer terminal.

But for real, it must be so hard for WV not to eat those tasty greentext envelopes Jade has made him. And Jade absolutely called this right down to the position of the clouds and the fact that PM would be wearing the postal hat. (I guess Jade doesn’t need to feel guilty about causing the bunker to explode if she knows PM will survive, and that has interesting implications for her perspective, if she thinks it’s okay to cause harm in the moment because she definitively knows it won’t have a major, long term impact). But her predictions are eerily specific, not only in their detail, but also in her knowing exactly what guidance WV (Mister Mayor!!) will need to carry out this plan. Her ‘the freedom of your people depends on it’ is a really good way to manipulate WV, as I’m sure she knows he would never neglect his critical mayoral business no matter how tasty the letter is.

So, there’s going to be an important gift exchange, and it might be relevant that this page drops six days before Christmas. These two were on different sides of the Prospit vs Ominous Planet war, but the hearts and spirit of giving in the note suggest a peaceful exchange, two sides transcending a former antagonism. PM reaching for their sword on page 1039 isn’t a good sign, but I’m sure that as soon as they see the mail, the critical mail business will take precedence.

A more dangerous antagonism comes from the mysterious Aimless Renegade, whose gun remains pointed at the other two. I don’t think either WV or PM has noticed them yet. More importantly, has Jade seen them? They’re not mentioned – or warned about – in Jade’s note, and so could be somehow invisible to her powers. This isn’t unheard of; Jade has ‘never had any sort of feeling about [the trolls] or what they want’ (p.1000) and says that ‘if [Bec] wants to be found, he will find [her]’ (p.942), so the trolls and Bec both have some defenses against her. AR could be associated with either the trolls or Bec, or immune for a secret third reason.

Either way, I’m nervous. I like this beautiful WV-PM friendship predicted by Jade’s note, and I don’t want either of them to get blasted with an assault rifle. So whether or not this element has been accounted for by Jade, I’m hoping for some sort of holiday miracle.

> PM: Draw sword; look upwards.

[hamethyst]

Thoughts about FFXVI now that I’ve finally played it (was patiently waiting for that price to drop and my salt to dilute):

Pros:

- Pretty game. Big, pretty fights with attacks and cinema that made you feel like a god amongst men. Which you kind of were, at least by the end.

- The voice acting was top notch. Not a weak one to be found, imo, from major characters to minor. They all did a pretty phenomenal job.

- Music was also pretty darn good. Not my favorite soundtrack by any stretch, but it had some bangers, and the music contributed well to the overall mood of the world.

- There actually were brown people. Were any of them main characters? No, but they did exist, and some of them were even semi-important in side quests, which was a better state of the world than I thought. So a kudos there, I guess.

- The story on its own was decently satisfying, but the world-building was really where the game shined (along with the big, bombastic fights). You can tell they put a lot of time and care into developing the lore of Valisthea, from the monsters to the items to the politics of the involved nations. They had a couple characters that basically acted as encyclopedias for lore and in-depth details about characters, concepts, and events, and I genuinely enjoyed making use of them.

- I liked the older ages of the characters, pretty much everybody was in their 30s and older. Much as I love my FF teens and early twenty-something’s, it was very refreshing dealing with grown folks in a story about grown folks.

- From his hair to his face to his voice to his cleavage to his unnecessarily tight leather trousers to the cutscene of his bare naked ass literally chained to a jail cell wall, Clive was the eye candy of this game. He provided more smut material than the actual sex workers that existed in this world. Also his character was nice. He was a good FF protagonist. Also ridiculously gorgeous. God bless.

Cons:

- While there were brown characters, again none of them were main characters. At least give us our token darkie, Squeenix.

- The locations, while pretty cuz pretty graphics, were lackluster. There was one (1) notable exception, and that was (ironically) the place with all the brown folks lol. It was basically a desert oasis-turned-town, and it was legitimately beautiful to behold. But for the vast majority of traversable terrain, even for dark fantasy medieval Europe, it’s like there wasn’t even an attempt to try and create environs that were imaginative or particularly interesting to run/ride through (and it got worse when, about 75% into the story, literally everything became shrouded under dreary cloud cover). Like they could’ve given us a glowing forest or treetop town or something.

- Related to that point, exploration of said environs was equally uninspired. Not just because the locations quickly lost their hold on me, but because there were absolutely no worthwhile rewards for going out of my way to wander any given map area. Practically every chest or shiny bauble was a random assortment of a laughably low amount of gil or the same monster materials I absolutely did not need to go looking for as they were so abundant just throughout the course of the main story and a few side quests. And no secrets; there were no mysteries, no serendipitous little discoveries that would have added to the richness of the world. Halfway through the game, I’d already given up exploring any environment in full, and simply traversed from point A to B for the next cutscene (the only exceptions being populated towns and villages cuz at least there was ambient NPC dialogue), and that was so disappointing. I normally love exploration, even in non-open world games, but XVI simply didn’t incentivize me to pursue it, neither by way of rewards nor simple appreciation of the world.

- Not a big fan of the summon designs. Well, some of them. Phoenix was good, Garuda and Titan and Odin were good, and Ifrit was fine but also coulda been more than a burnt big-horned dog thing, but I was not a fan at all of Shiva and Bahamut. I talked about Shiva when the very first big trailer for XVI came out, and I stand by my statement then that she looks like a woman doing a pretty but boring cosplay. And Bahamut was just a big gray lizard with weird proportions. Not a fan.

- The main big bad was underwhelming and utterly unnecessary. We didn’t need to fight god (again). I’m tired of fighting god, I don’t care how classic a trope it is. All the political machinations the devs had going on (and clearly put so much time and effort into) were more than enough for a compelling, refreshingly grounded story. We didn’t need some random god creature to come in and pose a bigger, higher-than-the-sky threat. Also they were annoying.

- By god, why wasn’t there a fleshed-out party system. Not even necessarily for gameplay reasons, I was (mostly) fine with the action-based gameplay, I don’t necessarily need my FF’s to be strictly traditional turned-based RPGs. What had me wishing most for more RPG-“ness” was the lack of banter, the lack of character/relationship-building conversations out in the field. The only time you got those was at the homebase or during plot-heavy segments. Side quests and world exploration were the worst; even when another person was in your “party,” it was rare for Clive or even the game itself to acknowledge them or their presence (with the exception of Cid. And Torgal. You know, the dog). I missed banter, I missed commentary. I’m not saying I needed a 12-person ensemble cast, but wandering the pretty but repetitive wilderness would have been nicer if Clive had had someone to chat with. It would’ve made the journey a little less lonely, a little less monotonous, and a little less, frankly, immersion-breaking. And it also would’ve helped to flesh out the other, non-Clive main characters, given them the flavor text they needed to really come to life as believably human characters I could care about, rather than just vehicles for lore and story progression. For everyone except Clive and a couple others, that was sorely missing.

- Partially continuing from above: Jill was the greatest victim of this. She was criminally underutilized. She and Clive were cute (30+-year-old traumatized virgin battle couple locked in a decades-long slow burn, sign me up), but they - and, more importantly, she - could’ve been so much better. And one of the reasons they weren’t and she wasn’t was because they chose not to flesh Jill out despite all the ways they could’ve. The nuggets of gold were there; in the story, in the lore, and they did little to nothing with them, and essentially consigned her to the role of Clive’s favorite cheerleader (who gets left behind right before the climax and replaced with a character with less than half the screen time, sorry Dion). It’s especially frustrating seeing as she was the only female member of the main hero cast. Can you tell I’m mad about it. It might honestly be my biggest criticism of the game. She’s not the only victim, as I stated, but her treatment is the most egregious given that she should be, for all intents and purposes, the third most important character in the game. (Also, on a shallower note, her design could’ve been better, more striking. She seemed to literally kinda fade into the background, especially in direct comparison to other characters. I understand the ice theme they were going for, but she really could’ve benefited from some coloration outside of “pale” and “gray.” Lowkey bothered me to the point that I started redesigning (and just full-on reimagining) her as I played lol).

- Also related to the above points: despite XVI being categorized as an action RPG, the RPG elements were extremely barebones, so much they might as well not have bothered including them. And it’s even more glaring an issue because, in my humble opinion, the parts by which the game suffered most (lack of worthwhile exploration, lack of a stimulating party system, lack of quest variety, lack of significant supporting character development) wouldn’t have been issues if those RPG elements had been given more attention and care.

Idk it’s…frustrating, like Squeenix was so dead-set on making XVI so far removed from the traditional FF formula, that they forgot (or ignored) the roots that made their previous games so iconic. I’m all for innovation and experimentation, but it’s gotta be guided, and it’s gotta make sense. And XVI just felt aimless in that respect, like it didn’t know entirely what it wanted to be or what it wanted to do. Couldn’t fully commit to the bit of being a gameplay-focused action extravaganza, but lacked the development and depth to be a truly satisfying, story- and character-focused RPG. And, to me, it showed.

Overall, I’d rate the whole experience a 7/10. Passable, entertaining enough, but sorely lacking in too many other areas, and all areas that I’ve always personally loved in a Final Fantasy game or general RPG. It’s like using a ton of admittedly very pretty glitter to cover up a concrete slab. Fun and exciting at a glance (and again, very pretty), but ultimately little more than camouflage for a solid but shamefully underutilized foundation.

[pitchblackespresso]

Everything from BOTW had so much clear intent in it's design. Nothing felt random. Even for something as simple as chests everywhere, you could think "This was abandoned or lost by people running from the Calamity" it it would work.

TOTK, nothing made much sense. Why the fuck is the Hero of the Wild outfit, that Sheikah monks made and awarded to me specifically in the last game, buried in the fucking Depths? What is anything that's down there DOING there? Why are there these weird outcroppings on the cliffs in the surface, like Zonai rocks that somehow morphed into the landscape?

I can't tell you how deflating it was to return to that beautiful map to see that it's been littered with Zonai junk piles and those ugly chasms, that the Plateau was even more destroyed seeming. And obvious places for expansion, like actually going into the Citadel, were totally ignored.

There was almost no real emotional or intellectual reward for exploring at all. My favorite part of the game was The Great Sky Island, because it was all new and interesting. What's it say that the best part of the game is the tutorial? Which, oddly enough, was the reverse of my experience with BOTW.

You see, part of me agrees because there are a lot of dubious design choices (like the aforementioned Zonai junk piles, what an apt description), but another part clings onto the love I have for this game despite its numerous flaws.

For every nonsensical design, we also have choices that show how much love and care went into crafting a totk-Hyrule that felt familiar, but still distinct from botw. The caves are a perfect expansion and reward exploration with Misko's rare clothing items. The game remembers your horses and Champions' portrait from botw. Zelda's flower garden has silent princesses in it, fulfilling her old dream of domesticating them. Putting on the Yiga outfit in Gerudo Town sends you to prison. There's a royal claymore by King Rhoam's grave (his main weapon in AoC). The golden horse is already bonded to Link because he canonically travelled with Zelda and so spent a lot of time with the horse already. The nostalgic paraglider fabric is in the exact location in the Temple of Time where you first get the paraglider in botw. NPCs have character arc between games, like the groom in Rito Village leaving his toxic wife and getting in a (slightly) better relationship, or the terrible junkyard cook in Gerudo Canyon learning to cook with Monster Extract. Zelda's dropped torch is found at the bottom of the chasm. Mipha's Court wordlessly shows the journey of the Zora letting go of Mipha, but never forgetting her, by instead moving her statue to the former territory of a lynel that terrorized the Domain. Cheese.

Those are the details that I cling to when I think about totk, the ones I revisit the game for. That make it easy to ignore the piles of Zonai junk while I'm horseback travelling across Hyrule Field and instead look at the mounds of building materials that, yes, are there for the player to use, but are also part of the Hyrule Restoration Project, reminding you that this Hyrule is young and healing after a century of torment. Everyone's got an example of a detail in totk that I'm sure made them smile, and I like to think that those matter just as much as randomly retconning Typhlo Ruins all about almighty Rauru.

And if nothing else, we have suavemente Ganondorf

[leidensygdom]

So what’s Argyros’ personality like?? And what’s her backstory, if you don’t mind sharing? I know I’m pretty late to this but man the design is SO cool and I’m invested

Here's a fresh Argy doodle to go with the answers!

The personality: They're carefree, highly social, sometimes a bit too direct, and quite flirty. She craves human (in a broad sense) connection and she's highly social. Which means Argy is absolutely thriving right now as they're just studying medicine at the moment.

They came with quite a lot of medical knowledge and studying is an attempt to try to know why did they even have that in their database and personality. It's almost a bit of an obsession: She feels the need to study every little bit that makes up flesh-based lifeforms, because she feels they're far too fragile. Argyros is caring to an uncomfortable degree at times, but it comes from their need to ensure everyone is in perfect condition.

They're more than happy to help heal a wound and maybe study you a bit on the way. And their skills as a healer are quite good, even if having a dozen eyes and a giant halo on you can be a bit overwhelming.

Despite his fairly open attitude, he speaks little of his concerns or worries, and does rarely share any detail about his more personal thoughts. There's definitely something wrong with them, but there's just one person they've talked about this. Despite how much Argyros love putting others back together, they keep themselves quite private.

The backstory: I can't really share all that much since it's spoilery for my fellow players (as she's gonna be a NPC in a Pathfinder 2e game), but she basically has not much of an idea about it herself. She was suddenly aware of existing one day, and had some memories and knowledge, but no exact idea of where were they made, and for. Trying to find a place to fit in was hard, and trying to search for answers was even harder: It seems there is something actively trying to not let them do so.

They're not entirely sure where does their divinity come from either. It's not unusual for people to be born with extraplanar influences, but Argyros was either created or infused with that divinity. But she doesn't know who or why, and isn't too willing to admit that they just have no clue. One of the main party members is gonna be a proper celestial, and I'm sure they'll be a bit of at odds about this!

[beepbananabus]

Now that you've shared your favorite newer h20vanoss moments, what are your favorite older moments?

oh YESSS

as stated before, a lot of those moments are interwoven into videos, buuuut there are other more concise moments that I can link below in no particular order :)

EDIT: this was so long so im putting this under a readmore :)

chick-fil-a date. I think its so cute that evan immediately slides into a seat with del and stares at him for a good second. like there's just this moment shared between them, and then the passing of chicken back and forth ;; (focus on the number of chicken in his inventory!). like idk, there's not even a bit tied to this. they're just being them <3

"Oh... he's gone." I don't know what's crazier to me. either its the way that evan says that line with so much softness in his voice, how much he wants him to be there, or the fact that he proceeded to follow his NPC for like a solid 5 minutes straight. LIKE. WHAT? this man has it BADDD i stg,,,

"Leave these guys- Screw these guys." out of the whole mc series, (besides Doomsday because that shit is peak. unparalleled experience.) this is one of my top favorite moments bc its just?? so soft?? just these two sneaking away from everyone, the quiet childish-like giggling like they're two kids out past curfew, and then you have evan commenting: "they're going to be so pissed when they realize that we're gone", like them solidifying their companionship together,,,, UGH i love them sm ;;

"Why don't you marry him while you're at it?" i swear, one of the most common themes between them is the constant (joking) reference that they're together/married. its one of my favorite themes abt the two bc it's so sweet and so funny at the same time, like they do bicker like married couples and you have evan just going off on it SO casually, SO normally, like this wasn't a role he even had to think about. unmatched, actually.

"feathers" Insane to think that we have an honest-to-god parallel to evan calling del 'blueberry', like omfg?? it's so so sweet and i love how almost flustered evan reacts <3

the nether star fiasco okay okay there's SO MANY THINGS that i love about this. it's the immediate trust from evan to del, handing him that nether star with the idea of keeping this bit between the both of them, ignoring the fact that it was brian who gave him the star. then evans reaction to del throwing it out into the open, how he says his name as they're both holding back laughter at the knowledge that they're screwing with the crew. then brian coming in, peeved that evan shared it with del, but did you really expect him?? to not do that?? THE evan?? the evan whos always been a sucker for del?????

want you club okay this one has me by my NECKKK BECAUSE what do you MEAN evan has this elaborate song about risky love that is forbidden, yet he can't help but fall into it deeper and deeper every time- then he edits this song into a mission and he asks del how it sounds??? HELLO??? and then the compliments, the "they're all here for YOU, man!!" the deep immense focus on del throughout ALL of this,,,

boop! its such a small detail, but i LOVE how they move immediately to each other, almost as if GTA has transformed into a version of themselves where they can touch each other across the entire country. they do it so mindlessly, so full of expression and affection, and casually, just moving forward and boop, they've knocked into each other. and the isolation from the others, how they've practically left everyone behind and it's only the two of them now. not to mention the scene earlier where they had just begun the race and while everyone else is happily racing off, evan WAITS for del to catch up to him, then they're off again. he WAITED for him!! not a single word is passed but if del's not going, then he's not going either! and ADGHSAGHDAH RAHHHHGDHA them ;;

"i'm glad that you're here with me, delirious" there's not enough words for how many times this video has me screaming, has my on my KNEES, because oh my god??? i adore the way that he says this with just this soft yet confident tone, like he's so sure in himself of del's company. oh my god. anyways, im going to wade into a river now.

"That's why I'm not angry" This one's a bit lengthier with it stretching to 8:40, but every second of it is worth it, and onwards. evan is playing with delhere. and im not talking about like. playing as in playing the game. he's doing a bit with del and del only. it reminds me of like, stereotypical girls when they get a guy to chase them while giggling, like they're PLAYING TAG right now. just the two of them. evan didnt even kill del. evan probably WASNT PLANNING TO. he was just messing around with del probably and was going to leave him alone after this, like i kinda wish that didn't happen to see what evan WOULD've done. just??? their fucking BANTER in general, then their soft comfort at the end?? like that is INCREDIBLY out of their gamer persona, like i cannot state this enough. they have their moments together. AND THEN THEY PROCEED TO FOLLOW EACH OTHER AFTERWARDS AS GHOSTS??? OH MY GOD???

there's so many more videos like scenes from their minecraft series, gmod, gta v, but this is long enough as it is, so i'll pause it here <33

[merilaurecus]

NPCs reactions to Modern!Tav from Earth coming back to Faerûn to visit

Dammon

Let's be honest, Karlach told him

Didn't expect you to show up at the forge tho

You may not have the closest bond but it's surely there so a hug is a must

You discuss your lives when he shows you around the forge

And stuff he made during the time of your absence

Lets you take that one dagger you kept looking at because he's a generous soul

You also discuss engine possibilities (you bring up heart surgery too to hear his professional opinion)

Beforehand you take food to bring him because this hardworking man sometimes forgets to do it

You spend a day there simply enjoying friendship you've made through the time you were in Faerûn and his tail kinda tells he missed you more than his shy ass allows himself to say

Rolan

Asshole wizard didn't know shit

You whoop your ass through Sorcerous Sundries only to be spotted by Cal and Lia

You immediately tell them NOT TO tell Rolan so you can take him by surprise

They immediately jump in to the game, given the kind of relationship they have, there will be a lot of laughter and discussions about the kind of face he'll make once he sees you

You get into the tower with another stealth mission

You spot him on one balcony with a book

Another Astarion would be proud moment

You place a hand on his shoulder

"My favourite wizard asshole!"

Just like with Dammon his tail tells more than he'd like you to know, but his face initially tells the truth too

Absolutely inhales everything you remembered Gale and Elminster did to get you back for a while

Amused, and after a short battle with himself he doesn't give a crap to show it (his sibling will keep embarrassing him with that for years)

He shows you around, you see everything's been put in order, Lorroakan truly was one messy fuck and truly did not know his alphabet

You get a show of spellcasting because come on this dude loves attention (and learning, to be fair)

Just like Gale he can help you with spellcasting (though some snarky comments are on his checklist; don't worry, Cal and Lia got your back)

Shows you around the store too, quite proud of it, just like anything he did because you saved his tail numerous times

Particular bookseller still doesn't like you for stealing the Annals, but can't say shit about it

You see the place has improved after he took over

You all get yourselves to the dinner after, because another tiefy boi can't go starving when there's studying ahead

With one room made up as living space you spend a night there

Zevlor

Ye olde Hellrider had no clue you were back

You knew he was at the temple, so you go there, fingers crossed you'll find him

Fortunately he's there with other Hellriders

Actually speechles you remembered about him

Hug time ™️ just to show him you never forgot him

Another tief, another tell-tail

Fatherly proud of you and your accomplishments, listens to the every detail of your post-Faerûn story

Tells you how he reclaimed his Oath and is back at being a paladin

You're proud in exchange (who wouldn't be, especially if it didn't involve paying gold to the Knight but actually doing something; that's the part of a paladin roleplay I hated in BG3, it should've been DnD way; yes, even if Oathbreaker Knight was 🥵)

You meet other Hellriders from Elturel, you didn't quite had the time to be properly introduced when there was a big brain to unalive

Clerics also remember you and what you did when there was a murder at their temple

You visit Father Lorgan's and Brilgor's graves to pay respects because that's the right thing to do

Actually happy to answer questions about being a paladin and a Hellrider (if you're curious little shit like me you would've asked)

If you were about to ask about the Descent but kept yourself from doing that he'll probably catch it (he's got experience mkay) and even if it's not the easiest story he'll tell you

Also shows you around because this place is kind of home to him

May even train with you, for the sake of old times and also for himself (to keep his physical condition in good state). If you've forgotten something or simply are not in the shape anymore he will go easy with you

And thus, the last night is spent at the temple

[notnights]

i think.... my top 3 personal favs is 3. looming jax with his ears pressed against the wall: a cute detail! but also i like him cornering gangle/intimidating her and i also like those type of sketches you do!! messy and chaotic (positive), alot to look at and notice in those pieces! 2. jax falling in love with a idiot (gangle): its simple but i love jax expression there!! ahhh... its so good.. i love gangle having calm/simple expressions and jax having extreme emotions/expressions, its a nice contrast! 1. gangle with the npc figurine: a completely different/creative take on "the figurine thing"!! like.. many things to be implied woaw.. i generally think about gangle asking caine for a proper body model she can puppeter and he hands her one of those things, just to feel more? normal/humanoid..? 4 of the cast have humanoid bodies, kinger and gangle kinda being the odd one outs but even so kinger has hands/eyes 'human' things theres also the thought about her cuddling with this thing or experimenting with it haha (i think its canon she has a body pillow??) even if its like.. a joke that weebs have body pillows/ it could also mean shes starve-touched too or looks for physical comfort i would assume, with her sad mask making her passive to do things, she probably shys away from hugging/asking for a comfort, so falls back to her figurine (imagining it as probably ragatha comforting her? or jax if i wanna be bias) ^^^ but anyways! its a nice colored piece! i love gangles lil panicked pose and of course jax being presented there along with his comment...... its peak., sorry if this is alot!!! i thought it'd be a nice addition to include what i like about it! love seeing your ribbun artwork!!

Aw hey thanks this made my day.

1). As a friend once said to me "Jax looks good looming over people."

As a cartoon I like to think a lot of his motions have that closeness that slapstick cartoons have. I LOVE these kind of poses.

And try to push-the-pose most with Jax compared to the others to show off his toony nature but I don't think I'm very good at it yet.

2). Haha glad you like that one, I just took the expressions from the original meme though. So not much creativity on my part. Good excuse to draw a happy Gangle.

3). The inspiration for that piece was actually because the interpretation came up during a conversation with @canterbury-bell. I love the idea of Gangle being a little bit of a weirdo one way or another. Maybe she asked Caine for an artist reference originally.

I want to leave what she was doing with that thing up to interpretation but yeah actually! I like to think she wraps around it, makes it a pseudo-skeleton and puppets it around to feel more human and "solid". Which is weird but you can't really blame her! Might not be the only thing she does with it but that's the big one, and probably what she used as defense a when Jax found it but he implies more and Ragatha might have some concerning judgements about it. Especially if uhhh it is/was an active NPC.

Ah look what you've made me do, talk about a one-off joke as if it has depth!

The particular wording was "had" in that answer about the body pillow iirc. Which made me think she had one in the real world but doesn't in the DC. The other option being she did have one in the Circus too, but for whatever reason doesn't anymore.

Its nice to hear you like my ribbunies. I usually just assume I'm off-putting to others for it. Haven't gotten to draw it a whole lot lately due to trying to let my hand heal from whatevers wrong with it and when I do I can only draw so much. You can have some very early ribbun sketches I did for now. (I think I've posted some of these but not all of them.)

[smallnico]

when you made the comic about wyll saying that thing about orin i liked that the him inside his thought bubble didnt have the post-transformation horns and eye. a thoughtful little touch, it made me contemplate the ghost of his character arc (sorry if this is rude to the developers its just how i feel.) i also thought the comic was good overall. thanks ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

AUH NO THANK YOU <333

yeah i'm so glad people noticed and enjoyed that detail!! i love wyll so dearly and i also (with love to larian for everything they Did do) think he suffered a bit from the last-ish minute changes they made to his character. they were necessary changes, and they made him who he is today, but he didn't get as much thorough and layered development as some of the other companions did. he and karlach are both in this camp lmao, and i believe for the same reason. they didn't become who they are until pretty late in the development process, unlike someone like astarion, who's been himself since very early on.

all this to say, i love wyll and i am determined to explore what is there as best as i can, and i fucking love taking little details and pulling them out. wyll is a confident person who outwardly states that 'self-doubt' is one of the most dangerous monsters a person could fight, and he tends to double down on his confident persona every time something happens to rattle that confidence. moments like the tiefling party illustrate this for me very clearly -- if you wander around with him in the emerald grove post-devilification, a lot of key npcs will say to the effect of "wyll, what in the fuck happened to you", or react with fear and uncertainty. they're willing to accept it given any amount of time and thought, but there's not nothing to his worry that people see him as a monster, and of course, he's already been through the trauma of that same snap judgement by his father, so. he puts on a brave face and keeps his distance from the people he fears he makes uncomfortable, because what else are you going to do? enforce your own uncertain presence in front of regular, good people who are just... trying to live their lives? having a good time at a party? they don't want to be scared. you've been working your whole life to try and keep people like them safe so they don't have to feel scared or unsafe. you are getting in the way. this isn't for you. you aren't welcome here. it does no good to argue that point when you could just keep your chin up and leave.

of course, that's sad as hell, are you fucking kidding me? wyll deserves better than that, but he won't accept better because he's not the type to ask for grace or patience from others, and he's from a background where he's not confident he will receive it -- his father's grace is one thing, but think for a second about how he talks about ulder ravengard's personal history as well: ravengard sr. is the son of a tradesman serving a role meant for patriars. i don't doubt that all that comes with its own baggage and passed-down high standards. as soon as ravengard sr. let his guard down, you know a flock of upper-class baldurians was just waiting to tear him apart for it, because you see them do the same thing to gortash even though he's literally mind-controlling several of them. i don't doubt that ulder ravengard instilled in wyll a driving need to not only be better than other men, surer than other men, more dependable, reliable, with more sterling integrity than other men at all costs, remember the words of balduran, memorize the values of the city, love baldur's gate more than other men, be ready to face them and prove these things to them at all times because they are always testing you. it's hard to have the most demanded of you at all times, and it can create the kind of man wyll is: a man who sees self-doubt and hesitation as a monster, worse than a mind flayer or a devil. and he knows from experience (again, from ulder ravengard himself) that flagging for a second, not being able to explain yourself sufficiently to the people around you, is enough to get you cast out and shunned forever.

but it's not possible for a human being to live like that. they're impossible standards for a reason. wyll has a flawless facade of confidence, but he's not immune to self-doubt and angst under the surface, and this comes out when you play as him or investigate some of the details he drops in a regular tav/durge playthrough, and his devil transformation really does shake his confidence. look:

all of a sudden he's using 'i guess' and 'maybe' and 'could' and 'i might', more uncertain language, to say nothing of what he's actually saying. he's been put in a position where he thinks people will never see the wyll underneath again unless he asks it of them, something he has been conditioned to never expect people to do -- if you have to ask, you're not projecting a solid enough image of confidence and skill and good leadership. then there's the sheer body horror and dysmorphia of minding your own business and one day your boss physically transforms you into a monster forever. wyll is trying so hard at any given moment to not let it bother him, but it so clearly does, and it would bother anyone -- but wyll ravengard is supposed to be better than anyone, better than a normal man. he lives inside stories of heroes and hyperbolic idioms, Things One Says about Heroes, because he's never been allowed to be a normal man. he had to sneak out of the house to play hopscotch with lower city kids. to me that says everything. he has been taught to lead an idealized existence free of doubt, but that just means he's gotten very good at hiding his doubts and anxieties, his inconsistencies, his human error. he has so much trouble facing the fact that he also experiences internal conflict, just like anyone.

he spares karlach because she's an innocent, because it's the right thing to do, but he struggles with making that decision because he knows it's going to hurt him, and he refuses for a long time to admit that to himself, much less anyone else, because it makes him feel lesser. it makes him feel like the worst person on the planet to admit that he was afraid for his own life, essentially staring down the barrel of a gun to say no to mizora when faced with an innocent in need of protection, even though he wouldn't dream of even making a good person mildly uncomfortable for two minutes while they get used to the way he looks.

part of my vision for wyll's development is just, him getting a little bolder with the things he says, because we all know he says some out of pocket shit for no reason, and part of why that is so funny to me is because he says those things with all the confidence of a train barrelling forward, because of course he does, he's wyll ravengard, he has to be everything to everyone, he can't do something as human as cringe or twitch an eye and go 'ah. nope, that's not what i meant' when he blurts out something thoughtless, or something that sounded better in his head. i like the idea of turning into a monster being the thing that eventually makes him more comfortable with being human. part of letting your guard down around your friends is saying stuff you think they'd get a kick out of even if it doesn't fit the perfect image of the hero you're trying to be, or saying something that comes out wrong and letting yourself cringe when it wasn't received the way you wanted it to be. letting yourself let go of the idealized version of yourself and trusting your friends enough to know that they won't think less of you for it, because they still know you would rather die than let an innocent person get hurt, even if you do feel scared for yourself in the process.

tl;dr yeah i like to depict wyll slightly awkward and nervous. let the man be a human being and vulnerable for god's sakes he's been through enough. i love him