#this is mostly just for dev and may hi guys

[lyvri-pigeon]

in the elementary school gifted program i was in we had to use this math website and everyone hated its dumbass mascot with the most fiery passion. in the beginning you had to put together pieces of him and it was our greatest hope that at the end you would get to tear him apart again .

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Dungeon Meshi: The RPG

[eraofkalki]

Well what a wonderful thing to wake up to so. . .

Alright. This man. This silly sorcerer that has resonated with me since the start of the game and that obsession nearly doubled down when Nightbringer came out.

He's one of the more multifaceted among the characters. Cunning and wise yet sly and playful, always putting on a smile or that near-sarcastic frown when things don't go as he pleases. Look not saying that the others aren't as interesting—we'd have plenty of room to argue—though I believe that Solomon reigns supreme as being one of the most interesting characters to write for.

How come?

Well. . . a lot could happen.

You may be given a hypothetical scenario: think specific like running away in a getaway car after spending all your money at a casino, or browsing the atlas hidden in the depths of the library as your first date. When you picture those, you may think of let's say Mammon or Satan, or whoever you think would absolutely fit the vibe.

Here's the thing: while you may let any character have their moment with these given prompts, there's no deny that- "hey. wtf. these can apply to Solomon."

It's just.

Wow.

He's not necessarily a one-size-fits-all character, but his personality and dialogue alone quickly layouts millions of possibilities for whatever his character has going for. And that is not yet mentioning his serious moments. Or so his mysterious past as people continue on to speculate about it.

He's so tragedy coded that it's not even funny. Silly man with a dark bloody past?

Which brings to another point- while of course he is a silly ass sorcerer trickster to an extent: when he's serious, he's absolutely fucking serious. <- this person is partly tired when anyone excuses a character's carelessness and naivety due to their trickster persona. And this is not one time as well- Solomon is half to fully serious in his words. While he says it in playful banter, it's the full truth.

And this isn't even adding the fact that man is a fucking simp. Knees on the grown, head hung low, kissing the ground you grace your presence with type of devotion. The embodiment of a starstruck lover, from less likely friends to unlikely partners. At first I was skeptical when people gush over how "domestic" Solomon acts in OM:NB but- man. I got hooked into the bandwagon and now another white-haired guy has me by the neck and heel.

This is mostly how I base my take on his character when writing anything with him: given the information just as dialogue and lore tidbits. It absolutely doesn't help that Moni over here reminds me of my first lo—

That's all for now, hehe!! I have a lot more to say about this guy buuut, that's for a later time :))

i think the multifaceted nature is exactly the most interesting part about him. i sometimes think that there could be any situation in the game and the devs could make solomon react in multiple ways, and i could still be like "oh yeah that makes sense for him to say that/do that" for all of them (not like every single possible situation but you get what i mean i hope). because. he's like that.

his sincerity is one of the traits i admire the most about him. yes, he tends to wave off more personal questions but i don't think that he's any less sincere or honest about the things he does express just because he's reluctant to divulge too much about himself (the mystery makes him hotter hello)

also is it just me or i have these random moments of realising that this guy's like. insane. and he's toning it down by alot. you could write a list of insane shit he's done and stare in awe at how insane the shit he's done is but like. he acts like this guy. this silly little guy who happens to be crazy powerful but then u realise that he's CRAZY powerful and he could be so much more...harmful and sinister if he wants to be. i know this applies to the others too but like, it's just more interesting for him (AND simeon, they're just two Guys who i think are Actually OP) than for others because it's already like known?? for others?? ig? like, it's sort of ingrained in us but when it's him you just have these lil moments of wait woah yeah

idk what im saying im half asleep

and all that + how he's fully, desperately, madly whipped for mc. he'll give them the universe if they ask for a star but this mf will stay on the sidelines because "oh i don't want to interr-" shut up you soggy waffle ive been waiting with your ring for the past 4 hours and my hands hurt

anyways

everyone live laugh and solomon

[crescencestudio]

2023: A Year of Connection

Hi everyone!

As I told you last month, this month's "devlog" will be more like an end-of-year recap. For those of you who have known me a while, you'll know that I get ~in my feels~ and Very Nostalgic at the end of the year. And this year is no exception to that.

Looking back on this year, I realize I did much more than I thought I did. The year was filled with so many waves of uncertainty, burnout, and ruts, that I felt like I wasn't accomplishing anything in the moment. Now that the year has actually wrapped up, I can see that was Once Again my imposter syndrome whispering words of sweet nothings into my ears.

In fact, this year, I find that I did Way More than what I did last year. Crazy, considering how busy I remember 2022 being. Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?

Writing

If there is one thing this bitch did, it's fucking write LFMASODIJ. For all my complaining this year of routes taking too long, getting creative ruts, etc., I still wrote (what I consider) a Very Good amount. While I may not have hit my writing goals that I had set out, I still ended up writing around 255k words in total this year. Most of this being for Alaris, and some of it being for my dissertation (LOL) and other side games, like Intertwine and Jam Games.

This number also doesn't include deleted passages, edited passages, etc., so the amount I've spent writing, reviewing, etc. was Significant this year. Here's to hoping that momentum continues into next year and finishing the rest of Alaris!

Side Games

Something completely unexpected, but that I'll forever be grateful for, was my decision(s) to join game jams this year. It all started with Otojam, a visual novel jam I'd wanted to join for a WHILE.

Intertwine was, without a doubt, one of my most memorable moments from this year. The friends I made/grew closer to during that jam. The people I connected with because of Intertwine. The people I got to work with. Everything about the experience surpassed my expectations, and Van and Summer 2023 will always hold a very special place in my heart because of it. Thank you to everyone who enjoyed that game. It was my first full game I ever released, and I couldn't have been more nervous about it (no literally. I wasn't sleeping and I was nauseous for a week before release).

Knowing there was no "revision" afterwards that I could hide behind or promise that there would be a "better"/"enhanced" version made the release terrifying. But the reception you all gave to it and support from so many friends made me feel so connected and grateful for the community.

The other three side projects were... well, Unexpected. LOL. Before these jams, I'd never wanted to work in team settings, mostly because I have Mad Imposter Syndrome, and I've always imagined I'd be dead weight in any given game dev team. My skills on writing, art, and/or coding alone aren't "exemplary" enough for me to think I, well, deserve to be on a team. But when a couple of short jams were being held by a friend, and teams were being made filled with other friends, I thought maybe I could help, even if it's just to QA/playtest. But I've walked away from each of these experiences learning so much from other talented people and with very dear friends.

Each of these side games truly tested my chops in terms of writing, narrative design, and coding. But I'm glad I challenged myself to take part in each of these experiences because I've walked away with so much more than I would've expected.

Alaris

My Heart. My Soul. And at times, My Worst Enemy.

As much as I may have talked about how I Wasn't making progress on this baby. I, in fact, made A LOT of progress:

Art: 15 CGs, Updated Sprites, Kickstarter Artwork

Commissions: 20 BGs, Complete GUI, Personality/Affection Indicators, Editing, Voice Acted Lines, Complete OST (8 Tracks!)

Writing: Three Finished Routes

Shipped Kickstarter Merchandise

I'm going to be Real with you all. I'm not in the mood to recap everything for Alaris in the way I did with everything else LAFKMSDFOIJWOEI. Main reason being, I do that Every Month, and at this point, I would feel like I'm repeating myself for no reason. But let me tell you, when the Enhanced Demo comes out, you will see what I'm talking about with progress made. And I'm excited for the next year when I start getting to show things off (read: Demo Release and Route Beta Releases) now that assets have really come together ^^

I will say, thank you for sticking with this project for so long. It's easy to get bogged down in development when a project like this is as big as it is. It's just as easy to think that no one will care about this by the time I release, or people will start losing their patience with me as development goes on. So I'm forever grateful for how kind, supportive, and patient you all are, especially this year <3

Connections: The True Theme of 2023

If you've made it this far, I'm extremely impressed with you. And to reward you, I'll give you a moment of honesty and vulnerability which, to be frank, I Don't Do as a person and especially with my dev persona LMFAOO ((Before I do, let it be known, CW: mention of death, grief, alcoholism, chronic illness, suicidal thoughts))

Something I don't talk about much is that for all of 2022 and most of 2023, I was not in a good place mentally. At the beginning of 2022, I lost three very important people in my life back-to-back (I'm not exaggerating when I say back-to-back it was within 2 weeks, three separate deaths lol). That, on its own, was hard to deal with. But on top of that, I soon found myself having to cope/help with a family member's chronic illness and another family member's mental health (read: alcoholism, suicidality).

While this isn't a particularly unique situation, it was one that I found myself struggling with pretty severely on top of a pretty demanding work life. And it was a situation I found myself in until about midway through this year. Things have lightened up. I navigate a new life with some pretty severe triggers, and without the presence of some of my most loved ones. But overall, I at least feel like I can breathe and function, which is a state I didn't feel like I could exist in for over a year (and started to believe I may never exist in again).

Because of this new room in my life, I was able to connect with people again, in a more genuine way. I've grown closer to a lot of dev friends, to the point I consider some of them genuine close friends. And IRL, I've been able to reconnect with some of my dearest loved ones. The main reason I bring all of this up is because this year, I felt unbelievably connected to people, whether that was dev friends in the community, people who support my games, and IRL people.

And sometimes, when you interact with people solely online, it's easy to think they don't care as much about you as you do for them. But this has been disproven to me time and time again this year. And I've found myself in a state of appreciation for so many of the people I've been blessed to meet and befriend <3 I felt this especially so during some of the game jams, with the Secret Santa gift exchange, and with my recent Holiday Tree.

So thank you for everyone who has let me take up some space in their life. You literally Do Not Know how much it means to me and impacts me. This year, while I started it in a state of slightly hopelessness and numbness, I find myself ending it with gratitude and connection.

I hope the rest of this year (the very few couple of days we have left LOL) treats everyone well. I'm excited for how we get to start 2024 and what we'll get to experience together <3 Thank you again for the memories and support, love you all very dearly ^^

[formerly-wraith-caller]

Rogier is a character that we meet early on in game, and probably one many of us think on fondly as he is perhaps the first NPC to help us out with one of our toughest battles. His pleasant and friendly demeanor left many players with the impression of a cheerful ray of sunshine in an otherwise melancholic, dreary, duplicitous, or outright hostile cast of characters.

This post seeks to disabuse you of that notion. "Wraith, you dumb bitch," I hear the doubters and the critics say, "not everything needs to be miserable and secretly tragic." And to you I say, welcome to FromSoftware, where yes, everyone dies and it hurts the whole time they're doing it.

🚨Spoilers Ahead🚨

I. A quick recap

The first place you can encounter Rogier is at a summons sign just outside Margit's boss fight. From there, you will meet him again in Stormveil at a church where he is one of a few NPCs that can't be killed. There is cut dialog of him reacting to a player attack, but in game, he's untouchable for some reason. I can only guess at why - perhaps since he is part of two different major storylines, the devs wanted you to be sure to hear what he has to say. After this meeting, you'll see him again at the Roundtable Hold. If you interact with him, he'll urge you to seek out Ranni, he'll tell you a bit about himself and why he's seeking her cursemark, a bit about D, and expound on some history of the Lands Between's most fateful night. Additionally, interacting with a specific bloodstain near the corpse will show you Rogier being deathblighted. Soon after entering Ranni's service, he will die.

II. Detachment and its implications Throughout his questline, Rogier maintains a mostly approachable demeanor. I say mostly, because the initial meeting is a little more standoffish and cautious, which is to be expected when infiltrating the castle of a Tarnished-butchering madman. In fact, Rogier takes a pretty sarcastic tone with us when he says

This place is bristling with Tarnished hunters, you know. They sacrifice our kind, for grafting. Not exactly a place I'd stroll into without a purpose in mind...

and a bit pessimistic/negative when he says

You can see it then, I take it? The guidance of grace. Well, enjoy it while you can.

This is primarily relevant as a counter to the assumption that he is a perfectly cheerful and perpetually friendly guy. Now, all this is not to say Rogier isn't friendly. He is, very much so. But I am of the mind that this isn’t due to any genuine, innate warmth. I do think Rogier is kind-hearted and compassionate, that he does want for friendship, that he is not secretly scheming against us. Instead I think that he is something of a people-pleaser, a liar, a bit of a manipulator, and that this is not done maliciously but as a sort of trauma response to his past.

"Dear god wraith," I hear you say, "not everyone is secretly traumatized." And I agree! But Rogier almost certainly is, and here's why. From his set:

Rogier spent his entire life behaving with utter detachment. No one noticed the anger, grief, regret, or fear that existed along with it.

Get very familiar with that description, because it's gonna be doing a lot of the heavy lifting in this post. So let's figure this out first: what is detachment and what does that have to do with trauma?

Emotional detachment refers to being disconnected or disengaged from the feelings of other people.

This can involve an inability or an unwillingness to get involved in the emotional lives of other people.

Emotional detachment can sometimes occur as a coping mechanism when people are faced with stressful or difficult situations. In other cases, it can be a symptom of a mental health condition.

Some things which may cause emotional detachment are abuse, neglect, trauma, mental illness, or certain medications. We can probably scratch out that last one, but the rest are all potential explanations. Given that Rogier's set specifies he has lived with this detachment “his entire life", I am inclined to believe that whatever adverse situation he was faced with, it began/occurred in childhood. It could have been abusive/neglectful parenting, some sort of violent/traumatic event he witnessed or was involved in as a kid, or the death of a close loved one such as a sibling or parent. Whatever it was, it was something formative that shaped who he is. How does this "utter detachment" manifest in Rogier's behavior throughout the game? After all, he seems perfectly friendly, and stays upbeat even as he's inching his way towards death! But that's just further evidence of his issues. At no point does he express any of this “anger, grief, regret, or fear” mentioned in his set, even as he’s dying in front of us. If anything, he brushes it off. You'd think someone who is slowly watching their body succumb to what the game itself refers to as a “gruesome fate” would have a bit of a stronger reaction. But no, in fact, he apologizes to us, a person he barely knows, about not being able to stand to greet us, saying:

I apologize for any offence given by my bearing, but I'm quite unable to move, you see. So. What do you need?

There’s also cut content which seems to be part of an encounter at Godwyn’s corpse wherein we meet a freshly injured Rogier. And here he has the same apologetic behavior in spite of his injuries, saying:

Well, this is a bit embarrassing, but things did not go quite as expected.

Not only does he give this astounding underreaction to having been impaled and blighted by deathroot, he doesn’t ask for any help, and is sooner moved to shame than terror over his deadly predicament. He deflects immediately to talk of his research, and informs us of how he’ll be returning to the Roundtable Hold. This is where we begin to see not just his lack of an emotional response to his own problems, but also a degree of people-pleasing behavior. It isn't enough for him to apologize for this imagined offense he's committed, he quickly turns the conversation away from himself. He doesn't doesn't seek out help, or even a little companionship in spite of the absolute horror he's been afflicted with. No, he instead asks after our needs, and continues to offer us lessons in sorcery and history.

The lack of reaction to whatever miseries befall him is seen throughout the rest of our interactions with him. The closest he gets to lamenting his fate is to warn us of Godwyn's corpse:

And...that thing is to blame for the shape I'm in now... I urge the utmost caution. Don't disturb the corpse more than necessary...

And that’s not what he starts off with when we ask him about the corpse, which you would think someone would do when having been injected with death by it. No, he delves into a history lecture instead, once again redirecting from the personal/emotional to the abstract/intellectual. His dialog is almost entirely comprised of his scholarly endeavors, which he has no issues discussing with us. We learn precious, precious little about Rogier himself, but those little bits which slip through paint a less than happy picture.

Take for instance the line, “I once wished to become a scholar.” He mentions spending hours in the archives doing research. What makes him think he isn’t one already? What made him give up on that goal, or stood between him and achieving it when he has shown such tenacity in the pursuit of answers? Remember the cut dialog mentioned in the recap, which would have played if he were slain by the Tarnished? He says on his death:

This is unfortunate. Couldn’t change a thing…

A bit of a reserved response to being murdered if you ask me! Instead of threats or rage, he laments his own inability to change anything, betraying a sense of dissatisfaction with himself. Then of course there is his split with D, who refers to him as “piteous”, and Fia’s mentioning of Rogier weeping when in bed with her. I wish I could say more on this, but essentially everything else Rogier says is about his research, not himself.

These things come together to form a picture of a person who may think very little of themselves. I’d even go so far as to call it self-loathing. We have the anger, grief, regret, and fear mentioned by his set, his disinterest in his own emotional state, his readiness to be of service to others, his desire to be pleasing rather than himself(he’d rather lie to D than upset him). We have his detachment, a coping mechanism indicative of some early trauma. And we have one of a few instances of naked emotion from him in his reaction to being killed by the player. It is not of anger at being betrayed by one of his own kind, it’s not fear or sadness for his own end. It’s frustration, it’s agitation, it’s disappointment, and it is directed entirely at himself for being unable to make a difference. Even if we don’t want to call it self-loathing, these are hardly the signs of a well-adjusted person. Those are hard to come by in The Lands Between, after all.

III. Speculation on the past

So what made Rogier this way? We’re unlikely to ever know, but I’ll throw out my two cents. Let’s look at Rogier’s gear. It’s described as being “graced with an intricate, aristocratic decoration”. His rapier bears a similar description, stating it is “of superior quality, featuring intricate ornamentation”. Taken together, we can reasonably assume that Rogier doesn’t come from an impoverished background. He wears fine clothes, wields a fancy sword, and does not appear to have the backing of any particular faction to finance or supply this. It’s likely Rogier comes from either an aristocratic, or even noble, background. The desire to pursue scholarship, rather than any mention of a life of menial labor, also points in this direction, as does his well-spoken and polite behavior, and his decorum even in the face of his own death.

Which group in the game is comprised of aristocratic sorcerers? The Carians. How does the game commonly indicate associations with certain clans among characters? By use of the first initial in a character’s name. All of Marika’s and Godfrey’s descendants begin with the letters ‘M’ or ‘G’. And Rennala’s with the letter ‘R’. We see this with other NPCs we meet, like Gostoc, Millicent, and Rya, who are related to Godrick, Malenia, and Rykard. This is not to say I think Rogier is directly related to Rennala or her children, considering he's Tarnished and these other 3 NPCs aren't. More that, it is not wholly unfounded to think he is in some way connected with Carians. There are further connections of note, such as his use of Carian sorcery. The only NPCs to employ this class of sorceries are all affiliated with the group somehow – Seluvis and Miriel can both sell us Carian spells by default, while Thops and Sellen only sell glintstone sorceries(thanks to elden_things for pointing this out to me!!). And the most mysterious connection is that of the timing of his slumber and subsequent death, which align closely with Ranni’s own slumber and the defeat of Radahn. The fate of Carians is linked to the stars, and with Radahn’s hold over them surrendered, their fates can no longer be forestalled.

Of course, he makes no mention of any such affiliations, but he mentions very little about himself at all. What we know is that he holds regrets and anger about something, that he is likely of an aristocratic background from a people who practice sorcery, and that he wields a thrusting sword requiring dexterity to wield. Why’s that last thing suddenly relevant? Because all of these together sound similar to the description of the prisoner starting class.

A prisoner bound in an iron mask. Studied in glintstone sorcery, having lived among the elite prior to sentencing.

Some things very suddenly begin to make more sense to me. Maybe Rogier holds regrets over a crime he’s committed, or even one he did not commit but was accused and sentenced for all the same, the consequences of some powerplay among the elite looking to eliminate him from the playing field for whatever reason. Maybe he’s angry over this humiliation, maybe he grieves this loss of his freedom. And if it is a Carian society that did this to him, maybe he’d hold a resentment towards them, a resentment shared by a sect of Raya Lucarian knights symbolized in the form of a feather. Sort of like the one Rogier wears in his hat. Beyond this, he uses the Scholar’s Armament ash of war, an art taught to Cuckoo Knights. “Our enemy is none other than Caria itself,” says the Cuckoo Greatshield item description. Maybe there is room for the argument that Rogier would agree with them. But again, this is all admittedly speculation on my part.

Let’s take a further look at Rogier’s design while we’re on the subject, because it too relates back to the prisoner association in some ways.

(thanks again to elden_things for these images)

On first glance, we’re bedazzled with glintstone and golden hues, the colors so bright and vibrant, especially in comparison with so many other more sedate color palettes seen on many NPCs. But taken as a whole, both color and form, I can’t help but think of the phrase “bird in a gilded cage”. The thing that jumps out to me about his design is the theme of restraint. His costume is full of straps, ropes, chains, items which evoke notions of bondage and imprisonment. He is wrapped from head to toe in clothing, not even his hair left free, cuffed by gold at the ankles, cuffed by frills at the wrist, neck tangled in chains(the long end of the necklace down his back is even reminiscent of a leash), arms lined with glintstone-studded straps, the opulence of nobility becoming symbolic of confinement. It’s noteworthy to me that Rogier aligns so very well with the prisoner class while also sporting clothing that easily reminds us of all the ways a person can be bound.

The color gold in game is very much tied in with the Order, with Marika and the Greater Will. While Rogier is often characterized as someone who opposes the Golden Order due to his split with Darian, his dialog would betray otherwise, something I delve into in this post. In short, he recognizes the flaws and defects of the Order, but actually expresses admiration for its ability to adapt to resolve them. This ability to adapt is in direct contrast to Rennala’s inability to do so – when met with abrupt and devastating change, she breaks, and doesn’t recover. This is another point in favor of Rogier possibly holding some frustrations with Carians. The Order is changeable, can alter itself to meet the needs of the times they live in. Caria simply wilts.

Seeing a glintstone sorcerer, one wearing the hat of a heretic no less, bear the colors of the Order is more than a little interesting in a game where people’s allegiances are generally pretty clear cut. The delightfully detailed Elden Ring colory theory video by hawkshaw speaks of blue as the color of intellect and mind, gold as faith and order. Rogier sports both, reminding me again of Caria, specifically the joining of the Moon and the Erdtree, Rennala and Radagon’s union. Of course, if we hold to the belief that Rogier is related to Carians, there’s another way in which he may remind us of this union between the Order and the Moon, and that is in his time spent with D, Hunter of the Dead.

IV. D and Rogier – “Opposites attract.”

Aside from his history lessons on Ranni and Godwyn, Rogier doesn’t really have a lot to say about anyone else, even himself. In spite of his interactions and shared interests with Fia, the only other person we hear him talk about is D. An old friend, Rogier says with a sort of fondness or melancholy. As with Fia, Rogier bonded with D over an interest in death, and for some unspecified length of time in the past, the two traveled the lands together. Eventually, Rogier’s desire to save Those Who Live in Death became too much of an issue for D, and the pair split.

Theirs is an interesting relationship, whether you want it platonic or otherwise. They’re opposites in a lot of ways. Impulse vs control, pity vs scorn, heretic vs devotee, warm vs cool, elegance vs brutality, mind vs faith, the list kind of goes on, but you see the point. Even after their falling out, the two can get along without acrimony. D tells Rogier about seeing the sign of the centipede in Summonwater. He helps us defeat the Black Knife Assassin in the Death-touched Catacombs, thus making it possible for Rogier to study the knifeprint. Rogier doesn’t speak of D with resentment, or anger, or even much distaste (his tone strays towards sarcasm again when mentioning D’s opinions on TWLID, “these defiled fiends”, but that’s about it). Rogier’s lines about D are generally his most emotional and most personal, and given how very little we get to know about Rogier otherwise, we can assume that the friendship meant a great deal to him.

Between the pair, he’s clearly the more composed about the split. While D freely expresses his disappointments in Rogier, Rogier is more wistful and collected, and does a lot less mudslinging than D. He is the less emotional of the two, however, that’s just par for the course for him. He’s used to keeping things close to the chest, as this is basically what emotional detachment does to you. Emotions aren’t easily expressed or handled, and it becomes simpler to separate oneself from them rather than experience them. And any falling out, whether between friends or lovers, is bound to be emotionally challenging even for someone without such issues.

V. Fia and Rogier – “Birds of a feather...”

There is someone Rogier eventually became comfortable expressing emotions around, even if it’s curious he never mentions her. Fia and Rogier may have a lot in common. Most obvious being their interest in Those Who Live in Death and the history of the night that gave rise to them. But there could be other things, too. Fia's room is full of books, and we know Rogier is a scholar at heart. The two could both be avid readers. If we accept the notion of Rogier as prisoner, he and Fia could bond over what it means to be without freedom and choice. Fia is hounded from her home, and it would seem she may have at some point resented the fact that she would not be allowed to decide which noble she’d be reviving.

Whatever the case, it’s clear Fia and Rogier became close at some point before his death as she tells us how he speaks of the Night of Black Knives while in bed with her, and that this discussion even moved him to tears. This strong reaction from him is especially noteworthy given his lack of emotional response in other, more appropriate areas, such as the knowledge of his own impending death. Is it sadness for Godwyn that has him in tears? Grief for how the Shattering ruined so much for so many? Could it be that in discussing these things with Fia he is also thinking of everything he won’t be able to achieve? Or could it be that he is in some sense overwhelmed not by his grim fate but by her affection, her friendship and care? People with emotional detachment issues can often have immense difficulties making or keeping friends, but here is Fia, whose entire schtick is to offer the utmost selfless care and comfort for others. Wouldn’t that be a little overwhelming to someone unused to that, someone whose life was apparently full of anger and regret, marked by some lasting trauma that’s followed him his whole life and caused him to hold others at arms' length?

Or it could be that he knows all too well another way in which Fia’s just like him, and the misery of knowing her warmth might be false just cut a little deeper than he could handle in a moment so vulnerable as this.

VI. Deceit as defense

It’s odd to me that this is a point of contention among Elden Ring fans, but Fia is, well, kind of a liar by omission. Manipulative, even. And I think Rogier is too. Well, I don’t think, I know. I’ve referenced it multiple times, but his exact words are

I can tell a good lie when I need to.

The context is him desiring to avoid angering D. I’ve mentioned before Rogier coming off as a people-pleaser, this being one of the reasons, as well as the apologetic tone he often takes when speaking with us. Others involve the assumption that he is of aristocratic origins. Politics are a game of rhetoric, and Rogier would’ve been taught to play it. That means being comfortable with lies and knowing how to tell them, or being able to spin the truth to sell your own desires to people who may not share in them. Beyond this, there is his detachment, in which he does his utmost to keep his emotional state to himself. This requires lying, or rather, concealing. Something I’d like to clarify about lies and liars is that we have a tendency to assume this is a malicious trait. I don’t think Rogier acts with malicious intentions at all. I think it is habit, a survival mechanism necessitated by whatever traumatic past he has experienced and/or required for navigating the aristocracy. For the latter especially, the ability to lie and manipulate others would be an endlessly useful tool.

Again, I want to stress that when I speak of Rogier as liar and manipulator, I don’t think it’s something he does to be cruel. He wants something of us, but given his personal issues, he may realize he’s not the best at making friends with others. He may also be hesitant to be indebted to another. Some of his cut dreambrew quest dialog hints at some intense pride on his part. If we were to offer him the dreambrew after he was blighted, he responds with:

No thank you, I don’t need your pity. ...Sorry. You were only trying to be nice. It would be my pleasure to take it.

The immediate adjustment of his tone is an interesting one. From resentful and irritated to perfectly gracious and friendly at the drop of a hat. For someone who can show compassion to some of the most wretched creatures in the Lands Between, who is happy to befriend someone seen as reviled and accursed, to lay with a woman some think of as vulgar, he sure isn’t comfortable with the idea of someone showing that compassion to him. If he gets this irritated by being offered a drink after a (near?)death experience, how would he really handle someone offering to put their life on the line for him?

So he manipulates, because this is far easier for someone(who may be) coming from a background where this is par for the course in how you connect with others. Now we aren’t simply doing him a favor, we’ve been convinced his goal is ours, too. He starts by asking for our help. But notice how each time we go back to Rogier with a little more info, he couches each new and more dangerous request in praise and compliments? We’re superb fighters, we’re trustworthy, we're capable, we’re the only ones who can do this. Rogier knows what he’s asking us to do is risky, and says as much. But he also knows how to flatter, how to shape the conversation to his needs. This isn’t just his quest anymore, it’s ours. This isn’t some favor done out of pity for a dying man, no. He’s convinced you that you want to do this too! Maybe it’s not just us he’s manipulating, but himself, too.

This isn’t to say that Rogier doesn’t care about us, that he’s callous or heartless or doesn’t want to be our friend. I think, at this point, above all else his sights are on his goal. He knows his time is running out, and he may realize he won’t be able to see this through to the end no matter how badly he wishes it were otherwise. I think Fia speaks truly when she says Rogier seemed elated by us helping him. But he also knows how near his death is, and that no matter what he or the player do, there is no future for him.

I know the manipulation angle is a hard sell. “An NPC asking you to help him isn’t manipulation,” I’ve seen people say, and I get it. But in the greater context of Rogier’s character, I think there is plenty of reason to believe he could be inclined towards such behavior, that he is someone far more focused on his goal than building friendships in a life reaching its end, and, knowing well how near he is to death, is desperate to see it through. Plenty of NPCs ask things of me, and I wouldn’t consider them manipulative. But none of them tell me point blank they’re fine with lying to others, either. :)

VII. Conclusion

We don’t get a lot of backstory on the NPCs of Elden Ring. There are breadcrumbs and tiny clues, but so often these little tidbits are implications rather than direct statements. They are open-ended, preserving a sense of intrigue and mystery that invites us to look deeper and do a little puzzle solving. That being said, it’s hard to make any definitive statements about who any of these characters are and what they’re really like. Characters like Rogier make our investigations all the more challenging when they give us reason to believe that they’re practiced in concealment and lies. When do we know what to take what they say at face value? When do we know to take it with a grain of salt? But that’s also part of what makes him so interesting to me. There’s so much potential in his story, and such a variety of possible interpretations. Mine is only one of them, and if you’ve gotten to the end of this, I’d be thrilled to hear yours too!

[1moreff-creator]

How would you rank potential culprits in terms of both likeliness & how satisfying they would be to you personally?

Hmm… Well, I kinda answered likelihood in my EP 13 theory revision, but I’ll go more in detail here. And personal satisfaction is definitely an interesting question, so thanks for the ask!

Likelihood

MonoTV/Arei/Xander/Min/Teruko/Mai (in no particular order): All impossible for one reason or another.

Charles: Effectively impossible too.

David-Veronika-J (in that order): Alibis. Also David and Veronika have plenty of reasons why it wouldn’t make sense for them to be the murderer, but mainly it’s the alibi thing.

Levi: You don’t go that hard in EP 13 and then, just… be the killer. This one’s mostly vibes btw.

Nico-Hu: I greatly respect Hu!Culprit truthers, but I don’t think it’s a very likely theory. Both Nico and Hu have a few reasons why I can’t quite see them as the culprit, but the main reason they’re this low is that I currently have no reason to doubt their alibi.

Rose: Kinda narratively protected by the fact she has to back up Teruko’s claim that the tape disappeared from the gym before the lockdown. If she’s the killer we could actually be cooked on that front.

Arturo: Only other person who’s confirmed to know about Arei and Eden’s conversation about his secret, but there are quite a few issues with this idea.

Whit: I really don’t know why he knew Charles had no nighttime alibi, which is the main reason he’s this high. Also, because if someone asked Eden for the tape, it would be Mr “Hey David go to the relax room” himself. Plus, the ball of clothes could be held together by glue from his stationary and I think that’s the funniest possible way that particular mystery gets solved.

But, you know the drill, none of the previous characters could have taken the tape. And because I think it’s weird to think anyone asked Eden for the tape (she was in the dress-up room and seemed to already be heading out of the second floor without ever going to the gym, so clearly she didn’t go down there expecting to get the tape, meaning grabbing it was a spur of the moment decision and not the result of a request), and Ace has even bigger issues, so…

Ace in number two, Eden number one. Already went into detail as to why in the previously linked EP 13 theory revision.

Personal Satisfaction

(Obvious disclaimer that this is an entirely self-indulgent list, if anyone reading this makes one they are going to differ drastically and that’s cool, also I will respect the dev’s decision no matter if I personally dislike it because art is subjective and I also can’t actually know how much I would like something until I see it executed etc etc)

MonoTV/Arei/Xander/Min/Mai: Yeah I’d be kinda miffed if the culprit is someone that should be completely impossible from what we know.

Teruko: I want the main character to be the main character. Teruko’s genuinely fascinating and I’d hate to see her go this early, especially when I see no indication she actually did this.

Veronika: They already took my favorite character by executing Min, please don’t take my second favorite too D:

David: This motherfucker’s MV haunted me for months I am not letting him die this early.

Levi: Wow CH 13 really changed my perspective on this guy huh? But yeah, it’d just be weird for him to be the killer now after All That.

Nico: I think it’d be really interesting to explore how the cast would navigate having an attempted murderer around, so I’d be disappointed if they die here.

Charles: The trial is just going to read insanely weirdly if he’s, by a miracle of God, the killer. I don’t see a way to make him be this useful and still explain that he’s the killer somehow.

Hu: You can’t make her go that hard on CH 12, set up an interesting foil with Veronika through their secrets, set up an interesting dynamic with both David and Nico after having her trust in them shattered, and then just kill her off without leaving me a little bit disappointed.

Whit: Making him die before Charles just feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity imo, though of course I’ll respect the decision if it happens.

J: Lots of her trial lines would read weird. Also, she’s my first survivor pick after Teruko and I believe she will become the primary support character after Charles gets poisoned with strychnine in CH 3. You will get no elaboration on that, but just know I like the idea, and while I will perfectly understand and accept if that’s not the way the story goes, in terms of personal satisfaction, it would sting a bit.

Rose: I just feel like her character has more to offer, you know? This one’s very vibe based tbf.

Ace: Unlike the previous options, I think I can kinda imagine a world where Ace!Culprit is genuinely a good send-off to his character. I feel like his character still has more to offer and he doesn’t quite thematically fit the chapter, though.

Arturo: The exact same situation as Ace, except now we don’t have to deal with Arturo bothering J during CH3, and that’s a plus on my book. I’m intrigued by his character, but the same can be said about literally every other DRDT character, and the end of the trial is as good a time as any to offer all the answers we still need about him.

Eden: It probably shouldn’t surprise you that, after an entire year of subscribing to the theory, I’ve grown attached to Eden!Culprit from a narrative standpoint. Even though I actually didn’t like it at first, I think there are ways to make Eden a genuinely compelling culprit to a degree I don’t think is there in the other characters.

I believe the inevitable End of Trial Trauma Dump could close out her character in a satisfying way, explaining both motive and mindset; she fits the theme of the chapter better, since her being the blackened would prove what Arei came to believe about there being no such thing as an Ideally Good Person; it would allow for a lot of development (negative development mind you, which I love to see) of other characters; it would serve to start the Second Act Low-point at CH 3; and, well, I’d have been right. This is personal satisfaction, so it’d be silly to ignore that fact.

Anyways, that was pretty fun! Thanks for the ask!

[mediauser325]

Fairly Oddparents tickle HC's

(Headcannons of Cosmo, Wanda, Timmy, Peri (formerly poof), Irep (Formerly Foop), Hazel Wells, and Dev Dimmadome) Writer's note: THIS TOOK 2 WEEKS IN MY DRAFTS TO WRITE! Hope you all like these silly tickle headcannons. If you don't like them, Idc I'm still having this up

Cosmo: 65% Lee, 35% Ler

Cosmo's such a playful fairy! His tickles are mainly to play, or cheer someone up! Having been a fairy godparent for up to 300 years at minimum, Cosmo knows cues like when to stop, when someone is able to be cheered up via tickles, etc. He's a master at teasing, and WILL use it to his advantage. He does use the classics you know the ones, but he also makes up brilliant teases. He's an amazing tickler, and does play the 'Can I guess where you're ticklish?' game. A couple scribbles here, some pokes there, the whole shebang. He also gives his lee wiggle room unless it's PERFECTLY CLEAR they don't mind being pinned. Cosmo CANNOT take what he dishes out, he squirms, squeals, kicks, his wings flap crazily, he is MEGA ticklish and a silly mess. Cosmo and Wanda have done tickle fights but Wanda always wins. The same tickle fights have happened with Hazel, Timmy and Peri at different times, but Cosmo was too good a ler for the trio to stop. Cosmo's worst spots are his sides, neck, and underarms.

Wanda: 50/50

Wanda's a good ler but is usually gentle, opposite of Cosmo who tries to wreck everyone he tickles. She usually just lightly scribbles across a spot, gently teasing and cooing. The people she tickles the most are Peri and Cosmo. But if you wreck her, she's gonna wreck you just as badly. As a lee, she's most ticklish on her ribs. She'll giggle helplessly, but that's it. I'll add more if I get more ideas.

Timmy Turner: 80% lee, 20% ler

Poor Timmy has no ler skills. He's almost always is the tickled and never the tickler. He's VERY ticklish in many common spots, and always just laughs his lil head off, and has the BEST giggles. If he ever tickled someone successfully, it was dumb luck or a huge amount of stealth. Other than that, he's mostly a lee. He squeals and begs, it's adorbs

Peri (Formerly Poof): 55% Lee, 45% Ler

He's a really embarassed lee and it's adorable. Cosmo and Wanda occasionally tickled him when he was a baby, and it was precious. As an adult, he's not tickled as much, but when he is, it's either Cosmo or Wanda tickling him in front of Hazel or Dev, and embarassing him in the process. As a ler, he's mindful of boundaries more than a normal ler would. He pays CLOSE attention to cues and responses and may have a safe word so he doesn't go too far. He hasn't had much experience with humans and doesn't wanna come off as anything negative. He's most ticklish on his belly. He's a squealer. You can NOT convince me otherwise.

Irep (Formerly Foop): 95% ler, 5% lee

This guy refuses to be tickled. He's always the tickler. As a wittle baby, he was a huge lee much to his disapproval. Anti Cosmo and Anti Wanda didn't tickle much, but it was adorable when they did He's very ticklish, but was never caught later in life. As a ler, he's RUTHLESS! He will wreck you until you tap out. If you ever tickle him, expect him to threaten you while kicking and squirming helplessly on the floor. His worst spots are his underarms and sides

Hazel: 50/50

One heck of a good ler. Her main Lee is Dev, and they get into the silliest tickle fights you've seen. She usually wins. She can be either gentle or ruthless, depending on what someone's comfortable with. Definitely stole some of Cosmo's teases to use for her lees. As a lee, she's squealy, giggly, squirmy, AND kicky. She'll squirm tooth and nail to do anything to make the tickles more bearable. She's ticklish in the most common places, but mostly the spaces between her ribs

Dev: Complete lee.

He's a touch starved 10 year old that has never been tickled and never experienced tickling. That is, until he met HAZEL. He will fight tooth and nail to get away from a Ler, especially if the Ler is merciless. He may use his rocket boots or drones to help him get away. THE LEE-EST LEE TO EVER LEE! Ticklish everywhere, has no ler skills, can NOT fight a tickle fight to save his life, it's silly and kinda sad too. Can only ler if someone like Peri, Hazel or Cosmo are helping him

[landgraabbed]

hi Cat, can you share your thoughts/criticisms of DATV? i think the game is gonna flop.

hey nonners, idk. this is a complicated question. i mean, game's not even out yet so it's unfair to pass judgment on it. i can only judge bioware's approach to pre-release marketing. and i got a lot of thoughts on that.

honestly i think it will be a perfectly serviceable game and technically it will run well (i mean, it has been steam deck verified which tells me that performance was a big concern for devs). i don't think quality has much bearing on the love people can have for a game. and vice-versa. the people who are hyped to oblivion and want to preorder will like it. the people who hate it bc it has poc and queer and disabled characters will still hate it. people who analyze the game's mechanics and writing will dissect the game and be predisposed to finding things they dislike. over time opinions will mellow out and we'll see how the veilguard will be remembered.

i can't trust bioware to make an rpg that i will want to play after their last failures. different people will differ on where the string of failures started. from a quality standpoint my line is dragon age 2. me3 to me failed to deliver on the promise of the first 2 me games save for shining exceptions like the citadel dlc and javik. from a numbers standpoint the last successful game was inquisition which won goty in 2014 due to a serious lack of competition mostly, especially since witcher 3 was pushed back to 2015 (which pains me personally as that put it directly in bloodborne's path to goty in that year). thing is bioware seems to be doing all they can to avoid a flop. veilguard is bioware's hail mary after a string of failures. they are ditching the ea app to capture as many people as possible. the combat has fully careened into action, and although they keep telling us these will be the best companions ever, really, guys, the gameplay is more and more focused on the protagonist alone. the crpg roots of the series are getting cut down to attract a broader audience. perhaps at the cost of ostracizing some like me who enjoy the party-based, party-building mechanics like me.

how well this will go i don't know. on one hand i think bioware has been historically bad at showing the full scope to new and returning players. empress celene has been haunting the edges of the world since origins. the full grasp of her character is locked behind books. afaik some companions have been introduced already in supplemental materials. this sort of move didn't go well for ff15. on the other i think this game missed its window. the gaming landscape of today isn't the same as it was in 2014, and in 2014 the skyrim at home open world design was already outdated. i've been hearing about the crpg renaissance since 2016. i accompanied it. it remained a niche part of gaming until it didn't: baldur's gate 3 released last year to audience and critical acclaim. going forward i expect mainstream rpgs to take cues from bg3. and the mission based almost extraction shooter-esque design that veilguard seems to have might not land as well in 2024 as it would have in 2020.

eta: or it could go well, idk. morrowind and final fantasy were bethesda's and squaresoft's hail maries and saved those studios.

right now the marketing has missed the mark on me. it is patronizing and seemingly needs to punch down the previous da games to prop this one up. it concerns me that the game may be releasing in 2 months (as per jeff grubb) and we quite frankly haven't seen shit. just bioware telling us that trust me, these companions are deep. trust me, the combat is good. trust me, the city built on slave labor is totally the coolest one you've seen. everyone copies fromsoftware but they don't seem to learn to drop a trailer and shut up until they got more things of substance to show. and this isn't just a bioware issue.

[irisu-syndromemes]

plagiarizing an obscure indie game for lazy hip hop and rap

youtube is currently going up in flames over plagiarism found in many people's channels, particularly documentary-ish videos that have commentary from the uploader. this seems to be mostly because of that hbomberguy and his recent video about plagiarism on the website, as well as a specific person who's drowning in controversy lately.

i admit that i don't want to watch the video, because i've watched other videos already, and i've heard about the other channels' plagiarism through the grapevine. plagiarism IS awful, and it's a disgrace to find it's way more commonplace than i thought.

all this made me remember something... a few weeks ago i remembered that i once found a few songs on youtube, and 1 on spotify, that straight up steal music from an old indie horror game that's stayed pretty obscure throughout the years. so i spent the next few days trying to find every youtube upload with stolen music from it, as well as the respective channels, and even uploads on other websites (which i did find; one of them was even "for sale" on a beat-selling website).

it made me angry. it made me sick. to see so many idiotic hip hop "artists" steal someone else's work, sometimes even selling it, because they're hacks who can't be bothered to put in the work for their craft. i accumulated quite a number of tabs of people who did this - WAY too many links to videos and uploaders - and then...

i closed them all. i was furious and it was making me go crazy. my mental health was taking a hit and i knew there was nothing i could do...

the game they're all stealing from is called Irisu Syndrome, and it's a short freeware horror game from japan first released in 2008 that has garnered a bit of a cult following. the music is by MusMus, who is credited as Watson in the game. it's still very obscure, but well-known enough that siivagunner has made a "high quality rip" of one of its tracks. in fact, it even inspired Dan Salvato to make Doki Doki Literature Club partially! suffice to say, i adore this game. it may be short, but it left a lasting impression on me (it's a pretty shocking game! those under 16 and easily-disturbed folks should avoid it), so i've never forgotten about it as the years passed.

the game was made entirely by japanese people... this makes any sort of communication between western fans and the dev or MusMus pretty difficult. for the record, the english patch was supposed to be given an official release, but the dev himself couldn't find a way to contact the english translators, so only spanish and mandarin got official versions.

communication is difficult... i can't just email some japanese person who made this game's music all those years ago, with all these links and all this worry in my heart, and expect a response. i don't want to be intrusive.

...but i also care. maybe i care too much. it's incredibly unfair that some bozos are out there stealing the guy's music and getting comments like "this is fire!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥" when all they did was add a beat to the tracks. meanwhile the game stays in obscurity. none of them are popular "musicians" but it's sickening all the same. it's stealing. all i want is for the game's music composer to know, so maybe he can report those uploads himself.

for the record i know about sampling, and this isn't it. using the entire track and then not crediting, that's not innocent "sampling". just wanted to make that clear.

i get cold feet easily. i don't know if i can just email him, if he would read it, if i can make my point clear, if anything could actually be done. i don't want to be intrusive. i don't want to be a nuisance.

but all this recent talk of plagiarism, it got me thinking again. it's incredibly unfair, because even if he was okay with it, the plagiarists didn't ask or credit him. i can't just forget about this, so i'm making this post.

i'm making this post haphazardly, in the hopes someone knows what to do. maybe someone knows of a solution, maybe someone could help. maybe even spreading the word, to someone who knows the right thing to do about this. i've thought of making my own youtube video about this issue, but i have no subscribers, and i get cold feet easily. it would get nowhere.

"it's just music from just some game" but it's a game i love anyway. i have all this worry in my heart, and i don't know what to do.

[cut-content-contest]

Moonjumper

The jist of his character is that he is the corpse of a prince, and his two rivals are the princes ghost and the princes ex. The 3 fuckers want to rule over the same area so competition. Also moonjumper I think only appears on the horizon, meaning he is the only 2d character in a 3d game which is pretty dope.

They were a cut character that was originally supposed to be pretty important, but all we got was gamefiles of vague information, a flat character model, a bit of dialogue, and some music. That hasn't stopped many different and wildly unique headcanons, designs, and stories from taking shape from the original scraps of this one axed character.

The third area/chapter in the game had a much different story in its concept stage, and even though the level was designed enough to be playable for a demo, the devs decided to simplify the story for that area from three central characters to one and a half. Originally, he was a prince that met with a terrible fate at the hands of his obsessively jealous princess, and he somehow got trapped on the horizon without any memories of his original life, instead going mad. He was going to offer information about the area to help to the protagonist, though he really wants to manipulate and control her and everyone else into being unable to leave the area. Mj's backstory was ultimately given to the new central character, Snatcher (who also existed but got a bit of a personality shift with his new spotlight), his musical theme (and somewhat his design) repurposed for the game's item dealer, and MJ himself was removed from the game. Bits of the original story are still scattered around (a spectral body outline on the wall, a face painted in the attic of an icy manor, the scrapped explorable area that still exists out of bounds in the final version of the game, a broken tower), but the character only exists in mods, fanworks, and the concept artist for the original level fleshing out his ideas in art. He has a lot of speculation about his full backstory, abilities, and role, but there's very little sources to have anything beyond theories.

okay. so. let me give you the basis of a hat in time's third (or second during the time moonjumper still existed) chapter. evil ghost guy steals the protag's soul and makes her do shit for him and along the way you can get Lore on why he's a ghost and turns out Another ghost-like entity that you encounter in the chapter killed him while they were both Alive. its more detailed than that but that is Not the point. ok. ghost guy who steals your soul. his name is snatcher. ghost guy who Killed snatcher. her name is vanessa. Where does moonjumper come in you may be asking. well. ORIGINALLY moonjumper was in snatcher's place. but! snatcher also existed in the game at the same time as moonjumper- just with a different backstory. eventually, moonjumper was scrapped, and snatcher filled that role. there are So many things involving moonjumper that got just outright removed because of this. However. there are also things that Didnt get removed that are still in the game that can be traced back to moonjumper, mostly through his design being different from snatchers- moonjumper's design is much, much more closer to the design of moonjumper/snatcher while he was still alive opposed to snatcher, who is just a purple ghost noodle. but even then, their human design and moonjumper's design still have quite a few differences. many people in the fandom/fan community of a hat in time like to try and incorporate moonjumper back into the story, and everyone's different takes are always fun to see :)

He was originally to be the remains of the prince, and was to haunt (and I believe attempt to take over) Subcon Forest. I’m pretty sure he was scrapped because a) there would have been too much going on in that one region and b) Snatcher was the spirit of the prince and in charge of the forest, so maybe they decided it was a little weird to have two characters come from the same dead guy. Also he would 100% have been a tumblr sexyman

Moonjumper is a cut character from A Hat In Time. Originally, they were going to live in Subcon Forest, and have puppetmaster motifs. He was also going to be the prince killed by Vanessa. The motifs and being killed by Vanessa were instead given to Snatcher, my little scrunkle doo.

Apparently originally there were supposed to be three characters for the Subcon Forest level, Moonjumper was supposed to be the Prince in the original story, but was later replaced with the Snatcher, who wasn't the Prince in original story. He still had NPC files on the full release of the game, but it wasn't a model, rather just 2D image with particle effects

He was a scrapped antagonist for the level of Subcon forest! Moon Jumper was scrapped due to the Snatcher being the main character for subcon forest, and not having room for subplots. Early developer commentary states that the Moon Jumper was stuck in the horizon and that his role throughout the level of Subcon forest was to get Hat Kid to join him in the horizon.

wiki link: https://ahatintime.fandom.com/wiki/Moon_Jumper video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mor-oR5ti9E showing off the NPC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krHXy8afF74

Yosuke romance route

persona 4 has got this friendship/romance mechanic called "social links" which is basically just 10 events that you can choose to gradually level up for each sociable character in the game where you raise your relationships with said characters, which gives you various in-game boosts. most of the women in the game are able to be romanced. however, there is cut dialogue which implies that at some point, one of the male characters was meant to be a romance option as well! yosuke hanamura, the main character's best friend, has cut dialogue for his social link rank 10 event which is voiced (VOICED!! IN ENGLISH AND JAPANESE!! WHILE PEOPLE HAVE DENIED THIS SINCE THE ENGLISH VOICE LINES HAVE HIM SAYING "I LIKE YOU," IN THE JAPANESE VOICE LINES, HE IS EXPLICITLY CONFESSING TO YOU I'M PRETTY SURE!!) that implies that there was at some point going to be an option to romance him. it's assumed that this was cut somewhere later in development due to the lines being voice acted, though i believe that the reason this was cut has not been confirmed yet (though, seeing as how persona 4 was made in the 2000s....... you can probably just guess why lol)

there were unreleased voice lines that showed what was supposed to be a gay route for Persona 4 (there ARE Japanese lines for this as well, and the way in which the "I like you" part is said is the Japanese version of confessing to someone you have a crush on) and a lot of fans do agree that the protagonist is best paired with Yosuke for character development purposes, but it was probably scrapped because of homophobia 😭

Exactly what it says. Was likely scrapped because Atlus are COWARDS who didn't wanna give us the gay romance we deserved. It would have been so cute though I'm forever pissed it was scrapped...

We know it was programmed it. Yosuke is the only male character with dialogue flags, meaning you can fail his social link. The only other characters with these flags are the female love interests. Yosuke also has recorded, in both English and Japanese, final confession lines, something unique to max rank romance social links. This means it was likely scrapped very late in development. As the game also covers (badly) gender and sexuality, we can hypothesize that Yosuke's character arc was supposed to be overcoming internalized homophobia. Instead he just kinda stays "jokingly" homophobic and never grows past it.

The player would have been able to enter a romantic relationship with the character Yosuke Hanamura— text and voice lines for this option still exist within the game, and can be activated via modding. They even have proper translations, and the English versions of the lines are voiced as well, implying that the cut was made rather far into development. While this is a sad loss in its own right, it also has devastating implications in regards to the original state of other pieces of LGBT+ representation which may have also been scrapped and/or heavily modified to appear. For example, Kanji’s attraction to men and Naoto’s gender situation were both downplayed and/or walked back in the final version of the game, but it’s highly likely that Yukiko’s arc was originally intended to include more bisexual overtones, and arguments can be made for Rise’s arc being meant to center on the struggle to come to some sort of terms with her own sexuality and presentation in an industry that keeps such a tight hold on those aspects of its workers lives.

throughout the entirety of persona 4 (+golden), yosuke is portrayed to be the best friend of the protag, but also extremely homophobic towards another male character who was hinted at being gay (before atlus fucked that narrative up too). his social link hints at him having a crush on the protag, and he was intended to have a romantic route just like the female characters, but that was cut (not sure why). the whole game is about embracing the truth, including your hidden sides that you are ashamed to show to others, and having yosuke come to terms with his repressed homosexuality (& realizing that he has internalized homophobia) would have fit perfectly within that theme, but atlus said fuck that shit and cut that entire romance out. the cut dialogue can easily be found on youtube. the thing with this being cut out is that without the romance and coming to terms with his homosexuality, the only thing left of yosuke is being very homophobic. no one condems yosuke for what he says to the other male character, and it is never addressed beyond mere gags or jokes. it's horrible to sit through and honestly it was such a missed opportunity. it's such an issue that people have made a mod implementing a romantic route for yosuke just because of this. every day i mourn thinking of what could have been

This game explores many queer themes, but lacks any explicit queer relationships. The fact that file scrapers and modders discovered an unused voice line for one of the male characters that implies a romance option for him was cut from the final game makes queer fans feel let down, regardless of how groundbreaking the other queer plot points were at the time of release. It's speculated that it was cut because devs or localizers thought that it would be too much queer content in one game, and that it would affect sales and create too much controversy. I, however, believe that anyone who manages to get through the mandatory gay sauna dungeon would have had no stones to throw about an optional mlm romance.

The first party member in Persona 4, Yosuke Hanamura, was originally going to be a viable romantic partner once the player got far enough into his Social Link. This was removed rather late in development, as voiced lines for a scene where he and the protagonist begin dating were recorded in both Japanese and English. To this day, Persona 2: Innocent Sin remains the only Persona game where the protagonist can enter a gay relationship with another boy.

In this game you can choose to romance several people. There is cut voiced dialogue for a romance route for Yosuke, the main character's best friend, but in the final game he is not a romanceable character. Some are of the opinion that taking out the romance option for Yosuke removes the complexity from his character.

https://gamerant.com/persona-4-golden-mod-yosuke-romance/

[viriborne]

If you're still doing the character opinion thing-- Beel and Belphie? I feel like they're less liked in the fandom for two very diff reasons lol

Ough this is gonna be tough since I don't really like or dislike Beel ig? It's honestly mostly just how he's written with very little substance but ok here we go.

For Beel, I think he's a very VERY easy character interpret since...85% of his lines are usually about food...which can be very annoying for anyone who wants him to be of more substance (which he has the potential for being but uh. writing). I may just be projecting my own feelings but I feel like the main reason that Beel, in specific, is low in the rankings is because a lot of people just think he's...very boring and predictable. He was a character of substance in season 1 when he opened up to Mc about his guilt of choosing to save Belphegor over Lilith in the war and the fear of having his twin taken away from him and imprisoned by Diavolo. After that... he just because the food guy, honestly. I think him being one of the only brothers that openly cares deeply about his family is definitely interesting but it's not expanded upon nearly enough.

Also, I feel like the devs kind of...shifted his personality after the first season? Like he's much nicer and portrayed as more "sweet" than he was at the beginning?? I mean, in the first manga released from like.. the end of 2020 to the beginning of 2021, he literally tells Mammon to "shut up, man" when he was having an outburst. Idk, he doesn't seem to be as blunt and speak his mind as often. Hell, he was even the first character to point out that Mammon is soft on Mc and that was BEFORE Leviathan's pact. He goads Mammon into going through with stealing something from Mc and then points out that he knows he won't do it because Mammon likes them.

Onto Belphegor! My dearest dickhead whose head I wanna put in a blender. He very much as a severe case of youngest sibling syndrome despite him and Beel being...the same age. Even when you get past the whole "actually killing you" thing, he's still a massive asshole lol. Though, it's very funny seeing Lucifer fans hate Belphegor for the murder and occasional rudeness when uhhh I hate to say it but Lucifer is significantly worse in both departments. First of all, Lucifer canonically: beats you until pass out, attempts to murder you MORE THAN ONCE, one of these murder attempts happens almost immediately after he almost admits that he loves you, has a very hard time taking "no" for an answer (cough pact scene), has a massive ego that needs to constantly be stroked, I COULD GO ON FOR DAYS but this is about Belphie not him.

Despite all the shit I've talked about him so far, he's literally my third favorite brother lol. I like how blunt he can be at times as well as how he sometimes seems to goad Mc in order to just have their attention on him. He's a selfish little prick but only because he wants your attention, he's honestly almost as bad as Mammon in that way. I really wish more people would explore his character like that since he really is very sweet on Mc when you look at it. He really just seems like someone who's main way of flirting is teasing lol.

Also he's shy as hell when you actually give him what he wants, which is another funny Mammon similarity.

[sburbian-sage]

What do you make of all the religious references in the game? Don't they seem out of place?

Especially the way that it's like, a mashup of so many pantheons. Greek gods and gnostic gods, I think you've even mentioned Lucifer on this very blog- but there is some selectiveness, since I don't think I've ever heard of anybody who had Christ as their denizen or anything?

Like, what would have been the dev's motivation? And how is it supposed to fit into the lore, really? I feel like there's some kind of *point* being made, but I can't tell what it is.

Because you posted this I'm going to get like five guys lying through their teeth telling me that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was in fact their Denizen and he told them which religion is the correct one (the answer may shock you).

And I'm not entirely sure what the motivation or "the secret inner working" is really. There are dozens of people who have devoted their online presence to analyzing the references to mythology and classic literature the game makes and what they're potentially hinting towards. It's like they're seasoned professors of theology delivering essay upon essay. Some people even build entirely new religions or spiritual worldviews based around SBURB, with lots of babble about how it's an ur-religion which human mythology (and suspiciously only human mythology) was derived from the half-glimpse the prehistoric man somehow caught glimpses of. And much like theology (and every religion), it's all based upon analyzing what is, in my humble opinion, a crock of shit. Echidna is the Space Denizen because she's the mother of monsters, and Space is connected to fertility seeing as how Space players create the new universe, so all of that makes sense. But Hephaestus is another fundamental Denizen, and in the original mythology he just builds stuff? Maybe Time gives structure to the ever-expansive Space? And what purpose does Yaldabaoth serve? He's supposed to be the Demiurge, the creator of the flawed material world from which the enlightened ones are meant to escape, but he mostly gets assigned to the most battlesome players? When by all means he should be the main antagonist of every SBURB session instead of a chess piece you nerfed into the ground because you threw Care Bears into the Kernelsprite.

I'm going to get yelled at for saying this one but it could just be like how Evangelion invoked biblical concepts and terms by the boatload despite none of the staff really knowing anything about it. Borderline keysmashing, but there's enough there that it can still be read as being deep because the concepts invoked are broad enough. The Players are a group of upstart godlings who have to create a new universe once the old one begins dying, so not only do they have to transcend the old world's order, which is decaying around them as they speak, their final obstacle are beings based off of Greek and Gnostic deities. Deities who, much like the players, are not representations of abstract forces, instead being people, flaws and all, who are not almighty, yet still holding great and terrible power they fail to fully understand or assume responsibility for. The player's role to grow past their precursors with a level of maturity and understanding that the decrepit old gods never could attain. The old system is fundamentally flawed and it can never come back. The only thing you can do is grow, heal, and make a better world for the newer generation, being for them what the old gods could never be for you.

I just came up with that off the cuff but right now some kid is having his mind blown reading this.

[charlotteswebbbbb]

What's the vibe? #65

What's going on man??? A bit of a menswear download.

Bottega x ASAP x Carrie Mae Weems recreating her most popular works for Father's Day?

So much of consuming is about beauty mostly because of beauty products are repeat purchases but what do men really want? Just a taster of insight into what I'm thinking

Main takeaways from above:

Suiting is subversive, looking sharp and less casual is subversive! But do it in a way that you don't attract attention from Derek Guy.

Accessories are great! Find the one for you like Dev Hynes loves his hats :)

Menswear fashion week best ofs:

Prada, Gucci was interesting, Martine Rose, Magliano, Marine Serre was interesting for diff reasons (sustainability).

Valentino had WAYYYY too many looks. Especially for a Resort collection. 171?? Sustainable pour whom???

Martine Rose asked "Where do we find beauty? For Martine Rose: the answer is in the cracks and crevices of culture: the unusual, the unseen, the unpredictable."

So much of the shows were about connecting and coming together - clothes to help you get close. Intimacy or just expressions of love. Maybe that's why weddings are so popular right now - everyone believes in it more than they believe in themselves.

JW Anderson talks about something none of us get enough of: SLEEP with his new collection.

From Prada? Contemporary closeness. "Closeness reflects emotion - the human urge for proximity, to share space and commune. To be closer also shifts perception. Viewed from afar, pieces can pretend to be other - details may seem simplistic, naïve, but up-close, physically, perceptions transform."

Marine Serre's show was titled" “Sempre Legati” show (where), Serre’s final eight looks that spanned both tailoring and couture dressing, appeared in white to spread a message of peace and love."

One of my favourite things about smaller brands is that they include older women in their casting and shows which shows that maybe a small slice of their buyers are older women who want to dress in more powerful ways or acknowledging that women are menswear buyers where the bigger players reject that. Maybe because womenswear is big money and they can't afford to fracture their customer base apart each season.

So much of Prada reminded me of Robin Hood, this sort of medieval shoe which is made from leather. This exit from the house into clothes less aggressive, smoother and flatter onto the body...

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Uniform > everyone having the same look > community > similar morals/ideals?

We're still wondering how to make sustainability sexy as another season goes by. Maybe for menswear the most sustainable thing is finding your style or being comfortable in your shape.

Speaking of...Paul Mescal and shorts.

The Euros are on - next England game is Thursday versus Denmark then next Tuesday up against Slovenia.

Unfortch we've missed the uni shows here in London so we'll have to catch up somehow next week.

[dukemeropide]

30. What is their preferred level of activity and stimulation? How do they cope if they get either too little or too much?

Character Dev Questions | still accepting

This answer, unlike the last ones, is mostly headcanon. By and large, I think Wriothesley prefers mental stimulation over physical, contrary to how he may appear (I think back to all the impressions that came out around the time that his designs were leaked, most of which tended to lean more on Big Tough Guy Who Lets His Fists Do The Talking which, while different from canon, is still valuable in conveying how he might come across at a glance, and what kind of assumptions a stranger might make about him). I pull this idea from the fact that he has multiple lines about picnicking in the sun, or lying in the grass, and that his favorite time of day seems to be when he can have his afternoon tea. All of this portrays a character who enjoys physical leisure.

Where does boxing fit in? Wriothesley says it himself: it's not a hobby. From his character stories, we're told that boxing has always been a means to an end for him, first to gather strength and tools to kill his foster parents, and then later to win the credit coupons needed to survive in the Fortress of Meropide. We're also told that after becoming the prison's administrator, he doesn't fight in the Pankration ring much anymore. He's earned himself a comfortable life at this point, and no longer needs to rely on this to make a living. His line about the imitation Pankration ring for the teapot also has him declining the offer to fight in it.

All that is to say: I think if given the choice, in terms of physical activity, Wriothesley would prefer lazing in the sun all day. Obviously, he's muscular and fit, but like with boxing, this is probably borne from necessity.

Mental stimulation, on the other hand... his office is full of books. He talks about how he'd sought out the long lost history of Remuria and read history texts on it just out of his own curiosity. His character stories say that he has "always seemed to be preparing for something," whether that be learning to build meka to defend himself with, amassing credit coupons to take down the last administrator, or building a flying ship for some vague disaster in the uncertain future. Wriothesley comes across as the kind of person who needs projects, and planning for and building toward those projects is rewarding for him. Likewise, his drive to learn appears to be at least partly driven by the possibility that such information might be useful one day, which also seems to be what drives his interest in listening to other people's stories (i.e. finding people he might be able to hire for projects later on).

Overall, I think he has a high tolerance for both mental and physical stimulation (I imagine you'd need to, to run a prison), but to cope with having too much of either, from these two lines --

(Teapot: Nighttime) Wriothesley: The daytime hours are always full of sound and fury, so I've developed a habit of saving work that requires more considered thinking for the evening. Wriothesley: However… I'll pass on that while I'm here. Allow me to space out for a little longer.

(Good Night voice line) "Good night. I'll be staying up for a little while yet — want to run some numbers while everything's nice and quiet."

-- it sounds like he seeks quiet solitude after the bustle of the day, whether to work or to simply unwind and space out for a bit.

[dcwnthercbbithcle]

CANON EVAN FACTS ACCORDING TO ME:

As much as the Devs may try to change the narrative that Evan is to the Entity what Jason was to Pamela, I completely disagree.

Evan is, at least in a metaphorical sense, the Entity's petulant step-child. The Entity wanted his dad and not his kid, and Evan wishes he had nothing to do with things, but his mom is dead, and so is his dad, so now the Entity has custody. They hate each other, openly and for all the public to see. Yet the Entity is still in control of things. It has the metaphorical custody, and hence, Evan is stuck. Forced to abide to it's whims, but baring his teeth and dragging his heels the entire way.

Evan doesn't fear the Entity's punishments as much as it's believed he does. The pain is a bitch, but between the toxic masculinity in his head, the grudge he holds and the overflowing spite, he'll stomach the punishments just to have the last laugh and control.

SPEAKING OF CONTROL, it's a trigger for Evan and it's a big reason why he's chosen the beartraps as his secondary weapon of choice. Evan CRAVES control, he craves a feeling of being in charge, mostly over himself, but in trials, it certainly bleeds through. Through his traps, their strategic placement and rigging them against tampering, that pressure gives him control and that control gives ectasy.

I will go down on my boat that Evan isn't abusive in the exact way his father was. Perish that thought, the level of fucked-in-the-head that was Archie lived and died with him. That said, some behavior did track over into Evan because it was LEARNED, Evan was taught 'behave this way or you get punished,' and now that shit is subconscious. However shit can be unlearned if Evan wants to try. But in his current place as a killer, he feels no reason to try.

Evan is the fucking guy from the You're Not That Guy, Pal video. If you need a feel for his character, watch that video.

Flashlight saves will make Evan become UNTETHERED. Evan isn't normally a 4k seeking killer, he'll kill however many he kills. For him it's a choice and he values that, but if he downs someone and GOD FORBID their teammates get a flashlight save or a flashbang save. Man is getting sweatier than a convention center. No one is getting out alive, even if he has to camp for it.

Also, Evan is quite a bit younger than you'd expect, he is between 28-30, idc about the canon lore. This guy's still a spring chicken.

[electricprincess96]

Oh also other pet peeve I have in BG3 fandom. Girls who projecting every bad thing a guy has ever done to them onto Gale when there's no fucking proof in canon Gale is any of the things they accuse him of. I've seen In*el, Fu*kb*y, S*alker etc. I've literally seen someone call him a Blizzard Dev Bro like that's some serious accusations to be throwing around.

Like all I see is "he's not over his ex like my creepy ex bf thus he must be every bad trait my ex ever had" firstly don't put yourself on the level of fucking Mystra, she may look like a basic ass bitch in game but she's still a Goddess who in lore is described to be otherworldly beautiful not to mention insanely powerful, you are likely neither of these things, and secondly not being over a bad breakup with the literal Goddess of Magic when Gale is a human WIZARD does not mean you get to project every bad thing your ex has ever done to you onto him.

And yes this is not helped by the bug that happened when the game was brand new that seemed to program Gale into thinking you had romanced him even if you didn't and so he gave you the whole "choose between me or them" speech but everyone knows that was a bug. Like they seem to think this proves Gale feels entitled to Tav when it's the fucking opposite Gale doesnt feel worthy of love until you convince him to NOT take the Crown in Act 3, he genuinely thinks he needs to seek the plwers of a god to be worthy of love because of how unequal his last relationship was, Gale puts on an air of arrogance when its about things he knows hes good at but beyond that he thinks hes worthless.

But that bug hasbeen fixed now for months and if Gale is STILL shooting his shot with you thats because 2 companions will always shoot their shot with you provided they dont all hate you so clearly you have pretty high approval with Gale, which admittedly isnt hard to do just dont be an asshole to npcs and Gale, Wyll and Karlach are mostly pretty pleased. On me and my friends playthrough when we romanced Gale we got Wyll shooting his shot, we didn't assume he was any of these things, we didn't assume he was an ass for trying to dance with us when we were actively romancing Gale we knew that's just how the game works. Obviously unless your whole crew literally hate you that is. Fuck Astarion, Lae'Zel, Shadowheart and Wyll all tried to fuck us at the Tiefling party so whys Gale the only one who gets all the negative labels thrown at him? Let's just agree the whole group is ridiculously horny.

Like if people just said "I don't like Gale his personality doesn't mesh with me and I don't care for his playstyle/I already have a magic caster on my set team" great, that's perfectly fair. It's the fact people don't seem to understand you can just not vibe with a character without some moral reason.