#this is my emotional review....

[quenthel]

My experience with Dragon's Dogma 2 and my thoughts about the true ending (spoilers!)

So first of all I never finished the first game. It just did not captivate me, and I got annoyed by the respawning low level enemies and lack of fast travel. I loved the monster designs and the pawns a lot tho.

Then the second game got announced n I vacillated between getting it and not getting it, while like 90% of my friends were hyping me up. I ended up pre-ordering. I made my pawn after my beloved kittycat Lara.

Dragon's Dogma 2 is very similar to the first game but it feels more polished. The vocations are more fun, the pawns are chattier and cuter, the vibe of the world is a bit more whimsical and sillier than it was. I ended up not minding the low level enemies at all because the combat is just that fun. The npcs are also more charming this time around but the more I played the more I just fell in love with the pawns. The rest of the npcs colored the world, and the game's big quest (aside from continuing the cycle n killing the dragon) is specifically to learn about this world. The pathfinder specifically tells you this the game itself grapes you by the shoulder and invites you to have fun in this light hearted theme park. Kill cool monsters! Meet lovely people! It's very comfy.

BUT THEN the game occasionally has moments that made me feel emotional. And many times these moments were connected to my pawn. When my dear Lara was in danger or dying or in pain in a cutscene it felt meaningful because she is my main pawn. My main traveling companion, my little heal bot. I even presented her to the Sphinx when she asked who I love the most because she is the one always by my side chatting in my ear.

Then I got to the end. And the victory over the dragon felt hollow. Like ok great I did it I saved the world but it's just the same shit right? And where is my pawn? So I triggered the true ending or the beginning of the true ending that breaks the cycle. At first I found this very cool bc I love when games about grand cycles allow you to just upset the order of things... (It was very dark souls like) After I found my pawn sweet Lara again I started taking on the rest of the post game, which was preparing the denizens of the world that it is ending. Lara said she always felt my Arisen's presence like a heartbeat, even while separated.

And as I was facing down the last thing available for me (aside from another quest that glitched out) something very cool happened. The last challenge was killing another of these weird brine dragons, by powering the Gigantus you fight earlier. And it was LARA doing it not my Arisen. And SHE killed the dragon. Like pawns in this game have no free will at all, it's acknowledged many times by the setting. They are mysterious and they exist to help you. They have emotions, and they chitter cutely, but you make them. They are even more doll like than your own player character or all npcs and yet by the end my own pawn was the character I cared for the most. And she started acting without me prompting.

And then it was the end of my journey and I summoned a new proper dragon. And Lara turned into one too (like when pawns get the disease n turn into dragons) but this time she remained aware. And she helped me kill the new dragon. Like the last moment with your poor struggling pawn deciding to help you not because it's their role in this world but because it WANTS to help out of it's free will? That moment will stuck with me for a long time.

And it's such a smart decision too bc your Arisen steps out of the cycle and your pawn your precious companion does too. While the spirit of the game talks about pawns being hollow nothings, your own pawn replies to that that it's not true and it became something because of the player. And this is a game where pawns learn things from you all the time.

Like it just made me think about a lot of things. Fantasy stories and the people in these stories are there to serve a purpose usually (the pathfinder says this exact same thing too). Dragon's Dogma 2 analyzes what it means to exist in one such a story on a level I think. Like it presents you with a beautiful world and with lovely people you can escape to. It's idillyc and you are a hero and you can kill monsters and dragons and you can be so cool. And at first wanting to see the true ending feels like a punishment. Like oh really? You wanted to see this world unravel? Well it's all shit now. All those lovely people are in danger the world is no longer beautiful and everyone is DOOMED. Do you care to struggle? Why do you care to struggle? Do you care for this little doll you made so many hours ago to aid you? Why does it feel meaningful when it gains free will?

I think it's very impactful on a level because I did end up caring a lot. Especially about my pawn transforming into something new. The two of us together remaking the lovely world in which neither of us have a place in...

[sparrowchute]

ive been in the cotl trenches all year and have posted like no art for it oops

[johnnyshrine]

★ 091 // "Calendar?"

[aclockworkreader]

all my arcane thoughts because i’m feeling entirely normal about this show:

the storytelling!! the foreshadowing!! the parallels!! the pure artistry!! arcane is a masterpiece!!

it has everything: trauma, found family, the corruption of power, complex sibling dynamics, queer relationships (sapphic rep!!), more trauma, social and political commentary, beautiful animation, and even more trauma!! it reminds me so much of so many of my favorite animated shows (avatar: the last airbender, she-ra, fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood) all mixed into one.

the animation was actually something that originally kept me from watching the show because i’m not a big fan of most 3d animation. but my GOD was it beautiful!!! the way they were able to mix art styles and switch between 3d and 2d worked so well! it was incredibly creative and artistic and i’ve never seen anything like it. the fight sequences were STUNNING and easily some of the best moments in the show. every frame was truly a work of art, i’m obsessed.

from the characters to the plot, every element of this show is so well written, it’s restored my faith in modern tv writing.

would absolutely recommend if you’re prepared to have your heart torn from your chest 💔

spoilers below with all my in depth thoughts

okay please bear with me, my brain is all over the place:

- JINX!! MY PRECIOUS JINX!! YOU DESERVED SO MUCH MORE!!! 😭😭 oh i knew it was coming and yet i still cried so much!!! she’s easily my favorite character. i support her in all her rights and wrongs (of which there are none actually, she had every right to do everything she did). all that’s keeping me sane is knowing she’s alive and well in another timeline 🥲 with ekko 🥲 dancing freely and engineering to her hearts content

- i also loved vi so so much. the prideful eldest sibling overwhelmed by the responsibility she feels to her family….yeah that hit hard. these sisters, doomed by the narrative, have DESTROYED me. all the parallels of their relationship throughout the show, down to vi grabbing jinx before she falls in the first vs last episode!! it’s all too much, i’ll never recover 😭

- my biggest complaint is that we didn’t get to explore vi’s grief after losing jinx. i know they jumped forward in time, so it seemed like she just kinda moved on and we didn’t get to see the aftermath of arguably the most traumatic thing she’s ever experienced?? watching her sister die and her father die (again) would have changed her forever so it felt a bit rushed to just….gloss over that.

- and i’m so sorry to the caitlyn stans but…..she’s not my favorite 😬 i don’t even dislike vi/cait as a ship, i just feel like caitlyn as a character is the least developed out of everyone on the show. and also her dictator arc was…something. i feel like we moved on from it so quickly that we didn’t have time to fully explore and address everything there.

- my other favorite character (second only to jinx) is ekko!! a true hero!! every fight scene he’s in is my favorite fight scene—he’s just SO GOOD 🤍 and what he does for jinx??? yeah, that was pure love

- the jinx/vi/isha/vander dynamic was easily my favorite part of the whole show. them as a family hurt me and healed me and UGH i cried so much 😭 isha and jinx too my GOD their whole relationship was so beautiful and jinx getting to be the older sister she never had 😭 i’m still crying over it!

- and sevika???? LOVE her. imagine being that right all the time….she has to be a capricorn.

- also mel!! she took some time to grow on me but i especially loved her arc in season 2! her as a mage is iconic and i wish we could have seen her use her magic more!

- oh and silco?? the most unexpected favorite. i didn’t expect to side with him so often, but that’s what makes him such a great villain. and the tears i shed when he told jinx “i never would have given you to them. not for anything”??? oh i SOBBED

- while i did love the jayce/viktor relationship by the end, i just find jayce to be so….boring, i’m sorry!! maybe upon rewatch i’ll feel more attached to him but (especially compared to nearly every other character) he’s so uninteresting. but the show needed some normie representation, so i’ll let him be.

- but viktor though!! yeah he was an incredible character. i called the plot twist of him being the mage who helped jayce pretty early on, so that wasn’t a surprise. but i did not expect him to have a full on jesus arc?? that was wilddd and i feel like i need more watches to fully process it all.

those are most of my thoughts for now. i’m just in awe of how wonderful this show is and surprised by how much i enjoyed it. i definitely need more time and more rewatches to say for certain if it’s an all time favorite, but it’s definitely up there 💙🩷

[olvanne]

When Igor tells her the car was his grandmother’s, she sees someone who is, and has been, kind to her - unlike most of the men in her life: the men at the club, the ones who use and take. Ivan, with his deception and abandonment. Toros, speaking of her like she was nothing. The henchmen, treating her like property. Galina, though she’s not a man, and her demeaning dismissals.

She feels some sort of sadness in that moment, but also, and more strongly, gratitude. She doesn’t transactionally repay him for the ring, but wants to genuinely thank him. She uses the only thing she’s been made to believe she has to offer - her beauty, her body, her sexuality - to thank him.

(This turning point occurs when he mentions that the car was his grandmother’s. Earlier, we see interactions that highlight how the men she’s met disregard their family. The client in the beginning that hopes his family doesn’t find out he’s with her, and her friend talks about a client who compares her to his 18-year-old daughter; Ivan marrying a “hooker” just to piss his family off. When Ivan mentions meeting her family, Anora only mentions her mother and sister—no mention of her father.

Perhaps Igor is just too poor to have afforded his own car. But the way he said it was his grandmother’s, you sense the affection he holds for his grandmothers and that he misses her. These interactions contrast with Igor, who isn’t like the others. His gentleness stands out, and Anora recognizes it. She admires this about him deeply. So she doesn’t just want to thank him (although this is the main reason); she also wants to do something for someone whose gentleness and kindness she deeply appreciates.)

But when Igor tries to kiss her, something shifts. He doesn’t just want to enjoy some sex with a pretty woman. In that moment, Anora sees someone who truly wants her, someone who feels something for her. Whether that something is genuine care, a recognition of what she’s been forced to endure, or sorrow at the humiliation and pain she has suffered. Maybe, from the kiss, there’s something else too—maybe he feels for her in a way that’s deeper, something close to tenderness.

After everything, after the relentless sexualization and dehumanization—not just in the past day by Ivan, the family, the family’s henchmen, but throughout her entire career—having someone who sees her as more than that, who cares, who sees her pain and feel sorry for her - is overwhelming. She breaks down.

But in that breaking, there’s also something else—comfort. The safety to let herself unravel, to let her emotions spill out, to exist beyond the role she has always been forced to play. Not to smile, not to move and speak seductively, but to cry. To finally express the hopelessness and pain in her soul in front of someone who isn’t expecting her to perform.

- my own interpretation of the ending

[marley-manson]

Hawkeye not being emotionally repressed as a person, but still being emotionally repressed because he's in a situation that causes him to feel impossibly intense emotions that can't be fully expressed without ruining his or others' lives.

Because to really express his true feelings he'd have to scream until his voice gave out, desert, kill a general, etc. Constantly feeling like he's barely holding himself back, keeping himself from exploding through the relatively minor shows of rebellion and antagonism towards people like Frank, and his humour. "Joking is the only way I can open my mouth without screaming."

Hawkeye's breakdown in GFA is a fitting cap for his character for many reasons, and I think this is also one of them. It just makes narrative sense, as someone who does need to express his feelings and who is trapped in a war zone, that at some point he had to fully snap and drive a jeep through a wall.

[utilitycaster]

I myself just been wondering if it was like the world is shit I just want a happy ending. I can get behind I won't like it but hey I'll keep watching. I am enjoying the way you are explaining the way you seeing the outcome, your feeling on and the critical thinking applied. I have thoughts that I can't really properly put into words so your anons and replies have been most helpful thanks everyone.

Hi anon, thank you!

See, here is my problem: I have never understood the concept of fluff as comfort, at least for like, worry and sadness. Fluff is like, for if I am tired or not feeling well (and even then I tend to go for not that intellectually demanding but not Pure Sugar), but when I think back to my comfort rewatches when I have genuinely been going through it and sad (normal) or Sad (Actual Depression) they've often been like, bittersweet. I find Overwhelmingly Happy Everything's Ok to ring false, no matter my mood, and even if I'm watching something about gods and dragons and wizards, as I often am, I need that groundedness in reality, of things being kind of bad but ending up with something meaningful and hopeful. Honestly, a lot of my comfort watches or reads are about a death, literal or figurative, and people picking up after that (with the loss still standing). "Everything will be okay and none of the bad things will have mattered" does not comfort me in the slightest; "things have been terrible and gotten better and the way this pain will change you will not destroy you" does.

[pokemon1oadvanced]

Watching spoiler free reviews for season 3 was a bad idea. Whats worse? Reading comments that the original poster replied to

POTENTIAL SPOILERS BELOW

New fear unlocked: Yasammy break-up

Like what does tension mean

Also found out baby isn’t named Speckles so💔

[halfbaked00q]

situation in which M catches wind through the gossip mill that Bond and Q are Involved TM and he has sort of a passing thought of hm should he be worried about this should he look into this, for form's sake if nothing else- this could be a case of a field operative taking advantage of support staff blah blah. not that Q can't take care of himself, but, well. you know,. Bond. It shouldn't hurt to just check in with Q, right?

but like the next possible moment M might have to check in with Q is when they're about to have a joint briefing, and Bond is about to show up at any moment. M is like debating with himself if he should bring it up- but then Bond comes sauntering in, so he's lost the moment.

anyway in the course of the briefing, M is surreptitiously observing the two to see if there's any red flags- none that he can see, they are their usual snarky selves. but then Bond leans in a certain way or leans into Q's space a certain way, and against his will, he catches a glimpse of... leather? against Bond's throat underneath his shirt collar. And unfortunately now that he saw it, he can't unsee it, nor the like subtle tells in how they are interacting with each other... So he has gone from hm should I at least as a formality be worried about this, to quickly learning/realizing (1) he did NOT need to know this about his two subordinates slash friends(? -inasmuch as spies can be friends and a boss can be friends with his subordinates even if the trials they've been through together have blurred the lines on that and forged bonds amongst them), and (2) yeah no this was a foolish worry... Q has the situation well in hand (hah)

[thelostgirl21]

So... "The Importance of Being Earnest" is getting 5 stars reviews and I'm so proud of our boy right now...

And I've just discovered the Cineplex that's 3km from home will be playing it on February 20th and you can already start buying tickets!

Now, I know what I'll be doing on February 20th! It's going to be a very gay, fun, and colorful evening!

(X)

[crescentfool]

persona nui havers! in the tags, talk about your nuis like you're writing a review of them on a website!

[redrobin-detective]

As the writer, there is something quietly soothing about little fic edits before publication. Your child is almost grown and ready to go off into the world but before they stop being yours and yours alone, you must fluff and attend to them a bit. A minor dialogue change there, fixing little typos and run-ons, tying up a loose thread no one else would probably notice but you did. They itch to be free and yet you must comb their hair and straighten their tie one last time before letting them go.

[boushwrites]

Perhaps you were right after all—

We broke nearly every promise,

But not all, my love,

For I never stopped loving you,

And I never will.

That, my dear, will be the only promise kept despite all the pain that is coming with that.

SB♡

[wifegideonnav]

watched saltburn. if i was someone who liked unearned twists that were simultaneously not even a surprise and also i wanted to fuck jacob elordi im sure i would’ve loved it. 4/10 could’ve been worse, overall forgettable

[mermaidsirennikita]

EVERYONE!

Elizabeth Hoyt is LEGIT returning to us with No Ordinary Duchess on 12/10!

And I know this because.... I just got an ARC! Aaaaaaah!!!!!

[queerslurheritageposts]

I come bearing links to funny faggot videos (you said you couldn’t find the series, but I have them here)

Baldur’s Gate 3

Animal Crossing (there’s two separate parts that’s why there’s two links)

Legend Of Zelda

Pokémon

these are all of the ones out now, but if any more come out, I’ll be sure to send them 🫡

not the bg3 one calling Wyll spineless 😭 he would be scared to say it tho he's too niceys

these are all very good thank you for sharing!