#why are the character story quests always about npcs i hate that

[leafyduckwebs]

Me: man there's nothing to do in this game. save me interlude chapter. save me dain quest number 4. i hate filler patches.

My 20 unfinished story quests, hangouts, and world quests: hey

Me: nuh uh

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not telling my friend I don't want to play DND with her?

I (17M) am a player in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign (NOTE: it is not actually DND, I am just saying it for simplicity's sake. If anything sounds off, that's why. Either way, it's TTRPG, and both games have the same system, although they aren't anywhere near similar to DND gameplay-wise. It's very roleplay focused.) with a few of my friends (all 17-20F: Viola, Korrina, Valerie, and Olympia). Viola is our DM, and I have so much fun every time we play, with no intents on quitting because of this.

Olympia just like... fucking sucks though, to be honest? Like, I just hate playing with this chick. She's always asking for extra bonuses on rolls because she's just such a good player (no one else does it, Viola allows it though), she actively started PVP with me, she physically disabled my character in said PVP and I had to do chaos control (I did not want to have my character be disabled, if I did I would have a disabled character, but I failed a roll against her in this fight so I had to have my character go on a side-quest to fix it: I would be more fine with it if it was Viola, but another player? Really?), and she's just not really funny when she talks about the campaign outside of the sessions (I know, it's a little personal). She gets really upset when we mention this one thing we all like to the point of taking inspiration from it for characters and NPCs because she doesn't get it but she refuses to try the thing so we just have to not talk about it with her, and overall she just... isn't enjoyable to be around.

I know I'm gonna have people in the comments say "just tell her that you don't like her now! You sound awful, you should quit," etc etc, but hear me out. I am a player. Since the DM is Viola, and Olympia and Viola are having fun, I don't feel like I should say anything. It's the DM's story, and as a mere character in the story I can't have any say in the format, especially since I was the one that invited Olympia to the group (I made a casual offer to my whole friend group over a school group chat and both Olympia and Korrina responded, so I had to include both of them), and we've been playing this campaign since August.

One of our players had to cancel on us a week ago as of writing this, and so I decided to run a oneshot based off of a campaign I've been wanting to do (first time DMer, I wanted to try it out). The players were Viola, Korrina, and Olympia, and it was actually really fun! I wanted to wait for Viola's campaign to end before I actually started playing my campaign, but that wasn't going to happen in a while, so I had decided to run it then.

I don't want Olympia anywhere near my actual campaign, though. I'm planning on letting my friend (Drasna, 18F) join, as well as anyone else who shows interest, along with Viola, Korrina, and Valerie. But as you may know, Olympia is insufferable to me, and as DM I feel like I have the right to deny her from playing with me.

She still played in the oneshot though, and was... very excited for it. I am aware I am the only one with beef here. Olympia keeps on PMing me about her character, asking about the world, and she's really interested in the world and the format of it. Her character's nice even if a little similar to one of the main plot NPCs I have, but as I've mentioned, I really want to cut her out when the campaign gets rolling. The only reason I couldn't for the oneshot is because we are actively in the middle of a campaign and everyone would think I'm being weird and things would be tense for the rest of the campaign. I can't just tell Olympia to her face "hey, I hate playing with you actually. Go home, fuck off."

I feel like I treated Olympia fairly when we played (she didn't do anything drastic, at least), but I don't know how my negative feelings on her are going to impact the campaign. I don't want to have an inbalance in the characters and how they're treated.

AITA for leading her on to make sure things don't get awkward during Viola's campaign, even though I have no intent of changing my mind on not having her as a player?

What are these acronyms?

[isnt-it-pretty]

I found your Cyrus ask/post and really liked anon’s and your thoughts on it

Going onto my own projections lol, I always thought Cyno’s story parallels immigrants to an extent. He’s a desert dweller, but he’s basically been raised in the Akademiya. He’s Othered there because of the prejudices against the desert, but he’s Othered in the desert too due to being the General Mahamatra. He knows the desert, but from what I remember it’s implied (I think since the Sumeru archon quest?) he doesn’t quite know it as much those who actually live there, like Candace

One admirable trait of Cyrus at least is that he has a soft spot for children, and we see that when he’s willing to pretty much drop the case of the threat letter once he finds out it’s a 16-year-old responsible

So I think your take is very consistent of what we already know of Cyrus. Arguably, it’s still not the best outcome, because good intentions doesn’t mean it’s for the best. I honestly think he felt responsible for Cyno, as someone who was involved in implanting the fragment in him and seeing how it resulted in his sickliness. I also think seeing Cyno suffer was possibly half the reason why he ended the experiment and took him with him

But that’s me giving him the benefit of the doubt. Cyrus himself admits at the end of the SQ that he’s “not a good person” and that Cyno has reason to hate him. Like you said, he doesn’t give his reasons, so we’re left to basically guessing his thoughts that ultimately he’s a pretty enigmatic character. It doesn’t help that he’s not the most honest about them. He seems to be pretty emotionally-constipated and very avoidant in fact, and that bites him in the ass when he tells Cyno about Hermanubis but is not willing to get into any depth. Cyno even calls him out a little by the end of the SQ, when he clearly wants to talk to Cyno about something but ends up giving him “non-answers”, so he’s definitely not perfect

Either way, to that anon: you’re valid if u don’t like him. I was a little surprised at how much MHY went into Cyrus’ character, making him flawed enough to be justifiably disliked. It’s not something I expected from a NPC, but it’s a good direction from a story-telling standpoint (in that, I can see how this can be set up for conflict, but that’s my angst fanfic-loving heart lol cuz I doubt MHY will release a third SQ)

I'm glad you liked it! Here is the post referenced.

Cyno very much feels like somebody adopted outside of his culture (same with Kaeya), and he shares a lot with immigrants as well since the desert is basically treated as a seperate nation. He reminds me a lot of people who adopt children from Kenya or China (or other African & Asian countries), or indigenous children adopted outside of their communities, and then their roots are ignored and they're treated as the same as their family, even though they aren't.

I don't think there's any parents, adopted or otherwise, we know of in Genshin who are the idealisitic perfect parents. Kaeya's birth family is its own tangle, Crepus instilled a hero complex so strongly into Diluc that Diluc is now embittered and angry, Jean and Barbara's parents split up abd each took a kid (I mean seriously, what the fuck?), Kaveh's mother had severe depression and left him behind to build a life in Fontaine, Arlecchino is a mess for the Hearth children, Alice isn't the worst but she still left Klee for literally years, Dehya's father was a bandit, Diona's is an alcoholic, Kojou Sara's is a traitor, Wriothesley, Shenhe- you get the point. (Fischl, Bennet, and Yoimiya's parents are admittedly pretty good.)

Genshin has no problem giving us characters with complicated parental relationships. It's nice that we get to see Cyno still associating with Cyrus when so many other characters are estranged.

Cyno definitely deserves some straight answers though, and I think he'd get them eventually. Give it a few days to cool down and then go sit with Cyrus, listen to some tomato rants, and ask hos questions.

I'm too much of a baby to write or read arguments between Cyno and Cyrus 😭

[kyogre-blue]

OK, Wuwa chapter 1 is done.

It turns out the place I stopped last night was the very last scene of Act V, and Act VI is just the extended finale of chapter 1.

It was... a very mixed bag! If I had to describe it in a word, I would pick "clumsy."

The ideas they were going for are mostly fine, and their execution at least clearly shows what they were trying to do, but man. It gets aggressively Too Much at multiple points, the gameplay is so hand-holdy in parts that I honestly feel kind of confused as to what kind of audience testing led to this (are most people really this stupid??), and the details are, as always, painfully unpolished.

Speaking more specifically, I'll give an example. When defending the city, several NPCs show up to fight too. It's cool seeing them using their skill and ults, I like that! However, not only Verina, but even Yuanwu and Lianyang show up. We haven't even met Yuanwu before and he's, from all indications, just some dude who runs a gym. Every time he talks and then inexplicably shows up in montages of Rover thinking about everyone who is counting on him and Jiyan, it's just so silly. We don't know him! And Lianyang just looks so goofy with the liondancing in this extremely serious situation. I haven't even done his character quest yet, team. Be real, how much did the government give you for this character...

This is a case where less would have been more. Just leave it at Verina healing people, Taoqi getting introduced as leading the NPCs in battle, and Chixia as the face of people we actually know enough to care about.

And it's not the only example. There's stuff like how awkward it feels when everyone talks about Rover, Yangyang and even Baizhi with just first name and no other comment, like they're all very familiar with each other, which doesn't really make much sense. It feels very forced. Or stuff like Jiyan making you "pick" where the troops will be positioned during the operation, but there's only one correct answer anyway, so what was this even for? And just the general excessive amount of padding that isn't congruent with the urgent atmosphere.

(All of this is not helped by the poor EN voice direction.)

Which brings us to the gameplay. I won't comment on them giving us a full party of nothing but trial characters for the entire act, it isn't really a big deal either way. But the "platforming" was just... who the hell needed Jiyan to comment about every single use of the grapple? The grapple points freaking glow! There's nothing else to do anyway! Just explain it once and players can figure it out from there! It was so ridiculous.

And then there's the little details like the "Trial Resonator has left/joined the party" popping up over dramatic cutscenes. It's almost funny. Jiyan is leaving the party! Jiyan is joining the party! This is starting to look like a parody with the uuuuh gameplay and story integration here.

However, the two most unfortunate points were the minor gripes that ruined the very, very end for me. 1) Saved by an ugly mascot. 2) Stupid sounding storyteller cap off.

Not only does it look extremely silly to be shielded by a little mascot's butt with its bunny tail, but the mascot is pretty ugly. Why this thing...... who asked...... especially given the overall tone and vibe of Wuwa??

And then the storyteller.... god, I hate storytellers. They are so fucking awful, I do not understand the CN game obsession with them. Bruh, I don't need some dumb-sounding asshole to tell me the story, I'm playing an interactive modern medium so I can watch the story be acted out by the goddamn characters.

I was so mad I literally took out my headphones and did not perceive anything past the mascot. Which I also hated.

It was otherwise a passable if rather jank ending to the storyline, suitably dramatic and at least there was Jiyan, but those two last points....

Anyway, I'm mildly disappointed that we didn't beat the Threnobian (it just left) and nothing else interesting except the mascot was revealed. Jiyan was nice tho, and I'll play his character quest next, I guess.

[lexsnotdead]

I absolutely loved BG1 and 2, Neverwinter Nights Hordes of the Underdark and Neverwinter Nights 2 too are among my most favourite RPGs. But Larians writing, particularly in D:OS2 turned me off so much :( How different is BG3?

big wall of text under the cut and before anything else i want to say that criticizing a game does not equal not liking it

i thought a lot about my response to this ask, since i must admit i have never played bg&bg2 and jumped straight into the hype train of bg3. and i'm genuinely curious what exactly about dos2 turned you off that much. here's what i personally think:

i played d:os1 and d:os2 and while i'm a big fan of the latter… dos1 couldn't keep me entertained even when playing with a friend in coop, which shows just how exhaustively boring and unmemorable it was. i really love dos2 and despite what i will say next, nothing is gonna change my love for this game. but. imma be honest, it was 3 and a half characters that kept me playing. i love sebille and lohse, i love malady — the mystery around her has its own appeal, but it's still a huge miss not to expand on such intriguing character as herself. i slightly care about ifan and fane, i couldn't give a lesser fuck about beast, i fucking hate the red prince and his writing is one of most unlikable from any rpg game i ever played (i can elaborate. but that's a post for another time). in short: lack of memorable characters, and those who are there have to make up in quality rather than quantity.

and larian is still... larian. their ambition makes them bite more than they can chew, you don't need to be nitpicking on purpose to notice just now empty act 3 of d:os2 was compared to fort joy or driftwood. in similar-ish way act 3 of bg3 feels less polished in terms of performance and content. like they even had to add an alternative ending to karlach's quest only after the game's release lol. there are quite a lot of bugs and players who are doing an "evil" playthrough like me found themselves deprived of content — sometimes you're just locking yourself out of quests, encounters, characters entirely because of decisions you made, quite literally making the game harder for yourself.

another important thing that i'd point out that dos2 felt kinda lacking in terms of the character creation because ocs always felt less immersive and shallow compared to the playable origins (i had the time of my life playing as lohse, tho). i know people who managed to have fun filling the blank spaces with their imagination, but i'm not one of those people, unfortunately. when i tried creating a drow character in bg3, however, every third npcs made sure to glare at me distrustfully and be fantasy racist towards the drow. like really? thanks for noticing! this might sound weird, but i liked that. it enhanced my feeling of immersion thus making it more satisfying to play. like yeees... yes... i indeed am a drow!

i'd rather stop focusing on its shortcomings because it feels unfair to larian when they are listening to the playerbase and trying their best to deliver patches as quick as possible. after all, what makes a good dnd adventure for me is always the story and characters — banal it may be, as long as it is fun, it is a good dnd game. and bg3 is very fun and addictive. there's this unique feeling when you're planning your next playthrough and considering what you would've done differently when still doing your first. i like it more compared to dos2, because... i'm not sure why myself? interpersonal interactions just feel a bit deeper, and i actually care about almost every companion, even the ones i did not expect to care about (like gale, astarion, shadowheart). and variety of the character creation, of course. and i can bet on bg3 being next the goty haha

to sum this all up:

if you like dos:2, you will like this game

if you like dnd e5, you will also like this game

if you like bg1 and bg2 then i genuinely don't know i'm sorry

[mesaprotector]

I began writing this Elden Ring review when I felt the game nearing a close. Today I finished it. First "AAA" game I've ever played to completion, and I have mixed but mostly positive feelings. At any rate, my life to come is going to be a bit different not fighting wolves for hours each week.

Graphics

Anywhere from "fine, but relentlessly grim" (Caelid, much of the Mountaintops) to "I want to move here right now" (Siofra/Nokron, Leyndell, the Roundtable Hold). The game looks very good, though I can't say the same about some of the enemies and NPCs. When the designers cared, they made some very cool-looking stuff - Astel, Naturalborn of the Void is one of my favorites.

Music

The region themes were definitely a highlight. Above all, the terribly sad theme of Leyndell, a lone city clinging to life in a world falling gradually to pieces. The way the horn-using enemies harmonized with that theme was a beautiful touch. I wasn't as impressed with the boss themes though that might just be my personal preference for chiptunes.

Characters

Overall, this isn't a character-driven game, and that's fine. The voice acting definitely lends a hand with best boy Margit/Morgott and other characters like the Blackguard; but most characters who are memorable are memorable because of their designs or combat abilities. I do have to ask, though, why do most of the characters have to die? Even characters whose arcs I completed just up and died at the end. Alexander should've survived!

Combat

I think for the most part this aspect was fun. I definitely can criticize certain enemies getting reused (those awful ulcerated tree spirits, if you're going to reuse a boss that many times at least pick one that's fun). The balance was a bit off, as the game very clearly expects you to be playing a Str/Dex melee-focused build with a lot of dodging, weaving, and blocking, and doesn't bother balancing for anything else. Never mind that you can snipe enemies from a distance one by one or mow them down on Torrent, and then certain boss fights are MUCH harder doing anything except melee. (Hi, Rennala... or any of the Crystalians.) I don't know if it was intentional that some dungeons are torture but have easy bosses at the end.

I played Dex/Fth, using the Treespear for most of my run until I went for the Blasphemous Blade later in the game, with the Cipher Pata as a backup. I was terrible at dodging and only attempted it on bosses with telegraphed attacks like Mohg and the Fire Giant. I spent most of my time on Torrent, because the Treespear is an S-tier mounted weapon, and turned into a stealth-sniper every time I was in a dungeon. People sleep on bows and crossbows - their damage is terrible, but they're fantastic for aggroing one enemy at a time or hitting those dungeon pillars that breathe fire.

Despise the weird balancing, I think my only major quibbles with the combat in Elden Ring would be that, one, items are mostly useless - why use a Rune Arc to try to beat a hard fight when it's not enough of a buff to guarantee a win, and you lose it permanently? - and that the boss fights being occasionally hard throws progression out of whack if you're anything other than very, very stubborn. Which leads me to my main complaint about this game.

Questlines

Oh dear lord. I've always hated "guide dang it"-type content in games, but it's fine if it's like, secret rooms that have a bunch of coins and a cool sword. Not if there are obscure quests that you're all but required to play for much of the game's plot to make sense. (Rogier! I'm talking about Rogier!) I'll get into this more in the "story" section but I scarcely had a clue what was going on for most of the game, because almost all the lore for the game is hidden deep in questlines which can easily be permanently missed. I praise Miriel his Holy Turtleness every day for being one of the only NPCs who tells you about the gods without you having to find the Dubious Runebear Medallion first (or whatever). Without him I'd have had no idea who Marika even was.

The game also punishes you, over and over, for daring to explore areas early. Nepheli and Corhyn both died because of this in my playthrough - I'd already explored the Albinauric Village and the cliff by the Royal Colosseum, respectively, so I didn't re-explore once they moved to those locations. Then they just both died when I burned the Erdtree. Thanks, game. Really appreciate it.

While I'm at it - gesturing should never have been a mechanic in questlines except when you're explicitly told what to do (like the Finger Snap to summon Blaidd). Same with the Prattling Pates - there was zero indication they were anything but a joke item and then suddenly, dead Boc because you missed the single chance the game gives you to use one. (Rebirth with Rennala didn't kill me the three times I did it... so why did it kill Boc?)

I'm not sure I'd have completed even a single quest had I not had the bright idea to look them all up after the Fire Giant. (Maybe Fia's?) Turns out that was already a bit too late.

Story

I will say that the game's story and world is very, very good. It's a shame it's so hurt by the poor quest design, because I genuinely wanted to learn everything I could about the demigods, about the conspiracies and factions and everything else. Unfortunately I've learned more from the game's wiki than from the game itself. Even when I burned the Erdtree I wasn't totally sure why I was doing it, except that Melina told me to.

I was told by a friend not to heavily RP my character because it'd make the game too hard, but I did do a bit of it. I played a tough old lady, pious but brutal, who would never dare talk to the Three Fingers or do the bidding of a heretic, but wouldn't hesitate to slay a god. I intentionally skipped Tanith's questline because of this, and left the Dung Eater to rot.

Endings

I accidentally picked Ranni's ending. I was in the boss room after finally beating that obese flying salamander and instinctively pressed E when I saw a message below me, and instead of asking to confirm the game went straight into the cutscene. (Yet another example of this game being poorly designed for PC!) I think I was eligible for two other endings, and Fia's was my favorite concept of the three, though its 20-second cutscene I watched later on Youtube wasn't much. It does feel like the endings have the same issue as the rest of the game - very good ideas that never get explained well enough to be appreciated.

Overall

7/10; an amazing world with passable characters and very fun gameplay, but held back by the terrible quest design. If the game provided a lot more lore by default (for example, at the end of each major boss fight, or through Gideon and other NPCs who rarely change location), and made it very clear what the quest breakpoints were, it could easily be a 9/10. The game breaks the unspoken rule that hidden content should never be core to the plot. Anyone who plays this game should do it with a guide - not an exhaustive 100% checklist, but enough of a guide that nobody ends up dead without you intending it, and that you don't miss the most plot-relevant quests in the game.

[mareenavee]

Criminal asks! *grabby hands*

8, 15, and 22 please :)

Maple!! I was half wondering if you'd made this ask game before I saw the actual post this morning LOL. They seem like your kind of discussions, and I'm here for it.

Thank you for these!

From this caustic ask game right here.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

We're all entitled to our opinions, but I refuse to believe Ondolemar actually wants to be a Thalmor. He does some real RIEKLING BEHAVIOR SHIT in the Embassy for you if you get some bard or whatever arrested for their Talos-flavored nonsense. (Please, I hate this quest as much as the next person. I'm definitely live and let live ambivalent about Talos nonsense.) Granted, to get him to help here, you yourself have to not be a [redacted] idiot with the vocabulary of a Riekling yourself. :>

If he agrees to help you, then you get this gem of a conversation five feet from Elenwen, who is, presumably his superior:

Ondolemar: "How dare you speak of the Thalmor in such a disgusting manner!" Razelan: "What? I didn't... hmm? No listen, you must have misunderstood... I would never openly insult your... that is to say..." Ondolemar: "Your insults and provocations have gone far enough! I'd kill you where you stand if I wasn't bound by my oath as an officer of the Aldmeri Dominion."

This is Riekling Behavior. It is Causing Problems On Purpose for some [redacted] just because they helped with a simple quest he could have definitely thrown his power around to accomplish without thievery and tomfoolery.

To my eye he wanted to see if you, the player, were willing to throw away all reason to help him, and do so without getting your ass caught and thrown in jail. He needs people who can manage simple tasks without getting the entire government involved so he can trust you in the future. For what? Very out of character to LET IN RANDOM PEOPLE to secret Thalmor business in a secret Thalmor unjoinable faction.

He does not want to be part of this and/or is trying to do something about them. Bet. (Anyway thanks for coming to my TES talk.)

15. That one thing you see in fanart all the time

Hmm. I am usually in awe of fanart to be perfectly honest. But I suppose, and this is likely my very Aro/Ace brain, if I see a lot of fanart of pairings of OC/NPC, and I can't tell what the OC's deal is outside of who they are paired with -- ie, set aside, they have no personality at all on their own, then I'm going to be a little less likely to give the art attention. I want to know who the characters are, not just who they're [redacted.] Ya know what I mean? Sorry that's pretty blunt but it's true. I think this is why my favorite fanart is from or for people whose characters are part of a larger work -- ie a comic or a fanfiction. So I can understand the character.

This is specifically about fanart of pairings with no story other than x OC is with x NPC, that's it, that's their story. I am usually still in awe of just OC artwork, or just NPCs. And yeah there's always going to be exceptions but the question brought to mind maybe three artists I find myself bored of seeing work from LOL out of the hundreds I do love to follow.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

...Am I allowed to say Athis here?

Okay so. I don't think I have to defend him to you, Maple lol (: But for others who may be out of the loop -- we stan a good Athis and we just want him to make something of his life. Yes, yes.

Anyway he exists. He's that one elf dude in the Companions? That one, yes. He was a shell of a character, yes, in Vanilla. He also looks a bit... We'll just keep our opinions on the vanilla art direction to ourselves in this case. Anyway it's little wonder he's been ignored...

But yes, please, you're ignoring a favorite bean, friends. Write more Athis. I don't even care how you write him, but please. Join me in the tag. LOL he deserves attention.

I picked him for World because he was a shell character and due to the project I've become enamored of all the iterations that could be. So ... join me in the brain rot. Yes, thank you.

[bam-monsterhospital]

the "dork"ening

whenever i remember isobel is a companion you can cart around with you in elder scrolls online, i'm always reminded of the huge deal they made about her when high isle was being advertised. she's voiced by laura bailey, who not only is a prolific voice actor but also voiced the fandom-favourite follower, serana, in elder scrolls v skyrim.

before coming out, zos and any advertising surrounding isobel would always describe her as a "dork". it felt a little weird, hearing the specific use of the word "dork" again and again without further elaboration. Isobel is a "dorky" companion. What does this mean? Is she socially awkward? Is she overly obsessive with becoming a knight? Does she know niche factoids about select special interests?

No. none of those things are the case.

Oh, okay, so what does it mean then? What's isobel's deal, what's she about, what's her personality?

Nothing!

So why the continuous description of "dork"?

WELL. Seems like "dorky" is the new "quirky" shorthand for not actually writing a character.

Which is so weird because isobel has TONS to work with! Her introduction/recruitment quest shows character, shows all sorts of things:

She's a jock. She doesn't like the idea of spending time in a library looking through books. She doesn't seem to particularly like books BUT she does like stories. She has a childhood friend who she would do anything for who totally isn't her girlfriend you guys omggggggggg, winkwink nudgenudge. And my favourite part, she hems and haws and frets over having to come up with a poem all throughout the recruitment quest, but at the end she's like 'no shaddup, i came up with one don't you DARE LAUGH aaaaaaaaa', and then reads the monstrosity like ---ohhhh wait for it --- an actual dORK? WHAT? It's awkward and horrible and she KNOWS, she knows aaaaaa she's so awful at poetry and hates it but wow she still did it and you didn't even have to help her and she puts up with the embarrassment and just boulders on through it and you kinda feel proud of her for doing that when she was dreading it so much, and WHAT IS THIS, CHARACTER?!? IN A ZOS GAME? IN MY ELDERSCROLLS?

But then when you bring her around exploring with you, all adventurer-like (because the game only sees your character as some nebulous 'adventurer'), all that potential is washed away in favour of worshiping the ground you walk on, and we get the absolute. worst. lines. of nothingness.

like this! :

"I can't wait to explore this place! I know, I know. I'm strange."

This single line will not leave my head. It rots me. It rots me to my very core.

In a game centered on exploring where the writing deliberately refuses to see you as anything other than an adventurer who explores, with a function like the companion system where the entire premise (even IN THE WRITING) is you are joined by an npc to explore and the npc knowssss exploration is what they signed up for and is always the exact reason they join you at all...

the writers decided isobel should make this quip about being quirky because she likes exploring.

In a vacuum, the sentence is fine. Hell, it even has the whisperings of potential characterization like "Oh, why do you think that's strange?" and "you're so quick to dismiss it like people have told you you're a weirdo for voicing it before". But we don't get that here. This sentence by itself does. not. work. here. It does not work for the game, for the mechanics of companions, or even the individual "reason" (it's always the same reason) this particular character is exploring with us. That's literally what we're doing right now in this screenshot, we're exploring! This does not work!

Instead this line reads as self-congratulatory and out-of-touch with reality (on both isobel and the writers' parts)... which could be an interesting path to explore, but that's not what the writers intended with this. They intended this line to set isobel apart and above the crowd as an explorer... in a game about exploring.

Honestly it reminds me of the serana line that drops a lampshade on her backstory, making the character come off as "i'm not like other girls" and written by an idiot. That's what this line feels like. It feels like a window into the writers' brains when making this character: like they feel they're breaking new ground and making this character oh so special, when instead they're just playing with cardboard.

I haven't adventured long enough with isobel to unlock her friendship quests (but i have an idea of what circular path they'll go), and there's just so much more about her writing that turns me right the fuck away. It's honestly so disappointing (especially after all the hype-mongering) when we get tidbits of an interesting character who just loves the thrill of adventure and has a big major crush on tolwife lyris. It's a huge letdown.

[theradicalkanji]

who are your fave ffxiv npcs?

Tough to say. I'd prolly put Ryne in the top three fo sho because her story arc was so good. I haven't played through the MSQ in so long tho that it's tough for me to recall all of them.

I will say that I really liked Ardbert even tho I was fully expecting to hate his guts throughout his post HW story arc. Cylva/Cyella is an amazing character too. It's a shame that her story arc is hidden behind having to do all the role quests and complete the entire Unukhalhai questline (Warring Triad + post ShB quests).

It's been so long since I had played HW that I don't recall anything that particularly stood out in the characters. I like Ysayle a lot but some of her story beats were a bit odd. (I don't think her sacrificing herself was a good resolution to her story arc.) Aymeric kinda bored me. Estinien doesn't really have any character growth until later on (doubly so if you didn't do the DRG questline). Haurchefant was great but a little too... Just nice. I don't feel like we got enough of his depth of character from the writing.

Nobody really stood out in SB either, and EW had good characters but they all kinda blurred together into one vague concept which I think may have been the intent. Hyth didn't have much of a presence by himself (which I realize was the whole point). Emet was more of the same and I liked his portrayal, especially since it made his story arc in ShB more tragic). Venat was a bit of an oddity. Like, she was a little too Doomed By The Narrative to really break out from the saviour role and have much of a personality other than Benevolent Goddess, and Hermes was a great character study but bored me as a person.

Not to say I hated EW. I loved it, but I feel like all the characters were designed to be foils to one another in key ways that I can't pick a character as being someone that stands out. Emet was all about his duty overwriting his compassion. Hermes was all about his compassion overwriting his duty. And both were twisted by millennia of loneliness and longing.

Venat and Hyth were similarly opposites. Hyth was all about sacrificing himself for his friends. He saw death as the ultimate end goal, and if he could die to help his friends, he'd be happy. Venat was determined to live to carry out her goals long past what should have been her normal life span. There was always more to do and she couldn't let go and let things progress on their own. Even after giving up the role of Azem, she couldn't just retire and leave it to the next generation which was why her death was so important because she finally accepted that the world would be ok without her.

[picaroroboto]

In an early story quest in FFXIV's 2nd expac, Stormblood, an NPC asks your character why you've chosen to help fight in this revolution. There's a number of cool, heroic-sounding dialogue options, but also the option to say "Frankly, this isn't my fight." Choosing this option doesn't really change anything - the NPC has a dissapointed reaction, but says they'll wait for you in case you change your mind. The rest of the quest proceeds the same as if you'd chosen one of the other options.

It was a very small moment but it stuck with me because I kept thinking of it in a meta way - in roleplaying games we have varying levels of control over our character's choices, but we can always choose why they do what the game makes them do and how they feel about that. You can't just not Stormblood because it's part of the story the game wants to tell, but because you have no choice but to do this quest you have to choose why you do it.

So even if your character doesn't want to fight this war, you still want to keep playing the game, so you show up to the next quest, and the next, and so on and so forth until the very end of the story.

Similarly, in the way I roleplay/write my FFXIV character, he had a mental breakdown after the 1st expac, Heavensward, and wanted to quit being a hero. I sort of simulated this by taking a break from advancing the main story for a while, instead doing a bunch of side content, hoping their stories might inspire a reason for my character to keep doing hero stuff.

I didn't find that reason. I just got bored of not advancing. I wanted to see the rest of the story, so I was basically dragging my unwilling character along. Someday I want to make a comic of this idea of tension between "the player character, who wants to Quit" versus "the player, who wants to Continue"

Wait where was I going here. Ah right something about the choice/lack of choice in games but when it gets down to it the only real choice, the only one that truly matters, is "Quit" or "Continue".

Because players, unless they hate the game their playing, are always going to want to see the story through to the end. Giving up partway through isn't really an "Ending" - you've just halted the progress of the story until such time as you pick it up again, which might be never, leaving the story in perpetual limbo. I think this often leads to player characters being described as determined types, because the way the player constantly moves forward through the story reflects through the character. Even if you put the player character in a truly desperate, hopeless situation (I'm thinking of the fake Bad End from Fate/Extra CCC, or the whole Ultima Thule sequence in FFXIV Endwalker), so long as there remains a way for the player to continue interacting with the game world - still NPCs to talk to, still able to move their character, they will use it, and keep using it, until they meet an ending that meets their satisfaction.

[sezja]

Hello o/

For your free time. Remember to always rest <3

Excuse me but more doubts about Sanaii:

Favorite hairstyles?

Most hated job?

Places she dislikes?

Any friends or other relationships? Who she trusts more? Anyone she goes to if she needs it?

What does she feels and thinks about her dads?

Cold weather or warm weather?

Is she too burdened by the Warrior of Light title?

Does she enjoys helping people?

Questline that most suits her (I’m thinking about class/job ones but you can choose another)?

Does she has favorite npc? Any type of thoughts or feelings about this canon character from admiration, respect, love of any kind, anything.

Favorite glamour set?

Any item she always has with herself?

Religious or not?

I will come back but enough for now :D

Favorite hairstyles: She likes to keep her hair long, but ties it back out of her face so it doesn't get in the way - she likes ponytails, buns, and other up-dos. It's a real shame the hairbuns... do what they do on miqo'te, because otherwise I think she'd love them.

Most hated job: She's tried and failed to get a handle on DoM jobs - for role quest purposes she's going to pick up RDM and SGE, neither of which she's particularly fond of. She likes X'rhun and Arya (she and Arya are great friends and maintain a steady correspondence), though, so she keeps making her best effort at RDM... even if the magical aspects baffle her and she'd rather just practice her swordsmanship.

Places she dislikes: Nowhere, really! She finds something to love everywhere she goes. It's part of why she decided to follow in Zephyr's footsteps and become an adventurer. If anything, Garlemald is grim and depressing so she hates going there - but she's very fond of Jullus, and she hopes to see something beautiful grow where the Empire fell.

Friends or other relationships: There's Arya, as mentioned above; they're pen pals. She also bonds with Alphinaud and Alisaie, finding it far easier to talk to them than anyone else in the Scions - especially Alisaie, who understands her frustration with politics and keeping up appearances. Sanaii tends to talk to Alisaie if she just needs to vent about something. They'll go talk it out over sweets, and if that doesn't work, they'll go fight something until the frustration's gone.

How does she feel about her dads: She loves them all dearly. She doesn't talk about them much, keeping them well away from the public eye and associating them with her as little as possible - she knows she has enemies, and those who would use her family against her if they could. She tries not to tell them too much about what she's up to after the events of ARR and 2.x, not wanting them to worry. They try, then, to follow her story as best they can by following gossip and news.

She knows, of course, that they aren't her blood family, but her first clear memory is of R'azit hauling her out from beneath the burning remains of a house, and R'enze cutting a path to safety. They will always be her fathers, as far as she's concerned.

She's particularly soft on Zephyr, who can't fight much on his own (he's an archer, but his skills lie more in hunting than on the battlefield; as an adventurer he has always relied more on his skills outside of combat). It's from Zephyr she's learned how to navigate social situations - and frankly, he's the only reason she can negotiate with the leaders of nations without embarrassing herself.

Cold weather or warm weather: She'd rather be warm than cold, but she'd rather be cold than hot.

The Warrior of Light title: At first, she thinks it's kind of fun, being a Warrior of Light like in the stories - she's proud of it, and likes to hear herself referred to in such a lofty way... but in time, as the weight of the title really starts to sink in, she finds herself quietly hating it as it consumes the rest of her identity. It is a burden, and one she can't set aside; it starts to feel like a leash, and the whole world has a grip on it. She alternates between being angry at Hydaelyn for choosing her, and anger at herself for not wanting that burden, which someone has to carry. She learns to carry the title - and its weight - with a little more grace over time.

Does she enjoy helping people: Yes! Very much so. It was what appealed to her about Zephyr's particular style of adventuring - stopping to help anyone who had need of an adventurer's aid, whatever it might be. No matter how big or small the task. No matter how grand or how meager the reward. He taught her that the purpose of an adventurer isn't just to see the world, but to leave it a better place than you found it, even if it's just improving one person's day in some small way. She doesn't always seem like the type, but she does love helping out, and feeling helpful.

Questline that most suits her: I can't remember the names of any of the NPCs involved off the top of my head, but the questline in Shadowbringers, in Lakeland, where you're sort of helping a hume girl follow in the footsteps of her father, a healer? That one.

Favorite NPC: Oh man, it's hard to say if she has a favorite. I don't presently romantically ship her with anyone, so the possibilities are endless here - she can find something to love in most people.

I feel like she's very partial to Jehantel, seeing something in his gentle melancholy that pulls at her. I'm not sure she'd have agreed to go along with Sanson and Guydelot after their bickering at the start, if Jehantel hadn't asked it of her. (She warms to them, of course, but neither of them really put their best foot forward, and she's very grumpy about being asked to go along with them - and they're not thrilled at the prospect of a sullen teenager attending their quest, either.)

Favorite glamour sets: I don't know yet! She likes comfy, pretty things. I still need to get a feel for her sense of style.

Items she carries with herself: She secretly still carries the fox plush she carried with her when her dads rescued her; it's buried deep in her pack. She only pulls it out when she needs extra comforting.

Religious or not: Mildly. Agnostic, mostly. As R'azit puts it, "I only speak to the gods when I'm angry at them." She believes there's a force that controls the world and its fate, but she's not sure it's the Twelve. She's quiet about that, though.

Obviously, she knows Hydaelyn exists, but sees Her as more of a partner than a god.

[thelemoncoffee]

What did you like the least about Raincode? I really enjoyed it but feel like it's missing something in terms of interest and I can't help but be curious now

i think it's easier to say what parts i did like- but if you want a negitive, i hate how disjointed it feels.

what do i mean by disjoined? WEEEEELLLL-

only one case in the whole game actually affects the plot and characters directly, everything else can be swapped out for literally anything and have the same affect. in ronpa, you change the outcome of any of the murders and everything after it changes. Raincode cases aren't tied to the plot enough, you could skip over all but one labyrinth entirely and know nothing about the cases and still know all you need to about the plot. what is the point of making it a murder mystery if the murders aren't actually tied to the plot!?

The other master detectives only get to really be characters within their own chapters, otherwise they're just background characters and nothing more, rarely did they get to do things on their own. Ronpa characters- while some did have this happen to them, for the most part still did things that made the cast feel alive and active, everyone always had something to say about everything and felt like they were actually doing things outside of the protag's view . Raincode characters seem to forget they're detectives as soon as their chapter is over, their character development is isolated to their chapter and nothing more, the only chapter they got to be real characters in instead of NPCS outside their own chapters was that singular aforementioned chapter that actually was tied to the plot

The FTE are fucking hidden!! or the gumshoe gabs or whatever they were called. in Ronpa FTE was a whole ordeal that the game actively encouraged you to participate in so you could know the characters better, and it was done in a way that flowed with the plot and made it feel like it was a natural part of the world and the cycle of the killing game. Raincode FTE aren't given their own designated point to play them, you have to go find fucking memory shards to unlock one FTE per character per chapter, and you can access them whenever you want. YOU COULD BE IN THE MIDDLE OF A MURDER CASE HANGING OVER A DEAD MAN AND GO "MAN, I THINK I WANT TO HAVE A LITTLE CHAT WITH FUCKING DESUHIKO!" AND THEN DO IT. it is so disconnected from everything around it, and the possibility of missing them is pretty decent if you don't know you're suppose to go look for them. the FTE are so important to the character development because the fucking main plot sure as hell ain't doing it

the ending twist- the horror one, not the other 'main' one (i saw the 'main' twist before the game came out, which is another issues in and of it self, but i won't get into it here). it feels like it's from a totally different game, it feels like it's there for shock factor and nothing else. it genuinely looked like they wanted to end the game at chapter four with how final battle it felt, but then went "oh shit! we didn't explain why the city is Like That™, crap uuuh- CHAPTER FIVE HORROR TWIST WOOO!!"

side quests....... just-.... Side. Quests.

it's so aggravating how much this story just feels like a bunch of other, smaller, unrelated stories in a raincoat(ha) instead of a real fully thought out recreational chain of events. all the individual chunks have potential in them, but it's wasted the way this game was handled. it also is in this weird paradoxical state of being where it has alot going on for such a short game (short compared to ronpa i mean)- but it still somehow drags in places and feels empty and like they could have done alot more

normally i wouldn't compare a Kodaka Project to DR like this, but they were hyping it up so much as the successor to DR i feel like i kinda should. and i do have opinions about its ties to DR and how that actually made the game worse, but that's a whole nother can of worms

[hsr-texts]

I just wanna hope that they wanted to leave the juicy parts for the main quest, or didn't wanted to spoil the main quest, or that he will get the Raiden treatment, with his 1st quest being total shit, but the 2nd being a masterpiece

I'm just gonna believe in that.

the worst part is that I'm pretty sure even Ei's first story quest is better than Luocha's companion quest... ;w;

like hear me out-

I typically HATE the type of story quest where it's just the Traveler walking through a city with the character in question because I always saw it as the devs' way of trying to make it seem like we're on a date with that character.

But at the very least Ei is actually in her own story quest and for a significant portion, it actually revolved around her getting to see what changed while she was in the Plane of Euthymia.

Of course, I acknowledge that Genshin and Star Rail have different writing teams so I'll compare Luocha's quest to other companion quests in HSR that I actually didn't like

Arlan and Asta's quests. They're... unfortunately ones I originally rated at the bottom of my tierlist.

Why is that?

For one, as much as I found Asta freaking out amusing and relatable, Arlan's quest didn't tell me anything valuable about him as a person. We're put on this goose chase trying to find him and figure out what he's up to, only to just find out he's been dealing with something incredibly mundane that it's possible to replace him with an NPC and almost nothing changes.

Asta is pretty much the same except we do get a liiitttle tiny bit of info about her background and it's just that she's a clever person that's also extremely rich and has spending issues (even more relatable to me). Unfortunately this only comes after a series of pointless events that don't exactly say much about her.

Even if I do like Asta and Arlan, I still find the story to be bad from a character writing perspective due to reasons I already mentioned.

So how does this relate to Luocha?

Well, now that his quest is here, I unfortunately have a new quest to rank as my least favorite instead of Asta and Arlan's quests.

At the very least, Asta and Arlan appeared in their quests and had far more lines of dialogue to themselves compared to Luocha

We only get to see Luocha speak during flashback scenes

-sighs-

Considering they added gold pieces to the shop after I sent feedback to them asking for more sources of gold pieces, maybe they'll also take my feedback into account if I sent it to them...

If you guys also feel similarly, I recommend sending feedback as well. It might help in the long run

It really is a shame because I really wanted to learn something new about Luocha but it looks like he's gonna be like Xianzhou's Sampo figure ;w; A mysterious sussy dude who doesn't really elaborate on who he is besides surface level stuff

[james-fun-in-the-sunderland]

1, 6, 8, 11, 14, 21, 22, 26, 28, 29, 30. maybe too many for one post but u can split it up as u like.

HIIII you always give me a billion qs from ask games i love u sm for it <3

obligatory link back to the npc ask game

1. What’s your NPC creation process like?

ALREADY ANSWERED FOOL!! (/j <3)

6. How do you pick names for NPCs?

same way i pick names for ocs of mine! if theyre not a one off npc or one off turned main npc then i search for a name that has a meaning relevant to who they are as a character! (swords's last name is lyon and her symbolic animal is a lion... winifreds name means reconciliation, giving her a fun ironic twist since she wants to KILL her ex husband soso bad lol) but if theyre a one off then typically i just generate the name using this american name generator and pick something i think fits the character at hand!

the only one that doesnt fit in either here is jacques who as i belief i said is named off of my old cat with the same name <3

8. What kinds of NPC (personality, class, culture, age, whatever occurs to you!) tends to be your favorite to make and/or play?

i really enjoy fucked up dudes!!!! if it werent obvious from my ocs... this was supposed to be a lighter campaign but i really love tragedy and making people have OBVIOUS issues and its fun to have stuff with those play out with the players, sometimes even being used to bounce off the players! also i like magic users. theyre fun. or people involved with the gods of this world! i think i really really enjoy making people who give off lore hints or just straight up tell you interesting stuff about the world c:

11. (which oc is...) Most unique?

oh this is a hard one... if we mean in context of the world itself like in that world then i would have to say speciallest girl ever henrietta but also not really bc theres also vanya.... hmmmmmmm but out of context i would have to say probably daggers, swords or dr. shi, i feel like those three have a good spread of not being too like many of my other ocs! (daggers having lots of image issues and being outwardly guilt trippy and feminine, swords being impulsive and almost like a shonen character, and dr shi being very monotone and intelligent (i like my dumbasses) plus all three have big as hell prides, they think they are HOT shit)

(putting the rest under a readmore so that people dont hate seeing me on their dash)

14. Most likely to be on a reality show?

HARD TO TELL... first instinct is to say daggers or swords bc those two interact with media enough to want to go onto a reality show (or henrietta bc shes. you know. leader of the old rebellion imagine the numbers that could do for the show) but i think final answer would be delilah bc not only would she LOVE to be on tv but she would like have an AWESOME time

21. Which NPC is the easiest for you to roleplay? Why?

ALREADY ANSWERED AGAIN!!!!!!

22. Which NPC is the most difficult to roleplay? Why?

ouhhh hard one here but id probably say first of all vanya bc my russian accent skills are NOT there. but in terms of personality and roleplaying in general not just speaking as them then probably wiz or daggers! both have to have an incredible amount of balance, in daggers's case its so that she is nuanced and not an annoying caricature considering my concept for her and with wiz its just . not revealing some things too early and not revealing some things too late, plus hes the quest giver and PLUS idk why but doing his voice gives me troubles. this is all ironic bc he is like. one of my favorite npcs lmao (hes better in writing IMO)

26. Which NPC is YOUR least favorite and why?

oh interesting... this is like having to say i hate one of my children i really never dislike any characters i create i just get agonies over them tbh but if i HAD to choose one..... hmmm probably vanya and/or richter, i really enjoy them conceptually but i feel like i fumble them too much and their story, while interesting and exciting in the beginning, became a bit more extraneous as time went on ! but really its not by much that i dislike them, i really love every npc i make

28. Is there any NPC you wish your party interacted with more?

THREE STRIKES YOURE OUT SIR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

29. Are there any NPCs you wish you could play as a PC one day?

wiz probably fits most closely into the type of pc i would create for a game like this! however if i would want to be more fun more creative then i would actually really like to play jacques or vanya, mostly because they also are the types of characters i would make and they are easily translateable into a pc for this specific campaign (both in stat ways and in story ways!) as for a complete wildcard i think also playing as someone closer to the religion of this campaign (swords, rhys, etc) would be very interesting ! but im sure if i were to recycle a character concept from this game i would not expect who i would choose in the future...

30. Bonus question! Answer any that you haven’t been asked, or talk about any NPC you want!

oh god an open ended q ummm this is really the hardest question ever . i will give you a few little tidbits abt characters not on their toyhouse and not like fully really talked abt i tink...

Vanya is based on a character from dungeon meshi and originally followed this characters plot way more closely before i changed her up! not saying who tho

hook and rex came out to each other at the exact same time (as trans).... it was really funny and they almost immediately did a fun little clothes swap :)

even though wiz has his 50 ft vision, sometimes bc of habit when hes in his house he wont use it and if he has a guest he will often times get spooked by them... he feels silly after it happens every time lol

jacques is bisexual. also has never dated anyone ever. (he feels like its weird to date anyone from the village hes from bc everyones kinda like family there...)

rhys and the griffin god priest (mr hightower) have actually met once on occasion, they found each others company very enlightening but will not meet again ever

[elyasvalravn]

I think at first id call it fun? Engagement? Engaging? For me its always really nice for sure. I feel motivated to keep playing and keep going. More recently this was in far cry primal. Its storyline is more engaging than far cry 5 for me, but the game play of far cry 5 was more fun. With pokemon its the thrill of adventure, of seeing whats next, what strange npcs ill meet and cute interactions with my pokemon, trying to capture the ones i want, and the easter eggs. The gameplay of pokemon is fairly chill and its got a casual sort of vibe i enjoy that motivates me to keep going. And i have friends who play too, making it more fun. In some games i find "watching the world grow and change because of my choices" the most motivating thing. And ive realized cheating takes the fun out unless im cheating to do a very specific goal.

A challenge is motivating

I want to be *angry* at my antagonists. I want to feel protective over my friends. I want the game to have in world consequences for failure that feel fair and just. In pokemon i dont want to fail because it makes my pokemon dislike me more when they faint and i ...feel bad when i think about my pokemon not wanting to be my friend i guess funny enough. I get attached i guess. Turns out dark types hate you from the start and when id gone to see what my absol thought of me at the friendship rating guy i was genuinely stunned to be asked why i never use them in battle. Told my absol disliked me and felt neglected or uncared for. An absol i always kept on the sidelines more like a cute pet than anything.

That struck me you know?

And so i started using that absol more even when it was at a disadvantage. Except when i knew it would just get clobbered i kept at it.

When my actions have consequences, and my efforts have value, i feel engaged i suppose! To summarize all that. It dosent have to be a real in game reward. It can be 'character likes me more' or 'unlock more story'

I like to feel important to the progression of events. I think in oblivion part of what motivated me most was i cared about martin and i wanted to help him.

And when i realized he was (spoilers) going to die at the end

No matter what i did

No matter how hard i tried. Hed be gone forever.

I stopped helping martin. So he'd stay safely in his room. Because i guess id rather let oblivion gates open and quite literal elder scrolls hell to break loose just to keep him safe. DAGNABBIT my boy is not turning into a dragon bye main quest im going to go become sheogorath now (spoilers over) which on that note is why i like sheo. I felt like i was helping him and hes rather interesting. I suppose the problem only comes when i dont want the journey to end and i dont want to lose a character i love

Id rather be able to keep them safe

Frozen in time

Than lose them...

I guess that says more about me than anything. But i digress. I find books harder to pinpoint, what exactly draws me in. But i know good characters will do it. Maybe its the same things

That i care qbout the characters

That their actions have real consequences

That their efforts have merit and result in something that actually changes the world.

I have only read the first wings of fire books so far, and i think it did amazing on all those parts. They also have fears that really affect them. I admit it makes me wish i was a dragon so i could adopt them though. And the sheer gore and brutality in this *freaking kids book* is terrifying and really shows the consequences that the kids are under threat of. Maybe part of why its engaging too is in a dragon and prophecy analogy laden sort of way their struggles remind me of my friends and i at that age, and gives you an empowered, comforting sort of feeling when they manage to succeed, when theyre safe, and you realize theyre going to be okay.

Sometimes a book makes you feel like everythings going to be okay. Even when the world is scary hard and unforgiving.

Maybe thats got a lot to do with what makes me feel engaged.

Maybe thats why i couldnt (spoiler) let martin die (spoiler over)

Because sometimes what you need is to see that everythings going to be okay.

I suppose thats another thing that makes one engaged? Caring? Not just about the characters, but the way they affect you. How the world reacts at the heroes attempts to make things right.

How the world reacts when they fail and suceed

And that feeling when something within it all feels above all else

Real. True. Like theres something in there thats honest about life?

Theres so many great things that make one feel engaged. Those are some to me i guess!

I'd love some input from anyone reading this!!

You're in the middle of playing a game, watching a show, reading something, or maybe just finishing it up. You're hit by the realization that you're currently in the middle of something special. Something that ticks all of the boxes for top-tier content that you have. Something that makes you think. Something that makes you feel. Something that you won't ever be able to experience for the first time again. Something that will become a standard you hold everything else to. Something you won't ever forget.

What is that something for you? What do you call that feeling? Gush about it! Give me that wordsalad. Go feral homie, I wanna know!

[dezemberzwolf]

Ff14 for 3 and 5, and zenos with 6 and 8

fandom ask meme!! ask me.... memes >:3

thamk u ilu....

3. which scene I would like to erase from the universe and why.

it technically was erased from the universe via retcon but every time someone mentions to me about the original moenbryda minion desc. that implied urianger was creepy towards her it makes me want to bite the writer again. also yknow what?? the lancer quest where foulques dies. my boy deserves to live so many other random ass shitty npcs get to live. like ok foulques was a dick but like he was a dick because every he knows decided to be racist at him and he HAD a POINT. like maybe some people deserved a stabbing. and yet 'known canon rapist npc ungust' gets to live? im sure theres 800 other things ill think of later bc its not as if the game is free of weird narrative choices, but ill be real. most of the time theres something where im like "this shouldnt Exist" i just vaporize and rewrite it in my mind LMAO. hear me out about werlyt

5. the scene from it that lives in my head rent free.

everything urianger has ever said in his entire life and also 90% of shadowbringers. its really good. for no particular character reason i think a whole lot about when you and the scions go to storm eulmore and u walk in on vauthry and ryne immediately screams 'no, make him stop' bc hes eating a pile of meol and i know. i know. in my heart. that if it wasnt gonna be too heavy gore and a bunch of graphics, the story intended that to be read as him ripping into and eating that lion sin eater that always sat in that exact spot. i know in my heart they ran in on him mid transformation eating a lion raw with his hands. i know this. shadowbringers is normal and fine for everyone involved.

also yknow in endwalker after [6.0 SPOILERS BEGIN] meteion reveals thancred is dead, urianger speaks and she immediately turns to him and goes 'youre full of loathing and dont even know why you still exist here'. that fucks me up every day. do you know how much has to happen for urianger, whose entire motivations this entire time is that he loves people so so much, to Actively Loathe you. to Hate a scared child. and he hates her because she killed thancred. and he doesnt know why its never him who gets to be the one sacrificed. im fine thats fine [END 6.0 SPOILERS]

6. the scene that I think shows just how awesome they really are.

The final fight with him here he speaks to the wol "not as a hero, but as an adventurer", and asks if your journey was a blessing or a curse. I like zenos because he is very much an exact foil for Laurel and that scene just shows that. hes aware of how close they are, and he cares.. he wants to know if someone 'like him', as the wol is, ever actually had a chance to live a life that could be enjoyable. he's trying to connect this entire time the only way he can understand you... i get if people dislike zenos. tbh im like, zenos agnostic outside of the context of him and the wol LOL but. i think at the end hes able to show that he really truly did connect with the wol. he managed to make a bond and some kind of understanding.

at least, with a wol like laurel.... with my other WoLs its like "YOU DONT GET SHIT GO AWAY!!!!!!" poor zenos. anyways him calling you an adventurer instead of a hero at the very end is neat. he cares about you he wants to understand very badly. he loves laurel hes her princess ok in this zenoswol laurel essay i will,

8. a headcanon I have about this character.

theres so much horny zenos fanart and i respect this i understand where it comes from but im also like. this man does not practically know what sex is and cannot flirt. he has only the hunt. if he fucks he does it almost by accident and it started as a fistfight or he has to be instructed into it. he has never seen pussy before. the wols gotta give him a diagram bc he understands concept but not execution. hes got other priorities.

also in In From The Cold when he possesses the wol the actual first thing he does is fall flat on his face because the center of gravity is way too different and hes not used to walking. and laurel specifically is lightly digitigrade and trekking around the snow in stiletto heels zenos gets into her body stand dramatically and then immediately eats shit because what the fuck how are you standing up like this.