#without getting into specifics. really it's just cause i feel so bad for Maya lmao. and it's not even like a particularly wild chapter.

[hiding-under-the-willow]

I need you all to know that I have been struggling to write a singular chapter of Inheritance for the last like month and I am just now actually making progress 💀

[oodlyenough]

aight... here’s a pretty long yet tip-of-the-iceberg collection on my overall thoughts on bl3 now that i’ve finished the damn thing, every main mission & every sidequest (dynasty dash don’t interact). 

obviously mega spoilers

the good

aside from that one infuriating difficulty spike when i arrived on promethea, i had a lot of fun playing. i found the gameplay a lot smoother than the others in the series (as it should be), i liked being able to climb stuff, i liked having an easy mode tbh!!

i really liked playing amara and i like the flexibility of action skills and being able to swap on the go without having to respec. the brawl tree ended up being very well suited to my type of play, it hindered me only during boss fights and even then at least i could switch to phasecast y’know

i had a lot of big fears about what this game would do and it managed to not do anything that makes me want to, like, burn and salt the earth, so that’s a win

i thought it was pretty funny! or at least on par with the other main games, which always kind of ride the line between funny and obnoxious and sometimes misstep

i enjoyed a lot of the cast, both new characters and characters who were returning but who i had no particular feelings about before, hammerlock, zer0 and ellie as particular examples

hammerlock and wainwright were cute af and it’s nice to see a gay couple in a triple-a game 

thought the twins were fun and funny af i liked them. because fandom is Like That i was a little exhausted by troy before he even showed up but even then, like, idk i liked them as a duo and i liked the break from jack honestly 

a lot of the new gun quirks were fun. i’m not like a big... gun person... but i found some cool ones i enjoyed playing with. 

loved getting to see different planets, it was a nice break from pandora all the time. and skywell was super fun! love the low-grav playfulness from TPS without the infuriating oz kit nonsense

the little quality of life improvements from previous games were great, like fast travel from anywhere, auto-refilling ammo, etc

some of the side quests were really fun. i liked the ratch quest for rhys, the birthday party quest for mordecai, the claptrap dancing quest was sweet, the buff movie buff quest was fun, the quest where i killed grandpappy 2 seconds in and got a reward was funny as hell esp because i drove off a cliff by accident, etc

lots of people had really bad glitches and stuff but... honestly can’t relate the game ran very well for me. advantages to not marathoning it before they’ve released their first couple patches, i guess, lol 

the less good

i played a solo amara and there are some bosses that seem like they would’ve been pure hell to do alone... i was lucky and able to phone a friend for a lifeline in those scenarios (shoutout to @heavybreathingcatt and @valoscope) but if i couldn’t do that idk i would’ve just broken my controller in rage i guess lmao 

why is resurrecting each other so hard? i don’t think i’ve ever done it successfully, because it takes too long and more importantly bc while i’m doing it some enemy will just toss a grenade or punch me and i get knocked away from the ally, rendering it useless

rest in peace maya, the best res AI in the whole damn game, got me through the rampager fight her damn self

there were a lot of characters and themes and ideas that i liked in theory more than in practice... because in practice they felt like a first draft. very often i felt like i liked a thing, and then on reflection thought about nine hundred ways it could’ve been better, deeper, more emotionally resonant, more developed, whatever. 

the angel stuff was kinda nice but... also... my longest deepest sigh ever @ Poor Sad Jack Some People Terrorize Entire Planets And Abuse Their Daughters To Cope With Their Fridged Wife

like the siren lore... wish i coulda heard it without having to backtrack across every map post-game

while i found the game generally pretty funny,  almost all the emotional scenes fell completely flat for me and there were a number of scenes that SHOULD have been emotional that just were not 

for eg i am actually not upset about maya or lilith dying (or turning into the moon as it were) -- i am ok with those beats for those characters, especially lilith getting a heroic sendoff. however... both of those scenes could’ve been more impactful than they were. maya’s i think was better than lilith’s, but both of them felt flatter, either in the moment or in the aftermath, than those characters deserved. 

related: NPCs reacting to major events is fun. i liked to do the tour and check in with all my buds to get their couple custom lines after a big plot thing happened. HOWEVER... those lines are obviously timed which is *mostly* fine but in some cases really, really weird? the lines about maya should stay in rotation for a lot longer. ava shouldn’t go back to LOL LET’S STEAL two seconds after maya’s gone. i missed zer0′s maya lines entirely bc i didn’t track down zer0 on time lol. stuff like that 

the bad

i miss my girls :( we really did keep only the white men huh

the last act felt severely underbaked. i have to wonder how many rewrites this game went through, and how much the back end was slapped together last minute, or cobbled together from various drafts. a lot of this felt very first or second draft, where the characters and themes are *there* but not refined at all, or they contradict each other. the family theme that goes basically nowhere and says nothing. the way the story handles atlas vs the way the story handles jakobs vs the way the story handles corporations writ large. 

for the twins -- lack of proper emotional resonance or development for them is one of the biggest failures imo, because i think they WERE very enjoyable villains and the core concept of like... evil video game streamers is honestly on-brand and funny af for the franchise... but as soon as troy died everything went downhill? tyreen’s non-reaction to her brother dying isn’t even a reaction, it’s not even “tyreen doesn’t care she’s evil lol” which would’ve been a boring direction to take anyway) it’s just.... “we barely wrote a response don’t worry about it”. her endgame is to be a big monster because... she’s ... fame hungry? huh? her motivation fell apart.w whether they went with “troy and tyreen are shitty people who get caught up in a power struggle but ultimately love each other” OR “troy and tyreen are shitty people who turn against each other in individual bids for power” could both have been interesting stories but they did neither. 

i’m def missing some echos on the twins which brings me to another thing i hate although it’s endemic to the series and not to bl3 specifically -- hiding important lore and characterization in random echos in random places on the map without even an indication of how many there are total, how many you’ve collected, where to find them... frustrating as hell. a lot of those echos are some of my favourite material in the game! at LEAST tell me “1 of 5 echos on this map” if you don’t wanna tell me where they are! why is major lore like the twins’ backstories hidden?????? 

and bc i haven’t heard them i don’t know if it’s fandom doing what fandom always does, or if it really is the game implying tyreen is The Evil Mastermind and troy is poor manipulated brother, but either way fuck that entire noise lmao of course the women of colour in the series are just Born Evil but jack and troy and whoever else are just Sad :( fuck off actually 

typhon... sucks... what an irritating character. irritating to retcon him in as The First Vault Hunter, irritating to have him talk about shit and sex all the time, irritating to have every established NPC be like oh wow my HERO typhon deleon what a HERO i LOVE him, irritating that we skate over his parenting failures, irritating that he has a fridged beloved wife, ESPECIALLY irritating he gets a memorial sidequest and maya didn’t . just. bad.

aurelia is evil now cause reasons... bad... 

vaughn also bad lmao i can’t believe they made amara yell “blood feud”... disgusting... 

the playable had no role in the story. they’re just a fly on the wall in every cut scene. this is whack in general, and a crit i can apply to all of the main borderlands games, however it is extremely jarring to play amara in a siren-heavy game and have no one acknowledge it. 

OVERALL... I guess like a B-? Maybe a B. I had fun playing it and I’m still having fun running around in Mayhem Mode and I am def looking forward to the DLCs. Gameplay is great. But while I had hoped this installment would take the storytelling of the main games a step further, it actually felt like a step back in virtually every respect. 

[wonderwoman2-23]

Scandal Season 6 Finale, My thoughts

*Clears throat* Hello Family and Friends of the deceased, we are gathered here today to lay rest to our dear Sister and Friend Olivia Carolyn Pope. *All around the church sniffles, weeping and sorrow filled cries could be heard* It saddens me to be up here but let’s remember the good things Sis Olivia did and who she was before she died and let Rowanka live. (Rowanka is the name Katrinapavela gave Olivia when she goes all Rowan on us and I liked it.) ☝🏽Yes I just had a funeral for Olivia. ☝🏽Yes shit got real last night. ☝🏽Yes I got emotional AF last night, I think I got teary eyed on 3 different scenes. I’m not gonna do a scene by scene of the Finale , I’m gonna speak on the Characters, in no specific order. Honestly this was a good ass season finale and I really liked it 🙃except 1 specific thing happened and it ruined the whole episode for me. Yes that’s sort of a contradiction but I 👏🏽said 👏🏽what 👏🏽I 👏🏽said 👏🏽. This episode literally hurt my feelings and it’s nothing new cuz it’s Scandal they always hurting feelings 😭😭 damn you Shonda! 🤔TBH I would have been ok with ending Scandal with Fitz presidency I honestly don’t wanna see anyone else as president 🙎🏽���🏽🙄 but whatever I’ll get over it, still not jumping on Mellie’s bandwagon Ok let me start before I get dramatic!

Abby and Quinn: They finally made up and I’m glad. Abby literally has no one but Olivia and OPA she wasn’t going anywhere but back home to OPA! Quinn is pregnant and Abby is gonna help her raise her baby , it was real cute when Abby said “Over a cliff.” 🤗 ☝🏽Now let me just say Quinn kinda got on my nerves because this ho thought she was gone run away to live a normal life without telling Charlie she was pregnant! Bitch you have no right to do that, it’s his baby just as much as it’s yours and you dumb if you don’t think this SPY could find yo ass! Let’s not forget Charlie was a top dog at B613! And she thought she couldn’t work at OPA because she was going to be a mom🙄🤷🏽‍♀️ GUHHHH Women all around the world been doing this! Women make boss moves even as Moms I was like who tf wrote this 🙃Women work and still be great Moms we don’t need that bs narrative out there But thankfully she came to her senses!

Huck: Wanted to go with Olivia. 😭😢 I told yal Loyalty is a man named Huck. But she told him she needed him at OPA and that she would be fine.

Mellie: Continued to show that she was a white privileged woman 🙄 ok so when did Mellie say she wanted the White House all her life? Because what I remember was her saying some about being the wife or some shit but anyway it was a lie. They tryna push a new narrative on Mellie and I’m sorry but it’s to late. Mellie ain’t worked for shit and that’s just that! Olivia and Cyrus about to run D.C. and Mellie whose the puppet President now? 🤦🏽‍♀️Yal her first act as president she signed some papers that she did not even read! 😶 and you thought I was gone be on board with this fuckery? 🗣ISSA NO.

Cyrus Rutherford Beene: ☕️🐸Pulled off the finesse of the Century. 🤓Brains of the illuminate. It was Cyrus Motherfuckin Beene! Way back when, I knew it was Cyrus because I kept saying he wanted to be President but I got distracted by Ponytail and Peus and I was like well maybe it’s a new bad person coming but nope! It was Cyrus sneaky ass 😂

Luna 🕷black 🕸widow Vargas: 😎 Head illuminate but still a #2. ☝🏽Oooooweee Homegirl nobody fucks over Olivia and get away with it. Olivia gave her a pill to peaceful go meet her husband in the afterlife 😬 yikes. I tweeted and said Luna Vargas was in with the illuminate, and I said it because she jumped the bandwagon to quick! How you go from saying Mellie didn’t win , your husband did to Yes I’ll be your Vice President 🙅🏽 nope ain fall for it! I knew she was in on I just didn’t know she was actually the head! Yea Cyrus was the brains but Luna was the head! Luna teaching us to kill husbands 😝

How to make an illuminate: So Cyrus gets into Luna head , Luna hires Marie Wallace to kill her husband, Marie Wallace hires Ponytail aka Samantha bka Gertrude and Peus to do the job. From what I gathered nobody knew about Marie Wallace actually being Maya Pope because there is no way she would have let them threaten Olivia at all. When Maya found out what was going on she came to town to rectify shit! I love how unapologetically black Maya is! From that powerful ass monologue to actually being there to save Olivia, Maya proved she is the better Pope parent.😌 She truly loves Olivia and she forgave her for choking her and everything because she knows that she caused Olivia some damage growing up motherless. Maya even told Eli you can’t half ass raise Olivia and think she gone come out whole 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 ☝🏽hunny Maya had time and she was right the entire episode she was right! When she got captured so easily I knew Maya was innocent there’s no way she would have been that easy to find!

Maya Pope aka Marie Wallace bka The baddest bitch: Maya’s monologue was the gospel truth and it was foreshadow for Olivia. Maya really did come back in town to save Olivia 🤗 and yal when Maya started singing those old negro spirituals I hollered! I told yal she’s unapologetically black! “So much for black girl magic” “girl bye, I’m ya momma ain no fooling me” some of her lines from last night. I would rewatch the episode so I could give yal what she actually said in her monologue but I’m still a lil sensitive 😢 forgive me. But anyway she talked about how she and other black women and black mothers are the backbone and stepping stole for everybody, how we always saving everybody but whose saving us? About how Black Women do everything only to have it taken away by a white girl with bamboo earrings 😩🙌🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 yaaasssaauhsabalobooshhhh! 🗣Maya you better speak that word, let him use you sis, go AWF, go AWF! 🙌🏽 I told yal, Maya 👏🏽had 👏🏽time 👏🏽 she read Everybody to the filth hunny! (And now that I’m thinking about it what other show is going to do this when Scandal goes off 😔. Read America and throw shit in there faces, we still out here facing issues that need to be addressed through television!) but anyway Maya came to D.C. and shook the table 😎

Eli: Fragile masculinity couldn’t accept that maybe Maya was right, almost killed her 😤 but let me also say this he showed Fitz some respect in this episode. He waited until Fitz was in the room to do anything, he let Fitz make the calls and throw shots and he even went to Fitz and told him that Olivia needs him to balance her out. 😭 yal! Wait a minute 😭 do you know what just happened? Eli…Rowan went to Fitz and told him that his daughter is getting to powerful and she needed Fitz to balance her out 😯 but Eli Isn’t this your dream? For Olivia to be the most powerful in the room? Clearly he sees that he was wrong and he tried to nip it but in reality he set off a chain of events.

Fitz: Was about to give up his life to save Olivia. Fitz signed an order to reinstate b613 so he could save Olivia 😰 yal my stomach dropped and my eyes started to water. B613 is not for Fitz… Eli told him that he would be perfect for running it because Fitz is a good man and he could do better. 🗣fuck that! No! I was literally shaking because we all know and the horrors of b613 I could not imagine my baby Fitzgerald doing this devil work. He deserves peace and happiness, Fitz would have lost his soul. The evil things you have to do and become *sighs* Which brings me to ….

Olivia: 😔 I cried, and I didn’t even know I was crying until I felt my eyes burn. I was so distraught, disappointed and hurt. As soon as Fitz left that darkness took over and her light was not there to counter/balance it. And to be honest 🤔 it was Maya fault lowkey. She told Olivia “Go take back your baby(the White House) and Olivia was about to disagree when Maya said "You half me and half yo crazy father can’t nobody win against you” Yal the wheels started turning in her head 😒 next thing we know she giving Mellie dumb ass papers to sign but we all knew what those papers were ughhhhh Not my Olivia. Yal that shook me up! Because the same reasons I didn’t want Fitz to do it I damn sho didn’t want Olivia to do it. It hurt my feelings and I’m still trying to process but yal know me I had to sleep on it and come back to it. I get it. Olivia is on a power trip and she has to get it out her system. And this is it, being command of B613. I should have seen it coming honestly from her saying “You don’t take Olivia Pope, Olivia Pope takes you.” To Maya’s monologue about how black women save everybody. And that’s the exact reason why Olivia did it, to save Fitz(she told Rowan “You’re not gonna have a hold on Fitz.”) and the republic and to have power. She hates feeling powerless and when Luna Vargas damn near took the oval from her well it pushed her 😔 so yea that’s the reason why I didn’t like the finale because Liv became command 😕. Olivia always thinks it’s her responsibility to save everyone 😤 but it’s fuckin not! 🤦🏽‍♀️*tries to collect myself * Black Women always gotta be captain save -a-hoe! Like ya momma said “whose gonna save you?” And let me just say Maya told Olivia to get her big head ass out the way when she was tryna shoot Luna but at the time we didn’t know Luna was bad 😂😂☝🏽😩 black Moms always gotta crack a joke no matter what the situation 😝😂😂

My Precious OTP Olitz: We had 4 Olitz scenes 😍😍🤗 1.He was concerned and her wellbeing because it was her mother who was the “terrorist” even in the mist of all that was going on, he took time to ask how she was feeling. This is a man who knows how to care for his woman 🤗 *swoons* 2.Get. Over. Here: Olivia went against his wishes and released her mom, he went to his room and she’s but ass naked ready to give it to him. He starts going off on her and she like no fuck that lets fuck! Olivia: Get. Over. Here. Fitz: you are very bossy Olivia: and you love it Fitz: *takes off shoes and jumps on bed on top of her. Lmao Yal Fitz looked like such a white man when he said “you are very bossy” it was so funny I couldn’t do nun but laugh! 🤔 for a 56 soon to be 57 year old man the way he jumped on top of her tho 😝 sheesh Tony let me breathe! 3.You saved me: I told Yal Fitz almost became command but Olivia went to him and was like I was going to ask you to stay with me but not like this. She let him know that B613 would ruin him and she couldn’t stand by and watch him become her father…. so of course he listens, he always listens to her so at this point he’s getting ready to leave but he’s with her. And he lets her know he cancelled the order and he can’t stay because he has to work on his foundation. She plays it cool because well she didn’t wanna show emotions, her back was turned away so he couldn’t see her face but she was literally crying out for this man to stay and be her light and save her from herself. She wanted him to save her! He says goodbye without a hug or a kiss 4.It was an honor Mr. President: literally as he’s walking towards the plane “Mr.President” yal I screamed I was like yes yes girl go 👏🏽 get 👏🏽 your 👏🏽 man 👏🏽 she walked then ran to him and they kissed and I bullshit you not I thought she was getting on that plane and going to Vermont 😭😭 ik ik Ima damn fool! They kissing and paparazzi taking pictures! Fitz: the cameras Olivia: I don’t care Soft smiles and more kissing. Olivia: it’s been an honor Mr.President Fitz: the honor was all mine. Yep I cried again. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 beautiful simply beautiful. She ran in the light to the arms of the man she has loved for in the dark, out in the open in front of everybody. She knew the world was watching and finally after all this time she didn’t care! She freely and openly showed her affection and it was beautiful. I know I make a big deal out of it when it’s Olivia showing affection because it is a big deal. She’s choosing for herself and being honest with herself in those moments. So yes I clap and scream loudly in Olitz when Olivia does things on her own accord 😘 that’s Bae and she deserves to grasp love with her own hands.

Predictions: 🤷🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🙎🏽💆🏽 About season 7 I honestly don’t even know what to expect well let me say half except. Because I do know a few things: Olivia is going to do some developing(Good and Bad), Fitz is going to save her and I do believe OPA will as well. Abby going back to OPA, she had power, it corrupted her and she left it behind. Quinn being pregnant: she is going to have everything Olivia thinks she couldn’t have love-family(baby)-power. Olivia will see firsthand from these examples and on top of that Huck and Fitz gone be on her ass once they find out she lost her mind. Olivia is stubborn it’s not gone happen overnight but they will save her. They gone have to convince her she needs saving first. Mellie and Cyrus gone stab Olivia in the back. Cyrus gone stab Mellie in the back. Olivia- Cyrus- Mellie all in positions of power is not gone be a walk in the park , it’s going to be a power struggle frfr, and a little blood gone get on everybody’s hands! OPA gone thrive and I honestly hope everyone gets a good ending they deserve it. After Fitz save Liv, I want Olitz together and we get at least 2 or 3 happy episodes 😩 it ain’t to much to ask after this roller coaster we been on since 101! But anywhooo lemme leave on a good note: 🗣 Olitz ain’t dead! 😏😌 we just begun.