another one that I'm not super happy with, but continuing to mess with it isn't going to help! so here he is! 🦇 there was a lot I was trying to get across in this one, so uhhhhh hopefully it reads.

we're almost out of unique magics now...just Ace (and maybe Grim?) left!

AITA for not taking revenge over the death of my mom?

So my (M, 33) mom (F, 500-ish?) was murdered five years ago by this girl, let's call her A (F, 32). My mom and I had a great relationship, she taught me everything I know and I respected her a lot. To be honest she was kind of my whole reason to be alive? So her death affected me greatly, but also the idea of avenging her never crossed my mind.

I mean, my mom did kind of murder A's father in cold blood, and I do like A, she's a great gal, well, except for the whole, mom murdering thing, but, I mean, she kind of had a good reason, given the whole father murdering thing. Honestly this whole thing feels very vicious-cycle-of-violence thingy? And it's not like my mom would come back to life if I took revenge so, no point on killing A back, right? So I just, moved on from that.

However! Recently I learned that A had just... sort of been expecting me to avenge my mom? This whole time? Like apparently she made all these elaborated plans to protect herself from me and stuff? And apparently the reason she never returned to her town was because she was 100% sure I would go kill her if I knew where she was? Apparently she hasn't even contacted her loved ones as a way to, like, keep them safe or something? I don't get her logic tbh but whatever.

And, like, all this time I thought she was living this nomadic on-the-run sort of lifestyle because she liked traveling, but it turns out she was hiding from me????

Anyway this entire thing came to a head a week ago when this situation that's not relevant to the story forced us go work together for a couple of days.

It was the first time I saw her in person since she killed my mom, and I did notice she was very tense, but I thought it was just awkwardness given the whole, you know, mother killing thing. I mean, I was awkward too, like. How do you talk with someone who killed your mom, you know? Like, I like A, but, still, you know? But I still tried to be friendly and stuff.

Then, eventually, A just, she got really mad, and started yelling at me asking me what my "plan" was and "what I was playing at" and stuff, just convinced I had some nefarious scheme or something. I told her I had literally no idea of what she was talking about, but she didn't believe me, and I can tell the fact I didn't like, try to stab her or anything left her feeling disturbed.

Anyways, my point is, idk, I just feel kinda bad that she's putting so much effort avoiding some revenge plan that doesn't exist? And just, thinking about me waaaay more than I think about her? Like, I get the impression she thinks we're like, sort of arch nemesis now or something? When really I just think she's rad, like idk how to interact with her given, everything, but also she's just a rad acquaintance, you know?

I have considered just, actually doing some evil scheme or whatever, you know? To like, make her feel better and like she isn't wasting her time. Like, I get the feeling she WANTS me to be doing evil schemes and stuff to, idk, ease the guilt for killing my mom? So I thought of maybe actually planning one just so she felt better, but secret evil plans take so much effort and I just get SO bored!

So. I'm not, like, planning anything against her, really. I gave up on that, too much work.

But still, I feel like I'm kind of the asshole here since I'm not like, reciprocating this? She's putting so much effort on our supposed rivalry and stuff, and I don't even dislike her. And I mean, she put so much effort when it came to avenging her dad by murdering my mom, an yet I'm just, not doing anything. And idk. It just makes me feel bad, man. Like I'm leading her on?

So. Am I the asshole for not taking revenge like she's expecting me to?

Rant about the story in PSO2:NGS

As you can gather from the title, this is going to be a fairly long rant about the story and current state of things in "Phantasy Star Online 2 : New Genesis". Because I have a lot of thoughts after going through the main "plot" of things about three different times.

I will preface this by saying that I am not a long-time player. Many people have played the original "base" version of the game for a lot longer than I have. I jumped in when it finally released for the west via Steam. However I did play through most of the story of the base version of the game. So I do know what I am talking about when I can draw comparisons between the two.

Now, I'm not the only one who thinks the story of NGS is bad. In fact I am certain that there are a LOT of people out there who despise the story with every fiber of their being. And I can honestly see why. To be fairly honest the story of NGS is absolutely boggling in how barren it is.

With the base game you went through several unique locations, had various characters at play, and had more of a concise idea of the "plan" behind certain villains.

You get none of that with NGS.

In fact the most you get is roughly a handful of characters that you sometimes bounce around from, and maybe a sort of "villain" that is literally there to be a punching bag. I am not even joking about that. That is literally the point of the main "enemy" in the game's story. They are there for you to literally beat up as a form of "training". And the game tells us this has been going on for AT LEAST 500 years.

Mind you you only learn about this in the last story mission of the fifth "chapter" of the game. Like you are literally given an exposition dump after defeating a "villain"-ish type of character. And then just suddenly introduced to a new type of enemy that is literally a different version of the same enemies you have been fighting. I am not making any of this up.

Like say what you will about Luther or the Falz spawn or any of the Dark Falz of the base game. At least you had a more basic understanding of what in the flying hell was going on.

Like I wish I could say that NGS is some sort of fever-dream type of scenario. But I sadly cannot because it sadly is the reality of what we're having to deal with. Literally all of what has been done thus far in the NGS story could literally be just one whole "Episode" in the base game. That is a staggering feat of underdevelopment. You can't even say that it's "raw" because it hasn't even been cooked. The player base has been constantly drip-fed content, that even the Fremen would say is torture.

So with all of that in the open, how can we fix this? How can we take what is, for the most part, a fundamentally broken story and make it better? Well, let me do this in two ways. The first version is how to fix what we already have and make it "better" in a sense. The second version will be my day-dream of what NGS should have been from the very start.

So let's dive in, shall we?

--Fixing NGS--

Alright, so let's start by fixing what is already there. For now we'll ignore "chapter" 6, of what is probably meant to be the first Episode, for the time being. And instead we'll do something to radically change the game's story. First we'll start with introducing either a new, or maybe "old", character into the game. One that PSO2 fans will immediately go absolutely nuts about.

Matoi.

Now how will we introduce Matoi? Do it via the sort of "Meteorn" type of playbook? Well to that I say it can be a bit of a "yes and no" situation. Sure she would drop down to the planet like any other Meteorn but in a different type of pod. Like something that looks like a familiar type of pod from base PSO2, or maybe via a drop-ship.

I kind of like the second idea to be honest.

Make it to where suddenly it isn't one planet against the odds with a seemingly existential threat. Introduce the idea of one of the old ARKs ships coming to Halpha or having been in the neighborhood but got alerted by the presence of the new enemies, the Starless.

Hell, let's even expand it outwards. Make it to where multiple towns and places have a sudden influx of various people from across the region of space near Halpha, or part of the expedition team to Halpha. Introduce more races other than varying shades of "Human". Show off all the new and unique designs and character creator parts with all of these different peoples and races. Literally use this as a way to show players that "Hey, new customization options are on the way!" and integrate it into the story.

In short, don't make Halpha the literal "center" of the universe and expand the scope of the story at the same time. Make it to where the old guard of ARKs is being thawed out for renewed combat. Essentially add back in the "Star" to Phantasy Star. That way the next "chapter" or "episode" or what have you, is about exploring certain planets. Make it to where you have a starter "free roam" area on certain planets before fleshing them out. Take this ground-pounders war to the stars.

Either that or have one of the ARKs ships of old crash into the Halphan sea and allow us to explore the interior of the ship like all of the other zones thus far. Turn it into it's own island of sorts. Allow us to help the people of the ARKs ship get things back up and running and introduce a number of new features for players.

That would be the easier/cop-out way of doing it, but still would be a good way to reintroduce the "Phantasy" of being able to go into space again.

--The Daydream--

Some of this day-dream is going to sound familiar to those who have played Phantasy Star Universe. Because I love the idea of a central "station" of sorts and it honestly fits really well. So that is going to be my first "big" change. Instead of just one singular planet, you are going to several of them.

Now they don't have to be planets from the base game. In fact it doesn't need to be anywhere that you may have seen before. Instead why not make it to where they are uniquely themed planets, sort of similar to the zones you find on Halpha but radically different. Like say take the idea of Stia in NGS and make it to where it is a large planet with a balance of Geo-thermal activity and lush greenery.

Or hell, go crazy with it! Like think of a planet where all the foliage is made out of crystals that you can harvest. Or a planet that is filled to the brim of mushrooms of all types and kinds. Maybe have an ocean planet where you are constantly walking on the sea-floor. Or even have our characters go to a moon!

And all of these planets will come with their own unique race. It doesn't have to be specifically races that we've come to know and enjoy from other titles. But instead ones that are unique to these planets. And each one of these planets has their own town that is run by the race of that planet, but also has a bunch of characters from the station visiting as well.

Now how do we tie these planets together? Well if we must, then let us keep the idea of the Starless. A Malevolent, seemingly bio-mechanical, foe of sorts. And these planets that you go to happen to be on a sort of "defensive line" between the Starless and the rest of the galaxy proper. But as you go on, you start to discover ruins and facilities that seem to suggest at a far far FAR older civilization and how these Starless came to be.

And in the midst of all of this, have some sort of inner conflict brewing between people in ARKs. Make it to where there are multiple species working together but they each have their own way of "dealing" with the situation. Or hell, throw in a terrorist faction of some kind. Make it to where there is more than just one foe going on that is creating a unique struggle.

I'm not saying to make it exactly like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, or Babylon 5 . . . but y'know, it wouldn't be the worst idea to follow. Either way I feel that this, with a whole slew of other ideas and mechanics, can make a far better game than we have. Just kinda getting a little tired of the "Sci-Fi" aspect of the game not really being put to the forefront.

--Conclusion--

This has probably been a long winded rant that may make sense in some areas, but not all of them. But I wanted to put all of this out there because the game is frustrating me to no end. And I simply do not like that it IS doing that.

I just want a nice space themed MMORPG where I can traverse planets and meet new and exciting species to either converse or fight with. Something that doesn't make me frustrated or question why in the hell am I still playing the damned game.

Thanks for reading if you did.

There's a huge number of people who are trying to get in here from the other parts of Florida and find it to be ridiculous what if they get in it's me trillions of people wandering around Charlotte county they're going to grab all the leaders and string them up and get killed so we're starting to follow things and we are going to find a way to thank them shortly. So we're going after them we're going to provide military support down here it's needed these people are out of control nothing is worth thus far and then we combatants you need a place to go to school themselves

-going to find a way to thank them for their attitude and we're going to get them for their comments and right now we're sitting in troops but for real they are losing another 500 trillion and they're gathered at the holes at chips and a whole bunch of them now and they're at the empire shield facilities and bases and Tommy f is hitting them there too he's got an angle it's kind of not real but that's what he's doing and yeah they're dropping another percentage point probably down to 7% well it's 8%. The number started out at 10% this morning drop to 9:00 and now it's 8:00 that's the real number and we're finally there we have to keep track of it

-never been out there for a while but I'll tell you what we've said too many things in too many numbers and it's getting stupid and everyone's pissed off and it comes to find out they can tell how many people they have so you got dicked around with gifted by gifted retards and it was sort of fell for it and I'm upset he keeps saying do they know over and over as a general population that he's pretty sharp about these idiots I can't believe how many stupid things we're not doing that we said we do they would have helped us I'm putting them into motion now so we don't get screwed we haven't all tested and it's working he wants us to have his cadre get it going with us I'm going to do that

-you have a massive number of infiltrators and they're going in we need it real bad but we need tons more and our son and daughter are right or dragged our feet on it it's way too late to do anything else and these ships out wouldn't have done it and his son did it it did our job our whole job I'm kind of afraid for the future because we're doing things that are crazy and don't work but it's almost like if the ships can't be used or forced to do something else but we don't have a backup I'm upset about it it's not the right thing to do

Nuada Arrianna

I don't see it too you start saying it then you said the ships that look like ours so it kind of bought it a little that he didn't we're playing with fire we're messing with his time and his mind with all these idiots I need that to stop this is wrong what we're doing is not really that great they said he couldn't have been doing it alone he wants me to stop doing that too you know what I have to stop doing this too I'll see you get back to myself it's a long time for this to be happening and it's a wrong time to show it I'm going to have a meeting cuz it is

He's more like a going out the demand certain things to be said but we always kind of go overboard a little. And they lost another percentage point truthfully you're down to about 8% ish off Island and they were at about 15% last week totally like 27% which makes sense over the last 30 years they've lost 25% or 30% of their Force it took a long time so you don't think they're going to lose it that fast and I think they're cloning is up on Australia and all sorts of things so yeah the populace if there is doesn't get informed that's why I put numbers out but really they're at about 8%, we anticipate them to lose probably a thousand trillion today if not more. And it's going on fairly soon they are doing a couple things different they're increasing the severity of attacks on the empire and specifically on the shield factories they're also increasing the attacks on their bases. They are also mounting attacks on Max businesses and factories not only weapons but other stuff and we're there and other people are there and in both and there's a huge defense being mounted so the numbers are probably going to go down a lot faster shortly and they are not aware that that will occur it started and last night we walked off Wyoming in Wisconsin and lake superiors tonight and we're clearing the lake and supposedly a big ship but there's not it's a necromancer ship and if they don't take it out we will it's a matter of fact we're going to take those ships because they're just sitting around the idiot can have small ones it will take all the small ones they designed to do it as redundancy. The empire is striking back in the eastern hemisphere they're laying to waste huge numbers they're going into areas where they're mixed and pulling them out and they're going into cities and pulling them out with huge numbers of troops that go in and out the warlock also started attacks on the empires shield globally and they are attacking in numbers and with equipment and all over the planet. It's a huge deal and the militaries of Earth are now alerted their attacking some food distribution lines and grocery stores and that's the morlock... We're sending an alert out and he said that they're starting to attack everywhere grocery stores food chain lines stores later on the day in the morning is factories so I got everything ready and everything is going out tons of people are moving huge armies of going after these idiots are being signed on faster than you

Can blank

Thor Freya

Zues Hera I wish all of ours the best and we are praying for you and we will help you

We're at War and we need assistance we need our troops all troops up all personnel to duty

Olympus

Can I be nosy and ask why you don't like Queen of Shadows? I actually loved that one so I'm super curious

Short answer: bad pacing, aelin in general, relationship drama being drawn out because I guess dorian being held by a valg wasn't enough, it took me two and a half months to read

Long answer:

Okay so, one of Sarah J Maas' biggest weaknesses in her writing is her pacing. It is so bad that all of her books are a slog to get through, and that's the reason it's taken me almost two years to get through her bibliography. I have to take self imposed breaks in between each book (and have been since I finished the acotar series) because otherwise I'd send myself into a reading slump. For reference, I just started reading the stormlight archive by Brandon Sanderson, and those books are all over 1000 pages and I have to physically restrain myself from requesting the next one from the library so I can read other books on my tbr. It's not a page count issue at all.

Her pacing is just... so bad? And it's absolutely gotten worse over time, probably because she's been given her auteur license and the ability to blanket reject editorial suggestions. I hypothesize that Queen of Shadows is from around the time that she had recently gotten that license, although you can kind of see it a bit in Heir of Fire too. I didn't like Heir of Fire either, but I liked it marginally more than Queen of Shadows. In a flaccid attempt as positivity I will admit that at least Heir of Fire had an *adventure* going on during it, there was an entirely new location, with new characters. Yeah those characters weren't particularly *good* but it was new. Queen of Shadows basically takes place in an apartment when we're with Aelin, and we don't even get to see half the stuff that happens while she's running around? It was such a bizarre choice because that's way more interesting than her relationship drama with Chaol and Rowan.

I will admit that Manon and Elide's whole subplot was... I wouldn't say good because I really hate her worldbuilding with the witches and how she decided to write the whole We're Being Used As Baby Factories subplot. However, the mystery there was so much better written than Aelin pulling out a new Chekov Gun that we, the readers were seemingly not privy to considering how many times I was left scratching my head. That happened so often it was laughable and irritating to an outrageous degree, and it comes off like Sarah J Maas doesn't trust Aelin to come off as competent based off her own merits, so she has to make her the most competent person in the room instead.

Seriously Dorian's subplot with the wyrdstone collar should have been the MAIN focus, but it felt like it took a backseat to Aelin/Chaol melodrama, Aelin/Rowan's will-they-won't-they, Aelin being Hyper Competent, whatever the fuck was going on with Arobynn (hey Sarah, why did you decide to change him from being Aelin's father figure as was said in book one to being creepily obsessed with her??? hey Sarah I just want to talk)... oh and the aedion/rowan drama with the warrior bond thing?? Hated it, found it pointless.

My last point is that if a book takes me two and a half months to finish, that says something about the pacing and writing. My usual time for prose novels? 2 to 3 days for a 400-500 page book. I can read a 300 some page book in a day if I get really into it, I regularly read 300 page history books for fun in roughly a day. Queen of Shadows is about 650 pages it probably should have taken me about 5 days(ish) to read. And it's not that I was in a reading slump, I read about 10 other books in those two and a half months, including a Jennifer L Armentrout book which was about as bad. I also just finished Empire of Storms in about 5 days and that book is about the same length.

In short, it was a lot of things 🙃🙃🙃